Part of Mirvish's new season in Hollywood, Back to the Future, Beetle

TORONTO — Producer David Mirvish says he hopes to inject a “sense of fun” into his theater company's 2024-2025 season with Hollywood and live stage productions.

Mirvish Productions announced Tuesday that it has lined up musical versions of “Back to the Future,” “Bettlejuice” and “Moulin Rouge” for its fall schedule.

They'll be taking part in the season opener, the stage adaptation of Yann Martel's Canadian novel Life of Pi, the return of ABBA-fueled favorite Mamma Mia and the previously announced outdoor run of The Lion King.

A seventh subscription show will be added to the season soon, and performances for the offseason schedule will be announced in April.

Mirvish described the season as another step toward returning the Toronto theater scene to its pre-pandemic popularity with shows that the whole family can enjoy.

“He's a little bit younger than what we've traditionally seen,” the theater impresario said when he called from London.

“We're living in a time where we're coming back out of our shells, and we hope people have the same fun.”

According to Mirvish, the season kicks off in September with the three-time Tony-winning production of Life of Pi, making Toronto its only Canadian stop. The London show, which was in the middle of a tour of the UK and Ireland, was praised by many critics and audiences for its meticulous use of large-scale puppetry.

The production runs through October at CAA's Ed Mirvish Theater.

A touring production of Mamma Mia will go on a limited run in October, and The Lion King will open a few weeks later at the Princess of Wales Theater in November.

“Moulin Rouge! The Musical!” Adapts Baz Luhrmann's live-action film into a musical stage show. The 10-time Tony winner will open at the CAA Theater in November, and Tim Burton's musical “Beetle Juice” will move to the same theater in May 2025.

Next summer, Back to the Future: The Musical features original songs by Glen Ballard, co-writer of Alan Silvestri and Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill album. It opens at the CAA Theater in July 2025.

Mirvish's new season leans heavily on old favorites and familiar franchises, and includes only one Canadian entry in The Lion King. But the widely-appealing fare has proven a successful way to bring Canadian audiences back to theaters, the producer admits.

According to Mirvish, the theater company's main season subscriptions are up 33 percent from last year, reaching 40,000 subscribers for the 2023-2024 season.

According to John Karastamatis, the company's director of sales, they hope to reach the pre-pandemic level of 47,000 subscribers in the 2024-2025 season.

But some in Toronto's theater sector have warned that this year could be a tough one for the industry as some longtime theatergoers continue to stay home, government funding dwindles and sponsors struggle to find.

According to Mirvish, these challenges are mostly faced by non-profit theater companies because they need to succeed in order to keep their grants.

“They have to flip the coin and make it land on the edge,” he added.

“I have only one problem: if I don't make money, I can't do another show in the future.”

But Mirvish says the money-losing show in the commercial theater business has its own downsides.

“You make one mistake in live theater for a week, and it takes you 10 weeks to fix it.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on February 13, 2024.

David Friend, The Canadian Press