Aubrey Dan, left, president of Dancap Productions, surprises Amanda Sant, 21, from Innisfil, Ont., with the news she will go to New York to see Jersey Boys on Broadway. Sant was the millionth customer at the Toronto production of Jersey Boys on Wednesday, July 23, 2010.
The Innisfil woman was surprised Wednesday afternoon to be told she was the millionth customer to attend Jersey Boys, the hit musical presented by Dancap Productions at the
Toronto Centre for the Arts.
Sant, who is five months pregnant, took her mother to the matinee and was rewarded with a prize of an all-expense-paid trip to New York, including a night at Jersey Boys on Broadway, where the show opened in 2005.
For almost two years, the musical saga of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons has played to large and enthusiastic audiences in Toronto, just as it has done in other cities across North America since its first tryout in La Jolla, Calif., in 2004.
When the show’s Toronto presenter, Aubrey Dan, announced he was opening the show at a theatre north of Yonge St. and Sheppard Ave., downtown skeptics doubted it could succeed. But the GTA has changed and, as Dan puts it, “what used to be perceived as the north of the city is now the heart of the city.”
When the show opened on Aug. 24, 2008, Dan said he “never dreamed it would reach its millionth customer . . . but that doesn’t make it any less thrilling.”
Dan said the success of Jersey Boys has also given him courage to continue in his battle to be considered as a major presenter of commercial theatre in Toronto. He has struggled to get venues and some of his attempts have failed, such as last fall’s show The Toxic Avenger.
“I’m committed to staying with this effort,” Dan said. “In fact, I’m more involved than I ever have been before. My organization has its finger on the pulse of Toronto, but we’re also close to what’s happening in New York and London.”
Dan is one of the producers of Memphis, which won this season’s Tony Award for Best Musical, evidence that the quirky, slouch-hatted impresario is not to be written off as a major player on the city’s scene.
As for the lucky Sant, her prize trip will be her first ever to Manhattan, and a memory she’ll never forget.
{Via Toronto Star}
Cleopatra Williams in Jersey Boys
Inside Toronto’s Danielle Milley has a feature on the newest addition to the Jersey Boys Toronto cast: Cleopatra Williams!
The East York native performed in We Will Rock You, danced with the Raptors Dance Pack, toured the Middle East with Toronto pop singer Massari and on April 22 she took to the Toronto Centre for the Arts stage in the story of Franki Valli and the Four Seasons. Williams is one of three female performers in the cast who play a combined total of 50 different parts; one of her roles is Mary Delgado, Valli’s wife.
The East York Collegiate Institute graduate found out she got the job in February, but she had a hunch after her auditions.
“Of course I was so happy and grateful, but somehow I just knew it was mine,” she said. “I had this feeling.”
{Via InsideToronto.com}
Jersey Boys Toronto company will celebrate its 500th performance this Saturday, February 27 at the matinee. The Toronto company of Jersey Boys is playing at the Toronto Center for the Arts (5040 Yonge Street), where it opened December 14, 2008 following the Jersey Boys touring engagement, and is currently on sale through June 30, 2010.
The Toronto production of Jersey Boys is the winner of two 2009 Dora Mavor Moore Awards: Outstanding Direction of a Musical for Des McAnuff and Outstanding Performance by a Male in a Musical for Jeff Madden, as well as the Audience Choice Award.
Jersey Boys currently stars Michael Lomenda as Nick Massi, Jeff Madden as Frankie Valli, Daniel Robert Sullivan as Tommy DeVito and Quinn VanAntwerp as Bob Gaudio. The company also comprises Gabriel Antonacci, Matthew G. Brown, Matt Cassidy, Jennifer Copping, Jade Elliott, ?lodie Gillett, Bryan Hindle, Victoria Lamond, Aaron MacKenzie, Adrian Marchuk, W. Joseph Matheson, Timothy Sell, Alison Smyth, Grant Tilly and Shawn Wright.
Jersey Boys Toronto Centre For The Arts Tickets can be purchased online at www.JerseyBoysBroadwayTicketsOnline.com.
JERSEY BOYS Toronto: Michael Lomenda (Nick Massi), Jeff Madden (Frankie Valli), Quinn Vanantwerp (Bob Gaudio), and Daniel Robert Sullivan (Tommy Devito)
News from National Post: Dancap Productions has announced that performances of Jersey Boys at the Toronto Centre for the Arts will continue until at least May 23, 2010.
“Toronto has truly embraced Jersey Boys,” said Aubrey Dan, President of Dancap Productions, in a press release. “It is incredibly heartwarming that Jersey Boys, now in its second year, is playing to some of the most enthusiastic audiences of their Toronto run. Performances were packed through the holidays and sales have been extremely strong, telling us that Torontonians do not want to say good-bye to Jersey Boys any time soon!”
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