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Richard Ouzounian (born March 8, 1950) is a Canadian journalist and theatre artist. He was the chief theatre critic for the Toronto Star and the Canadian theatre correspondent for Variety .
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Richard Ouzounian (born March 8, 1950) is a Canadian journalist and theatre artist. He was the chief theatre critic for the Toronto Star and the Canadian theatre correspondent for Variety .
Ouzounian was born in New York City. He is of Scotch-Irish descent, and he was adopted by an Armenian-Italian-Finnish family. [1]
Ouzounian was educated at Regis High School, and then in 1970 received his B.A. in English Literature from Fordham University. He completed his M.A. studies in Theatre and Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia in 1972.
Ouzounian has worked in the world of the performing arts and arts journalism for over 50 years.
His journalism work has been seen in many major Canadian publications and is an in-demand public speaker. Starting in 2000, he was a theatre critic for the Toronto Star , Canada’s largest daily newspaper. He also wrote celebrity profiles and travel stories.
In the summer of 2003, McArthur & Company published Are You Trying to Seduce Me, Miss Turner?, a collection of the celebrity interviews he had conducted since joining the Toronto Star. He filed his final review for the Star in December 2015.
From 2002–13, Ouzounian was also in charge of reporting on and reviewing the Canadian theatre scene for Variety . In 2006, Toronto Life referred to him as "the city's most influential critic". [2]
For over five decades, Ouzounian has written, directed, or acted in over 300 productions, served as Artistic Director of five major Canadian theatres (Festival Lennoxville, Young People's Theatre, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Canadian Stage Company and Neptune Theatre), been an Associate Director of the Stratford Festival of Canada for four seasons, and worked as Harold Prince's assistant on the original Toronto production of The Phantom of the Opera .
Since retiring from The Star in 2015, his directing credits have included Napoleon (New York Musical Festival and Shaw Media Group, Seoul), Darling of the Day and Candide (Talk Is Free Theatre), Carrie: the Musical (Hart House Theatre), Atlantis (Sheridan College)and the concert productions of "Follies" and "A Little Night Music" (Royal Conservatory of Music).
Original musical theatre credits, written with his longtime collaborator Marek Norman, include:
The scripts to Dracula, Emily, and Larry's Party were published by McArthur & Company.
He has written the book for another musical retelling of the famous vampire legend. This one is called Dracula - Entre l'amour et la mort , starring Bruno Pelletier, and had its premiere in Montreal in February 2006 to rave notices and toured successfully throughout Quebec until December 2006, making its European debut in Lyon, France, in January 2008.
His earlier works for the stage include the 1978 off-Broadway revue A Bistro Car on the C.N.R. and musical adaptations of The Merry Wives of Windsor, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Macbeth, and Love's Labour's Lost. Original musicals include Olympiad, O, Juan de Fuca!, Reprise, Cornucopia, The Great Adventure and Hasten to Come Before Winter.
Ouzounian also wrote the plays Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are, The Chekhov Kids, British Properties, The City Show, and Westmount'. He has also written adaptations/translations of Scapin, Tartuffe and Encore Brel.
In 2009, he directed the Canadian premiere production of Jerry Springer: The Opera , at Hart House Theatre, in Toronto, which broke box-office records for the theatre. [3] Unlike other productions of the show, it was not targeted by protests, threats, or hate-mail.[ citation needed ]
From January 1990 through June 2004, Ouzounian was the host of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's musical theatre program Say It With Music, which aired every Sunday on CBC Radio 2 across Canada and worldwide on the internet. Author Bob Martin has often said that the character of Man In Chair in "The Drowsy Chaperone" was inspired by Ouzounian's broadcasts.
During the period from March 1991 through May 2000, he was also the theatre critic for CBC Radio One Toronto (formerly CBLA) reviewing shows on a weekly basis.
From 1995 to 2000, he was Creative Head of Arts at TVOntario, Canada's largest educational broadcaster, where his duties included hosting 104 episodes of the arts interview series Dialogue, and executive producing the three-time Gemini-nominated book series Imprint .
He also served as producer/host/interviewer for CBC Television on a 13-part series about the 50-year history of the Stratford Festival entitled Stratford Gold, which aired in the summer of 2002 and was published simultaneously in book form by McArthur & Company.
Starting in 2021, he created and directed a series of musical programs for the Stratford Festival's streaming network, Stratfest@Home: "Up Close and Musical", "Northern Tracks" and "Never Doubt I Love".
Ouzounian was President of the Board of the Arts Foundation of Toronto from 1996–98. He has served on the boards of Community Living Toronto and Surrey Place Foundation, as well as organizing fundraising galas for both organizations, including the popular series of “Night of Stars” Concerts for Community Living Toronto, featuring artists like Colm Wilkinson, Louise Pitre and The Barenaked Ladies.
Ouzounian has taught and/or directed at the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, the University of Winnipeg, Dalhousie University, George Brown College and Sheridan College.
From 2020 through 2023, he was employed by Lighthouse Immersive as their Creative Consultant, providing the books for Immersive Van Gogh, Immersive Klimt, Immersive Frida and Immersive Mozart, as well as working on their productions of Immersive Monet and the Impressionists, Immersive Treasures of the Vatican and Immersive King Tut.
He was made an honorary Doctor of Sacred Letters by Thorneloe University in 2003.
Ouzounian lives in downtown Toronto and has been married since 1977 to his wife, Pamela. They have two children.
Geraint Wyn Davies is a British-American stage, film and television actor. Born in Wales and educated in Canada, he became a citizen of the United States on 13 June 2006, having been sworn in by then Associate Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. His most famous role as the vampire-turned police detective Nick Knight in the Canadian television series Forever Knight.
The Stratford Festival is a theatre festival which runs from April to October in the city of Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Founded by local journalist Tom Patterson in 1952, the festival was formerly known as the Stratford Shakespearean Festival, the Shakespeare Festival and the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. The festival was one of the first arts festivals in Canada and continues to be one of its most prominent. It is recognized worldwide for its productions of Shakespearean plays.
Anne Of Green Gables: The Musical is a musical based on the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. The book was written by Don Harron exclusively, the music by Norman Campbell and the lyrics in a joint venture by Don Harron, Norman Campbell, Elaine Campbell and Mavor Moore. The musical was Canada's longest-running musical, having been performed annually from its opening in 1965 until 2019, with the planned 2020 and 2021 productions cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2014, it was officially recognized as the longest running annual musical theatre production in the world by Guinness World Records.
The Charlottetown Festival is a seasonal Canadian musical theatre festival which runs from late May to mid-October every year since 1965.
Martha Kathleen Henry was an American-born Canadian stage, film, and television actress. She was noted for her work at the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario.
Brian Ronald Macdonald was a Canadian dancer, choreographer and director of opera, theatre and musical theatre.
Alisa Palmer is a Canadian theatre director and playwright. She was the artistic director of Nightwood Theatre from 1993 to 2001. Palmer is currently the artistic director of the English section of the National Theatre School of Canada.
Michael Therriault is a Canadian actor. He attended Etobicoke School of the Arts in Toronto, Sheridan College in Oakville, and was a member of the inaugural season of the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre Training in Stratford, Ontario.
Desmond Steven McAnuff is the American-Canadian former artistic director of Canada's Stratford Festival and director of such Broadway musical theatre productions as Big River, The Who's Tommy and Jersey Boys.
Bruce Dow is an American actor, best known for his five featured roles on Broadway, his 12 seasons in leading roles at the Stratford Festival, his Dora Mavor Moore Awards-winning performances at Buddies in Bad Times, the world's largest and longest running LGBTQ theatre, his voicing the character of Max for Total Drama Pahkitew Island and his appearances on the Rick Mercer Report and Murdoch Mysteries. He also appeared on Corn & Peg as Captain Thunderhoof's arch enemy, the Bad Bronco. He also voices Sir Topham Hatt and Harold the Helicopter (US) in Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go.
Richard Jean Monette CM, DHum, LLD, was a Canadian actor and director, best known for his 14-season tenure as the longest-serving artistic director of the Stratford Festival of Canada from 1994 to 2007.
Yanna McIntosh, sometimes credited as Yanna MacIntosh, is a Jamaican-born Canadian television, movie and theatrical actress.
Michelle Giroux is a Canadian stage, television and film actress whose credits include numerous productions at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival over fourteen seasons.
Dracula: A Chamber Musical is a 1997 Canadian musical adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula. The book and lyrics are by Richard Ouzounian and the music and orchestration are by Marek Norman. After premiering at the Neptune Theatre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1997, Dracula in 1999 became the first Canadian musical to be staged at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.
Lindsay Thomas was a Canadian stage actress of Stratford, Ontario and Toronto theatre productions.
Peter Thomas Donaldson was a Canadian actor.
Michael Bawtree is a Canadian actor, director, author and educator.
Robert Latham Jeffrey was a Canadian singer, actor, director, producer and writer. He was known for his tenor range and lively interpretations for concert and musical stage.
Donna Feore is a Canadian choreographer and theatre director, most noted for her work with the National Arts Centre and the Stratford Festival.
Amanda Jeannette Bridel, known as AJ Bridel, is a Canadian actress and singer. She first rose to prominence as a finalist on Over the Rainbow, where she finished in third-place. Since then, Bridel starred as Lauren in the Canadian premiere of Kinky Boots at the Royal Alexandra Theatre and has appeared in several regional productions across Ontario. In 2022, Bridel started voicing the main character Pipp Petals in the My Little Pony series.
The Armenian Martin was hoping I was another haygagan (fellow countryman)... (... I was a Scotch-Irish kid adopted by an Armenian-Italian-Finnish family.)]
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