Actor, producer: Ross Petty

The Performers Podcast

Ross Petty is one of Canada's most successful and enduring theatrical impresarios. For the past 20 years he’s been producing family musicals at Toronto’s historic Elgin theatre. The shows are in the tradition of the British holiday Pantomime, where actors ad lib and the audience interacts with the antics on stage. If you’ve ever produced a show you’ll want to listen because Ross talks about how he went from being an actor in the show to taking over as producer, getting sponsors, hiring writers, actors, being the driving force behind one of Canada’s most successful, ongoing theatrical events and how he recovered when he lost money. I forgot to mention as well as doing all that Ross also stars in the shows, wearing a dress. Ross has performed at Le Lido in Paris and appeared with Betty Grable in the London West End musical Belle Starr. He made his Broadway debut in Arthur Kopit's Wings, created the role of Eddie Dorrance on All My Children, and co-starred with Ginger Rogers and Sid Caesar in a national tour of Cole Porter’s Anything Goes.