Academy Award winner accepts role at film centre
Director Paul Haggis to teach at campus founded by Norman Jewison
Category: Culture
Adding a splash of colour to live theatre
Canadian Stage’s production explores the life of painter Mark Rothko
Is seven billion people too many?
Population growth is taking a toll on our resources, but consumption is a much bigger problem
There’s something about Mae
Sportsnet scores a hit by bringing new anchor Hazel Mae home to Toronto
Jake was a punk
Toronto actor ready for prime time with starring role in Green Day’s American Idiot
Trending in Theatre this week: American Idiot, Quidam, Alice in Blunderland, Bed and Breakfast, New Year's Eve Comedy Extravaganza
Based on Green Day’s Grammy-winning album of the same name, this straight-from-Broadway musical weaves the story of three friends forced to choose between their dreams and the safety of suburbia (tell me about it). Music featured includes “Wake Me Up When September Ends,” but, sorry, Billie Joe fans: No Green Day members appear in this production.
Toronto Centre for the Arts, 5040 Yonge St., 416-644-3665. Dec. 28 – Jan. 15.
The Breakfast Hub: Rob Ford likes fast food, making paramedics an essential service, Toronto’s potential condo bust
The “affable” Rob Ford gives a year-end interview to The Globe, wherein he confirms the obvious: he really likes Tim Hortons and McDonald’s.
[Globe and Mail]
Theatre Review: Memphis, at Toronto Centre for the Arts
Up at the Toronto Centre for the Arts, a very recent musical is playing. It’s also Tony award-winning, but don’t let that put you off. Written by the solid librettist Joe DiPietro, along with David Byran, the gifted composer and long-time keyboardist of rock group Bon Jovi, Memphis is a fine show that I wish could have stayed for months in Toronto, but it’s running until only Dec. 24.
The Breakfast Hub: expanding PATH, the city hall football pool, the rail link to Pearson Airport
Over a century after the first underground pedestrian paths were built in the city, Toronto is debating plans to expand the world’s longest underground shopping complex south, towards the waterfront.
[Globe and Mail]
Cold Specks plays a dark, brooding and mesmerizing set at the Phoenix
Last week at the Phoenix, an audience was brought to complete silence by an a cappella rendition of “Peace In The Valley” from Cold Specks. The Etobicoke-born singer — whose real name is Al Spx — has been turning heads in the United Kingdom recently. On Thursday, she opened for St. Vincent, and though she hadn’t written the opening song, her soulful and modern take on the highly-regarded classic proved to be an apt embodiment of her original music.
The Breakfast Hub: Bob Barker’s elephant crusade, Toronto faces a green Christmas, the new GO train service
It seems the Price is Right for retired game show host Bob Barker. He has said he will pay out of his own pocket to have three African elephants from the Toronto Zoo moved to a sanctuary in California.
[Toronto Star]
The Rock ‘n’ Roll Revival Hour: Dave Bidini, Julie Doiron, Great Aunt Ida, Lake of Stew
Toronto’s Dave Bidini, freewheeling rocker, author and the only Canadian artist to have been nominated for a Juno, Genie and Gemini, is back on the musical side of the artistic ledger as he puts the final touches on a new Bidiniband album due out Jan. 24. We tracked him down to get the inside scoop on the album, titled In The Rock Hall.