Archive for the 'General Anne News' CategoryPage 3 of 3

Your new Anne and its new Canadian broadcast home

Published
by
Shelly
on October 16, 2007
in Anne Prequel, General Anne News, General Avonlea News and Special Coverage
. 0 Comments

General Anne NewsGeneral Avonlea NewsAnne Prequel I had made a post about the identity of the new Anne a few weeks ago but deleted it as it was mainly based on rumours spread around Youtube and because no formal announcement had been made.

I can now confirm the Youtube rumours are true. The young Anne will be played in the prequel by 12-year-old Toronto-based actress Hannah Endicott-Douglas, whose acting credits include The Good Witch and Samantha: An American Girl. Portraying Anne as a 50-year-old will be Oscar®-nominated actress Barbara Hershey (Beaches, The Portrait of a Lady). Rachel Blanchard (the TV series Clueless, Where the Truth Lies) is also among the cast, playing a woman named Louise.

The three-hour movie will air next year on CTV. Broadcast rights for other countries are unknown at this time.

In addition, CTV has also acquired broadcast rights to the the first three Anne miniseries (as well as a documentary about them), Road to Avonlea (as well as Happy Christmas Miss King), Anne: The Animated Series, Anne: Journey to Green Gables (the animated movie), The Magic Flute, and Mozart Decoded: The Magic Flute Diaries Documentary. The former two productions had their first Canadian runs, and some re-broadcasts, on CBC.

CTV press release
Toronto Star
Playback Daily

Anne and Gilbert on tour

Published
by
Shelly
on August 27, 2007
in General Anne News
. 1 Comment

General Anne News Anne and Gilbert, the musical based largely on Anne of Avonlea and Anne of the Island, will be going on tour next year.

Producer Campbell Webster hopes to kick it off at the Winter Garden Theatre in Toronto. A separate theatre company will mount the musical in Ontario; there will be another production in Japan; and there will be yet another mounting in Michigan.

This summer, Anne and Gilbert was put on in Gananoque, Ontario, to much success. Its run will close on September 1. The current PEI run, being staged in Summerside, will wrap for the year on September 19.

CBC.ca Arts
Official website for Anne and Gilbert

Co-creator of Anne musical dead

Published
by
Shelly
on August 13, 2007
in General Anne News
. 0 Comments

General Anne News Elaine Campbell, who had co-created the long-running musical version of Anne of Green Gables, passed away this past Friday in Charlottetown at the age of 82.

She was responsible for writing the lyrics to the musical’s songs, and was part of the original team &emdash; which included her husband Norman as well as the legendary Mavor Moore, Don Harron (now the sole surviving member), and Alan Lund &emdash; that brought Lucy Maud Montgomery’s much-lauded novel to life at the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown back in 1964. She also wrote lyrics for three other musicals and lent her hand to specials for CBC Television, Rideau Hall, and two Royal galas. Perhaps better known as a patron of the arts, she also served in World War II with the Royal Canadian Air Force, was a part of the National Ballet of Canada, was a Jane Austen scholar, and loved to travel (her last trip being to Libya).

There will be a private memorial on the Island, and then a public one later on in her winter home of Toronto.

CBC Arts

Charmion King-Pinsent ~ 1925-2007

Published
by
Shelly
on January 8, 2007
in General Actor News and General Anne News
. 0 Comments

Charmion King

On Saturday, Charmion King-Pinsent passed away at the age of 81.

While Anne fans will remember her as Aunt Josephine Barry in the first two Anne miniseries and Wind at My Back devotees will remember her as Mrs. Whitney (the principal of New Bedford’s school), she is perhaps better-known for her work in the theatre.

Charmion’s first stage performance was the title character in Hart House Theatre’s production of St. Joan in 1947. She also spent several seasons on stage at Stratford and appeared in the 1960 Broadway production of Love and Libel. Two years later, she met her husband (and former RTA and Wind guest star) Gordon Pinsent while playing in The Madwoman of Chaillot. Many years later, in 1988, she would appear onstage with daughter Leah in Emphysema for the Tarragon Theatre.

Perhaps her trademark performance was as Jessica Logan, the temperamental actress attempting a comeback in David French’s show-business comedy Jitters. King originated the part at Tarragon in 1979 and later played it in New Haven’s Long Wharf Theatre in the same year, as well as in a Toronto revival in 1986.

Anyone who ever saw King in the role never forgot her. She managed to be earthy, grand, theatrical, touching, warm and waspish all at the same time. “Jessica’s a lot like me and she’s very different from me,” she once volunteered, “and I’m damned if I’m going to tell you which is which.”

Her last theatre appearance took place in February 2006 as part of Soulpepper’s lauded production of Our Town, which she was planning to perform in again this season.

On screen, Charmion’s first appearance was in the teleplay Wait for Me in 1957. She’d also appeared in episodes of The Adventures of Tugboat Annie, The Forest Rangers, Room 222, Katts and Dog, and PSI Factor, among other TV series. On the big screen, credits include Last Night, Who Has Seen the Wind, Shadow Dancing, and her final film A Promise.

She has asked that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made in her honour to the Actors’ Fund of Canada.

Toronto Star obituary
Internet Movie Database
Actors’ Fund of Canada