The Stratford Festival has announced its landmark 75th season, a 13-production lineup running from April 28 to November 28, 2027. Serving as the first program under incoming Artistic Director Jonathan Church, the anniversary season blends large-scale musicals, classic Shakespearean drama, and high-profile Canadian premieres, with tickets officially going on sale on November 15, 2026.
Jonathan Church Takes the Helm for the 75th Anniversary
Jonathan Church steps into the artistic director role following a transitional year working alongside outgoing artistic director Antoni Cimolino, according to The Globe and Mail. The dual Canadian-British citizen brings extensive experience from his tenure as artistic director of the Chichester Festival Theatre in Britain. Church designed the 2027 schedule to showcase the unique institutional range that allows Shakespeare, major musicals, family programming, and historical drama to share the same repertory season.
Lawrence Stevenson, chair of the festival’s board of directors, noted that Church’s debut lineup is ambitious in scale and confident in its artistic identity. The anniversary season opens its first block of four shows on April 28, 2027, deviating from the festival’s traditional practice of clustering all major opening nights at the end of May, as reported by The Globe and Mail.
Shakespeare and Musical Theatre Headliners
At the center of the theatrical lineup is William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, directed by Des McAnuff and opening on July 13, 2027—exactly 74 years after the company’s inaugural performance. The classical schedule also features productions of The Merchant of Venice and The Taming of the Shrew.
Musical theatre anchors a major portion of the 75th-season schedule. Jonathan O’Boyle and Stephen Mear will co-direct a production of Mary Poppins at the 1,833-seat Festival Theatre, with Vanessa Sears starring in the title role, according to The Globe and Mail. Mear previously co-choreographed the original 2004 West End production of the musical. Additionally, Donna Feore will return to remount her acclaimed 2022 production of Chicago on the same stage. Rounding out the musical offerings is a world-premiere adaptation of Mordecai Richler’s Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang, featuring a book by David S. Craig and music and lyrics by Anika Johnson and Britta Johnson, produced in partnership with Theatre Calgary under the direction of Stafford Arima, according to The Globe and Mail.
Notable Star Returns and Structural Changes
The 2027 season marks high-profile returns for several veteran stage actors. Eric McCormack will perform at Stratford for the first time since the 1980s, headlining Noël Coward’s Present Laughter at the Avon Theatre. Saul Rubinek will also return to the festival for the first time since 1969 to headline an exploration of Jewish identity featuring The Merchant of Venice, the solo play Playing Shylock, and the world premiere of his own work, All in the Telling.
Operational shifts accompany the artistic programming. Following the lead of the Shaw Festival, Stratford is moving to earlier performance start times, scheduling matinees at 1:30 p.m. and evening shows at 7:30 p.m., with select school-targeted matinees starting at noon, according to The Globe and Mail. Church stated that the earlier schedules aim to accommodate single-day patrons traveling to the area. Furthermore, the 1,077-seat Avon Theatre will shift away from the festival’s traditional repertory casting model to present shows “in stock,” featuring dedicated casts that perform in only a single production, according to The Globe and Mail.
Related reading