10/27/2024
I am extremely happy to share that Miles From Broadway Association is Edmonton’s newest non-profit Musical Theatre Company. We started in 2022 with two productions - The Last Five Years and Nunsense, and decided to register the company as a non-profit society this year.
In 2016 I closed down Two ONE-WAY Tickets To Broadway Production, a company I founded and was the Artistic and Managing Director of for 10 years. It was a tremendous decade, with the later years offering 3-5 productions a season; we had our own studio spaces in two different parts of the city; and made La Cite Francophone our home for our shows. I learned a lot working alongside seasoned artists, we helped launch careers for many young performers who went onto becoming international stars, we premiered many Broadway musicals in our city - Miss Saigon, Ragtime, Titanic, Rent, Avenue Q - just to name a few. I’m incredibly proud of what we accomplished in those 10 years.
It’s been over 8 years since TOWTTBP was closed down, and the number one comment I still keep gettting to this day from literally hundreds of people is how big of a hole closing TOWTTBP left in our community… the theatre scene has not been the same since, is what I’m told. As big of a compliment that is, I am not certain of that, as I see a lot of amazing work being done by many new companies and artists. But, I accept it proudly, because I know how much of an impact we made in our city. We were not an equity company, but there was nothing amateur about the work we created.
I am not ashamed to say openly that many people have publicly said that our version of Sweeney Todd was better than the one at the Citadel Theatre. That is a testament to the skills and passions we collectively brought to our work, resulting in a production people still talk about to this day. And it makes me tremendously proud.
Will we recreate the success of TOWTTBP under this new umbrella? We sure hope so. The goal will always be to provide paid opportunities to everyone who works on our shows. The mandate is to bridge the gap between academia and industry, while also providing work opportutnies to veteran artists.
What else is new? Under this new flagship we will also foster the creation of new musicals. Later this year we will be announcing a new musical that will be in workshops during our 2025.2026 Season, with a goal of presenting a 60 minute version at the 2026 Fringe Festival.
Follow us on our social media channels and stay in touch.
I sure hope to see you at our upcoming production of Next To Normal! Full casting will be announced on November 1, 2024.
