There’s no mandatory retirement for a performing artist. Find the joy in each day and celebrate it.

I love the byline for Well Seasoned Productions website: “Where age is just a number…a musical theatre number.”

 The company’s mandate is attainable and sustainable. According to the website, Well Seasoned Productions aims to promote the work of professional Canadian theatre artists aged 55 and better by providing work opportunities so that senior entertainment professionals can continue to enjoy and pursue their careers while maintaining financial sustainability. 

 Inspiration, celebration, and promotion are part of the company’s mandate with these like-minded associates and supportive Board of Directors. 

Well Seasoned encourages all artists to network with other organizations to create a strong, united Canadian identity. Most importantly, while Well Seasoned will continue to create professional productions that entertain, the shows will create meaningful intergenerational connections for artists of ALL AGES. 

The company also brings its ‘Musical Musings’ concerts to seniors’ residences and social clubs. Personal interaction is vital for everyone, including the artists. Well Seasoned invites its audiences to meet the performers after each revue, so there’s immediate feedback from audience reactions. 

 Love, Love, Love it.

 Celebrating 50 years in Canadian entertainment, a proud Dora Mavor Moore Award winner, and a Jessie Richardson Award nominee for On Tap, Well Seasoned board member Lesley Ballantyne (producer and director of the upcoming With A Song In My Heart) took a few minutes to answer a few questions via email. 

Well Seasoned was not the company’s original title. According to Ballantyne, the first name was ‘The Act 2 Revue,’ and it was devoted to promoting senior artists. A few months later, the Board of Directors at the time was contacted by the Act II Studio at Toronto’s Chang School of Continuing Education. The Chang School thought the Act 2 Revue might cause confusion for its students.  

So it was back to brainstorming names again.

It’s here where Lesley explains the name change: 

“Kenneth (Kenny) Wicks, a wonderful actor, by this time living at PAL (Performing Arts Lodges on Toronto’s Esplanade), had started to refer to himself as well-seasoned. That struck a chord with me. I found we could obtain .ca and .com domain names. Well Seasoned Productions was founded with an Ontario business licence.” 

Well-Seasoned worked as an ad hoc collective until John McKellar gave the company the pro bono gift of incorporation as a not-for-profit in 2020, just prior to his retirement, with the challenge that it would be Lesley’s job to secure charitable status.

We all know what happened in 2020. The arrival of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic led to the closure of all theatres.

A bonus for Lesley, however: “I was able to spend nine months learning and working on the application and had success.”   

So far, Well Seasoned has produced the musical revues with funding from the Federal New Horizons for Seniors Grants. That funding covers the rental of the theatre, rehearsal locations and some other costs.  The artists sign on to the Artists’ Collective Policy of the Canadian Actors’ Equity Association and are paid a split of the box office.

Our online conversation then turned to the upcoming show, With a Song In My Heart, at Toronto’s VideoCabaret Deanne Taylor Theatre. Produced and directed by Lesley with Musical Direction by Kieren MacMillan, the cast includes: Trish Adams, Lisa Atkinson, Mark Cassius, Michael Donald, Gretchen Helbig, Janelle Hutchison, Cassel Miles and Jeffrey Prentice.  (Some names I recognize over the years.)

To see other members of the production team for Song, click: https://www.wellseasonedproductions.ca/with-a-song-in-my-heart.php 

Lesley had an idea for the opening medley, and MacMillan made all the songs into a beautiful arrangement. The two asked the cast members for their suggestions for material that reflected the show’s title. The songs range from lively toe-tappers with some dancing to soul-baring stories from the artists’ lives.

The theme of With a Song in My Heart: “Find the joy in each day and celebrate it.”

The show, nevertheless, hit a few bumps along the way.

Lesley explains:

“We actually rehearsed the show in September and October 2025 and were ready to go. We had set the lighting cues in the theatre. As the cast arrived on the Wednesday evening for their first stumble-run, the theatre experienced a flood!”

Obviously, the performances were cancelled and re-booked for mid-February 2026. In mid-January, the creative team and cast learned that the repairs wouldn’t be completed by the February 2026 dates. There was a scramble to find an available, affordable theatre:

“VideoCabaret was welcoming, and we’re looking forward to the ‘third time’s the charm” for ‘With A Song in My Heart.’”

What’s next for Lesley Ballantyne once With A Song In My Heart concludes at VideoCabaret?

She comically said that Associate Director Mark Candler insisted she take a long nap. Lesley will take a week off to recover and do some gardening. Hopefully, the weather will be nice for her.

Once her week-long hiatus ends, she’ll be back at it, planning the next musical revue, Let There Be Love. She will also begin work with Seasoned’s community choir in partnership with South Riverdate Community Health Centre, as the company has received funding for both projects in 2026-2027.

With A Song In My Heart runs May 2 to May 10 at VideoCabaret Deanne Taylor Theatre, 10 Busy Street, Toronto.

For in-person ticket assistance, call ‭(416) 832-0342.

For online ticket purchase: https://www.eventbrite.ca/o/22884694305 

To learn more about Well Seasoned Productions: https://www.wellseasonedproductions.ca/ 

Photo of Lesley Ballantyne courtesy of Well Seasoned Productions web page.