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Toronto Life - The Hype

A critical guide to Toronto’s cultural events, TIFF and high society. Plus, local celebrity news. Sign up for Preview newsletter for weekly updates

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May 1, 2012 | 7:30 am

Today in Toronto: Fordlandia and Picasso

Fordlandia: The Lost City of Henry Ford Photographer Dan Dubowitz is drawn to man-made environments in advanced states of disrepair, and the subject of this show more than qualifies. During the Depression, Henry Ford spent a billion dollars to build a city in the Amazon. It’s now largely abandoned, creating endless opportunities for Dubowitz’s decay-loving lens. Artwork $3,900–$8,500. Find out more »

Picasso Along with being the most famous painter of the 20th century, Picasso was a massive narcissist, as evidenced by the thousands of works he kept for himself, which are now in the Musée National Picasso in Paris. Toronto is the only Canadian stop for the touring version of the collection. Find out more »

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April 27, 2012 | 7:30 am

Today in Toronto: In the Miller Mood, Rez Abbasi Quintet and The Original Carmina Burana

In the Miller Mood The Toronto All-Star Big Band is committed to reviving the style and sound of the 1930s and ’40s, an era when big bands reigned. This show channels Glenn Miller, whose hits— standards such as “In the Mood,” “Moonlight Serenade” and “Chattanooga Choo Choo”—have become shorthand for swing. Find out more »

Rez Abbasi Quintet Pakistan-born composer and jazz guitarist Abbasi is all about dismantling walls—in his case, the ones that separate jazz from traditional South Asian music. It sounds a little earnest, but Abbasi has a light, self-aware touch: his first two recordings in this novel genre were called Snake Charmer and Bazaar. Find out more »

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April 26, 2012 | 7:30 am

Today in Toronto: Hot Docs, You Can’t Take It With You and more

A Florentine Tragedy and Gianni Schicchi A death-in-opera double bill. Composer Alexander Zemlinsky based his one-act tragedy on a play by Oscar Wilde that explores the restorative impact a murder might have on a failing marriage. Schicchi, Puccini’s sole, memorably tuneful attempt at operatic comedy, revolves around changing a dead man’s will. Find out more »

Hot Docs Oddsmakers, take note. Last year, North America’s biggest documentary fest screened two docs that went on to nab Oscars nominations, as well as all the films on the Genie Awards short list for the genre. This year’s edition, its 19th, will also be occasion for the unveiling of the recently revamped Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, which will screen non-fiction all year round. Find out more »

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April 25, 2012 | 12:40 pm

The Weekender: Itzhak Perlman, the Indie Wedding Show and six other items on our to-do list

The Weekender: FAT, Prisoner of Tehran and the Red Hot Chili Peppers

1. RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS
L.A. rockers Anthony, Flea, Chad and Josh (who replaced original guitarist John Frusciante in 2009, when he amicably split with the guys in favour of a solo career) are in town supporting their latest album, 2011’s I’m With You. Many songs in their 30-year career have been hits, garnering six Grammy wins and 60 million albums sold—though “Under the Bridge” is probably one of the better ones. April 27 and 28. $55–$75. Air Canada Centre, 40 Bay St., 1-855-985-5000, ticketmaster.ca.

2. ARTS AND FASHION WEEK
Arts and Fashion Week, Toronto Fashion Week’s edgier, alternative cousin, is a four-day extravaganza of photography exhibits, live music, installations and many trips down the 100-foot runway. Now in its seventh year, events are boundary-pushing and plentiful—The Dressing Room Project features installations and video projections from 12 artists, and is always a hit among attendees. To April 28. Day pass $35, weekly pass $75. 213 Sterling Road, fashionarttoronto.ca.

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April 25, 2012 | 12:30 pm

The Pick: The Tales of Hoffman, a comic opera that’s actually funny

Andriana Chuchman as Olympia, Steven Cole as Cochenille (i.e. the Igor role) and Michael Barrett as Spalanzani (Image: Michael Cooper)

There’s funny, and then there’s opera funny. You know, the kind of lost-in-surtitled-translation wit or pro-forma buffoonery that might elicit a chuckle here or a stifled guffaw there, but rarely any real belly laughter. The humour in the Canadian Opera Company’s The Tales of Hoffman, now on stage in a visually striking production at the Four Seasons Centre, isn’t just opera funny, though: it’s straight-up, knee-slapping funny. Sure, the production runs for three-and-a-half hours, and large chunks of the plot only make sense after a glass of wine during intermission. But when it’s funny? It’s funny.

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April 25, 2012 | 7:30 am

Today in Toronto: Paris 1994/Gallery, Rivers and more

Lee Oskar, David Rotundo and Enrico Crivellaro For harp fans, this is harmonica heaven. Danish-born Oskar’s signature jazz-funk sound gave War, the band of which he was a founding member, its unique off-the-wall vibe. He squares off here with acclaimed local blues harpist Rotundo and well-travelled guitarist Crivellaro. Find out more »

Paris 1994/Gallery A multimedia spectacle that involves dance, film and the spoken word, this two-hander navigates the treacherous territories we call love and memory. Nominated for three Dora Awards, the performance explores the many ways in which lovers grow—or don’t grow—as each reconstructs a shared past. Find out more »

Rivers Toronto Dance Theatre’s ever-inventive choreographer Christopher House interprets the many moods of the late Ann Southam’s Rivers, a minimalist 17-movement work for solo piano, performed live by pianist Christina Petrowska-Quilico. Find out more »

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April 20, 2012 | 7:30 am

Today in Toronto: L’Emmerdeur and Renée Fleming

L’Emmerdeur French film director and playwright Francis Veber is probably best known here as the creator of Le dîner de cons and the 1989 buddy movie Three Fugitives (which for some reason brought together Nick Nolte and Martin Short). His most recent play—translated into English as The Pain in the Ass—hinges on a failed suicide attempt, a hit man with a mission and a connecting hotel room door. Surtitles at selected performances. Pre views from April 18. Find out more »

Renée Fleming What is there left to say about America’s opera sweetheart? She is beautiful, remains in impeccable voice and, as those of us who are devoted to her Met simulcast hosting duties know, could easily take over from Oprah. Until then, what counts is the singing, with which this concert is full to the brim. Find out more »

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April 19, 2012 | 7:49 am

Today in Toronto: Death Cab for Cutie and Riverdance

Death Cab for Cutie Frontman Ben Gibbard may be best known to the gossip rag–reading world as Zooey Deschanel’s ex, but to the faithful he’s the wry yet vulnerable voice of Death Cab. Codes and Keys, their most recent album, marks a shift away from heart-on-sleeve guitar pop to almost goth-like atmospherics. The group is touring with an orchestra this time out and plans to rework songs from their back catalogue. Find out more »

Riverdance This perennial audience favourite, now on what it’s calling its final tour of North America, somehow manages to neutralize all highbrow criticism. The show claims to be a celebration of Irish culture, which in this case means buxom cuties and bubble-butt gentlemen in emerald green, vigorous stepping and unfettered sentimentality. It’s like St. Patrick’s Day in Las Vegas. Find out more »

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April 18, 2012 | 1:28 pm

The Pick: Jean Painlevé’s hypnotic underwater films, accompanied live by Yo La Tengo

In 1930, a silent science film documenting skeleton shrimp and sea spiders screened in Paris, earning accolades from painter Marc Chagall, who called it “genuine art,” and artist Fernand Léger, who said it was the loveliest ballet he’d ever seen (he would know). The film was by French Surrealist director Jean Painlevé, who spent the better part of the 20th century shooting some of the most dazzling underwater footage ever committed to film (when he wasn’t hobnobbing with Luis Buñuel and Jean Vigo). In 2002, indie darlings Yo La Tengo recorded The Sounds of the Sounds of Science, an original soundtrack for 11 of Painlevé’s short films; this Saturday, at the closing gala for the Images Festival, the band will be performing the score live to accompany a screening of Painlevé’s work.

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April 18, 2012 | 12:32 pm

The Weekender: An Evening With Measha Brueggergosman, Riverdance and six other items on our to-do list

The Weekender: Riverdance, And Yet It Moves and CN Tower Climb

1. AN EVENING WITH MEASHA BRUEGGERGOSMAN
The divine Ms. M—opera singer, reality TV judge and heart disease spokesperson—gets back to her roots with this intimate two-set concert promoting her new album, I’ve Got a Crush on You. April 20. $49.50-$58. Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church, 427 Bloor St. W., 1-855-985-5000, ticketmaster.ca.

2. CN TOWER CLIMB
While most Saturdays find us sleeping in or going to our favourite brunch place for Caesars, this weekend we feel inspired to do something a bit more active: scaling the CN Tower—all 1,776 steps of it—to raise money for the World Wildlife Fund’s conservation efforts. Check-in runs from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. April 21. Minimum donation is $75. CN Tower, 301 Front St. W., wwf.ca/cntower.

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April 18, 2012 | 7:30 am

Today in Toronto: Dancing Queen and Oil and Water

Dancing Queen Two enfants terribles of Toronto’s queer scene join forces for a show that, title aside, has little to do with ABBA (sorry, Mamma Mia fans). Performance artist Keith Cole choreographs Sky Gilbert’s play about the love triangle that occurs when a young buck moves to the big city and becomes acquainted with a pair of older men. Gilbert directs. Find out more »

Oil and Water The terrific Newfoundland company Artistic Fraud returns with a new production by playwright Robert Chafe and Siminovitch winner Jillian Keiley. After surviving a shipwreck, African­-American sailor Lanier Phillips is welcomed by the town of St. Lawrence in this based­-on­-a­-true­-story tale of race and redemption. The tale is augmented by a boatload of a cappella gospel and folk singing. Find out more »

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April 17, 2012 | 7:30 am

Today in Toronto: The Game of Love and Chance

The Game of Love and Chance Canadian Stage’s artistic director, Matthew Jocelyn, reaches back to the days of Marivaux and commedia dell’arte for the company’s one classi cal production of the season. Stock characters (Arlequin, Lisette) are in the mix, as are characteristic plot points involving marriage and mistaken identity, but expect Jocelyn to give the French favourite a modern twist. Find out more »

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April 12, 2012 | 7:30 am

Today in Toronto: Prisoner of Tehran, ReelWorld Film Festival and more

Prisoner of Tehran Marina Nemat wrote about her journey from being a prisoner in Iran’s infamous Evin Prison to being a mother and writer in Aurora in her harrowing—and bestselling—2007 memoir. Fresh from getting notoriously bashed on this year’s edition of Canada Reads by high­-profile Quebec lawyer Anne-­France Goldwater, the book is now a play, adapted for the stage and directed by Maja Ardal. Bahareh Yaraghi stars. Previews on April 10. Find out more »

ReelWorld Film Festival With nearly half of the city’s population identifying themselves as a visible minority, ReelWorld is a festival with the kind of mandate perhaps even its organizers hope will soon become redundant. It’s dedicated to featuring the films of Aboriginal, Asian, black, Latino, Middle Eastern and South Asian communities in Canada and from around the world. Find out more »

Sondra Radvanovsky Anyone who saw her as Aida at the COC last year is undoubtedly slavering for more Verdi from this richly hued, lustrous voice. Here’s your chance. The TSO has programmed a full evening of Verdi and Tchaikovsky, with Radvanovsky fully up to the stringent demands of two pieces from La forza del destino. Orchestral works by the two composers complete the program. Find out more »

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April 11, 2012 | 4:15 pm

The Pick: Clybourne Park, an acerbic play about the intersection of race and real estate

Jeff Lilico, Sterling Jarvis, Maria Ricossa and Audrey Dwyer in Clybourne Park (Image: John Karastamatis)

Clybourne Park, the Pulitzer Prize­–winning play currently running at the Berkeley Street Theatre, feels almost tailor-made for this ethnically diverse and neighbourhood-obsessed city. With a mix of irony and sobering insight, it follows the eponymous Chicago enclave’s evolution from middle-class oasis to black ghetto to gentrifying hip strip, teasing out the deeply entrenched racial and cultural barriers between its characters in the process.

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April 11, 2012 | 12:15 pm

The Weekender: TIFF Kids International Film Festival, The Tales of Hoffmann and six other items on our to-do list

The Weekender: The Tales of Hoffmann, Mad Couture Catwalk and TIFF Kids International Film Festival

1. TIFF KIDS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
This film fest is for the city’s smallest movie lovers. Aimed at kids three and up, TIFF Kids (formerly Sprockets) features tot-appropriate features and shorts from around the world, both live action and animated. This weekend, our picks include Chimpanzee, Disney’s latest nature documentary; Alfie, the Little Werewolf, a Dutch feature about accepting who you really are, featuring a little boy who turns seven and suddenly starts sprouting hair, claws and sharp, sharp teeth; and McB, a doc about a group of elementary school children in New York who stage a production of Macbeth. Post-screening, kids take part in a Shakespeare-themed workshop. To April 22. $8.50–$12. TIFF Bell Lightbox, 350 King St. W., 416-599-8433, tiff.net.

2. THE TALES OF HOFFMANN
The COC kicks off its spring season with this Jacques Offenbach opera. The titular character, played by American tenor Russell Thomas, is a poet and storyteller in love with Stella, an opera singer. At a local tavern with his friend Nicklausse (actually his Muse in disguise) and his rival Lindorf, Hoffmann is convinced to sing a song to the eagerly listening revelers (he’s quite drunk at this point). The ensuing performance relates his pursuit of three prior great loves—and how they were thwarted by a cast of demonic villains, all played by bass-baritone John Relyea. We’re most excited about the famed Barcarolle duet from act two. To May 14. $12–$318. Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W., 416-363-8231, www.coc.ca.

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