Winnipeg Jewish Theatre unveils lean two-show season

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Next season’s bill from Winnipeg Jewish Theatre will feature the stage adaptation of a mega-bestselling memoir and a Tony-winning musical set in a small Israeli town.

Tuesdays With Morrie, directed by Winnipeg’s Mariam Bernstein, will open WJT’s 37th season, which will close with artistic director Dan Petrenko’s treatment of The Band’s Visit in May.

The first show – running from Sept. 19 to 29 – is the stage adaptation of author and former Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom’s venerated memoir of the same name, which documented his weekly conversations with his college professor Morley Schwartz, who suffered from ALS.

Released in 1997 with the subtitle An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life’s Greatest Lesson, Morrie has sold nearly 20 million copies.

The second production, The Band’s Visit, is itself an adaptation of a 2007 film about an Egyptian band stranded in a border town, which soon embraces the misfit musicians as their own, a feel-good formula similar to that of the Maritimeless musical Come From Away. In 2018, The Band’s Visit was nominated for 11 Tony Awards, winning 10. It will run from May 1 to 11 next spring.

While a North American tour of The Band’s Visit in 2019 included a stop in Toronto, Petrenko says WJT’s will be the first entirely Canadian production, with the 26-year-old serving as director.

While the two-hander Tuesdays with Morrie is lean and meant to pack a personal punch, The Band’s Visit will feature a cast and band of 17, making it the largest show put on by WJT in more than a decade, Petrenko says.

The two-show bill represents a shift in the schedule as compared to that of the 36th season, which had been scheduled to include three mainstage productions — Pals, Songs for a New World and Address Unknown — and two limited-engagement musical productions, Gabi Epstein’s cabaret Gabs Sings Babs and the Kanye West musical protest Pain to Power.

Songs for a New World, the second of the three mainstage productions, was cancelled two months ahead of its run by the theatre, with Petrenko citing the institution’s long-term financial viability for the difficult decision.

“It’s no secret our theatre, as well as many around the country, has been facing a deficit. I think our strategy here was to present two shows that carry more familiarity,” he says.

With the majority of that deficit bridged ahead of next season, Petrenko says his priority is both to the stage and to the ledger.

“We’re still entering the upcoming season with a deficit, but it’s certainly not as frightening a situation as last year. We’re working toward sustainability.”

Aside from the main productions, the company will also lean into exclusive subscriber events, including concerts and play readings, extending invitations to anyone who purchases a two-show bundle.

Petrenko also plans on expanding the theatre’s relationships with educational institutions, a strategy that led the company to invite more than 12 school groups to its season-closing production of Address Unknown.

For the upcoming season, which the theatre is choosing to market as “A Season of Wonder,” the company will be putting out casting calls this week.

Subscriptions for Winnipeg Jewish Theatre’s 37th season are on sale now, with an early-bird rate available until June 10 at wjt.ca or 204-477-7478.

ben.waldman@winnipegfreepress.com

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