Gladstone Theatre to Present IT HAD TO BE YOU Next Month

Written by real-life partners Joseph Bologna and Renee Taylor, It Had To Be You hits the Gladstone Theatre in Ottawa in time for Valentine's Day. A zany, laugh-out-loud romantic comedy It Had To Be You is a must for theatre lovers and a perfect winter warmer. With a performance on Valentine's night, it's the ideal way to level-up Valentine's date night. 

The play sees Theda Blau—a failed actress, health food nut, and would-be playwright—gambling it all to win love and success. Her would-be partner is Vito Pignoli, a successful TV commercial director and a man who has traded in his dreams for financial success.

Directed by Greg Hancock, a veteran of productions from Toronto to Yellowknife including an award-winning production of Halfway There for the Ottawa Little Theatre, Greg says of It Had To Be You: “It is the characters that drew me to wanting to direct It Had to Be You. They are both such strong, contrary characters, who in some ways are completely honest with themselves and in others have been fooling themselves for years…In the end, the play is about balance, about finding what you didn't even realize you were missing....”

The two-handed cast is comprised of Jarrod Chambers and Sarah Edwards. Ending a four-year acting hiatus, Chambers takes to the stage again as Vito. With more than thirty years acting experience, Jarrod breathes life, warmth, and vitality into Vito and creates the perfect foil for eccentric Theda. He says of tackling Vito; “What I love about Vito as a character, is that initially he seems like this stereotypical, one-dimensional TV producer, but over the course of the play, that façade crumbles and you get to see all the vulnerability and insecurity he's been trying to hide from everyone —including himself.”

A former South African professional actress and now fulltime romance novelist, Sarah Hegger is no stranger to romantic comedy. She has relished the challenge of Theda. “Theda is first and foremost a survivor. No matter what life throws at her, Theda lives to fight another day.”

The production premiered in Almonte in December.

It Had To Be You marks the debut play for new Ottawa-based production collective, The Bent Sisters, and aligns with their mission to produce uplifting and empowering theatre that centers around women. 

Running from February 7th to 17th at the Gladstone Theatre (910 Gladstone Ave, Ottawa), including a matinee Sunday 11th, 

Tickets can be purchased online at the button below.

Or by telephone: 613-233-4523

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