Favourite Opera: Mozart’s MARRIAGE OF FIGARO

Toronto-born Mary Lou Fallis holds a unique position in Canada’s performance scene as the country’s foremost musical comedienne. Known to millions of CBC listeners across the country for her Diva Diaries, and to thousands of theatre-goers for her Primadonna series of one-woman shows, Fallis has single-handedly re-invented the classical music comedy genre.

Fallis is best known as the creator and interpreter of five one-woman shows: her award-winning, Dora-nominated Primadonna, based on her own life as a singer, and its sequel Primadonna’s First Farewell Tour; Emma, Queen of Song about the real-life Canadian diva Emma Albani; The Mrs. Bach Show hosted by Anna Magdalena, wife of J.S. Bach (which she has performed for 5,000 organists at Radio City Music Hall); and Ms. Mozart, the story of Wolfgang’s sister Nannerl (created for the 1991 Mozart bicentennial).

Fallis balances a teaching post at the University of Western Ontario with her busy performance schedule. Recent seasons have seen her in a variety of engagements around the world, from Japan to Toronto, where she appeared as The Aviatrix in The Drowsy Chaperone. Other recent Canadian engagements include performances of Ms. Mozart with the National Arts Centre Orchestra and the Edmonton Symphony, and appearances at the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival and the Indian River Festival in Prince Edward Island. Her show Primadonna II: The First Farewell Tour enjoyed a month-long run at CanStage; and last season she was invited to perform Mrs. Bach with the Tafelmusik Orchestra.