West Coast actress to play P.E.I.'s favourite heroine

An actress from Canada's West Coast is set to take on one of the East Coast's most beloved roles: Anne Shirley.

British Columbia actress Amy Wallis has landed the lead role in this season's production of Anne of Green Gables, the Charlottetown Festival has announced.

Wallis said that the first time she heard about the Charlottetown Festival was as a 12-year-old actress.

"I remember thinking that to play Anne in Charlottetown would be the best thing in the world," she said in a statement.

Wallis will be the 14th performer to play the red-headed heroine since 1965, when the musical first opened for its annual summer run at the Confederation Centre.

Wallis's theatre credits include Belle in Beauty and the Beast at the B.C. Arts Club Theatre, and Peter in the Royal City Musical Theatre's production of Peter Pan.

Anne Allan, artistic director of the Charlottetown Festival said she was immediately captivated with Wallis's performance during auditions held in Toronto in February, and waited with bated breath to find out if Wallis could sing.

After Wallis finished singing the song The Apology, Allan said she leaned across the audition panel and whispered to the other judges, "We have just found our Anne."

Wallis replaces Jennifer Toulmin, a popular actress who played Anne for four years, but left in February amid controversy.

Toulmin and the three other lead actors in the musical said management fired them, while festival directors insisted all four had been consulted and left by mutual agreement.

Anne of Green Gables – The Musical is set to run this summer from June 19 to Sept. 30.