The Meridian Arts Centre is a performing arts venue in the

North York North York is a former township and city and is now one of the six administrative districts of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the northern area of Toronto, centred around Yonge Street, north of Ontario Highway 401. It is bounded by ...

district of

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. It opened on October 16, 1993, as the North York Performing Arts Centre and was designed by Canadian architect

Eberhard Zeidler Eberhard Zeidler may refer to: * Eberhard Heinrich Zeidler (1926–2022), German-Canadian architect * Eberhard Hermann Erich Zeidler (1940–2016), German mathematician {{hndis, Zeidler, Eberhard ...

for musicals, theatre productions and other

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which involve the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. P ...

. At opening, North York awarded management of the centre to

Livent The Live Entertainment Corporation of Canada, better known as Livent, was a theatre production company based in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in 1989 by former Cineplex Odeon executives Garth Drabinsky and Myron Gottlieb, the company initially found ...

, which sold the naming rights in 1994 to

Ford Motor Company of Canada Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited (Canadian French, French: ''Ford du Canada Limitée'') was founded on August 17, 1904, for the purpose of manufacturing and selling Ford cars in Canada. It was originally known as the Walkerville Wagon Works a ...

. It became the Ford Centre for the Performing Arts. Later, it debranded as the Toronto Centre for the Arts. In January 2019, TO Live (formerly Civic Theatres Toronto, a City of Toronto agency which manages and operates the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, Toronto Centre for the Arts, and the

Sony Centre for the Performing Arts Meridian Hall is a performing arts venue in Toronto, Ontario, and it is the largest soft-seat theatre in Canada. The facility was constructed for the City of Toronto municipal government and is currently managed by TO Live, an arm's-length a ...

) announced a new sponsorship deal with

Meridian Credit Union Meridian Credit Union Ltd. is a Canadian credit union. It was formed on 1 April 2005 through the merger of Niagara Credit Union and HEPCOE (''Hydro Electric Power Commission of Ontario Employees'') Credit Union. It is insured by the Financia ...

, which saw the theatre rebranded in September 2019.

Facility

The building originally housed three theatres: the Main Stage Theatre with 1,727 seats, the George Weston Recital Hall with 1,036 seats, and the multi-purpose, 200-seat Studio Theatre. When Livent declared bankruptcy in 1998, the

City of Toronto government The municipal government of Toronto ( incorporated as the City of Toronto) is the local government responsible for administering the city of Toronto in the Canadian province of Ontario. Its structure and powers are set out in the ''City of Toron ...

assumed control of the facility. The Main Stage was home to

Dancap Productions Dancap Productions was a Canadian theatrical production company, based in Toronto, Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 2007 by Aubrey Dan, the company presented large-scale musicals and plays in Toronto. The company initially found succ ...

' Canadian production of ''

Jersey Boys ''Jersey Boys'' is a jukebox musical with a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. It is presented in a documentary-style format that dramatizes the formation, success and breakup of the 1960s rock 'n' roll group The Four Seasons. The mus ...

'' from August 2008 until August 2010. Prior to ''Jersey Boys'', the facility was the home of the

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948) is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End theatre, West End and on Broadway theatre, Broad ...

musical ''

Sunset Boulevard Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, United States, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway (California), Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, Pacific Palisad ...

'' in 1995 and a 1993 production of ''

Show Boat ''Show Boat'' is a musical theatre, musical with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based on Edna Ferber's best-selling 1926 Show Boat (novel), novel of the same name. The musical follows the lives of the per ...

'' that transferred to

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

. After Dancap ceased operation, the centre had difficulty finding enough tenants for the Main Stage, and began a series of renovations from 2014 to 2016 that divided the Main Stage into two smaller theatres. The Greenwin Theatre seats 296 and was built on the original stage and backstage areas, while the remainder of the original auditorium became the Lyric Theatre, seating 576 and featuring LED backlit acoustic panels that can change colour with the lighting design. Meridian Arts Centre Lyric Theatre 2024.JPG, Lyric Theatre George Weston Recital Hall 2024.JPG, George Weston Recital Hall Meridian Arts Centre Lower Galleries 2024.JPG, Lower Galleries

References

External links

* {{Authority control Music venues in Toronto Performing arts centres in Canada Theatres in Toronto North York Eberhard Zeidler buildings Music venues completed in 1993 Theatres completed in 1993 1993 establishments in Ontario

Facility

See also

References

External links