A few interesting notes on the year 2000.

Filming in Toronto reached a new high. No wonder the studios and unions want action taken against pictures being made in Canada.

Stars that have, are, and will be shooting films and TV series in Toronto in the past year.

And I don’t have to tell you that the possible strikes of actors, writers and directors have made the studios film a mountain of material-just in case.

Can you believe the length of this list! And I have only included star names!!!

NATASHA RICHARDSON	ALICIA SILVERSTONE	LIAM NEESON
MARIAH CAREY	BILLY RAY CYRUS	RICHARD DREYFUS
SHARON GLESS	RAY LIOTTA	JASON PATRIC
MARLO THOMAS	CAROL ALT	PETER COYOTE
GRAHAM GREENE	KATHIE LEE GIFFORD	JOHN HURD
GREGORY HINES	HOWIE MANDEL	LUKE PERRY
ERIC ROBERTS	SISSY SPACEK	AL WAXMAN
DONALD SUTHERLAND	PETA WILSON	VANESSA WILLIAMS
GILL BELLOWS	BILLY CONNOLLY	GENA ROWLANDS
MARTIN SHORT	KAREN ALLEN	TIA CARRERE
ANNA HECHE	MIM ROGERS	BERNADETTE PETERS
STEVEN SEAGAL	CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER	ERIC STOLTZ
DENZEL WASHINGTON	NATALIE COLE	ANGELA BASSETT
VICTOR GARBER	BURT REYNOLDS	DIAHANN CARROLL
JOHN CUSACK	JUDY DAVIS	GINA GERSHON
LOU GOSSETTE	TIMOTHY HUTTON	SYLVESTER STALLONE
ESTELLE WARREN	ANNE BANCROFT	CORBIN BERNSEN
JAMES COBURN	WENDY CREWSON	WHOOPI GOLDBERG
REBECCA DEMORNAY	LAUREN HOLLY	NICK MANCUSO
RITA MORENO	MICKEY ROONEY	BROOKE SHIELDS
ELI WALLACH	MEAT LOAF	WILLIAM H. MACY
ANDREA MARTIN	LESLIE NIELSON	ALAN ALDA
TIM ALLEN	ED BEGLEY JR.	SARAH MICHELL GELLAR
CHRISTIAN SLATER	DAVID HASSELHOFF	SWOOSIE KURTZ
DIANE KEATON	NATHAN LANE	ROSIE PEREZ
DELLA REESE	JANE SEYMOUR	JENNIFER TILLEY
JON VOIGHT	SAMUEL L. JACKSON	HALLE BERRY
IAN MCKELLEN	PATRICK STEWART	ALEC BALDWIN
OLYMPIA DUKAKIS	PETER FONDA	MELANIE GRIFFITH
DAVID HEMBLEN	MARCIA GAY HARDEN	DOMINIQUE SWAIN

As probably know, Toronto is the home of two of the world’s largest and most popular theatre Festivals. The Stratford and Shaw Festivals have already announced their 2001 schedules and are currently casting same. Rehearsals start mid-March. Anyone interested in acting, or working backstage, in these Festivals should send the usual resumes to:

The Stratford Festival	The Shaw Festival
P.O. Box 520	P.O. Box 774
Stratford, ON	Niagara-on-The-Lake, ON
N5A 6V2	L0S 1J0
Attn: Richard Monette	Attn: Christophr Newton

The STRATFORD FESTIVAL had a very successful season with the following plays:

HAMLET	AS YOU LIKE IT	THE THREE MUSKETEERS
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF	TITUS ANDRONICUS	MEDEA
ELIZABETH REX	PATIENCE: IN CONCERT	TARTUFFE
THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK	OSCAR REMEMBERED	THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

The productions of FIDDLER and ELIZABETH REX were critically acclaimed! You could hear the reviewers cheering for miles around. And favorite BRENT CARVER starred as “Tevye” the fiddler. An amazing performance for this slight matinee idol figure who won a Tony for playing the gay window dresser. Actress MARTHA HENRY directed the new play by author TIMOTHY FINDLEY and with BRENT CARVER playing the actor who performed women’s roles and DIANE D’AQUILA as the almost masculine “Queen Elizabeth 1” who tangle dangerously throughout the new drama had everyone, critics included shouting bravos at this pair of incredible actors.

The SHAW FFESTIVAL also had a very good eason but did not equal the success of the STRATFORD Festival mainly due to weak productions of LORD OF THE FLlES and TIME AND THE CONWAYS. But they did exceedingly well with productions like:

DOCTOR’S DILEMMA	SHE LOVES ME	THE MATCHMAKER
EASY VIRTUE	THE APPLE CART	STILL LIFE
A ROOM OF ONE’S OWN	A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE	SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR

And since the demise of LIVENT ENTERTAINMENT, the MIRVISH PRODUCTIONS organization seem to have a stranglehold on major theatre production presentations in Canada.

They opened THE LION KING and MAMA MIA in their two theatres late last spring and these two productions have been playing to sold out houses ever since and there seems to be no let up on advance sales. Predictions are that both productions will play at least two years each.

This left the Mirvishes with no theatres for their usual subscription series so they have taken to renting three other large theatres to present their series. The first two were the touring DAME EDNA and currently the London West End hit, STONES IN HIS POCKETS. No seats were available for either show. It seems the Mirvishes can do no wrong!

Mirvish Productions hold regular auditions for replacements for LION KING and MAMA MIA.

Send resumes to the following address:

MIRVISH PRODUCTIONS

260 King St. W.

Toronto, ON

M5V 1H9

Attn: Receptionist

May I take this opportunity to wish all CALLBACK readers a Happy and successful New Year!!!!!