By Galen Simmons

When my partner, Julia, and I sat down in the Avon Theatre on opening day of director Kat Sandler’s new adaptation of Anne of Green Gables – the classic Canadian story by Lucy Maud Montgomery told countless times before – I wasn’t sure what to expect.

Unlike Julia, who first watched the 1985 miniseries of the same name when she was in school, I had never read the original book or seen a rendition on stage or screen before. I was tangentially familiar with the story through pop-culture references, but I soon found I knew a lot less than I thought. Julia, meanwhile, struck up a conversation with the two women seated beside us, who turned out to be Anne of Green Gables podcasters from Los Angeles who travelled to Stratford specifically for the play’s opening.

As they talked excitedly about the show and reminisced about their experiences with the story, I watched with amusement as Maev Beaty, who plays both Penelope – the superfan-president of an Anne of Green Gables book club and a pseudo narrator for the play – as well as Rachel Lynde from the story itself, nervously flitted across the stage, speaking with a stagehand and ensuring everything was just right for whatever production of the story she was about to introduce.

As she addressed the audience and other members her book club joined her onstage – as well as a hilariously confused member of the audience (Steven Hao) who decided he, too, was going to help tell the story – it became quite clear this production would be unlike any other that came before.

As the book club members helped Penelope imagine the play, its characters and settings into being, many of those same people, as well as the somewhat bemused stagehand, stepped in themselves to perform as characters from the story, bringing their own commentary and comedy to the events unfolding onstage.

Once Anne Shirley (Caroline Toal) was imagined into life onstage, it was obvious she would steal the show, just as anyone playing Anne should. Her quick wit, exhaustive lexicon, relentless optimism and flair for the dramatic were on full display from the very first scene at the train station until she decided to remain at Green Gables instead of leaving for school at the play’s end.

And while Anne was undoubtedly the star of the show, its heart and soul came from those around her, most notably the soft-spoken-yet-kind Matthew Cuthbert (Tim Campbell) and the shrewd-yet-loving Marilla Cuthbert (Sarah Dodd) – the aging siblings who adopted Anne – and Anne’s eternal bosom buddy, Diana Barry (Julie Lumsden). Campbell’s onstage chemistry with Toal was particularly moving, making his sudden death near the play’s end all that more impactful.

Just as the actors in this production brought Anne’s story to life, so too did the set design. From the Green Gables dollhouse turned two-storey, life-sized set-piece to the decorative tree stumps, floral arrangements and other vegetation used to depict the picturesque PEI countryside, the stage felts as if it were lifted from a storybook, even after the time period in which the story is set is bumped up to modern day.

Overall, this production of Anne of Green Gables was not only an excellent introduction to the story for someone like myself, but it also served as a celebration of the source material for fans who have cherished Montgomery’s words for most of their lives.

Anne of the Green Gables runs at the Avon Theatre until Oct. 31.