The Stratford Festival officially raises the curtain on its 73rd season on May 26, launching a highly anticipated Opening Week packed with theatrical favourites, musicals, and Shakespearean classics.
The festivities begin this evening with the opening performance of As You Like It at the Festival Theatre. The show starts at 7:30 p.m., but the excitement gets underway earlier with a full slate of red carpet activities.
Starting at 6 p.m., festival goers can catch a parade led by the Stratford Police Pipes and Drums and a special motorcycle procession honouring the upcoming production of Macbeth. The cast of Annie, including its beloved canine stars, will also make an appearance. An after-party will cap off tonight’s festivities in the Festival Theatre lobby at 10:30 p.m.
Publicity Director Ann Swerdfager said they have a great mix of productions for the 2025 season.
"So there's a huge variety," she said. "We have Shakespeare, we have comedies, we have musicals, we have new plays. We have classical plays like Sense and Sensibility, a beautiful adaptation of Jane Austen's novel."
The Opening Week lineup includes six productions debuting over six nights. Following As You Like It, the Festival Theatre will welcome audiences to the musical Annie on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the Avon Theatre opens its season with Macbeth, followed by the musical comedy Dirty Rotten Scoundrels on Thursday. The Winter’s Tale opens Friday at the Tom Patterson Theatre, and Anne of Green Gables rounds out the week at the Avon on Saturday.
"The great thing about Stratford is that we are a Repertory Theatre Company, which means that we offer a whole bunch of shows all at the same time. Other theatres offer one show and then the next show and then the next show," explained Swerdfager. "But here you can come, and if you stay for a weekend, you can see four shows, all different, and you can even see them change over the set from one show to another."
Five additional productions — Forgiveness, Sense and Sensibility, The Art of War, Dangerous Liaisons, and Ransacking Troy — are set to open later in the season.
Swerdfager revealed that Stratford attracts people from all over.
"They come from the States. They come from all over Canada. They come from Europe and the Philippines to see shows here," she continued. "And I have met so many families where it's, you know, a couple started to come, and then they had children, and then when the kids were a bit older, they started bringing the kids, and now they're bringing the kids and the grandkids."
For a complete schedule and tickets, visit stratfordfestival.ca