It’s been a historic year for Rainbow Stage as they experienced record-breaking attendance.
This year’s shows, Rock of Ages and Frozen, drew in thousands of people of all ages from across the province, making for an unbelievable year.
Carson Nattrass, artistic director at Rainbow Stage, says this is the first time in his career that they have seen the numbers like this.
“It was an absolutely heart-warming season,” said Nattrass. It’s a challenging world out there, and to bring that many people together, over 65,000 people came through Rainbow Stage this season. It’s amazing.”
Nattrass says they’ve been developing an audience in July since 2010, and as of late, rock shows have been really filling up the seats.
“Rock of Ages was our largest audience for a July show since we started those performances,” said Nattrass. “We had 19,000 people come through. It took a long time to get it to our stage, but boy, was the audience ready for it. It was so fun.”
With Frozen, Nattrass says it was a touch from above, as the rights for the show were not available. However, he says they reached out and were told their timing was amazing as they were releasing a limited release to just a few theatres.
“In the end, I think only five theatres in Canada got the show, and we had the largest attendance of every theatre in Canada, with 47,000 people coming through the doors, and 14 sold-out shows.”
Nattrass says he feels Rainbow Stage resonates so well with Winnipeggers because it’s a venue like no other in the country.
“I don’t know if Winnipeggers and Manitobans know that,” said Nattrass. “There isn’t another Rainbow Stage in any city, smaller or bigger. This was born out of Winnipeg’s love of music and talent in this city. That’s the only reason it’s here. Our venue is a treasure.”
Rainbow Stage is currently undergoing major renovations, including new walkways, new lighting raiings and accessibility for all.
“It’s just the beginning because we can’t wait to really bring the venue into the 21st century, because we have lots of exciting things planned artistically to go into that building. “
Rainbow Stage will announce its 2026 season on Dec. 2, 2025.
