Eatdrink #76 March/April 2019

eatdrink: The Local Food & Drink Magazine
Photo credit: Stratford Festival Reviews
fatigue. “Billy Elliot is really my prime focus
right now. It’s the first out of the gate and
the biggest prep. It’s a show that has 14
production numbers. It’s crazy. It is a huge
show. We did a Billy Bootcamp in January and
did a week with some of our young company
including with Nolen Dubuc, the Billy Elliot,
and his understudy. We have some exciting
things like flying — so we had a week of
doing scene, dialect work and then we started
rehearsals on February first.”
Feore says it has taken a year of
preparations for her famous reinvention of a
popular musical to the thrust stage. “I only do
those that I can reimagine,” she says. For her,
working with an 11-year-old lead is exciting. “I
learn a lot from young actors, watching how
free they are. They don’t have that mileage on
them. They are incredibly open.”
At the same time, Feore is also directing and
choreographing the second Stratford musical
of 2019, Little Shop of Horrors, at the Avon
Theatre with a ’60s score and loads of special
effects. “Our plant is off the charts crazy as
only Stratford could do it,” she says. This is
sure to be a hit with the same crowd that put
Rocky Horror into the Stratford record books for
longest run, and with huge financial success.
Feore says one woman attended Rocky 42 times
and several others saw it 30 times. She hopes it
will now move to Toronto.
“The hard drive is full,” laughs Feore when
asked how she juggles two major shows
alongside work in other cities. “I tell my
assistant ‘download all the
content from my brain’! I
work with my associates,
they are fantastic and have
been with me for six to
seven years. We have our
system. They get all the
information and record
everything. Right away, we
set four to five numbers
and if there is dance in a
show we do that early, as it
takes stamina so people are
healthy, strong. There’s a
bit of a method to the madness, you know.”
Her longtime friendship and collaboration
with Stratford Artistic Director Antoni
Cimolino is evident in his regard for her.
“Donna is the master of musical theatre. We
are so fortunate to have her return this season
and take on the gargantuan task of helming
two major productions at the same time. Her
The Wildest Town in Canada:
Donnelly Songs & Stories
by Jeff Culbert May 21 to May 25
Like Father, Like Son? Sorry.
by Chris Gibbs May 28 to June 1
2019
SEASON
PortStanley
FestivalTheatre
(519) 782-4353 www.psft.ca
work last year on The Music Man and The Rocky
Horror Show was inspirational and I have no
doubt that her productions this season will
have us all seeing both of these musicals in a
brand new light.”
Fifty-five-year old Feore seems to thrive on
the “madness”. She and
The Feore family: from the left,
her husband, acclaimed
Tom, Donna, Jack, Anna & Colm
actor Colm Feore, are also
parents to 22-year-old
Anna and 24-year-old
Tom, a law student at U
of T, as well 29-year-old
Jack, Colm’s son from a
previous marriage, who
is getting married this
summer in Nova Scotia.
Donna Feore is fiercely
proud of the three of
them. “The whole team
knows when my kids are doing something!
Sometimes the whole crew watches a semifinal
match on the computer if Anna is competing
abroad. It’s all about priorities. For women,
I think we can have it all but not at the same
time. Stop trying. This can go and that can
happen. That can go and this can happen. I call
it dabbling in wonderful.”