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Michael Rubinoff

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Michael Rubinoff
Born1977 (age 47–48)[1]
EducationUniversity of Western Ontario (LL.B)
Occupation(s)Theatrical producer, lawyer

Michael Rubinoff is a Canadian theatre producer and lawyer, who has produced several musical theatre productions across Canada and the United States. He established the Canadian Music Theatre Project (CMTP) in 2011, which was an incubator for developing and workshopping new Canadian musicals.[2]

Personal life

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Rubinoff attended University of Western Ontario, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science.[3] He also graduated with a law degree in 2001 from the University of Western Ontario.[4] While enrolled as a student, Rubinoff ran as an independent candidate in the London North Centre riding against Joe Fontana during the 1997 federal election.[4] In his final year of law school, he also directed the university's production of Blood Brothers.[3][5]

Career

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Law career

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After receiving his law degree, Rubinoff articled with Goodman and Carr in 2001.[3] He also worked as a lawyer in private practice in Toronto, mainly working as a commercial real estate lawyer.[3] He also worked as an entertainment law associate.[1]

Rubinoff left his law practice in 2010 so that he could become an associate dean of the visual and performing arts department at Sheridan College.[6] In addition, Rubinoff's experience producing and presenting small to mid-sized musicals in Toronto influenced his decision to leave law to instead work in the entertainment industry and develop new Canadian musicals.[4][6]

Musical theatre producer

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In August 2002, Rubinoff presented his first musical, a local production of A Chorus Line, which played at the Jane Mallett Theatre.[1] He put on the musical using his own personal savings. The musical was presented during the time in which Rubinoff finished his articling at Goodman and Carr and being called to the bar in the fall of 2002.[1] The musical became the highest grossing show to ever play at the theatre, until Rubinoff's production of Evita, which played there in 2003.[7]

Following this, Rubinoff began producing small off-Broadway versions of plays in Toronto. In 2003, Rubinoff co-produced This Is Our Youth with the Canadian Stage Company, which was directed by Woody Harrelson.[7] In 2006, he produced Boygroove, which won a Dora Mavor Moore Award.[8] He also produced and presented Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead, which starred Jake Epstein and Tatiana Maslany, and Love, Loss, and What I Wore, which starred Mary Walsh.[3] Rubinoff was also a producer of the 2007 Toronto production of Evil Dead: The Musical, which ran for sixteen months.[9]

While still practicing as a lawyer, Rubinoff approached Sankoff and Hein with his idea for a musical about the the planes that were unexpectedly ordered to land at Gander International Airport following the September 11 attacks. They began working on the musical, Come from Away, which was then workshopped and developed at Sheridan College under Rubinoff's guidance. Rubinoff is an originating producer of Come from Away, which has become a critical and box office success. It has played on Broadway, in the West End, Canada, and Australia, among other countries.

In 2016, Rubinoff began developing a musical about Norman Bethune, in partnership with Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre.[10] According to Rubinoff, this would be the first Canadian-Chinese musical.[11] By 2019, the partnership with China was paused over Canada-China political tensions although the musical has still been in development.[12]

In 2023, Rubinoff produced Maggie, a musical with music by Johnny Reid, which premiered at Theatre Aquarius in Hamilton, Ontario.[13] In 2024, the musical played at the Goodspeed Opera House, to critical acclaim.[14]

In 2024, Rubinoff partnered with Tim Hortons to produce The Last Timbit, a musical in celebration of the company's 60th anniversary. The musical played at the Elgin Theatre in June 2024, and was released for streaming on Crave later that year.[15]

Canadian Music Theatre Project

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While he was an associate dean, Sheridan College transitioned the music theatre performance program from a three-year diploma to a four-year bachelor's degree.[2] This prompted Rubinoff to establish the Canadian Music Theatre Project (CMTP). The CMTP pays musical theatre composers and book writers to further develop their musical with the fourth-year students of the musical theatre program.[2] As part of the program, they receive a reading, a staged workshop presentation, and a demo recording.[2]

The first musical that was developed under this program was Come from Away, which has gone on to be a critical and box office success internationally.[2][16] The musical was conceived by Rubinoff and written by Irene Sankoff and David Hein.

Since then, Rubinoff and CMTP have helped develop approximately 30 new musicals. Some other notable works developed by CMTP include The Theory of Relativity (2012), Grow (2016), Kelly v. Kelly (2018), Maggie (2019), and Almost a Full Moon (2020).[16][17]

In April 2021, Rubinoff resigned from his position with CMTP and Sheridan College, after which Sheridan College launched an independent, third-party panel to examine the overall music theatre performance program.[16] The CMTP has since been inactive, although Sheridan College has developed new Canadian musicals through other programs such as Theatre Sheridan and their First Drafts program.[16]

Theatre credits

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Honours and awards

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At the 2017 Tony Awards, Rubinoff was nominated for a Tony Award as a producer of Come from Away, which was nominated for Best Musical.

In 2017, Rubinoff was named a Canadian of the Year by the Canadian Club of Toronto.[18]

At the 2019 Laurence Olivier Awards, Rubinoff received an Olivier Award as a producer of Come from Away, which won Best New Musical.

In 2023, Rubinoff was awarded the Meritorious Service Decoration by the Governor General of Canada for his work in conceiving and developing the musical, Come from Away.[19]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Vardanis, Christina (6 August 2002). "Setting his own stage". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e Nestruck, J. Kelly (2 October 2015). "A homegrown musical-theatre movement emerges across Canada". Globe and Mail. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e Raymer, Elizabeth (6 February 2017). "Michael Rubinoff: Finding his stage". Canadian Lawyers Magazine. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
  4. ^ a b c Belanger, Joe (17 May 2017). "Guest of honour at the Grand Theatre Gala, ex-Londoner Michael Rubinoff helped create the Broadway hit Come From Away". London Free-Press. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
  5. ^ Melnitzer, Julius (11 April 2017). "Is law school worth it? Non-practising lawyers say yes". Financial Post. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
  6. ^ a b Maniloff, Randy; Vandenberg, Elizabeth (11 April 2018). "Declarations: The Coverage Opinions interiew with Michael Rubinoff". Coverage Opinions. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
  7. ^ a b Whitnall, Catherine (16 March 2010). "Evil Dead producer takes director's chair for local youth production". Peterborough Examiner. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  8. ^ Jones, Kenneth (27 June 2006). "Precious Stuff: Lord of the Rings Wins Seven Dora Awards in Toronto". Playbill. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  9. ^ Ouzounian, Richard (6 September 2008). "Evil Dead meets its bloody end at last". Toronto Star. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  10. ^ Bkila, John (8 September 2016). "Oakville's Sheridan teams up with China for Dr. Norman Bethune musical". Inside Halton. Retrieved 29 December 2024.
  11. ^ Wiens, Mary (9 March 2017). "Sheridan music theatre program hopes for more hits to follow Come From Away". CBC. Retrieved 29 December 2024.
  12. ^ Wong, Tony (27 December 2019). "Can a musical about Norman Bethune be Canada's next 'Come From Away'?". Toronto Star. Retrieved 29 December 2024.
  13. ^ Macleod, Meredith (18 April 2023). "Maggie is a universal tale of family sacrifice". Hamilton City Magazine. Retrieved 29 December 2024.
  14. ^ Culwell-Block, Logan (23 January 2024). "Goodspeed Adds 3 New Musicals to Upcoming Season at the Terris Theatre". Playbill. Retrieved 27 December 2024.
  15. ^ Nestruck, J. Kelly (11 July 2024). "The Last Timbit, a Tim Hortons stage musical, lands a second life streaming on Crave". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 29 December 2024.
  16. ^ a b c d Nestruck, J. Kelly (7 October 2022). "Why has Sheridan College's Canadian Music Theatre Project, the birthplace of Come From Away, called it quits?". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 29 December 2024.
  17. ^ "Maggie". Buzz PEI. 8 May 2023. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  18. ^ "Sheridan's Michael Rubinoff Among Canadian Club of Toronto's Canadians of the Year". Sheridan College. 13 December 2017. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  19. ^ "Meritorious Service Decorations (Civil Division) – December 07, 2023". The Governor General of Canada. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
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