Festival (initially titled Festival '61) is a Canadian entertainment anthology television series which aired on CBC Television for nine seasons from 1960 to 1969.
The series showcased cultural productions across a range of theatrical, literary, and musical offerings. Classic and contemporary plays, operas, ballet, orchestral compositions, and television adaptions were sourced from both Canadian and international repertoire, and performed by professional companies such as the Stratford Festival, the Metropolitan Opera, and the National Ballet of Canada, among others.
CBC Television aired dramatic and musical anthology series such as Scope and Folio during the 1950s. Robert Allen, a producer on Folio, became supervising producer of the new Festival series.
As an anthology series, Festival did not have main, regular, or recurring cast members, but instead, a number of notable actors who were regularly cast in multiple episodes across its nine-season run.
For instance, Gillie Fenwick appeared in two dozen episodes, and Joseph Shaw and Paul Harding a dozen each. Donald Ewer, Budd Knapp, and Leo Leyden, all appeared in nine episodes. And with seven episodes each, James Edmond, Arch McDonnell, Rex Sevenoaks, and Drew Thompson were also series regulars.
Two actors would go on to appear in the James Bond film series. Sean Connery who played the title role in Macbeth (1961) which re-aired on Festival in 1962, took the role of James Bond in 1962. Joseph Wiseman appeared on Festival twice in 1961 before his role as Dr. No opposite Connery.
Star Trek actors appeared well before its debut episode in 1966, including William Shatner (Kirk), James Doohan (Scotty), and two who would portray Klingons, actors John Colicos as the recurring character Kor, and Christopher Plummer as Chang in ' (1991).
Notable actors appearing in five or more episodes include the following.
For a complete list of notable guest cast:
The production cost of a typical Festival drama show was approximately $45,000 in 1961, among the highest production costs of CBC programming at the time. Productions such as a ballet performance or a Gilbert and Sullivan play could cost $60,000 for CBC.