New musical The Wounds of Love and Other Gifts will premiere at Theatre Passe Muraille this June 30th-July 13th, as part of the Alliance for Canadian Musicals at the 2026 Toronto Fringe Festival.

Created, composed, and directed by award-winning theatre artist Bruce Dow — a two-time Dora Award winner with five featured roles on Broadway and 12 seasons at the Stratford Festival — this new work of music theatre draws on the writings of Oscar Wilde and his contemporaries to explore questions of love, sacrifice,

meaning, and what it means to care for one another.

Shaped in its current form by Dow’s work in existential psychotherapy, and informed by his practice as a

registered psychotherapist and certified psychospiritual therapist, the piece approaches these fables not as moral lessons, but as lived dilemmas — intimate, complex, and deeply human. Inspired by Wilde’s The Happy Prince and Other Tales — originally written for his sons — and the words of his contemporaries — the piece moves beyond the familiar comfort of “stories for children” to ask more challenging questions of us as adults: What does it cost to care? What does it mean to give? And how do we live meaningfully in relation to others?

Featuring choreography by internationally renowned choreographer, artist, and creator Jeff Dimitriou, and new orchestrations by Musical Director/Music Supervisor Ethan Rotenberg (Shaw Festival, Shifting Ground Collective), the production brings together a cast of emerging voices from across the Canadian theatre, dance, and opera worlds, including Kendra Dyck, Priya Khatri, Braeden Soltys, Ronan Hayes, and Erinn Bekkers.

Blending chorus, aria, movement, and text, the work emerges as a unique piece of music theatre.

Tickets for The Wounds of Love and Other Gifts are now on sale and can be accessed at www.fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/wounds-love-and-other-gifts

The 60 minute Fringe performance is one movement from within a larger work. More information can be found at: https://brucedow.com/the-wounds-of-love-and-other-gifts/