Four Seasons Centre For The Performing Arts

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The Weekender: Robyn, Abstract Expressionist New York and six other events on our to-do list

Princess Diana in a Catherine Walker dress, detail from Willem de Kooning’s Woman I and the Mad Hatter

1. ROBYN
We’re still a tad bitter for that time last November when our favourite Swedish pop singer cancelled her hugely hyped Sound Academy concert mere hours before show time. Luckily, Robyn is back in the city and making up for lost time at the brand-new Echo Beach venue. And for those who only know her for her mid-’90s anthem “Show Me Love,” we recommend checking out some of her impossibly catchy new stuff. June 3. $29.50–$39.50. Echo Beach at Molson Amphitheatre, 909 Lake Shore Blvd. W., 416-870-8000, ticketmaster.ca.

2. DIANA: LIFE OF A ROYAL ICON
The Royal Wedding may have reignited interest in Prince William’s dad, but we’re pretty sure the public’s interest in Princess Diana never really waned in the years since her death. This show at the Design Exchange invites fans to gawk at the Princess’s most famous gowns—like ones she wore for Vanity Fair photo shoots or White House dinners—before they hit the auction block on June 23. To June 10. $10. Design Exchange, 234 Bay St., 416-363-6121, dx.org.

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May 18, 2011 | 2:11 pm

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The Weekender: Ariadne auf Naxos, Itzhak Perlman and five other events on our to-do list

Adrianne Pieczonka as Ariadne; Napoleon and Tabitha D’umo; A Family is a Family

1. TORONTO INTERNATIONAL CIRCUS FESTIVAL (FREE!)
Acrobats, fire-eaters, stilt-walkers—it’s not just the kids who’ll love this three-day, big top–themed event. Performers from Zero Gravity Circus and other troupes pull out all the stops at Harbourfont’s annual circus festival this weekend, which also includes puppet shows, a hula hoop and a Lego funhouse. May 21–23. Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W., tocircusfestival.com.

2. ARIADNE AUF NAXOS
Who doesn’t love a good play within a play? Starring Canuck opera stars Adrianne Pieczonka and Richard Margison, this Richard Strauss opera is partially set on the ancient Greek island of Naxos, where princess Ariadne has been abandoned by the demigod Theseus, and partially set backstage at an opera house where that story is about to be staged. Think of it as a precursor to po-mo. To May 29. $65–$315. Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W., 416-363-8231, coc.ca.

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May 11, 2011 | 12:18 pm

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The Weekender: Cinderella, Christy Turlington Burns and six other events on our to-do list

Christy Turlington Burns, Donato DiStefano in Cinderella and Diego Matamoros in The Aleph

1. FESTIVAL OF IDEAS AND CREATION (FREE!)
CanStage’s annual Festival of Ideas and Creation is all about supporting artists and developing new works. This year’s lineup has some serious thespian credentials: director Atom Egoyan, opera director Robert Carsen and playwright Will Power. This weekend, don’t miss The Decameron: Things We Left Behind. Loosely based on Boccaccio’s collection of novellas, this new production is about four friends in a swiftly degenerating city. (Similarities to Toronto’s 2012 budget are, we’re sure, strictly coincidental.) May 9 to 21. Berkeley Street Theatre, 26 Berkeley St., 416-368-3110, canadianstage.com/festival.

2. WEEKEND GEOFEST
Geocaching, in a nutshell, is a high-tech take on scavenger hunts: participants search for hidden clues and race to the finish line, all aided by a GPS device. This weekend-long event, hosted by the Golden Horseshoe Monthly Geocaching Club, includes a GPS 101 workshop, guided tours and a series of themed geocache hunts. It’s the perfect way to separate the kids from their Wii for a weekend. May 14 and 15. $6.50. Kortright Centre for Conservation, 9550 Pine Valley Dr., 905-832-2289, trcaparks.ca.

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Creative Types

May 5, 2011 | 3:29 pm

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Two of the National Ballet’s étoiles brillantes to leave the company this spring

Bridgett Zehr and Zdenek Konvalina, a couple onstage and off, in The Nutcracker (Image: Bruce Zinger)

Toronto is set to lose one of its hottest dancer couples. National Ballet of Canada principal dancers Bridgett Zehr and Zdenek Konvalina will be leaving the company to join the English National Ballet in London, the National Post reports. The pair will pirouette off the Four Seasons Centre stage after closing the season next month in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, where Zehr will play the Queen of Hearts and Konvalina her rascally Knave.

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March 16, 2011 | 12:42 pm

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The Weekender: Onegin, Canada Blooms and six other events on our to-do list

The Fantasticks, Canada Blooms and Miss Lasko Gross at Graphic Details

1. CANADA BLOOMS
Walking through the grounds of this huge flower-focused festival is like bypassing the last weekend of winter and all of spring and jumping right into summer. We’ll be hanging out in the six acres of fully blooming gardens, pretending it’s July. With lectures, demonstrations and even gardens curated or inspired by Juno-winning artists like Ben Heppner and Jully Black. To March 20. $18. Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place, 100 Princes Blvd., 416-263-3322, canadablooms.com.

2. MONTPARNASSE
A hit at 2009’s SummerWorks festival, this remount is racy and thought provoking at the same time. Set in 1920s Paris, it follows two Canadian expats living in the titular ’hood and working as nude models: one’s the archetypal libertine; the other decidedly more self-conscious. But that’s where any dependence on formula ends. Writers Maev Beatty and Erin Shields, who also play the two women, chip away at the audience’s assumptions about each character at every turn. March 17 to April 2. $15–$35. Theatre Passe Muraille, 16 Ryerson Ave., 416-504-7529, artsboxoffice.ca.

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March 15, 2011 | 5:12 pm

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The one thing you should see this week: a ballet about a bad boy who gets his comeuppance

Aleksandar Antonijevic and Sonia Rodriguez in Onegin (Image: Bruce Zinger)

This week’s pick: Onegin

It’s a tale as old as time. Good girl falls for bad boy, bad boy works his way through a laundry list of caddish manoeuvres—mocks good girl’s affections, flirts with her sister, kills the sister’s fiancé in a duel (you know, the usual)—before realizing the error of his ways.

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March 9, 2011 | 1:30 pm

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The Weekender: Don Quixote, Canadian Music Week and six other events on our to-do list

Janelle Monáe, Jessica Greenberg in The Middle Place, and Piotr Stanczyk as Don Quixote

1. THE MIDDLE PLACE
Based on interviews with workers and residents at one of the city’s many youth shelters, this moving piece was written by young playwright Andrew Kushnir and drew significant acclaim at last year’s SummerWorks Theatre Festival. An exploration of what it means to be young and homeless, Kushnir tempers the heavier moments with the generous addition of humour. Directed by Alan Dilworth. To March 12. $29–$49. Berkeley Street Theatre, 26 Berkeley St., 416-368-3110, canadianstage.com.

2. CANADIAN MUSIC WEEK
Music lovers have been eagerly counting down the days until Canadian Music Week, and for good reason. The mind-blowing lineup is 800-plus musicians strong and includes some of the biggest names in music (think Janet Jackson, Good Charlotte, Melissa Etheridge and Janelle Monáe), as well as more than a few next-big-things (Zeus, Down with Webster and Hollerado). Oh, yeah, and there’s also the film festival, conference and awards show portions of the fest. March 9–13. Wristbands $35–$150. Various locations, cmw.net.

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The Hype

Curtain Call

March 7, 2011 | 5:32 pm

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Donny and Marie, Colm Wilkinson and Green Day’s American Idiot musical coming to the Four Seasons Centre

Donny and Marie Osmond, Colm Wilkinson and John Gallagher Jr. in American Idiot

A Broadway legend, some American rock ’n’ roll and a pair of former teen stars who (hopefully) still have it will grace Toronto’s stages over the next year. Dancap Productions announced three new shows for 2011–2012 in a press conference earlier today: Colm Wilkinson in Concert: Broadway and Beyond (August 12–13), American Idiot (December 28–January 15) and Donny and Marie (July 5–17).

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To-Do List

February 16, 2011 | 11:26 am

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The one thing you should see this week: a probing opera about a world-changing event

Robert Orth as Richard Nixon (Image: Michael Cooper)

This week’s pick: Nixon in China at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts

“The Cold War isn’t thawing; it is burning with a deadly heat. Communism isn’t sleeping; it is, as always, plotting, scheming, working, fighting.” Less than a decade after uttering those words, Richard Nixon flew to China for some face time with Mao Tse-tung, boldly going where no American president had gone before.

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The Hype

High Art

February 9, 2011 | 4:41 pm

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Ben Heppner withdraws from the Ring Cycle in New York

(Image: Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images)

New York’s Metropolitan Opera announced on Tuesday that Ben Heppner, the celebrated Canadian tenor, has withdrawn from the role of Siegfried in its production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Heppner has apparently retired the role from his repertoire. Anticipation leading up to this performance had been growing since January 2007, when Met general manager Peter Gelb announced that Heppner would sing the role in the Robert Lepage stagings of Siegfried and Götterdämmerung during the 2011-2012 season.

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February 2, 2011 | 12:33 pm

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The Weekender: Nixon in China, Kuumba and six other events on our to-do list

1. FRIDAY AFTER FIVE: DINNER AND A MOVIE
This edition of the Gardiner Museum’s popular Friday night event features a screening of the 1992 magical realist flick Like Water for Chocolate, preceded by a cocktail hour and dinner inspired by the film and catered by Jamie Kennedy. You can also just go for the movie, but why would anyone choose to skip out on ceviche, mole and churros? February 4. Movie $5, $45 with dinner. Gardiner Museum, 111 Queen’s Park, 416-362-1957, ext. 201, gardinermuseum.on.ca.

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November 23, 2010 | 11:30 am

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The one thing you should see this week

After a successful run in 2009, Emergence is back for the National Ballet's fall mixed program (Image: Cylla von Tiedemann/National Ballet of Canada)

This week’s pick: Crystal Pite’s Emergence

A shuddering mass of sinewy bodies skittered its way across the stage, the bare-chested men in low-slung pants, the women in tight black bodices—all tattooed, all predatory, all seemingly trying to decide between seduction and supper. Hive mentality had never looked so good.

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October 27, 2010 | 11:50 am

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The Weekender: nine things on our to-do list (yes, including Halloween events)

1. CINDERELLA: ROCK THE BALL
The annual fundraising gala for the Canadian Opera Company, Operanation is always a place to see and be seen. This year’s bash is a rock ’n’ roll take on Cinderella that was inspired by the upcoming production of La Cenerentola, the Gioacchino Rossini opera based on the fairy tale. Think, all the city’s PYTs, amazing food and cocktails and, oh yeah, a joint COC/Broken Social Scene performance. Oct. 29. $150. Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W., 416-363-8231, coc.ca.

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September 29, 2010 | 11:36 am

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The Weekender: Nuit Blanche, a David Sedaris reading and six other can’t-miss events

1. NUIT BLANCHE (FREE!)
Nuit Blanche, Toronto’s once-small all-night arts festival, has exploded. Now in its fifth year, there are more than 130 listed art projects in three cross-city zones, and it’s time to admit there’s no way a person could conceivably see everything. Check out our top 10 must-see events instead. Oct. 2. Various locations, scotiabanknuitblanche.ca.

2. BLASTED
When this now-celebrated play first premiered in England in the mid-’90s, critics were less than impressed (the words “a disgusting feast of filth” were used). In the intervening years, opinion on the work may have shifted, but Blasted hasn’t become any less intense. Playwright Sarah Kane uses cannibalism, rape and brutality to draw parallels between domestic violence and war. On Sunday, check out the post-show pub, where some of the artists behind the play will be on hand for discussion at a “cocktail party meets book club.” To Oct. 17. $23–$33. Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander St., 416-975-8555, totix.ca.

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August 11, 2010 | 10:58 am

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The Weekender: Arcade Fire on the Island, Backstreet Boys at the Amphitheatre and seven other events on our to-do list

1. SOUTH PACIFIC
Though we have nothing but love for indie theatre, sometimes what we really want is show tunes. Enter South Pacific. Since its 1949 premiere, this Rodgers and Hammerstein–penned play has won a bevy of awards and popularized some of the most beloved show tunes, including “Some Enchanted Evening” and “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair.” It’s kind of the quintessential Broadway musical and thus fulfills our need for an over-the-top, big-budget musical perfectly. Aug. 12 to Sept. 5. $28–$200. Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W., 416-644-3665, dancaptickets.com.

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