The Canadian Opera Company’s production
of Nightingale and Other Short Fables
Canadian Stage
The Canadian Stage has a rich
history of programming contempo-
rary works by major international
playwrights while simultaneously
supporting new and notable home-
grown theatre and dance. Stephen
Karam’s The Humans—awarded
Best New Play at the 2016 Tonys—
and Betroffenheit, a dance-theatre
collaboration about PTSD, are
among the upcoming productions
sure to keep audiences rapt.
St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts,
27 Front St. E.; other venues,
canadianstage.com
Soulpepper Theatre Company
The works of William Shakespeare,
Friedrich Schiller, Sam Shepard and
everyone in between are the purview
of Toronto’s renowned producer
of plays from the (mostly) classical
canon. This season, the artist-run
collective serves up an intriguing
range of options, from Peter
Shaffer’s examination of genius
and jealousy in Amadeus to a
timely new adaptation of Orwell’s
Animal Farm. Young Centre for the
National Ballet of Canada
Performing Arts, 50 Tank House Ln.,
soulpepper.ca
Opera Atelier
Opera Atelier stages some of the
most sumptuous productions this
side of the Palace of Versailles. (And,
actually, the company has performed
there, too!) Its perennial program-
ming in Toronto consists of a pair
of baroque- and early classical-era
operas produced with attention to
historical detail, yet imbued with
a modern sensibility. For 2017/18,
that balancing act manifests in
Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and
Monteverdi’s The Return of Ulysses.
157 King St. E., operaatelier.com
Canadian Opera Company
The Canadian Opera Company’s
black-brick-and-glass, Jack
Diamond–designed Four Seasons
Centre is one of Toronto’s finest
venues. There’s something about
gazing out upon the night-lit
cityscape, pre-show wine in hand,
before taking a seat to see how
Rigoletto’s revenge plot or
The Abduction from the Seragl io’s
culture clash will play out—
or how the orchestra pit has
become a pool for The Nightingale
and Other Short Fables.
145 Queen St. W., coc.ca
EssEntial toronto
where 49