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Bolshoi’s Swan Lake jetés to great heights

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Marking its return to Toronto after more than three decades, the world-renowned Bolshoi Ballet opened a five-night run of Swan Lake at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts Tuesday night. The story (which will be vaguely familiar to anyone who saw Black Swan) follows the romance of Prince Siegfried and a maiden named Odette who is turned into an aquatic bird by the Evil Genius, a meddling sorcerer determined to thwart Siegfried’s fidelity to his one true love. 

Yorkdale’s upcoming “food collection” is actually looking pretty stacked

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Yorkdale Shopping Centre is getting a huge expansion this year that will see 145,000 square feet added to the already immense shopping giant. Yet while the addition of 40 new stores is sure to get our retail juices flowing, we’re more excited about the plans for a brand new food court — or rather, a “food collection,” as the mall’s media reps would have you call it — which will provide a much needed revamp of the mall’s dining options.

Morning Throwback: this old-school Toronto “computer” room had the power of a dozen abaci

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With news that Apple’s latest iPhone will have a bigger screen, thereby rendering all current iPhones obsolete, we look back at some really antiquated technology. Look at these two chaps fondly gazing at their old thingamajig, bidding it farewell. Touching it once last time. “She was a beaut,” says one. “She sure was, Frank. She was a fighter. She had a ribbon that wouldn’t break.” “Yeah… now, let’s throw her off the roof.”

Band of the Week: Old Man Luedecke

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Don’t let his name fool you. Old Man Luedecke (née Chris Luedecke) is a banjo-pluckin’, foot-stompin’ one-man-show — and arguably the most original solo act out there. His style is reminiscent of old school bluegrass and folk musicians such as Dock Boggs and Pete Seeger. It’s hard to pin the Torontonian-turned-Nova-Scotian’s music into one genre — is it folk, blues, roots, bluegrass or, dare we say it, country?

Theatre Review: The Real World?

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Whatever your feelings are about Conrad Black — genius, criminal, fine historian — you cannot deny that he had a way with words. He added to many vocabularies a few years ago when he was being interviewed and mentioned how, upon first seeing his future wife Barbara Amiel, his mouth “fenestrated” (a Latin-inspired way of saying it fell open).

The wicked ’wich of the East: the rise of the gourmet banh mi sandwich in Toronto

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Not too long ago, I ate one of the slipperiest, drippiest, messiest sandwiches I’ve ever had. It was at a Financial District nook known as The Gabardine, wherein a fat French baguette was stuffed with pulled pork, raw onions, julienned carrots and kimchi. It was, apparently, an Asian fusion submarine sandwich known as the banh mi. It cost $14, sides included. To anyone planning on taking the plunge: bring a bib. Possibly two.

Morning Throwback: in the early 1900s, Casa Loma brought the funk, the whole funk and nothing but the funk

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Since Casa Loma’s pretty much bankrupt, Sir Henry Pellatt’s great grandniece thinks the castle should go back to its roots and become a major player in the party scene again to recoup some dough. If this picture is any indication of the mansion’s former glory days, we think she’s onto something. Have you ever seen Casa Loma this blown up? And a zip line? By the looks of these crunked people, this place was off the hook. Whatever the heck a musicale is, we want another one.