Drury Lane Theatrical Productions Inc. has become a fixture in Burlington as it prepares to celebrate their 50-year Anniversary. To celebrate this milestone, they have assembled an incredible playbill for the upcoming 2024-2025 season, and faithful theatregoers are sure to be delighted.
“We have come a long way as Burlington’s musical theatre company in 50 years. Our theatre company started out as the Burlington Light Opera Society and grew into the premiere Burlington musical theatre company of today. We began with Gilbert & Sullivan comic light operas, and then introduced Broadway musicals. It was 1984 when we changed our name to Drury Lane Theatrical Productions, better reflecting the musicals we were producing.” said Rick Mackenzie, Vice-President and Director of Marketing with Drury Lane.
“Our company has produced over 150 musicals in several venues including Nelson High School and the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts, finally landing at our current home on the corner of New Street and Drury Lane. Fondly referred to as the “Loft” our theatre home is the best cabaret theatre in the region providing patrons with fun musical theatre in a British pub setting.”
With a capacity of 138, Drury Lane created a theatre space that provides patrons with variety, classic and new musicals.
“When you go to Stratford, you sit in the theatre and it’s a thrust stage. When they present a large scale musical I’m in awe of how adaptable they are with their space. So with our smaller space, we have had to be innovative in how we mount big musicals. We have some incredible creative directors and designers who can take a more minimalist approach when staging a musical.”
The theatre has a special place in long-time member MacKenzie’s heart. He joined in 1988 and had no idea it would change his world as he knew it.
“I met my wife Carol there, and we married after a short while. We weren’t even doing ‘Fiddler On The Roof’,” he jokes. “This has just been a really exciting thing to be a part of. In our retirement, my wife Carol and I are involved in the leadership of this theatre family along with life-long friends.”
“The most impressive thing I’ve seen over the years is the talent we have treading the boards. Today we have actors with formal theatre training. Auditioning for a role can really be competitive. People are increasingly interested in musical theatre, and it’s nice to see people skilled and committed join our company.”
MacKenzie says their offerings this upcoming year are very special, with the 44th Annual Music Hall themed to trek down memory lane highlighting many of Drury Lane’s past book musicals for our patrons, members, volunteers and the community. The upcoming 50th Anniversary Season will feature the Irving Berlin classic musical, Holiday Inn; a Christmas pantomime Beauty & The Beast, their annual Music Hall Variety show, and A Gentleman’s Guide To Love & Murder. The three-package series (excludes the Pantomime) goes ON SALE April 15th, 2024.
“Our Show Selection Committee puts a lot of research into our programming each year. Our goal is to find the right balance to thoroughly inspire actors, members, volunteers, partners and patrons. We also want to involve as many company members onstage and backstage as we can, but our first priority is our audience,” he said. “Periodic surveys help us to find a balance of classic and new musicals, sometimes introducing audiences to lesser known, but inspiring musical theatre.
Over time, MacKenzie says the theatre has become an important part of the Burlington cultural fabric.
“We linked up with Tourism Burlington, and we market to visitors and families. We joined the Chamber of Commerce and were nominated for an award last year. It speaks to how we’re perceived in the community. We have expanded our programming to include a Young Artist competition, last year being our first event.” he said.
They do several things within the community and always want to help those around them.
“This year we offered Charity Thursday performance nights for each main production run, which means a $12 contribution is dedicated to a specific charity for each dedicated Thursday. For last fall’s sold out The Sound of Music musical, we contributed to the Burlington Symphony Orchestra.” he said.
“We aim to contribute to the community societal needs and cultural needs, and we just want to ensure that we are helping the community however we can.”
While not an outright Drury Lane fundraiser, Pink Night Burlington has the fingerprints of the company all over it. It’s an annual fundraising event for the Breast Cancer Program at the Juravinski Cancer Centre.
“The initiative originated with several members who have been in the company for 30 years. Cancer knocked on one of their doors, and they fought it. They wanted to pay it forward, and we’re happy to be the venue for it. 80 per cent of the volunteers supporting Pink Night are Drury Lane members, and it’s generated $100,000 for the Centre,” he said.
MacKenzie is so happy to be a part of this 50 years milestone. But he also sees something else that’s incredible.
“We see a lot of young folks getting involved lately. I’ve been around long enough that I have known some of the founding members, so sharing early year highlights of Drury Lane with younger company members is critical to placing the next generation of musical theatre makers on a solid footing for the next 50 years” he said.
For more information about the theatre and offerings, please visit https://www.drurylane.ca/.
