My Three Angels

Left to right: Phil Perrin, Paul Butler, Douglas Connors, Kimberly Dolan, Gary Helmkay, Julia Moore

The scene is French Guiana, a region where on Christmas Day the temperature has graciously dropped to 104 degrees. Felix Ducotel, the not terribly efficient manager of a general store, receives some disturbing news. Just arrived from France is his evil-minded cousin Henri Trochard, who has already swindled Felix out of his store back in France and now threatens to oust him from his job managing this store, which belongs to Henri. Henri is bringing with him his nephew Paul—news which thrills Felix's daughter Marie-Louise, who is in love with Paul—until she receives a letter.

Meanwhile three convicts from the nearby prison are at work on the roof of Felix and his wife Emilie's home. Two of them murderers, the third a swindler, but they all have warm hearts and are passionate believers in true justice. Seeing their employers' distress, they set out to come to their aid, though their tactics are not always orthodox.

Playwrights Samuel and Bella Spewack based My Three Angels on a French play called La Cuisine Des Anges, by Albert Husson. It opened at the Morosco Theatre in New York in March of 1953 and run for 344 performances. The play was the basis for a 1955 movie titled We're No Angels, which resembled the play fairly closely and featured Humphrey Bogart, Peter Ustinov and Basil Rathbone. A second movie with the same name appeared in 1989, featuring Robert De Niro, Sean Penn and Demi Moore in a screenplay by David Mamet that was inspired by the 1955 movie but retained less of the original plot.

Rob McMahon (left) and Phil Perrin

Colin Doyle (left) and Kimberly Dolan

To comply with Province of Ontario regulations, residents 12 and older will need to show proof they are fully COVID-19 vaccinated to enter theatres starting September 22, unless an exemption applies.

All volunteers and patrons of Domino Theatre should be prepared with an electronic or paper copy of their COVID-19 vaccination receipt indicating that they are fully vaccinated AND matching Government-issued identification with name and date of birth. These items will be verified, but not collected.

We are thrilled to reopen Domino Theatre and appreciate everyone's patience as our cast of volunteers implement this new provincial requirement as efficiently as possible.

For additional details on the Domino Theatre COVID-19 safety plan, please see our Covid-19 Safety Policy. For additional details on the Ontario COVID-19 Vaccination requirement, please visit ontario.ca/covid-19.

Samuel and
Bella Spewack

Samuel and Bella Spewack were a husband-and-wife writing team whose careers began in the 1920s. Samuel Spewack was born in Ukraine and raised in New York. Bella Cohen was born in Romania and emigrated to New York with her family as a child. Both working as journalists in New York, they met and married in 1922.

My Three Angels was the best-known of their straight plays, but they were also notable for writing the script for the musical Kiss Me Kate, with music by Cole Porter, which won two Tony Awards. They also wrote a number of other plays and screenplays from the 1920s to the 1960s.

Bella Spewack was also a publicist for the Girl Scouts of the USA, and claimed to have originated the idea of selling cookies as a method of fundraising.

Samuel Spewack died in 1971 and Bella in 1990.

We would like to acknowledge that this production takes place on the traditional lands of the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe peoples. We honour and give thanks to the land, its inhabitants and their enduring cultures.

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