Holla!
Today Mirvish announced that in addition to Kim Cattrall, the cast of their upcoming show PRIVATE LIVES (opens Sept. 17), will also star Paul Gross. This is exciting to me for a few reasons.
1. I love a good farce. Those who know me may find that surprising, but a well-executed farce is hilarious PG-humour that the whole family can enjoy, and sometimes, that's just swell. There's something refreshingly old-fashioned about knee-slapping comedy that's slap-sticky and silly. Laughing for 2 hours at the absurdity of life is always on the to-do list.
2. Torontonians don't have to rush to New York to see a Broadway-calibre show starring celebrities. I realize there are mixed emotions surrounding Hollywood-esque celebrities on the stage, but it's a theatrical reality so at this point you're either on the bus or you're off it, but either way, you need to get used to it. It's about time Toronto's theatre scene cashed in (yup - cash, as in made money from our art) on our talented, high-profile actors and exploited them to get people to the theatre. I mean there are only so many shows Colm Feore can do.
3. Hollywood North needs to celebrate our stars and our star system! We have a PLUTHORA of talented actors and we need to celebrate them! Applaud them! And we need to raise them up to increase their star factor so that more Canadian actors, like Paul Gross, feel appreciated on their native turf, and so put up with poor royalties to stay here and make a living. This in turn, can change our way of thinking towards Canadian talent and, in turn, hopefully change the mindset of Canadian talent as well.
I'm over the actor brain-drain that's happening Due South of us and it's initiatives like Mirvish's that will aid in abating it. If the show also happens to turn a profit by getting the public out to a highly-regarded play starring 2 of Canada's most high-profile actors, then that's also aces in my book.
PRIVATE LIVES starring Kim Cattrall and Paul Gross is at the Royal Alexandra theatre from
Sept. 17 - Oct. 30.
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