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.
Seal a promise to love warm Toronto weather forever with a pin. Why? Because spring has arrived early (with summer-high temperatures) and we don’t want it to leave any time soon. We say, mark your commitment to this dedicated, fun-loving relationship early.
Just when you think you’re done with fashion (for a few weeks, at least), along come The ShOws. The ShOws are organized by Paola Fullerton, who decided to create the event after noticing that she often met talented Canadian designers abroad, but hadn’t heard of them back home. Fullerton threw all her efforts into bringing collections to Canada, hoping to give her fellow citizens the opportunity to embrace the talent we didn’t necessarily know we had.
Celebrity chef Bob Blumer is setting up shop in Toronto next week, promising patrons at The Drake a “unique” pop-up dining experience — replete with beef short ribs served in a toilet bowl. Blumer is perhaps best known for his TV shows, but he’s also written a number of cookbooks over the years. Herewith, Blumer shares one of his breakthrough dishes — Caesar salad — adapted from his Glutton for Pleasure cookbook.
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).
The curtains are drawn tight over the windows at Reither’s Fine Food International. After 23 years of providing Church Street shoppers with meats, seafood and other edibles from all over the world, owner and Austrian master butcher Peter Reither has decided to close the deli and specialty food store.
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.
After three years at the helm of classic English pub The Queen and Beaver, Jamieson Kerr and executive chef Andrew Carter are embarking on a new venture: The Oxley. Located on Yorkville Avenue opposite the Hazelton Hotel, the new restaurant will cater to the area’s clientele with a slightly more upscale play on what the duo currently has going on at their Elm Street location.
