Rainbow Stage is Canada's longest-surviving outdoor theatre, located in the natural setting of Kildonan Park in north Winnipeg, Manitoba.[1]
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It opened 7 July 1954 presenting operettas and musicals using local performers. In 1956 the Winnipeg Summer Theatre Association was founded to administer the theatre, and in 1966 the non-profit organization Rainbow Stage Inc was chartered, with Jack Shapira (a popular Winnipeg band leader in the 1950s) as executive producer. Shapira was credited with much of the theatre's long-term success. He resigned in 1988 as a result of financial improprieties. Ken Peter has been the executive producer since 1998.
A triodetic dome was constructed over the theatre in 1970. In 1986, the final phase of a three-phase renovation project was completed.
Rainbow Stage has presented the following shows in its history:
Rainbow Stage features Canadian actors, musicians and production team members, many of whom are hired locally. Stars for some productions include the directors John Hirsch and Peggy Jarman Green; the conductors Filmer Hubble and Eric Wild; the singing actors Evelyne Anderson, Len Cariou, Ed Evanko, Cliff Gardiner, Morley Meredith and Bill Walker; the chorus director James Duncan; and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet artistic director Arnold Spohr. Other Canadian performers at Rainbow Stage have included Jan Rubes, Roma Hearn, Catherine McKinnon, and Wally Koster. The 2011 production of Hairspray featured American actor George Wendt in the role of Mrs. Edna Turnblad.
The first full-length musical to be presented was Brigadoon, in the fall of 1955. Since then most of the productions have been of Broadway musicals including: Annie Get Your Gun (1956), Kiss Me, Kate (1956), The King and I (1958, 1963, 1969, 1979), Guys and Dolls (1959, 1980), Damn Yankees (1960), The Boy Friend (1961, 1975), Pal Joey (1962), The Music Man (1962, 1968), My Fair Lady (1966), The Sound of Music (1967, 2007), Carousel (1989), Cinderella (1990) and Anything Goes (1990) In 1990 Rainbow Stage presented its first original production, the musical review Say It With Music, "put together by Manitobans for Manitobans" featuring songs from The Wizard of Oz, The Music Man, Kismet, Gypsy, West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, and other musicals.