Stage Door News
Stage Door News
The two companies behind last season’s biggest Dora Award winning productions, OUTSIDE THE MARCH (JERUSALEM) and THE MUSICAL STAGE COMPANY (Britta Johnson’s LIFE AFTER) are thrilled to release a first-look trailer for their inaugural collaboration, Dr. Silver: A Celebration of Life from two of the most exciting and innovative voices in Canadian musical theatre, Anika Johnson and Britta Johnson. The production is developed and directed by one of Canada’s foremost immersive theatre artists, Mitchell Cushman.
Audiences are invited to join The Silver Singers at Heliconian Hall beginning September 13 to celebrate the life of the mysterious and magnetic spiritual leader Dr. Leonard P. Silver. The festivities promise to be an enchanting experience; a sung-through, psychedelic dissolution into the transcendental power of music.
Young members of The Silver Singers (Wexford Collegiate students) are already busy preparing to welcome audiences to the rapturous memorial for Dr. Leonard P. Silver in this video released today set to “Dr. Silver is Gone”.
The production features Musical Stage Company collaborators Kira Guloien (GREY GARDENS) and Rielle Braid (LIFE AFTER) who are joined by Donna Garner, Peter Deiwick, and Broadway veteran Bruce Dow.
Dr. Silver boasts an eclectic, multimedia design team, with Production Design from Nick Blais (JERUSALEM, TERMINUS), Anahita Dehbonehie (TOMORROWLOVE, VITALS) and Ken MacKenzie (BRANTWOOD, Mr. BURNS), Video Designer Nick Bottomley (Stratford's TREASURE ISLAND, Shaw’s MYTHOS) and Sound Designer Richard Feren (JERUSALEM, TOMORROWLOVE). The production will feature musical direction by the nationally-acclaimed Elizabeth Baird (KINKY BOOTS, GREASE) with choreography by frequent Johnson collaborator Barbara Johnston (SUMMERLAND, BLOOD TIES).
Dr. Silver: A Celebration of Life reunites both Outside the March’s Artistic Director Mitchell Cushman and The Musical Stage Company with Anika Johnson and Britta Johnson. Cushman previously collaborated with the Johnsons on Brantwood (Sheridan’s Canadian Musical Theatre Project), the largest production of an immersive, site-specific musical in Canadian history. Brantwood notably garnered the Audience Choice Award for Outstanding Production at the Dora Awards in 2015.
The project also marks the continuation of The Musical Stage Company’s CRESCENDO SERIES – an unprecedented breakthrough for a composer of musical theatre in Canada through a three-year residency and commitment to produce three of their new musicals. The inaugural Crescendo artist is Britta Johnson and it was recently announced that her musical Life After, which premiered in a co-production from The Musical Stage Company with Canadian Stage and Yonge Street Theatricals in Fall 2017 (the first production from the Crescendo Series residency), will be further developed at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre in Spring 2019.
Dr. Silver is the first production from OtM’s Forward March program to reach full production. Out of 250 applications, Dr. Silver was one of four projects selected for the inaugural program.
The fall world premiere follows a fulsome developmental process including a recent sold-out public rehearsal run as part of the 2018 Luminato Festival.
Dr. Silver: A Celebration of Life will be presented at Heliconian Hall beginning September 13 (Opening night: September 17). The hall will be made wheelchair accessible for the duration of the production run. Tickets for this production are available now at DrSilverTO.ca or by calling 1-888-324-6282
About Dr. Silver: A Celebration of Life
On stage at Heliconian Hall beginning September 13, 2018
Media Night: September 17, 2018
An Outside the March and The Musical Stage Company Experience
Website: DrSilverTO.ca
Twitter: @OutsideTheMarch, @MusicalStageCo
Facebook: @OutsideTheMarch, @MusicalStageCo
Hashtag: #DrSilverTO
2018-08-09
Toronto: Performances of the musical "Dr. Silver: A Celebration of Life" begin September 13