Updates on the 2012     Highlands Summer Festival & Highlands Opera Studio Season

The magic and allure of Tom Thomson arrived early in Haliburton. As we mark the 100th anniversary of Tom Thomson’s first visit to Algonquin Park and the Highlands Summer Festival prepares for the opening of the musical Colours in the Storm, the film West Wind was screened at the theatre.

The occasion was a Documentary Festival on Saturday May 5. Presented by the local movie enthusiasts, Those Other Movies, one of the four documentaries was an investigation into the life and art of Tom Thomson. Directed by Michele Hozer and Peter Raymont, the documentary was produced for Bravo TV and is set to debut on that channel shortly. The organizers received permission to present it early at the Haliburton Festival.

It was certainly the most popular documentary of the one day festival…..a good indication of the intense interest in this story. Thanks to the organizers, I had an opportunity to remind the audience that the Highlands Summer Festival would be presenting the musical version of the Tom Thomson story, Colours in the Storm, starting July 2.

From the liner notes which accompanied the documentary’s DVD: “Tom Thomson is one of Canada’s most famous and beloved artists. His vibrant landscape paintings helped define a young nation in the early 20th century and become iconic symbols of Canada.

“On July 8, 1917 Tom Thomson died mysteriously on Canoe Lake, just as he was reaching ascendancy in his career. Why does Thomson’s life and art fascinate us still? What draws thousands of people each year to the cairn on Canoe lake and propels his oil sketches into the stratosphere of the Canadian Art Market?” The documentary attempts to answer these questions and many others surrounding this fascinating Canadian.

Jim Betts has captured the magic and mystery of Thomson’s life and art is his musical Colours in the Storm, the premiere production at this year’s Highlands Summer Festival. Discover a slice of Canadian history from our back yard and you too can see the Colours in the Storm.

See you at the theatre.

America’s Sweetheart is on the radio!
CBC Radio has recently been airing interviews with Mary Pickford. This archival material was captured in May 1959 with host Tony Thomas. These great interviews provide an interesting insight into the career of Gladys Smith, a girl from Toronto who became America’s Sweetheart.
The life and times of Mary Pickford is the subject of a play by Dean Burry being presented this summer, July 22-24, at the Highlands Summer Festival. Denise Norman will bring all the glitz and glamour of Hollywood to life in this one woman show with stories, music and pictures from the era.
To hear the CBC interviews click on this link Sweetheart, to hear the first half. A link to the second half will be available on the CBC website at the close of the first portion of the interview.
Just a reminder, one of the three performances of Sweetheart: the Mary Pickford Story is already sold out. If you want to see this fabulous production, be sure to order you tickets soon.

As some of you may have noticed on our Tickets page, we are adding online ticketing to our capabilities. This upgrade to our system will mean a slight delay in the issuing of tickets this spring. We are usually mailing out tickets to season pass holders starting in early April. However, we are just completing some last minute tweaks to the system and the tickets should be in the mail soon. We thank you for your patience.
This new feature will allow patrons to select, pay for and print their own tickets right from our website. This change is being made to keep Highlands Summer Festival up to date with other theatre companies in North America. When you purchase tickets in the future, visit our ticket page and see how fast and easy it can be to do it on line.

As we prepare for the 2012 Highlands Summer Festival season, the board of directors will be tying up details from last season at the organization’s Annual General Meeting.
This meeting will examine how the company fared in 2011 with a look ahead to what’s coming up in this season. Included in the meeting will be reports, review of the financial statement, election of offices and other business.
The Annual General Meeting is open to the public. However, only members are permitted to vote. Members are defined as anyone who has donated $50 or more to the Highlands Summer Festival in the past year.
So please join us Monday, April 30 at 1 p.m. at the Rails End Gallery and Arts Centre in Haliburton for our AGM. See you there.

It is great to get the season off on the right foot. For a theatre company such as the Highlands Summer Festival, there is nothing sweeter than two little words: “SOLD OUT”.
Those words have already been applied to two presentation this season The Tuesday July 10 production of Within Reach and the Tuesday, July 24 production of Sweetheart: The Mary Pickford Story, are already sold out. These two productions both have short runs….three performances each….so if they appeal to you, I would suggest don’t wait too long to book your seats. Good tickets are still available for the Sunday matinee performances of both shows, as well as the Monday evening performances. So act quickly, before seats for all six performances are gone.