Tomorrow evening (March 27) the 501 Queen streetcar will be making an unusual trip through downtown Toronto. It’ll be following its usual route, using one of the usual vehicles, only this time everyone aboard will have taken a vow of silence. Instead of talking, they’ll be Tweeting.
Height is a key question at the corner of Bathurst and St. Clair
Since Toronto FC zipped past David Beckham’s MLS-trophy-winning L.A. Galaxy earlier this month to make it to the semi-finals of the Champions League, the city’s sports fans have sat up and taken note of the team in red. As TFC kicks off its sixth MLS season today (March 24) with its home opener against San Jose, perhaps now’s the time to wander over to Exhibition Place and get into what much of the world calls “the beautiful game.”.
Our round up of the best things to see and do in Toronto this weekend. In this edition: Canadian singing stars reveal the science behind music, a comic book store launches on College Street, legendary primatologist Jane Goodall is at the science centre, and extreme motorcycling comes to the Rogers Centre.
The fairy tale has been one of the magical — but unsung — glories of literature over the centuries. Sadly, productions by Walt Disney and others have too often watered them down, reducing powerful, mythic, meaningful stories into empty pablum. What an unexpected pleasure, then, to see The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs at the Tarragon Theatre, a gripping and powerful re-telling of Charles Perrault’s classic fairy tale, Bluebeard.
For many people, Canadian Music Week is a chance to see some big-name bands — and some smaller ones, too. But there’s also a whole music industry pow-wow-cum-networking-fest going on that’ll interest Toronto’s up and coming bands. And this city has no shortage of bands who dream big, so there’ll probably be no shortage of people lining up for the Songwriters’ Summit on Saturday (March 24).
Blackie and the Rodeo Kings are ever-nearing a legendary position in the Canadian roots music canon. Not a small feat for a group of solo musicians who got together for a one-off project 16 years ago. That project — a tribute to oft-overlooked but highly regarded Canadian songwriter Willie P. Bennett — still echoes throughout the band’s work to this day, but manages to avoid being a hindrance to their musical growth.
There aren’t too many productions out there where the leads fall in love during a tuneful belching contest, but then, few shows value releasing your inner self quite as much as Shrek the Musical. Dreamworks’ Broadway show, which opened last night at the Toronto Centre for the Arts, is a lively if slightly uneven re-telling of the hit movie and William Steig’s original book.
With Toronto’s temperatures sitting a healthy 20 degrees above seasonal, you’d be forgiven for wondering what’s going on with our climate. We can’t answer that, but we can point you in the direction of an evening at the ROM that highlights one of the country’s most stunning environments and concerns over our gas-guzzling ways.
Based on the Oscar-winning film, Shrek the Musical features all of your favourite characters (Donkey wears a cool pair of shades this time around) plus 19 brand-new songs. It’s worth seeing for the giant lady dragon alone.
Toronto Centre for the Arts, 5040 Yonge St., 416-644-3665. March 20 – April 1.
Canadian Music Week hits town tomorrow with performers from all over the world descending on Toronto for five days of live music. For every established act like Blackie & The Rodeo Kings or Jeff Beck that plays to packed houses, there will be many more emerging artists seeking their big break. Here are five names that you may not be able to catch in small venues for long.
The funny folks behind Bite TV are putting on the very first Canadian International Comedy Fest this week, featuring a star-studded line-up of comedians for five straight days of laughter. The big draw of the festival is expected to be outrageous 30 Rock star Tracy Morgan. Here’s a run down of five other must-see acts that will be sure to get you ROFLing.
