Happy 300, MTC!

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/11/2005 (7435 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

On the occasion of its 300th show, we’ve pored over the playbills to bring you a few notable names and numbers from the past.

BOX OFFICE BEST

1. Hamlet (1995): 22,879 or 100 per cent of capacity

2. Richard III (2003): 99.6 per cent

3. Evita (2003): 99.6 per cent

4. Godspell (1974): 99 per cent

5. My Fair Lady (2004): 98.8 per cent

6. Camelot (2001): 98.6 per cent

7. Grease (1981): 98 per cent

8. The Mikado (1983): 96 per cent

9. Death of a Salesman (1997): 95.5 per cent

10. Tsymbaly (1986): 94 per cent

BOX OFFICE BUSTS

1. A Perfect Ganesh (1997) – 10,334 or 46.7 per cent

2. Master Class (1997) — 10,720 or 48.4 per cent

3. Three Tall Women (1998) – 11,032 or 49.9 per cent

4. Hence Forward (1994) – 11,635 or 50.8 per cent

5. The Glace Bay Miners’ Museum (1997) – 11,679 or 52.8 per cent

STAR POWER

1. Keanu Reeves — His 1995 Hamlet was MTC’s hottest ticket ever.

2. Judd Hirsch — The Taxi TV star was brilliant in the 1997 Death of a Salesman.

3. William Hurt — Quirky movie star performs quirky Richard III in 2003.

4. Kathleen Turner — Hollywood actress appeared in two shows (Travesties and The Seagull) the year before she broke big in Body Heat in 1981.

5. Eric McCormack — Will of TV’s Will and Grace was hot stuff, uh Hotspur in 1989’s Falstaff.

6. Paul Gross — Before he was one of the Men With Brooms he was Brick in 1990’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

7. Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and daughter Stephanie — The Zs brought their A game to 2004’s Night of the Iguana.

8. Swoosie Kurtz — Respected American stage and screen actress debuted here as an orphan in 1966’s Charley’s Aunt.

9. Len Cariou — The only Winnipeg-born Tony Award winner never forgets where he came from.

10. Zoe Caldwell — One of MTC’s first splashes in the theatre world was her 1964 Mother Courage.

MADE IN MANITOBA

Homegrown scripts have been a rarity

1. Bonfires of ’62 (1962) — Original revue featuring songs by Winnipeggers Neil Harris and Tom Hendry.

2. An Enemy of the People (1962) — Betty Ann Wylie set the Ibsen classic in Saskatchewan.

3. Lulu Street (1967) — As a centennial project Manitoba got its first homegrown scripted play.

4. Nicholas Nickelby (1982) — MTC artistic director Richard Ouzounian adapted the Dickens classic to great acclaim.

5. A Tale of Two Cities (1984) — The Ouzounian/Dickens combo does it again.

6. Transit of Venus (1993) — Winnipeg’s Maureen Hunter was the first local playwright in 25 years to be produced at MTC.

7. Atlantis (1996) — Hunter shows Transit of Venus was no fluke

8. The Wave (2001) — Fringe festival hit written and composed by Olaf Pyttlik.

9. Vinci (2002) — Hunter’s access to the mainstage is unprecedented.

10. A Christmas Carol (2005) — Winnipeg’s Bruce McManus adapts another Dickens evergreen.

NORTHERN LIGHTS

Canadian TV stars were frequent MTC visitors

1. R. H. Thomson — Arcadia (1996) — Road to Avonlea

2. Tom Jackson — Royalty is Royalty (1987) — North of 60

3. Gordon Clapp — Death of a Salesman (1979) — NYPD Blue

4. Al Waxman — Proposals (1999) — King Of Kensington

5. Fiona Reid — Hay Fever (1994) — King of Kensington

6. Shirley Douglas — A Bee in her Bonnet (1979) — Wind at My Back

7. Jackie Burroughs — Master Class (1990) – Road to Avonlea

8. Andrea Martin — Salvation (1971) — SCTV

9. Paul Soles — The Sisters Rosensweig (1994) — Take 30, This is the Law

10. Paul Gross — Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1990) — Due South

STANDING ROOM ONLY — ON STAGE

1. Marat/Sade (1970) — 36 actors

2. Cabaret (1969) — 34 actors

3. Guys and Dolls (1973) — 32 actors

4. Cyrano de Bergerac (1996) — 30 actors

5. Cyrano de Bergerac (1975) — 29 actors

6. The Mikado (1983) — 28 actors

7. Nicholas Romanov (1966) — 28 actors

8. Evita (2003) — 27 actors

9. Measure for Measure (1978) — 26 actors

10. A Midsummer Night’s Dream — 26 actors

DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN!

MTC’s most produced plays

1. A Midsummer Night’s Dream — 3 times

2. Hamlet — 3 times

3. The Diary of Anne Frank — 3 times

4. Of Mice and Men — 3 times

5. A Streetcar Named Desire — 3 times

6. A Christmas Carol — 3 times

MOST ACTING APPEARANCES

1. Evelyne Anderson — 34

2. Richard Hurst — 23

3. Len Cariou — 23

4. Eric Donkin — 21

5. Frank Adamson — 17

6. Nancy Drake — 14

7. Jean Murray — 14

8. Brian Paul — 14

9. Robert Benson — 14

10. Roland Hewgill — 14

MOST DIRECTING CREDITS

1. John Hirsch — 33

2. Eddie Gilbert — 27

3. Steven Schipper — 27

4. Desmond Scott — 17

5. Richard Ouzounian — 11

MOST PRODUCED PLAYWRIGHT

1. William Shakespeare — 21 plays

2. Tennessee Williams — 8 plays

3. George Bernard Shaw — 8 plays

4. Arthur Miller — 7 plays

5. Neil Simon — 5 plays

6. Noel Coward — 5 plays

DO I KNOW YOU… ?

Their names or relations made them almost famous

1. Emma Richler (The Mousetrap), daughter of Mordecai

2. Janet Kidder (There Goes the Bride), sister of Margot

3. Kathy Kaufman, (Teach Me How to Cry), grandniece of Franz Kafka

4. Jenny Sullivan (director of The Dresser), wife of singer Jim Messina

5. Tandy Cronyn (Cabaret), daughter of stage luminaries Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn

6. Tony Walton (set designer of I’m Not Rappaport), husband of Julie Andrews for 10 years

7. Jennifer Lyon (My Fair Lady) daughter of Manitoba premier Sterling Lyon

8. Jennifer Roblin (Season’s Greetings), daughter of Manitoba premier Duff Roblin

9. Daphne Korol (Tea and Sympathy), great-great-granddaughter of Canadian Prime Minister Sir Charles Tupper

10. Doug McKeag (The Little Shop of Horrors), son of Manitoba Lieutenant-Governor W. John McKeag

MARKET STREET LEGAL

MTC proved a magnet for the cast of the popular CBC series (1986-94) about a group of Toronto lawyers

1. Sonja Smits — A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1978), Carrie

2. C. David Johnson — Amadeus (1984), Chuck

3. Eric Peterson — Atlantis (1996), Leon

4. Cynthia Dale — Syncopation (2002), Olivia

5. Albert Schultz — The Real Thing (1985), Rob

6. Maria Ricossa — A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1992), Lisa

7. Julie Kahner — The Diary of Anne Frank (1980), Alana

8. Frank Adamson — The Crucible (1998), Judge Granz

9. Donnelly Rhodes — Anastasia (1960), guest

10. Kurt Reis — MTC artistic director, guest

WHO KNEW?

Local names who had MTC cameos

1. Dr. Joel Kettner (Manitoba’s chief medical officer of health) — boy in A Very Close Family (1963)

2. Noam Gonick (filmmaker) — son of King Edward in Richard III (1983)

3. Tracy Dahl (opera singer) — Jan in Grease (1981)

4. Carol Matas (author) — Gittle in The Dybbuk (1974)

5. Fred Penner (children’s entertainer) — Stanley in Death of a Salesman (1979)

6. Gilles Paquin (producer/agent) — poet in Cyrano (1975)

7. Laurie Mustard (newspaper columnist) — Poopek in The Dybbuk (1974)

8. David Peregrine (ballet dancer) — Smike in Nicholas Nickelby (1983)

9. Tom Ashmore (radio personality) — Gentleman Caller in The Glass Menagerie (1959)

10. Amanda Stott (pop singer) — Tanis in The Wave (2001)

FIVE SHOWS STEVEN SCHIPPER WISHES HE SAW

1. Zoe Caldwell’s Mother Courage in 1965

2. John Hirsch’s The Dybbuk in 1974

3. Heath Lamberts as Puck in the 1964 A Midsummer Night’s Dream

4. MTC’s first show A Hatful of Rain in 1957

5. Len Cariou as Cyrano in 1975.

STEVEN SCHIPPER’S FAVOURITE SHOWS HE DID SEE

1. Picasso at the Lapin Agile (1996)

2. Hamlet (1995) starring Keanu Reeves

3. Death of a Salesman (1997) featuring Judd Hirsch

4. Maureen Hunter’s Atlantis (1996)

5. Much Ado About Nothing (2005)

MARKET STREET MISCELLANEA…

* Butterfly McQueen, who played Prissy in the movie classic Gone With the Wind, appeared in MTC’s You Can’t Take it With You in 1970.

* Babs Asper was a member of MTC’s publicity department in its first season.

* A portion of the proceeds from the sale of 1970 Manitoba licence plates, cost was $5, went to the building fund of the new MTC.

* It took MTC four plays to present Tennessee Williams and six seasons to get to William Shakespeare.

* In 1977, almost 2.9 per cent of Winnipeg’s population of 582,000 were MTC subscribers.

* The musical The Fantastiks was produced twice in three seasons.

* The first solo show in MTC history was Shirley Valentine in 1992.

* A New York production of Funny Girl, the first show of the 1968-69 season, was cancelled when the troupe arrived in Winnipeg totally unrehearsed.