TORONTO — Tony-winner “Kimberly Akimbo” and Steve Martin and Edie Brickell’s “Bright Star” are among the productions joining the 2025-26 Off-Mirvish season.
Canada’s largest theatre company says it will open the new season with “Bright Star,” a tale of a literary editor whose connection with a young Second World War soldier and aspiring writer awakens memories of a child she lost.
The musical launches in September and is co-produced by Toronto-based Garner Theatre.
It features music and story by Martin, the comedian and actor, and Brickell, who’s known for the 1988 pop hit “What I Am.”
“Kimberly Akimbo” follows a teenage girl who seeks love while facing a rare genetic condition that makes her age four-and-a-half times faster than everyone else.
The musical, which picked up five Tonys in 2023 including best musical and score, makes its Canadian premiere in January 2026.
Among the three plays announced Tuesday is “Ava: The Secret Conversations,” an adaptation of a series of 1988 interviews with the Hollywood actress about her turbulent love life and legendary film career.
The stage production is written by Oscar-nominated actress Elizabeth McGovern, who also stars in the lead role. It opens in November.
Meanwhile, frightful adaptation “The Woman in Black,” one of the longest-running shows in London’s West End, will have its Canadian premiere in December.
Rounding out the season is “Cyrano,” a gender-flipped retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac, opens in March 2026.
Mirvish Productions says all of this season's shows will play at the CAA Theatre.
Producer David Mirvish described the thematic throughline of the season as one that embraces the “commonality of our human experience through the connections and the choices we make.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 15, 2025.
David Friend, The Canadian Press
