Michael Rubinoff is known for championing new Canadian musicals, and was the originating producer on the hit Come From Away.Cole Burston/The Canadian Press
Michael Rubinoff, originating producer of the hit Canadian musical Come From Away, has been named the new artistic director of the Musical Stage Company in Toronto.
Rubinoff, an Olivier Award-winning and Tony Award-nominated producer with a track record of ushering new work to the next level, will officially start with the Musical Stage Company on June 30. His appointment follows a national search after the surprising announcement of predecessor Ray Hogg’s departure from the company late last year.
“There is no greater champion for Canadian musical theatre than Michael Rubinoff,” company founder Mitchell Marcus said in a statement. “He is a true visionary. The future of the Musical Stage Company couldn’t be brighter.”
“I really believe in Musical Stage, and the importance of the organization in the Canadian theatre ecosystem,” Rubinoff told The Globe on a Zoom call. “And I’m very fortunate that the board and I have an arrangement where I will be able to continue on the commercial projects I have already at different stages of development.”
For decades, Rubinoff has been a driving force behind major musical theatre initiatives and productions across Canada. In 2011, he founded the Canadian Music Theatre Project at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ont., and more recently has been serving as co-chair of the National Centre for New Musicals’ advisory committee, working closely with leadership at Hamilton’s Theatre Aquarius to incubate, develop and secure funding for new musicals.
On the commercial side of Canadian musical theatre, Rubinoff’s perhaps most polarizing project – The Last Timbit, a shamelessly advertorial musical commissioned by Tim Hortons – played in Toronto last year.
A key component of Rubinoff’s work as an independent producer has been extensive travel to festivals and conferences around the world, advocating for new Canadian musicals that, with the right partners, could become the next Come From Away.
According to Rubinoff, he’s has seen promising results from that outreach: Maggie, the Scottish-inspired musical by Johnny Reid, Matt Murray and Bob Foster that premiered at Theatre Aquarius in 2023, had a snazzy run at Connecticut’s Goodspeed Opera House last summer, helmed by Aquarius artistic director Mary Francis Moore.
“We’re working hard to build these relationships and put more Canadian work out there,” Rubinoff said. “That’s something I’m really excited about: Musical Stage has built an incredible foundation on which we can continue to leverage these opportunities. It’s an inspiring time to be doing this work.”
It’s safe to guess Come From Away played a crucial role in Rubinoff’s hire – the award-winning musical about a tiny town in Newfoundland is by far Canada’s most famous theatrical export. As artistic director of Musical Stage, Rubinoff hopes to cite Come From Away as an example of what countries outside the U.S. and Britain can achieve in the world of musical theatre – and why smaller stories can be worthy of financial risk.
“Obviously the Americans and the British are the dominant producers of musical theatre,” said Rubinoff, speaking from Korea during the K-Musical Market, an event that sees producers and licensing executives meet to strategize on the future of new musicals from around the world.
“I’m hoping this role will allow me to expand the things I’m passionate about, particularly these international collaborations,” he continued. “I want to ramp up the amount of development we can do with various writers. And I want to re-examine the projects that the company produces from the existing canon, and look at how we can see those shows through an even more distinctly Canadian lens.
“Canada is home, and my investment into our community here is rock solid,” he added. “I think this role has brought that into focus even more for me.”
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In the aftermath of Trump’s tariff threats, Canadian theatre’s relationship with American work has never been more fraught. Patrons across the country have called for renewed commitments to producing Canadian work – that’s something of a double-edged sword for big-budget musicals, the vast majority of which have historically been written, workshopped and exported from the U.S.
“Culturally, we see the world through a different lens than the Americans,” said Rubinoff. “So do our comedians, and our pop stars. Community is so very much at the centre of Canadian storytelling – and I think that’s a very exportable attribute in the work that we see from our writers.”
Under Rubinoff’s leadership, audiences can hope to see more Canadian musicals produced (and remounted) across Canada, as well as existing international musicals reimagined for a Canadian context. Rubinoff also intends to continue his advocacy for a Canadian live performing arts tax credit. The idea is an echo of the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit, which since being introduced in the mid-1990s has helped to stimulate a booming film industry north of the U.S. border.
“What does it mean to interpret some of the existing canon of work through a Canadian lens? Is it possible to do that with international partnerships? Could those productions springboard to other markets, but with Canadian talent? I’m a dreamer,” he said, laughing.
That said, Musical Stage will continue to create new work – but hopefully, says Rubinoff, at a larger scale.
“I think anything we can do to support our writers, I’m interested in,” he said. “I hope we can expand commercial producers and investors that are interested in taking the shows once we’ve developed them and given them initial productions. I want to expand the pipeline.”
