Canadian Theatre Tour

August 15 - 19, 2007
Sponsored by TDF




Join us for our 8th Annual Canadian Theater Tour!  This trip includes round-trip airfare, 4 nights accomodations, 6 theater performances, breakfast daily, 3 dinners, 4 lunches and a tour of Niagara Falls and Maid of the Mist boat ride.



Our eighth Canadian Theatre tour is, as always, a theatre lover's dream.   With two of North America's first-tier repertory theatres performing in close proximity, Ontario has become a place of yearly pilgrimage for discerning audiences, and this summer the superb quality of Canadian theatre is on display with three productions at the Shaw Festival in the storybook village of Niagara-on-the-Lake and three more productions at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in lovely Stratford.  In Niagara-on-the-Lake we spend two nights at a deluxe resort, visit spectacular Niagara Falls and attend George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan, Jerry Herman's Mack & Mabel and Georges Feydeau's farce, Hotel Peccadillo.   In Stratford we attend William Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma! and George and Ira Gershwin's My One and Only.  As we arrive and depart via the Buffalo airport, we have the opportunity to visit the acclaimed Albright-Knox Museum.  The tour is limited to 24 persons.






1.  Wednesday, August 15     LaGuardia/Niagara-On-The-Lake
We depart from LaGuardia at 10:05pm on a US Airways non-stop flight to Buffalo, New York.  Upon arrival at 11:30am, we travel directly via private motor coach to the storybook village of Niagara-On-The-Lake, a beautiful town full of lush parks and gardens and some of Canada's finest Victorian architecture.  Niagara-On-The-Lake recently won an award as the "Prettiest Town in Canada."  Following lunch (included) we tour this charming town then check in to the White Oaks Conference Resort and Spa.  A First class property built in 1984 and completely renovated in 2001, the White Oaks Conference Resort and Spa is conveniently located at the gateway to the Niagara Region, minutes from the old town of Niagara-on-the-Lake.  After time to refresh, we have an early welcome dinner at a local restaurant before this evening's performance of George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan.  In 1431 Jeanne d'Arc - a young peasant girl who led an army and crowned a king - died on the stake.  In 1920 she was made a Saint.  Bernard Shaw took this extraordinary story and brilliantly retold it, revealing it also as the beginning of a nationalism which dictated the very make-up of Europe until our own 20th-century apocalypse, World War I - our Hundred Years' War compressed into four.  In 2007 the Shaw Festival's presentation moves between the France of WWI and Joan's War to re-examine Shaw's continually resonant play, which combines some of his most refined and provocative political thinking with fiercely poetic and passionate writing, all the while asking us: if she were alive today, would we recognize her - and would we listen?   (Lunch) (Dinner)



2.  Thursday, August 16     Niagara-On-The-Lake
After breakfast, we take a fascinating backstage tour of the Festival Theatre.  Next we visit Niagara Falls and board the famed Maid of the Mist.  As the tumultuous cascades literally surround you, you are in for a truly spectacular experience!  We have included a lunch before the matinee of our second included performance, Jerry Herman's Mack and Mabel.  A musical about the movies! And Jerry Herman's best score.  The love story of an irascible genius and his brilliant protégée!  An exposé of the clash between art and commerce! Mack and Mabel is all of the above, woven together in whirling, kinetic style.  We careen from the early days of two-reelers in a tatty New York studio, where Mack Sennett and his creative "family" strike gold with the discovery of young comedienne Mabel Normand, to the heady days of champagne and success with the Keystone Cops in L.A.  - and to the inevitable downside of that success.  
 
Following the matinee we have time to refresh before dinner (included) and our final performance in Niagara on the Lake.  This evening we see Hotel Pecadillo by Georges Feydeau, the master of farce.  Put the words "Feydeau" and "farce" together, the image is immediate:  Respectable middle-class folk are manipulated with pin-point precision into a series of increasingly absurd situations where they must try to protect their specific secrets or misdeeds (usually only planned - rarely achieved!)  Hotel Peccadillo is Feydeau at his best, where two old friends, their current amours and several members of their households convene unintentionally at an out-of-the-way hotel that seems only too appropriate for such shenanigans.  But wait - isn't that Feydeau who is introducing the action? And wasn't that four Russian airline stewardesses who just dashed across the stage? Yes! The Shaw Festival presents Feydeau through the eyes of writer-director Morris Panych, in an edgy, contemporary take on an age-old tale, and the combination promises to be provocative, outrageous, but be assured, no less funny!  (Breakfast) (Lunch) (Dinner)  



3.  Friday, August 17     Niagara-On-The-Lake/Stratford
After breakfast, we depart by private motor coach for the charming town of Stratford, Ontario.  Here a classic English setting lends the perfect environment to the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.  Founded in 1953, the Festival is arguably the best summer repertory theatre for classics in North America with a company of 54 actors and shops to create costumes, sets and props for any period with meticulous attention to detail and authenticity.  We travel directly to a local restaurant for lunch (included) followed by a matinee performance of George and Ira Gershwin's My One and Only.  Daredevil pilot Billy Buck Chandler is determined to woo bathing beauty Edythe Herbert, star of a 1920's Hollywood style swimming/dancing extravaganza.  But Edythe's boss, the nefarious Prince Nikki, has other plans.  Crammed with exotic locations, outrageous plot twists and heart-stopping dance numbers, this zany comedy features beloved Gershwin tunes like " 'S Wonderful," and "Nice Work if You Can Get It."  
 
Following the performance, we check in at the Arden Park Hotel, conveniently located within a short walk of the Festival Theatre.  After dinner (on own) we attend our second Stratford Festival performance, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!  Raised in big-hearted turn-of-the century Oklahoma territory, spunky Laurey Williams spurns the affections of cowboy Curly McLain - only to fall into the hands of malevolent hired hand Jud Fry.  When unexpected tragedy strikes, farmers and cowmen alike must confront the untamed wilderness of the human heart.  (B) (L)  



4.  Saturday, August 18     Stratford
This morning a knowledgeable local guide takes us on a sightseeing tour of Stratford.  Next we tour the Festival's Costume Warehouse where we get a closer look at the work of our world-class designers, wardrobe staff and props makers.  Thousands of costumes and hundreds of props are stored in this fascinating place.  After time for lunch (on own) we attend our final performance, William Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors.  Who would have guessed that Antipholus's long-lost identical twin had just arrived in town?  Or that his servant, Dromio, also has a newly-landed identical twin?  Sheer confusion and delightful nonsense reign in Shakespeare's most madcap comedy, culminating in a series of misunderstandings that brings everyone to the brink of hysteria.  We return to the hotel to refresh before our farewell dinner at a local restaurant.  (B)



5.  Sunday, August 19     Stratford/Buffalo
After breakfast travel via private motor coach to Buffalo where we tour the acclaimed Albright-Knox Art Gallery, one of the nation's oldest and best museums.  After lunch (included), we transfer to the Buffalo airport.  Our US Airways flight leaves at 5:05pm, arriving at LaGuardia at 6:30pm.  (B) (L)  





This engaging experience includes:

  • Round trip non-stop airfare LaGuardia/Buffalo/LaGuardia
  • 4 nights' accommodations
  • Six theatre performances
  • Breakfast daily, 3 dinners, 4 lunches
  • Shaw Festival Theatre Backstage Tour
  • Tour of Niagara Falls and Maid of the Mist boat ride
  • Stratford costume warehouse tour
  • Stratford City tour
  • Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
  • Private motor coach as required throughout tour
PROGRAM PRICES  
Per person (double occupancy) from New York: $2,199.00  
Single Supplement: $315.00  
Air Taxes: $60.00