Stage Door News
Stage Door News
The Stratford Festival is delighted to honour Eric McCormack with this year’s Legacy Award. Mr. McCormack, a member of the Festival’s acting company for five seasons from 1985 to 1989, will take a short break from shooting the reboot of Will & Grace and the latest season of Travelers to attend the gala on September 18 at Toronto’s Four Seasons Hotel.
Mr. McCormack, born and raised in Toronto, shot to fame in the title role of Will Truman on NBC’s top-rated sitcom, Will & Grace, which ran from 1998 to 2006. But he began his acting career in Canadian theatre, performing at the Stratford Festival and across the country, including at Vancouver’s Arts Club Theatre, the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Theatre New Brunswick, the Citadel Theatre and Canadian Stage.
“I first met Eric when he was playing Romeo to my then girlfriend and now wife Brigit Wilson’s Juliet,” says Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino. “I suspect that’s never an entirely comfortable experience for any spouse. Eric was not only a true gentleman but over time as we worked together at the Stratford Festival he became a dear friend. At every point his enormous talent and originality shone like a beacon. It’s a great pleasure now 35 years after our first meeting to celebrate his work and achievements as a Canadian artist.”
Like fellow Legacy Award-winner Colm Feore, Mr. McCormack is part of the second generation of actors trained at Stratford who have gone on to huge success in film and television, while also making tremendous contributions to the stage. In recent years, the following acting industry pioneers were honoured: Gordon Pinsent, Martha Henry, William Shatner, Maggie Smith and Christopher Plummer.
“When I first came to the States over two decades ago and told people I’d spent five years at the Stratford Festival, the response was often, ‘In England?’” says Mr. McCormack. “That never happens anymore. Now, bragging (as I do) about my time at Stratford is always met with, ‘In Canada? That place is amazing! You worked there?’ The Stratford Festival was an important Canadian institution from its inception. But it has become an international one, a shining example of how incredible classical theatre can be, and how much Canada has to offer the world artistically. Particularly with my old friend Antoni Cimolino at the reins, Stratford has grown into a world-class cultural landmark, one that needs more than ever to be protected, nurtured and cherished.”
In his five seasons with the Stratford Festival, Mr. McCormack appeared in 17 productions, including Measure for Measure, Cymbeline, Troilus and Cressida, Much Ado About Nothing, All’s Well That Ends Well, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Henry V, Mother Courage and Her Children, The Boys from Syracuse, Murder In The Cathedral and Three Sisters.
On Broadway, he starred in the title role of The Music Man in 2001, and opposite James Earl Jones and Angela Lansbury in the Tony-nominated The Best Man. His lengthy television résumé includes Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years, The Andromeda Strain (A&E), Trust Me (TNT), Who Is Clark Rockefeller? (Lifetime) and Perception (TNT), which he also produced.
Eight seasons as Will Truman on NBC’s Emmy-winning Will & Grace earned him a SAG Award, five Golden Globe nominations, and the Emmy for Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.
He just began a second season as a producer, director and lead actor on the Netflix series Travelers, and this fall he returns as Will for the revival of Will & Grace on NBC. Eric’s one-man show The Concert I Never Gave (except for, like, 2000 times in my bedroom) has played Toronto, Vancouver and Los Angeles and raised over $100,000 for cancer research.
The 2017 Legacy Gala will feature performances by Brent Carver, Daren A. Herbert, Chilina Kennedy, Danielle Wade and Eric McCormack himself.
Barry Avrich, Robert Badun and Wendy Pitblado are the Gala Co-Chairs.
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit: https://www.stratfordfestival.ca/SupportUs/StratfordFestivalGala
Photo: Pennie and Eric McCormack.
2017-08-30
Toronto: Eric McCormack to receive Stratford Festival Legacy Award on September 18