Montreal Interviews

Brittney Johnson is an accomplished and commanding performer. She made her Broadway debut in MOTOWN THE MUSICAL understudying the character (based on) Diana Ross. She quickly followed that with LES MISERABLES, a production in which she performed one character at a matinee and the other that same eve...

Nadia Verrucci is a staple of the Montreal theatre scene. She has worked as an actor, singer, director, choreographer, voiceover artist, particularly as Juno in Assassins Creed which makes her a popular guest at Comic Cons and pop culture events, and Artistic Director. I had the chance to chat with ...

Trevor Barrette was born and raised on the West Island of Montreal. Passionate about the arts, he is a queer theatre-maker, performer, stage manager and teacher. I had the opportunity to chat with Trevor as the new musical he has written, ONE DAY, has its workshop presentation this Saturday, January...

Marika Aubrey was born and raised in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. She emigrated to the US six years ago and currently resides in New York City. She is currently on tour with COME FROM AWAY, portraying Captain Beverly Bass. I had the chance to chat with her about her life and career both on...

The San Diego Symphony’s Music Director and Conductor Rafael Payare took up the notoriously difficult French horn at the age of 13. During an hour-long Zoom interview while he was in Montreal, I asked how he had managed to become a soloist less than six months later! “I have to admit it was a little...

Kiki Dranias burst onto the Montreal theatre scene in 2019 with her theatrical work, GOING UP, which went on to receive seven nominations at the 2020 Montreal English Theatre Awards (METAs), winning three for Outstanding New Text, Outstanding Emerging Playwright & Producer and Outstanding Independen...

David Hein and Irene Sankoff, the Tony-nominated husband and wife creators of Come From Away, are back with a new venture! Partnering with Destination Canada, the creative duo penned an original song, 'This is Canada Nice', celebrating Canada's beauty, generosity, and diversity....

Jeff Parry was raised in Ottawa, ON. His love of music began when he was 9 years old when he fell in love with The Beatles. He has always had a passion for. music, so after University, he moved out west to try to raise money to open a record store in Ottawa. He wound up staying in Alberta and rather...

Jason O'Neill was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He became passionate about Irish dancing, Irish culture and music as a young boy and seeing RIVERDANCE changed his life. It became his goal to become a professional Irish dancer and perform in RIVERDANCE, which he has now done for 10 years. I had ...

Helena Levitt was born and raised in Montreal. She graduated from Dawson College's Professional Theatre Program, where she says she fell in love with her craft. Upon graduation, she moved to Toronto to seek out more opportunities. After two years in Toronto, and missing her family, she returned to M...

Andrew Samonsky was born and raised about an hour north of Los Angeles in the coastal town of Ventura, CA. He majored in Music at California State University, Northridge, which just so happens my Alma Mater. Part of the Opera Program, Samonsky started taking drama classes from two professors, Peter ...

Amy Blackmore was born and raised in Greenfield Park, QC. Growing up, most of her family was involved or worked at Greenfield Park United Church. When she was very young, she began going with her mom to work. There were dance classes being taught by the Cameron School of Dance in the basement of the...

Exhilarating. Feral. Thoughtful. These are just a few choice words from The Guardian's five-star review of Rachel Bloom's recent London show. Bloom will be bringing that energy on stage for a five-night run of What Am I Going To Do With My Life Now? at this years' Just For Laughs Festival....

Alison Whitehurst was born in Sugar Land, Texas. The daughter of a professional pianist, she was exposed to music at a very early age, tagging along and watching her father play gigs from backstage. She would often sit and experiment with him at the piano and played herself for nine years. After her...

Canada's oldest professional black theatre company, Black Theatre Workshop are all set to launch their 48th season this October. The first production of the season is SOUND OF THE BEAST (SOTB), a one-woman show that uses spoken word, story-telling and hip-hop to spit rhymes from the underground and ...

Matt Manuel was born and raised in Detroit, MI, 'the heart of Motown.' He got his start as a competitive gymnast. When he was 13, he had to quit gymnastics, which he says broke his heart. His mother convinced him to try a piano lesson while his brother took a voice lesson. The teacher accidentally s...

Laurie-Anne Jean-Baptiste was born and raised in the West Island area of Montreal. She studied Cinema and Communications at Vanier College and Creative Writing at Concordia. She first delved into theatre in the 6th grade. Discovering how much she enjoyed it, she continued to be involved in theatre t...

Sam Boucher was born and raised in Montreal. He developed his passion for musical theatre at a young age, really beginning to focus on it in high school. He studied classical voice for two years at Vanier College, has just finished his first year at Concordia University and next year, he heads off t...

Tracy Braunstein's love of theatre began when she was just a child. She recalls early memories of performing ANNIE in the basement and singing 'Big Spender' into a hairbrush around the age of 6. She soon graduated to school plays and immersed herself in community theatre. When she was 17, she got on...

Brandon Howard Roy was born and raised in Beaconsfield, QC, in the West Island of Montreal. A recent graduate of Sheridan College, just outside Toronto, Roy is making his professional theatre debut in THE HOCKEY SWEATER: A MUSICAL this week at The Segal Centre....

Trista Moldovan has been part of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA for nearly 10 years, having played Christine in the 10,000th performance on Broadway as well as on tour. She is currently on tour with the show, this time playing Carlotta. The tour makes a stop in Montreal from October 4 - October 15, 2017 a...

Cathy Burns was born and raised in Dorval, a suburb just outside Montreal, the fifth of seven children. She attended John XXIII High School in Dorval, which was known for it's excellent Drama Department. All of her siblings went through the John VIII Drama Department and excelled, most receiving spe...

BWW Montreal Emerging Talent, Student Edition interviews the talented up-and-coming actress Olivia Lepore on her artistic journey, graduating from Theater School and next steps in her career....

Chelsey Robichaud of Broadway World interviews set designer John C. Dinning to explore his inspirations for ONCE at Neptune Theatre...

Sam Zeller was born and raised in Anaheim, CA, the youngest of three sons. Zeller went to Walt Disney Elementary school and grew up, in his words, 'a very fantasy like type life, because I always thought everyone was surrounded by Disney characters all the time like I was. But of course, nobody was....

Sarah Primmer was born in Atlanta, Georgia but moved to Connecticut at 7 years old. A classically trained singer, Primmer attended Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania where she studied music and theatre. Primmer currently resides in New York City, where she has been for the past 6 years. ...

Alex Scolari always knew she wanted to perform. From the age of 5 she was performing in musical theatre productions in her community just outside Los Angeles. At the age of 9, she was competitively competing in dance with The Millennium Dance Complex's Junior Dance Company....

Idina Menzel will perform in Toronto this Wednesday at the Sony Centre as part of her 2015 world tour. Menzel is of course best known for her work in WICKED and FROZEN, and also recently concluded a Broadway run in her star vehicle IF/THEN, which she will take on tour this fall....

For Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award winner Alan Menken - his musical based on the book and film The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz is what he calls 'a passion project, definitely.' Menken's version of Duddy Kravitz as a musical, which he co-wrote with David Spencer, was originally produced in the 198...

Chris Barillaro is one of the busiest men in Montreal. An accomplished Music Director, he is also a busy Actor, Composer, Orchestrator, Arranger and Accompanist. He is currently working on several projects, including Lyric Theatre Singers' upcoming BACK TO BROADWAY, which opens Thursday, June 11, 20...

Natalie Gershtein, Beautiful City Theatre's (BCT) Artistic Producer, is taking on another role, directing BCT's upcoming CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION written by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, Annie Baker. CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION marks the first time BCT will open a show in New York City and...

I talk to Rahul Varma, Canadian playwright and Artistic Director of Teesri Duniya Theatre. We discuss his play BHOPAL, now for a limited time at Houston's own Shunya Theatre. He talks critiquing India, critiquing Canada and spinning the messy straw of life into first words on a page, and then people...

On November 13, Noelle Hannibal, Marc Ducusin, and special guests will perform in Corner of the Sky: The Music of Stephen Schwartz at the Segal Centre Studio....

Chatting backstage between tech rehearsals for Les Belles Soeurs, a new English musical adaptation of Michel Tremblay's epic play, I asked 3 of the shows 12 powerhouse performers, Valerie Boyle, Lisa Horner and Paula Wolfson, if they'd ever been in another show with a cast entirely comprised of wome...

Centaur Theatre opens its 46th season with Venus in Fur, the Tony-nominated smash hit by New York playwright, David Ives. The hot ticket, both on and Off-Broadway, took Toronto by storm in the Canadian Stage production last autumn, and this fall Rick Miller and Carly Street reprise their steamy role...

Tara Bissett was always interested in the arts. Born in Montreal and raised in Montreal, Ontario and the US, her parents encouraged her from an early age to involve herself in art classes and choir in school. Having traveled overseas just after high school, Bissett returned to Montreal for universit...

Anisa Cameron was born to be in showbiz. Born in New York, but raised under the bright lights of the Las Vegas strip, Her grandmother was a Rockette, her father was the lead singer of the Folies Bergere at the Tiffany Theatre inside the Tropicana and her mother, a dancer, was a chorus girl who worke...

Susan Egan will be performing and teaching the first of a series of concerts and master classes entitled 'Broadway in Montreal' starting next month. Egan is best known for her work as the original Belle in Beauty and the Beast and as the voice of Meg in Hercules....

Susan Egan will be performing and teaching the first of a series of concerts and master classes entitled 'Broadway in Montreal' starting next month. Egan is best known for her work as the original Belle in Beauty and the Beast and as the voice of Meg in Hercules....

Following performances in the UK, Stockholm, and Vancouver, GOLD MOUNTAIN is coming home. Award-winning Montreal theatre company Les Deux Mondes will present the production at Théâtre Aux Ecuries from April 16 to 27. BroadwayWorld caught up with sound/multimedia designer Michel Robidoux to talk abou...