In 1987, he took over direction of his father's 1497-seat Toronto theatre, the Royal Alexandra Theatre. For most of the theatre's history, it had functioned as a road house—a temporary venue for touring productions. In 1987, Mirvish founded the company Mirvish Productions for the purpose of producing and staging original works for the Royal Alexandra and, later, his new Princess of Wales Theatre. Mirvish and Mirvish Productions enjoyed notable successes in this new venture as with the Canadian stagings of such musicals as Les Misérables, Miss Saigon, Crazy for You, Rent, The Lion King, We Will Rock You and The Sound of Music. They also, however, endured losses with their sit-down productions of the large-scale musicals Tommy, Jane Eyre, The Producers, Hairspray. In 2005, he also joined in partnership with British theatre producer Kevin Wallace, American film producer Saul Zaentz and Canadian concert promoter Michael Cohl to produce The Lord of the Rings, a stage musical adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy trilogy. This production opened at the Princess of Wales Theatre in March 2006. Because of poor reviews and slow sales the show closed early. On June 28, 2006, Mirvish announced that Sept. 3, 2006 would mark the show's closing, and that he would be unable to fully repay its investors. With an estimated capitalisation of $28 million, The Lord of the Rings had been advertised as the most expensive stage production in North American history.
Mirvish also operated the London, England, theatre the Old Vic from 1987 through 1998. In 1987, he installed Jonathan Miller as artistic director of The Old Vic and enjoyed a string of outstanding critical successes—including an Olivier Award for a production of the musical Candide, but, unfortunately, three straight years of financial loss. In 1990, Mirvish terminated Miller's contract over budget issues, earning much negative criticism in the British press. In 1997, Mirvish appointed Sir Peter Hall as artistic director of the Old Vic and, again, enjoyed critical acclaim with such productions as The Master Builder with Alan Bates and Waiting for Godot with Ben Kingsley, but continuing financial loss. Within a year of the appointment, Mirvish terminated Hall's contract—again to much negative comment in the press—and put the Old Vic up for sale. The theatre was subsequently purchased by a theatres trust, The Old Vic Theatre Trust.
Real estate
In 2000, Mirvish began a new business venture as a real estate developer and began construction of a large condominium complex in downtown Toronto, known as One King West. The building opened for occupancy in 2005. In March 2008 Mirvish announced the acquisition of the Panasonic and Canon Theatres in Toronto from Key Brand Entertainment, which had itself purchased the theatres from Live Nation in February 2008. Mirvish had been operating the Canon Theatre under a 15-year lease signed in 2001 with Live Nation which gave him control over all bookings and management of the Canon. Mirvish acquired the theatre pursuant to a right of first offer contained in the same lease agreement. The purchase and sale triggered a lawsuit from rival Canadian presenter, Aubrey Dan, who had invested in Key Brand on the alleged promise that he would become manager of the Canon theatre. Dan sued both Mirvish and his own company, Key Brand, in an action which is still pending as of December 2008. The Canon was renamed The Ed Mirvish Theatre in honour of David Mirvish's late father on December 6, 2011. In August 2010, Mirvish announced that he would provide a 9,765 square foot space to Theatre Museum Canada, thus providing the largely online museum with its first permanent space for exhibition. On October 1, 2012, David Mirvish announced a partnership with renowned architect Frank Gehry to redevelop his family's considerable real estate holdings on King Street West in Toronto. The proposed project includes three distinct tall buildings, called by Mirvish as "sculptures that people would live in," and a pedestal that would also house a new gallery devoted to Mirvish's extensive collection of abstract expressionist art and a new campus for the OCAD University. Should the project receive municipal zoning approval, it would be that the buildings currently on the site would be demolished. The estimated time until completion is 10 years.
