He’s the guy Toronto theatre-goers love to hate every holiday season. For more than a quarter of a century Canadian actor and producer Ross Petty has been the target of extreme heckling as the villain in his annual pantomime.
“I put one foot onstage and the whole audience goes crazy booing me,” Petty says, admitting he’s probably the only actor around who actually enjoys being jeered at.
This year is sure to be no different: Petty is set to play Ogopogo the evil sea wizard in his production of The Little Mermaid, a musical adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s timeless fairy tale.
Make no mistake, though Petty’s production is based loosely on the fish-focused tale, the content is largely Canadian. The Little Mermaid herself — played by Stratford musical theatre star Chilina Kennedy — has been relocated to Toronto Harbour, and Petty’s villainous character is modelled after a lake monster reportedly seen in central B.C.
After playing his characters in drag for the past two years — he played the evil stepmother in Snow White last season — Petty decided it was time to ditch his feminine garb for something more masculine … and scaly.
“I don’t always want to be in a dress,” he says. “Ogopogo is a decidedly male evil presence of the water world.”
One of the reasons Petty continues producing pantomimes from year to year, through his company Ross Petty Productions, is to witness how purely entertaining — and engaging — his creations are to his audiences.
Spectators are encouraged to yell and cheer, and children are invited onstage to be part of the action.
“It’s such an accessible way to see theatre,” Petty says about the panto experience.
Petty has a knack for casting a diverse array of Canadian talent in his shows.
This year, Canadian Idol season one finalist Marc Devigne plays the Handsome Prince while fan favourite Dan Chameroy returns as Dame Plumbum (re-cast from last year’s Snow White as the Little Mermaid’s aunt). Redhead beauty Jordan Clark, winner of So You Think You Can Dance Canada season four, will make an appearance as Ogopogo’s assistant.
“I’m delighted with the cast I have,” Petty says.
Despite the shows’ colourful sets, fantastical imagery and fairy tale storylines, Petty says that a majority of his audience tends to be adults.
“We involve a lot of humour for adults — it flies right over the kids’ heads,” Petty says, adding that the actors leave room for ad lib commentary in each performance that ties into the local news of the day.
“We have a lot of Rob Ford references in our shows,” he says.
A performer at heart, Petty says he always knew he wanted to act.
Born in Winnipeg, from an early age he involved himself in drama clubs at school.
Though he studied English at the University of Manitoba, earning a bachelor of arts degree, Petty says he couldn’t wait to graduate and begin his career.
His mother was interested in theatre and was always supportive of his pursuits.
“She always said, ‘Hey, you love doing this, so let’s hope luck is on your side.’ ”
Hopping across the pond, Petty started his professional career in London, England where work opportunities seemed more plentiful. The first gig he landed was singing at a nightclub in Glasgow called Caesar’s Palace where he fronted a line of dancing ladies.
He also found work in London’s West End, performing in Belle Starr, a musical starring Betty Grable. He later sang in Paris, at the famed cabaret the Lido, for six months.
But he’d always harboured a dream to perform on Broadway and soon moved to New York City.
Living in Manhattan, Petty says, had a tremendous impact on how he approached his career. He immersed himself in the theatre world, saw every show he could and took acting and singing lessons.
“I took advantage of being in the environment of such a showbiz-focused city,” Petty says.
His tenacity paid off, and Petty made his Broadway debut in American playwright Arthur Kopit’s play Wings.
He also toured in a summer theatre production of Cole Porter’s Anything Goes, a riot of a show in which he starred along with screen legend Ginger Rogers and comedian Sid Caesar.
Petty found success on the small screen as well, landing a recurring role on the ABC daytime soap All My Children, playing the shady manager of a nightclub singer.
Despite a burgeoning career in the U.S., a touring production of Sweeney Todd (in which Petty played the title role) brought him to Toronto. The actor met his future wife, ballet dancer (and now artistic director of the National Ballet of Canada) Karen Kain at the Royal Alexandra Theatre while the show was in production there. Petty decided to stick around, and the couple married within a year. This year marks their 30th wedding anniversary.
Though he and Kain are busy with their own artistic pursuits, a weekly date night at a local restaurant near their home in North Toronto keeps them both grounded, Petty says.
“People’s lives are so complicated and busy,” he says. “To be able to sit at a table with your partner at end of the week and lay it all out there, I think it’s important.”
Shortly after he and Kain met, Petty began producing his own shows in Toronto. He did so, in part, because of the unpredictability of being an actor in show business.
“I didn’t always want to be at the mercy of casting directors and producers,” he says.
Eventually, his productions became part of the city’s holiday fabric.
He’s been producing his seasonal family musicals at The Elgin theatre for 18 years; before that he co-produced them at the Royal Alex.
“People come up to me saying, ‘My parents took me and now I’m taking my kids.’ It gives me great pride that I’ve been around all this time and given such pleasure to so many children,” Petty says.
Aside from his pantos, Petty still takes on roles in film and TV, as well as voice-over work.
The one constant theme throughout his career is that he’s almost always cast as the villain, he says. Although some performers resent being pigeonholed, Petty says he doesn’t mind.
“There’s something about my presence,” he says. “I’ve always played bad guys — they’re always the [most] interesting roles.”