Ross Petty and Karen Kain have been the titans behind Toronto’s most popular stage productions for decades. Kain has spent 50 years with the National Ballet of Canada, first as a principal dancer and then as an artistic director of the company. Petty created his annual pantomime theatre tradition, Ross Petty Productions. Now, Kain has announced her retirement, and Petty has an announcement of his own — after 25 years, this season’s Ross Petty Production, Peter’s Final Flight, at Elgin Theatre, will be the final one. Ahead of the Dec. 2 debut of the musical, Petty shared how he and Kain met and how they’ve supported each other throughout their careers.
How they met
The year was 1982. I had been living in New York for eight years, and was cast in the title role of Stephen Sondheim’s brilliant musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. We played all through the U.S., and the final stop of the run was Toronto’s Royal Alexandra Theatre. I had heard that Karen Kain was a wonderful ballerina, and, through a mutual friend, I called to invite her to see the show. She was leaving to dance in Italy the next day, but something about our conversation convinced her to come to the Royal Alex that night. She came to the theatre, left for Italy, and the Sweeney Todd run ended in Toronto. I left a message on her voice mail: “I’m still in Toronto for one reason only. Call me.”
The first date
She did and we had our first date at the former Fenton’s Restaurant. We travelled between New York City and Toronto for the next few months and were married within the year on May 28, 1983.
The wedding and honeymoon
The marriage was at St. Clement’s Church in Toronto, and the reception was at the Windsor Arms Hotel. The honeymoon was in a villa about half an hour outside Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, overlooking Mismaloya Beach.
Careers and marriage
A theatre producer from the U.K. saw the amount of media that our wedding attracted and asked Karen and me to be the guest stars in a family musical (English pantomime) at the Royal Alex Theatre in 1984. That was the first time we worked together and fell in love with the wonderful entertainment that provided as much enjoyment for adults as for children. We did several shows at the Royal Alex over the Christmas holidays with stars such as Honor Blackman (Pussy Galore in the Bond film Goldfinger) and Andrew Sachs (Manuel from the TV series Fawlty Towers). I’m still producing these shows at the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre 25 years later. Karen continued her brilliant career as prima ballerina of the National Ballet of Canada and went on to become the artistic director of the company for 15 years. This past June, her version of the classic Swan Lake was a major success for the ballet, and Karen celebrated her 50th anniversary with the company. Now retired, she remains the artistic director emerita.
With this December’s family musical at the Elgin Theatre, I have announced that it will also be my farewell production and that I’ll return one last time as Captain Hook.
Looking to the future
The future is always an unknown, but finally we’ll be able to fully enjoy our home in north Toronto and our cottage in Caledon.
