Haydain Neale, 1970–2009
The Lee's Palace Mural is Dead! Long Live the Lee's Palace Mural!
Peeve Patrol
Polling Booth: "Kick a Ginger" Controversy
Third Floor, First Rate
Photo from Spring Awakening by Paul Kolnik, courtesy of Mirvish Productions. Pictured: Anthony Lee Medina, Andy Mientus, Matt Shingledecker, Kyle Riabko, Blake Bashoff, and Ben Moss.
THEATRE: Tony Award–winning rock musical Spring Awakening starts its month-long run tonight at the Canon Theatre. Adapted from the 1891 play by Frank Wedekind, the decidedly alternative musical (with a score by Duncan Sheik and lyrics by Steven Sater) follows the sexual discoveries of formerly oppressed teenagers living at the turn of the nineteeth century in Berlin. The play, when it was first released, was initially banned in Germany because its not-so-feel-good topics include abortion, suicide, and rape. Parents all across the province are sure to grimace as their puberty-stricken daughters and sexually ambiguous sons announce they simply have to go see a bunch of former child actors take their clothes off on stage. But seriously, this musical is supposed to be really good. Canon Theatre (244 Victoria Street), 8 p.m., $28–$89.
ART: Although visual artist Erin Finley's exhibit "Berlin" has been on display at the Rivoli since March 8, the opening reception with the artist in attendance is tonight. "Berlin" was inspired by late 1970s punk performer Nadia Nefariously, in particular her affair with Lou Reed; which, as legend has it, first began when Nefariously (nefariously) put out a cigarette in Reed's back on Queen Street West in our very own Toronto. DJ-ing at tonight's three hour reception are DJs Gay and OB/GYN. "Berlin" is presented by Downtown Art and Sound, a new organization that will showcase both international and local artists through monthly exhibitions. Until April 11. Rivoli Lounge (334 Queen Street West), 7–10 p.m., FREE.
MUSIC: Tonight at Rancho Relaxo, join promoter Dan Wolovick for an exciting edition of his Two Way Monologues music series. Playing tonight are the United Steel Workers of Montreal, local indie prog rock team Spookey Ruben, and Ryan Shearing (playing a solo performance). As well, the Facebook event listing promises the Rancho Relaxo will not just be celebrating St. Patrick's Day by hanging decorations, but also Kurt Russell's birthday, by screening highlights from Russell's filmography all night. For the shoegazing Irishman in you. Rancho Relaxo (300 College Street), 9 p.m., $8.
KIDS: In the interest of kids learning "real skills," we briefly considered not promoting the gaming event for kids that dorkARMY is presenting today at the Gladstone Hotel. But then we remembered how we were when we were kids, and when we were kids we would have wanted to go to this, and we would have eventually convinced our parents. There will be gaming stations featuring Guitar Hero, Dance Dance Revolution, Mario Bros., and Lego Star Wars, among others. The drop-in event will run until 4 p.m. and is absolutely free. While this event requires that you be a kid, dorkARMY also hosts monthly gaming events for adults. Gladstone Hotel Ballroom (1214 Queen Street West), 10 a.m.–4 p.m., FREE.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
A "bunch" of Canadian former child actors? Who does fact checking? Only one is a Canadian actor (Kyle Riabko) and he's booked off for the Toronto run to film a pilot, while Steffi D is a former Canadian Idol contestant.
What's with the snotty and condescending tone describing the show? Have you even seen it yet? It's incisive and incredibly relevant even today, especially given the Bush presidency's tactics of suppressing women's rights and dragging Christianity back into government from which the US is just now attempting to undo.
The plethora of diatribes and 'better than thou' articles in recent Torontoist history is but one reason I've been considering unsubscribing and sticking with BlogTo. A huge disappointment. Maybe Torontoist should have been allowed to perish, if this was its future.
I'll admit to making a mistake by calling them "Canadian former child actors" and will be editing the post to read "former child actors," because both Matt Doyle (Kyle Riabko's replacement) and Blake Bashoff certainly qualify as such.
Other than that, I stand by what I said. I'm clearly aware of the play's relevancy; why else would I have made the point to write about it at all? I was simply making a comment on the unfortunate commercialization of Broadway musicals in the last five years or so as the little kids who saw Wicked now demand that their casts be satisfied by vaguely recognizable actors, and, thanks partly to High School Musical, a fervent desire for highly sexual context. In my article, then, I believe I remained objective on the topic.
@Amber Waves: I've made the change to omit the word "Canadian" in the sentence—our bad on that; as Robin explained above, it's not really wrong to say the show consists of some child actors, but it was probably wrong to say that the bulk were Canadian. It's worth mentioning, too, that Torontoist will have a full review of Spring Awakening soon, quite possibly in tomorrow's Drama Club. A bunch of people on staff are really excited about it (Robin included)! We don't list things in Urban Planner unless we're at least somewhat convinced of their awesomeness.
But I should say that the accusation of a "plethora of diatribes and 'better than thou' articles in recent Torontoist history" has been made throughout Torontoist's history, it's rarely been demonstrably true, and it's most often made by readers who have no problems with our writers being opinionated until those opinions suddenly stop fitting with their own. Especially over the past few years, we've been doing whatever we can to make whatever criticism and snarkiness we doll out fair and measured—believe me, it's always a conscious decision to be critical. But if you want to stop reading Torontoist because we occasionally criticize things (or occasionally make pretty funny jokes about things) you like, that's your choice, even if it's an unfortunate one.