Olivia Chow speaks at a mayoral debate in Toronto on May 24.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Toronto is a theatre town, and though the arts never became a particularly big issue in the lead up to Monday’s by-election, the campaign for mayor nevertheless intersected with the stage scene in a number of curious ways.
You may already know that Anthony Furey, who came in fourth, was once a theatre artist who founded the youth-oriented Paprika Festival before he turned into a hard-right pundit, or that Josh Matlow, who ultimately came in fifth after votes coalesced around the frontrunners, studied at École internationale de théâtre Jacques Lecoq before pivoting to progressive politics.
But not previously reported is that Olivia Chow, now mayor-elect, got a little acting coaching precampaign from a Dora Mavor Moore-winning performer that may have helped her present her case better this time around than when she first ran for mayor back in 2014 (and went from front-runner to third-place finisher).
Prior to officially announcing that she was running, Chow was referred to the veteran stage performer and communications consultant Nicky Guadagni by her friend Jean Yoon, a national treasure of stage and screen best known for playing Umma on Kim’s Convenience.
“I just knew Nicky would love Olivia and Olivia would love Nicky,” Yoon told me over a Twitter DM. “I knew Nicky would be able to efficiently help Olivia ‘liberate her voice,’ especially given how much Nicky has been working with a lot of speakers whose first language is Mandarin or Cantonese.”
Guadagni – who won her Dora for her performance in the solo show Hooked in 2015, and whose daughter, Tess Benger, is up for one at tonight’s ceremony for starring in the musical Alice in Wonderland – agreed to talk to me about the two sessions she had with Chow, but wanted to be clear she played only a minor role in the candidate’s success.
“All I did was remind her about the art of rhetoric,” Guadagni told me today, after a morning session helping a chief executive officer work on his Zoom presence.
Guadagni also helped Chow work on her body language, going over video of her debating Doug Ford and John Tory back in 2014 and giving pointers. “Ford was in the centre like a huge blond mammoth and Tory is so slithery and confident,” she says. “I talked to Olivia about her body language when she was up against those two. … You can’t shrink.”
She continued: “I’ve worked with a lot of women and, physically, it’s important to open up. It shows pride and joy and connection to your audience.”
When she hit her 40s and stage and screen roles started drying up, Guadagni started a sideline as public-speaking coach. “All the skills that I learned in theatre school and on stage about how to keep text fresh and alive and how to enjoy speaking was what I applied in that work.”
Political observers were more impressed with Chow’s presentation on the debate stage this time around – and so was Guadagni, particularly with how good the politician got at telling her personal story over and over without it starting to sound rote.
Guadagni also has positive words to say about Chow’s chief competitor’s presentation. “I watched Ana Bailao last night and she was very effective in defeat, very warm and passionate.”
For a taste of Guadagni’s own skills at portraying a leader, you can catch her in the most recent episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, in which she plays a commanding character named Admiral Javas. No doubt, Chow – a noted Trekkie, along her late husband, Jack Layton – will be catching up on that episode some time in the future.
Awards season
Tonight is the 43rd annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards in Toronto. There are a total of 228 nominations in 46 award categories across seven divisions representing the city’s theatre, dance and opera companies. You can visit The Globe and Mail website tonight at 10:30pm or tomorrow in print to find out who won.
Alberta’s two major cities, meanwhile, have just held their professional performing arts awards.
On Monday night, the Sterling Awards were given out in Edmonton. The Citadel Theatre, unsurprisingly, did well with its boxing drama The Royale, winning outstanding production of a play, and the viral video-inspired Prison Dancer, named outstanding production of a musical. (Nina Lee Aquino’s production of the latter will have a future life in November at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.)
Last week, the Betty Mitchell Awards were given out in Calgary, with Theatre Calgary artistic director Stafford Arima’s production of Forgiveness the big winner of the evening, picking up three awards including outstanding production of a play. At the moment, the full list of winners seems to be only available on the Betty Mitchell Awards Instagram account.
New seasons
Theatre New Brunswick has announced its 2023-2024 season – and it’s a big one, with world premieres from Fredericton playwright Len Falkenstein, Moncton playwright Melanie Léger and Toronto sensation Cliff Cardinal.
The Coal Mine Theatre in Toronto, meanwhile, has not officially announced its 2023-2024 season, but it has once again put out a little teaser on Twitter about what its new line-up will include.
Reading between the lines, it seems the small-but-mighty company has reprogrammed Jani Lauzon’s Prophecy Fog, which was cancelled last season because of a fire, and that two of the world premieres it has been developing will be on the bill. (One will likely be Dion, a rock opera based on The Bacchae, co-written by Coal Mine co-leader Ted Dykstra. The other could be Kat Gauthier’s #MeToo drama The Meeting.)
As for the American drama the company has teased, a little canary in the coal mine tells me it will be Appropriate by Branden Jacob-Jenkins. But all will be officially revealed on July 27.
What’s opening soon
The Prom, a funny musical about self-involved Broadway stars trying to help themselves by helping a young woman who wants to bring a same-sex date to her grad dance, opens at Theatre Under the Stars in Vancouver next week and runs to Aug. 25. I interviewed Canadian co-creator Bob Martin about the show earlier this year (and reviewed the Broadway production many years ago).
Maggie: A New Musical, featuring a truly toe-tapping score by Scottish-Canadian country star Johnny Reid, is up and running at the Charlottetown Festival in PEI until Sept. 2. It was a hit in Hamilton, where I weighed in.
Intermission
I’m not reviewing any new productions this week as I am about to go on four months of parental leave. I’m very much looking forward to spending time caring for my four-month-old son and my four-year-old son.
This newsletter will keep arriving in your inbox with links to theatre, dance and opera coverage from The Globe and Mail. Thanks for reading and have a great summer and early fall.