Stage/Theatre

Native Earth Performing Arts is set to put up this Frances Koncan satire, winner of big raves at the Stratford Festival last summer. There’s a new cast (Kelsey Wavey, Cheri Maracle, Lisa Nasson, Jesse Gervais and Jonathan Fisher) and director (Renae Morriseau) — but the silly and surreal script should remain as biting as ever.

Another Lucas Hnath play? Yes, please. This one, from the daring Outside the March, is helmed by the company’s esteemed artistic director Mitchell Cushman. Billed as “a fantasia for the age of Succession,” the 70-minute drama exposes the pernicious underside of Walt Disney’s cheery persona. Stars Diego Matamoros, Katherine Cullen, Tony Ofori and Anand Rajaram.

Crow’s Theatre didn’t just score the Canadian premiere of this acclaimed Broadway solo show that apparently has the vibe of a great true crime podcast — they got the original creative team, including director Les Waters, to come north with it. And while actor Jordan Baker is new to Lucas Hnath’s play, she’s got a fierce resume, including parts in the original New York production of Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women as well as Steven Spielberg’s film The Post. Read NEXT’s 5-N review.

Another Canadian Stage season, another two-evening drama at the cavernous Bluma Appel Theatre. This time the vehicle is The Inheritance, a six-and-a-half hour adaptation of Howards End set in contemporary New York that paints a portrait of a generation after the AIDS crisis. Though the New York reviews were decidedly mixed, London critics ate up the show and it won big at the 2020 Tony Awards. Canadian Stage artistic director Brendan Healy is set to direct.

Guillermo Verdecchia will direct a nine-person cast in this world-premiere dramatic comedy by the wonderful Christine Quintana. Twenty years have passed since the three Jurado sisters lost their parents, and life lumbers on in their East Vancouver home — until an earthquake nearly destroys the city, bringing forth a shocking turn of events.

The King Street West signage advertising this crowd-pleasing, banner-waving, barricade-building mammoth of a musical proclaim, “STILL THE WORLD’S MOST POPULAR MUSICAL.” Gloating much? But the show’s earned it — when Les Mis is in town, people start buzzing (and not for no reason).

A degree of hype accrued around Dandelion Theatre and Apothecary Theatre’s intimate indie staging of Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus when it premiered just before Halloween last year; even Sarah Polley saw it. We caught that short run’s closing night and can confirm it’s very good — a fast-paced hour of tragic, devilish fun, packed with plenty of inventive design choices. Glad it’s back. Adapted and performed by James Llewellyn Evans and Coyote Ugly; directed by Max Ackerman.

Auteur director Robert Lepage and dance world fixture Guillaume Côté last collaborated on Frame by Frame at the National Ballet, a gorgeous, projection-heavy show about filmmaker Norman McLaren. Now, in a world premiere from several co-producers, they tackle Hamlet at the 1,561-seat Elgin Theatre. Sensational visuals are a given.

Beginning previews just a couple weeks after the Stratford Festival’s production of the same work, Liisa Repo-Martell’s new adaptation of Ibsen’s searing drama will star Coal Mine co-artistic director Diana Bentley, as well as six other experienced performers. Don’t expect anything about the production to be dusty: “The play teems with life and sex and rot and transgression,” says director Moya O’Connell. (Bonus: an original score by Metric’s Emily Haines.)

Rose Napoli explored the 16th century last fall when she played Catherine de’ Medici in Kat Sandler’s Wildwoman at Soulpepper Theatre. Her new world premiere, a Nightwood Theatre production in association with VideoCabaret, jumps forward to the 17^th century. In it, she takes on the role of Margaret Cavendish, a historic poet, philosopher and scandal-maker. Rounding out the cast are Karl Ang, Wayne Burns, Izad Etemadi, Farhang Ghajar and Nancy Palk; Nightwood artistic director Andrea Donaldson will direct.

A world premiere from Silk Bath Collective, this “intergenerational Chinese love story” follows three siblings, their mother and their restaurant over two decades as they seek to belong in small-town Ontario. Co-created by Aaron Jan, Bessie Cheng and Gloria Mok.

Studio 180 Theatre presents the Canadian premiere of this comedic James Fritz drama about social media and victimhood. The four-person cast is led by Megan Follows (of Anne Shirley fame) and Sergio Di Zio, alongside the younger Tavaree Daniel-Simms and Jadyn Nasato. Mark McGrinder to direct.

A new production from the acclaimed French-Canadian creative team of Renaud Doucet and André Barbe (who collaborate on stage direction, dramaturgy and set/costume design), the Canadian Opera Company’s staging of this fizzy Gaetano Donizetti opera — its first in 30 years — will be set in 1960s Rome and topped with Technicolor visuals.