“I’m the lowly producer. That’s what they call me. I’m learning.”
Actor Cynthia Dale, well-known for her mastery of stage, screen and television, reflects on her new role. Not only is she the lead in CBC’s reboot of Street Legal, a Canadian classic that ran on the network from 1987 to 1994, but she is also one of the show’s producers.
“It means I have a say. I’m allowed to make comments on the script and the tone of the story line. I’m the one of the four producers who was there back in the day, and so, in that sense, I feel that I come to it with my heart full of that experience. And that’s a good thing to have as one of the producers.”
It’s satisfying to have some control over such a familiar character, but the actor is not letting power go to her head.
“At this age, you know when to defer to other people who know more than you,” she laughs. “The writer and the showrunner and the executive producer all know more than me, and I’m happy to defer to them and so it’s a wonderful, collaborative team effort.”
Back in the day, Street Legal was a ratings champion for the network as Sonja Smits, C. David Johnson and Eric Peterson wrestled with the machinations of working in a downtown Toronto law office. Some called it the Canadian version of LA Law. Cynthia joined the cast in season three as Olivia Novak, an opinionated firebrand who quickly became an audience favourite. The idea of a reboot, which debuts later this month, started as a casual luncheon date between Cynthia and CBC’s General Manager of Programming Sally Catto in 2017.
“We were just having a professional business lunch together,” says Catto “and during that lunch Cynthia and I got into a conversation about how women past a certain age really don’t see themselves reflected enough on television and how, for an actor, there aren’t many roles for women over 40. That really stuck with me. I thought she was exactly right.”
Catto pondered the discussion.
“I thought what would Olivia Novak be doing today? Who would she be today? What would that series look like today? I spoke to Cynthia about it. Was it something that would interest her? She said, yes, and it went from there.”
“It took me about 10 minutes to get my jaw up off the floor,” recalls Cynthia. “Not once in the 25 years since the show ended did I ever, ever, ever think this was a possibility. It wasn’t anything I ever dreamed about. I am so happy to be doing it.”
A team was assembled, and scripts prepared. Although the new show places Olivia at another firm, her former boss, Leon Robinovitch played by Eric Peterson, will be joining her in certain episodes. It’s familiar territory for the TV veteran, but it’s scary too.
“I could hardly get through the first day,” she says. “It’s all overwhelming. I’m 58 years old and to jump in at this point in my life and show up on set and put my face out there and my talent out there in the role I did that long ago, I have to be brave all the time.”
Cynthia’s story begins in the Toronto suburb of Etobicoke. Her father was a car dealer. Her mother, she fondly recalls, was “a bit of a Mama Rose,” referring to the stereotypical stage mother in Gypsy. Her mother prepared Cynthia and her older sister, Jennifer, for a life in showbiz. “Mama” obviously saw something in her offspring.
She began performing early, at age five, in the stage production of Finian’s Rainbow at the Royal Alexandra Theatre. Her mom pushed hard, but if Cynthia resents being thrust into the limelight at an early age, she doesn’t show it.
“Yes, you have a mother who will facilitate and help you get into auditions, but you’re the one that has to learn the songs or perform or deal with the kids at school who beat you up because you’re different from them,” she says. “You stick with it through your teenage years when everybody’s going off to parties and you’re going off to dance classes. That’s okay. I’m not complaining. That’s just what life is if you stick with it.”
And Cynthia stuck with it.
“I think you’re born with it. I think you’re born with talent,” she continues. “You can’t teach talent. You can hone it, you can sharpen it, you can refine it, but you can’t teach it. That’s the spark in the depth of your soul. That spark to be an actor can’t be taught. I think it’s just there.
Persistence paid off. In the 1970s and early ’80s she appeared in a variety of stage and film roles. Her first Stratford Festival appearance was in 1983 as part of the chorus for The Mikado and The Gondoliers. In 1986, she played chorus girl Linda English in the Tarragon Theatre production of Pal Joey for which she received a Dora Mavor Moore Award. She became known as entertainment’s triple threat, proficient in singing, dancing and acting. And then, Street Legal.
Her sister, too, was finding success in the entertainment world. While Cynthia was shooting Street Legal, Jennifer was making her own mark, appearing in E.N.G., another Canadian milestone, this one for the rival CTV network.
“I think we’re probably role models for each other,” says Cynthia. “I think we’re support systems for each other. We were never competitive. Never. We never went out for the same parts.”
When Street Legal ended in 1994, Cynthia returned to the stage, appearing as the lead in numerous Stratford Festival productions. Guinevere in Camelot, Liza in My Fair Lady, Edythe in My One and Only. And dramas too. Annie in The Miracle Worker and Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
After Stratford, a dry spell. And then her fortunes changed again. In 2012, she was invited to appear in the Stratford production of 42nd Street.
Today, Cynthia happily gets on with her life between engagements. She and husband, Peter Mansbridge, call Stratford, Ontario home. (She has a star on the Stratford Walk of Fame.) They also maintain a residence in Toronto. Their 19-year-old son, William, attends the University of Toronto. Although Peter has officially retired as the anchor of CBC’s The National, Cynthia says life at home is pretty much the same as it’s always been.
“I don’t understand the concept of retirement. It’s just not a thing in my life,” she says defiantly. “It’s a very archaic concept to retire. It’s something our parents did 40, 50 years ago. People don’t retire anymore. They just do ‘other’ and that’s what Pete’s doing. He’s doing ‘other.’”
That means producing documentaries for the CBC. And playing golf.
“He’s not around all the time. Things haven’t changed that much,” she says.
As for Cynthia, “other” means serving on the Board of the Eclipse Theatre Company, a “site-responsive” musical theatre company based in Toronto. Their 2019 season opener, Kiss of the Spider Woman, will play in Toronto’s Don Jail, a suitable venue for the story of an incarcerated Brazilian and his fantasies.
It also means oil painting, primarily landscapes and flowers, which she gives to her friends as gifts. And charity work.
“I’m the honorary chair of the new hospice that’s being built in Stratford, which is very close to my heart because I lost my mother recently. I’ve done lots of cancer work and AIDS work.”
She has also recorded three albums of show tunes, available online through her website www.cynthiadale.com. She records because she enjoys it.
“I will always sing. I love to sing. It’s part of breathing to me.”
She believes in living life to its fullest.
“As far as life filling me up, it fills me up by taking a walk on the beach. I’m a huge reader. That fills me up. I play cards with my boy. That fills me up. I dig in my garden. That fills me up. Those things I’m aware of jumping into and getting every single bit of life out of them that I can.”
And in frequent moments of self-reflection, she gives thanks for life’s little things, as well as for the professional opportunities that have come her way.
“It’s not a mental exercise, it’s a heart exercise,” she says. “It’s a spiritual exercise. I couldn’t get through the day without being grateful for the milk I put in my coffee, without being grateful for the roof over my head. I’m grateful for having the parking spot be available exactly where I’m looking for a parking spot. It’s that simple and it’s that constant. It happens at every moment of the day. It’s been that way for most of my life.”
Which brings us back to that luncheon meeting and the Street Legal reboot.
“The thing that struck me during that conversation was how authentic Cynthia was and how important it was to look her age, to be who she is and to be comfortable in her own skin,” recalls Sally Catto.
And if Cynthia is comfortable in her own skin, the result of the wisdom that comes from a rich and productive life, will she play Olivia as a kinder, gentler person?
“God no, why would we want to do that?” she laughs. “She’s a more evolved person. She’s deeper and richer. Time doesn’t really change anyone. Maybe some of the edges get a little softer, but, at the same time, things get more entrenched. Wrinkles get deeper both inside and out. I think we’re leaning into the edge of what she was before.”
Olivia may be as feisty as ever – it makes for compelling drama – but the actor herself has found a balance.
“I’m an actor. I’m a performer. This is my life, but if I weren’t working, it would be okay. Yes, I love my job. Yes, I’m so happy to be doing this, but those four years I wasn’t at the Stratford Festival were fantastic years. Lots of other things happened. I got to travel to places I would never have been able to visit had I been at the Festival. Those things, those life lessons outweigh any part, any song, any series in the world. The best role is my life is mother. That’s the best part I’ve ever done and will continue to do. I’d give my career up in a friggin’ heartbeat for anything in my life that was more important.”
Snapshot
If you were to meet your 20-year-old self, what advice would you give her?
“I wish I had gone to university. I would like to believe I will eventually go as a very elder student. I would really like to do that in my life, just to sit and learn. I wish that I had done more when I was younger than just thinking [show] business was the be all and end all. I wish, at the time, I’d known that you can do other things in life. It took me a long time to learn that lesson.”
Who or what has influenced you the most and why?
“I don’t have one. I can’t really say. There are too many. I take full responsibility for what I did and who I am and what I did as a kid. Did my mom push me and was she a Mama Rose in a way? Absolutely, but I allowed it to happen and I was happy it happened and thank God it did.”
What are you grateful for?
“I’m grateful for what I do have and what I don’t have. I don’t have lots of things that lots of people have to deal with, homelessness or cancer or any of those things. It keeps me mindful.”
What does success mean to you?
“It’s not about success in the business for me. It just means being able to live with your choices, even if that means not ever performing again. If [Street Legal] doesn’t work, if the audience doesn’t react to the show, I absolutely, 100 per cent, believe that every person who’s worked on it has done it with complete integrity and I will be able to walk away with my head and my heart held high.”
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