Editor's Note: This story was previously posted on StratfordToday.ca.
NEWS RELEASE
STRATFORD FESTIVAL
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The Stratford Festival is sorry to announce that Bobby Garcia has had to withdraw from the 2025 season for health reasons. We are fortunate that Tracey Flye is able to step in as director of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
“We wish Bobby all the very best for his recovery,” says Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino. “We were looking forward to warmly welcoming him to Stratford and still hope that we will soon see his work on our stages.
“We feel fortunate indeed that a director of Tracey’s calibre was available to take over the reins. We know she will bring a steady hand to the project, honouring the work Bobby and the creative team have already done, while infusing it with her own fabulous inspiration.”
Flye is an award-winning director and choreographer. In returning for her fourth season with the Festival, she will be making her Stratford directorial debut. She previously served as choreographer for the 2010 productions of Evita and Kiss Me Kate as well as the musical stager for King of Thieves that same season. Earlier in her career, she was the assistant choreographer and dance captain for the 1999 production of West Side Story, in which she also performed.
Flye has had a 12-year association with the legendary rock band Queen as a director, choreographer and tour director for various productions of their hit musical We Will Rock You, working on the Toronto, South Africa, Asia and U.S. national and Broadway tours.
Her directing credits include Kelly vs Kelly for Musical Stage Co.; Ring Of Fire for the Citadel Theatre and Theatre Aquarius; ONCE for The Grand Theatre and the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre; Million Dollar Quartet for the Charlottetown Festival; Buyer & Cellar and Venus in Fur for Alberta Theatre Projects; and Cabaret, Jane Eyre, The Penelopiad and The 39 Steps for RMTC. She was also Resident Director for Warhorse and ONCE for Mirvish Productions.
Her choreography and staging credits include Billy Elliot at the RMTC; The Drowsy Chaperone for Theatre Calgary and RMTC; Next to Normal for Musical Stage Co.; West Side Story and Evita for the Vancouver Opera; and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Boys in the Photograph for Mirvish.
The Stratford Festival’s 2025 season features As You Like It, Annie, Sense and Sensibility, Dangerous Liaisons, Macbeth, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Anne of Green Gables, The Winter’s Tale, Forgiveness, Ransacking Troy and The Art of War. For tickets and more information, visit www.stratfordfestival.ca or call the box office at 1.800.567.1600.
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