The air is getting cooler and the days are becoming shorter, which all means that a new season of Toronto theatre is drawing closer. After a summer hiatus and the focus shifting to festival stages across southern Ontario, performing arts companies in the city are now preparing to raise the curtain on their fall programming.
Here are 10 plays, musicals, operas and ballets opening in the coming months that will satisfy all tastes.
1. The Welkin
Weyni Mengesha will close out her tenure as artistic director of Soulpepper this September with a production of Lucy Kirkwood’s bristling dark comedy “The Welkin,” a feminist riff on the jury drama “Twelve Angry Men.” Set in 18th-century rural England, the play follows a jury of a dozen women who must determine the veracity of an accused murderer’s claim that she is pregnant, which would lead to her death sentence being commuted. This Canadian premiere of “The Welkin” comes after it debuted in the U.K. in 2020 and recently played off-Broadway last year, starring Canadian Sandra Oh. Mengesha’s production will feature an ensemble of actors including Raquel Duffy, Bahia Watson and Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster. Sept. 4 to Oct. 5 at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts’ Baillie Theatre, 50 Tank House Lane
2. Waiting for Godot
Coal Mine Theatre artistic director Ted Dykstra is set to make his long-awaited return to the stage this fall in a new revival of “Waiting for Godot,” Samuel Beckett’s absurdist tragicomedy about two friends awaiting the arrival of the play’s mysterious title character. In this production, directed by Kelli Fox, Dykstra will portray Estragon opposite Alexander Thomas’s Vladimir. It marks Dykstra’s first time onstage with the company he co-founded in more than six years. Coal Mine’s presentation is one of several hotly anticipated productions of the 20th-century masterpiece. Canadian Keanu Reeves is set to star in a new Broadway revival, also opening this fall, while the Stratford Festival recently announced its own revival for next summer. Sept. 14 to Oct. 5 at the Coal Mine Theatre, 2076 Danforth Ave.
3. Tell Tale Harbour
A decade after the success of “Come From Away,” Mirvish is looking to strike gold with another Canadian musical: “Tell Tale Harbour,” an East Coast romp co-written and starring Alan Doyle from the folk rock band Great Big Sea. Adapted from the 2013 film “The Grand Seduction,” the show follows the residents of a village in Atlantic Canada who work together to bamboozle a visiting doctor into staying permanently. The musical originally premiered in 2022 at the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Prince Edward Island, where it was the bestselling show in the company’s 57-year history. It arrives in Toronto following an encore run on the island this summer. Sept. 23 to Nov. 2 at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, 260 King St. W.
4. Slave Play
Jeremy O. Harris’s “Slave Play” is one of the most controversial Broadway shows in recent memory. Exploring issues of race, sexuality and power, it centres on a trio of interracial couples who try to mend their relationships by employing “antebellum sexual performance therapy.” When it premiered on Broadway in 2019, Harris’s provocative satire polarized audiences, sparking protests and walkouts. It received a dozen Tony nominations in 2021, breaking the previous record for a play, but ultimately went home empty-handed. Jordan Laffrenier will direct this Canadian premiere, with a cast set to include Sophia Walker, Sébastien Heins and Amy Rutherford. Sept. 27 to Oct. 19 at the Berkeley Street Theatre, 26 Berkeley St.
5. Bremen Town
Gregory Prest’s tragicomedy “Bremen Town” was one of the big hits of the 2023 Next Stage Festival. Tarragon Theatre has now picked it up for its mainstage season, with Toronto stage icons Nancy Palk, Oliver Dennis and William Webster all set to reprise their roles. Based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale “Town Musicians of Bremen,” Prest’s play confronts timely, existential questions about aging and self-worth. At its centre is Frau Esel, an aging housekeeper who’s abruptly fired from her job and decides to make a long journey to reunite with her son, all while meeting a host of eccentric characters along the way. Sept. 30 to Oct. 26 at Tarragon Theatre Mainspace, 30 Bridgman Ave.
6. Orfeo ed Euridice
Director Robert Carsen’s stark and stylized production of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Euridice” returns to the Canadian Opera Company for the first time since its celebrated premiere with the company in 2011. Based on the timeless Greek myth about two young lovers trying to escape the Underworld, this operatic masterpiece is 90 minutes of intense drama. Canadian Bernard Labadie, a preeminent conductor of classical and baroque repertoire, will lead the COC orchestra. Meanwhile, the cast will feature British counter-tenor Iestyn Davies as Orfeo and former COC ensemble studio member Anna-Sophie Neher as Euridice. Oct. 9 to 25 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W.
7. Ava: The Secret Conversations
In the late 1980s, the Golden Age film star Ava Gardner sat down for a series of interviews with the British journalist Peter Evans, whom she commissioned to ghostwrite her memoir. Gardner, who notoriously plied herself with alcohol, seemingly held nothing back in these late-night calls. But just as the memoir was about to be published, the Hollywood actor pulled the plug. It wasn’t until 23 years after her death that her estate agreed to let Evans complete the project. The biography was eventually published in 2013. Now it’s been adapted for the stage in a new play written and starring “Downton Abbey” actor Elizabeth McGovern. Nov. 6 to 23 at the CAA Theatre, 651 Yonge St.
8. The Winter’s Tale
Christopher Wheeldon’s scintillating production of “The Winter’s Tale” could not have returned to the National Ballet of Canada at a better time. This revival comes as the Stratford Festival is mounting a production of the Shakespearean play upon which Wheeldon’s ballet is based, offering audiences a rare opportunity to see both the original work and the adaptation in the same season. A thrilling story of jealousy, forgiveness and redemption, Wheeldon’s ballet has previously been met with critical acclaim. Writing for the Toronto Star, dance critic Michael Crabb said in 2015 that the work “has an operatically epic emotional sweep,” and is “packed with inventive steps and spectacular scenic effects.” Nov. 14 to 21 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W.
9. Moonlight Schooner
Playwright Kanika Ambrose has a busy fall ahead. In early November, she’ll be at Crow’s Theatre to mark the world premiere of “Christmas Market,” her new play about three migrants from the Caribbean who bond closely while working together at a Canadian holiday market. Then, just weeks later, Ambrose will be at Canadian Stage to debut another new work: “Moonlight Schooner,” about a group of Black sailors who are stranded on the island of St. Kitts after a terrible storm. This production reunites Ambrose with director Sabryn Rock, who previously collaborated on “Truth” and the Dora-winning play “Our Place.” Nov. 21 to Dec. 14 at the Berkeley Street Theatre, 26 Berkeley St.
10. Rogers v. Rogers
Playwright Michael Healey, the mastermind behind the “The Master Plan,” a satire skewering Sidewalk Labs’ failed bid to build a smart city in Toronto, returns to Crow’s Theatre this December to debut his latest work, “Rogers v Rogers.” Adapted from Globe and Mail journalist Alexandra Posadzki’s non-fiction book of the same name, the play looks at the family power struggle behind one of Canada’s telecom giants. This world premiere production will be directed by Crow’s artistic director Chris Abraham, and is to star Stratford and Shaw Festival veteran Tom Rooney, who will take on every role in the solo show. Dec. 2 to 28 at Streetcar Crowsnest’s Guloien Theatre, 345 Carlaw Ave.
