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| Former names | North York Performing Arts Centre (1993–94) Ford Centre for the Performing Arts (1994–98) Toronto Centre for the Arts (1998–2019) |
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| Address | 5040 Yonge Street Toronto,Ontario M2N 6R8 |
| Coordinates | 43°45′58″N79°24′52″W / 43.766159°N 79.414549°W /43.766159; -79.414549 |
| Owner | City of Toronto |
| Construction | |
| Opened | October 16, 1993 |
| Architect | Eberhard Zeidler |
| Website | |
| www | |
TheMeridian Arts Centre is aperforming arts venue in theNorth York district ofToronto,Ontario, Canada. It opened on October 16, 1993, as theNorth York Performing Arts Centre and was designed by Canadian architectEberhard Zeidler for musicals, theatre productions and otherperforming arts. At opening, North York awarded management of the centre toLivent, which sold the naming rights in 1994 toFord Motor Company of Canada. It became theFord Centre for the Performing Arts. Later, it debranded as theToronto Centre for the Arts.
In January 2019, TO Live (formerly Civic Theatres Toronto, a City of Toronto agency which manages and operates theSt. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, Toronto Centre for the Arts, and theSony Centre for the Performing Arts) announced a new sponsorship deal withMeridian Credit Union, which saw the theatre rebranded in September 2019.[1]
The building originally housed three theatres: the Main Stage Theatre with 1,727 seats, the George Weston Recital Hall with 1,036 seats, and the multi-purpose, 200-seat Studio Theatre. When Livent declared bankruptcy in 1998, theCity of Toronto government assumed control of the facility.[2]
The Main Stage was home toDancap Productions' Canadian production ofJersey Boys from August 2008 until August 2010. Prior toJersey Boys, the facility was the home of theAndrew Lloyd Webber musicalSunset Boulevard in 1995 and a 1993 production ofShow Boat that transferred toBroadway.[3]
After Dancap ceased operation, the centre had difficulty finding enough tenants for the Main Stage, and began a series of renovations from 2014 to 2016 that divided the Main Stage into two smaller theatres. The Greenwin Theatre seats 296 and was built on the original stage and backstage areas, while the remainder of the original auditorium became the Lyric Theatre, seating 576 and featuring LED backlit acoustic panels that can change colour with the lighting design.[4][5]
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