The Post-Gazette's annual Critics Choice theater tour by motorcoach to Canada's Shaw and Stratford Festivals heads northward July 7-11.

At the Shaw Festival, in the picturesque town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, just a half-hour beyond Niagara Falls, we'll stay right in town at the handsome Prince of Wales Hotel. Our three Shaw Festivals shows are:

In the jewel-box Royal George Theatre, "Sunday in the Park with George," Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's lyrical Pulitzer Prize-winning musical comedy about love, art and inspiration in Georges Seurat's 1880s Paris and a century later.

In the main Festival Theatre, G.B. Shaw's "The Devil's Disciple," a robust comedy about the birth of America, pitting Puritan saints and sinners against Gentleman Johnny Burgoyne.

And back in the Royal George, Shaw's witty "In Good King Charles's Golden Days," an encounter at Isaac Newton's house between a philosopher, religious leader, artist, actress and king.

At Stratford, we'll stay at the comfortable Arden Park Hotel, on the edge of the main Stratford Festival grounds. Our shows:

In the famous Festival Theatre, Rostand's great melodrama of hopeless love and witty combat, "Cyrano de Bergerac."

At the splendid Avon Theatre, Oscar Wilde's immortal comedy of courtship, "The Importance of Being Earnest," along with Shakespeare's stirring political tragedy, "Julius Caesar."

Optional extras include another Sondheim, the musical farce, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum."

Included are a welcoming dinner at the Prince of Wales in Niagara-on-the-Lake and, in Stratford, a picnic lunch. There's also at least one back-stage tour and a post-show get-together over drinks to discuss the plays with Post-Gazette senior theater critic Christopher Rawson, who is guiding this tour for the 28th year and will provide additional commentary along the way.

The tour price is $1,198 per person, based on double occupancy. The single supplement is $379. (Both prices are well under last year's.) Optional offerings at additional charge are based upon availability. A deposit of $500 per person is required to hold a reservation; status of your reservation will be sent upon receipt of deposit.

Deposits are to be made payable and mailed to Gulliver's Travels, 460 S. Graham St., Pittsburgh, PA 15232-1210; phone 412-441-3131 or, outside Pittsburgh, 1-800-848-4084.

Call Gulliver's with any questions about trip details, but contact Rawson with questions about the plays: 412-216-1944 or crawson@post-gazette.com.