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The best repertory and art-house screenings, special presentations, lectures, and limited engagements in Toronto.
At rep cinemas this week: A lament for rep theatres, a coming-of-age story set in Toronto, and a genre-crossing thriller.
Keep reading: Rep Cinema This Week: The Rep, Picture Day, Side Effects
Each week, Torontoist examines the upcoming TV listings and makes note of programs that are entertaining, informative, and of quality. Or, alternately, none of those. The result: Televisualist.
Is Michael Douglas too fabulous as Liberace? Trick question: there is no such thing.
Toronto's Scattershot Efforts to Commemorate Queen Victoria.
Group at statue of Queen Victoria, Queen’s Park, ca. 1912. From the City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1244, Item 2211.
The Golden Jubilee, celebrating Victoria’s 50th year on the throne, prompted an outpouring of patriotic fervour in Toronto in 1887. So large was the crowd attending a special Jubilee church service, with representation from most of the city’s denominations, that they couldn’t all fit in the Metropolitan Church. After a series of effusive speeches by the lieutenant-governor, premier, and mayor, the proceedings closed with a song—composed especially for the occasion by F.H. Torrington—”sung with great spirit and feeling” by all assembled, according to one in attendance.
The next day, a grand procession—composed of civic officials, school trustees, members of the city’s charities and societies, military units and veterans, all carrying banners and flags—marched past throngs of cheering spectators to festivities in the beloved monarch’s honour at the exhibition grounds. It was said that the procession was so long that it took an hour to pass a single point. Of the parade in the beloved monarch’s honour, Conyngham C. Taylor wrote in Toronto “Called Back” from 1888 to 1847 (Toronto: William Briggs, 1888): “The grand event so long anticipated was one to be long remembered as perhaps the most remarkable and the most thoroughly delightful day in the history of Toronto.”
Such was the loyal adoration Torontonians held for Queen and Empire. Yet, despite Victoria being the most commemorated British monarch, with statues in her honour scattered throughout the expansive British Empire, it took over 30 years of desultory efforts before Toronto erected a permanent Victoria statue of its own.
Er Shun and Da Mao, the Toronto Zoo's new pandas, are ready to meet the public.
Over 5,000 Toronto Zoo members, as well as members of the press, got a special sneak peak at giant pandas Er Shun and Da Mao earlier today. The pair is expected to be at the zoo, on loan from the Chinese government, for the next five years.
Zoo director of public relations Katie Gray said that the day was meant as a warmup for the pandas’ official unveiling on Saturday.
A Toronto band known for "thinking man's heavy rock" releases its third full-length.
Ten Kens defines its sound as “thinking man’s heavy rock.” Its songs are energetic, quirky, and slightly aggressive rock tunes that tend to fracture in the middle and fray around the edges. The band has always been interested in exploring the erosion of genre boundaries, and its third full-length release, Namesake, continues in that vein.
While the record first appeared in digital-only format last fall, Namesake is now getting a full, physical release that includes four new, previously unreleased tracks. It comes out on May 21.
For its first two releases, Ten Kens worked with Last Gang and Fat Cat records. For Namesake, the band has struck out entirely on its own. Core duo Brett Paulin and Dan Workman, who have always been responsible for all the songwriting, also handled all of the recording and production this time around. This pulling inward and holding close has paid off, as Namesake is not only more dense and complex than Ten Kens’ previous releases, but also more musically varied. Layers of composition and production can create a hazy, almost dream-like effect on some tracks, whereas others are more spare and bright, broken apart by gleaming drums.
Some of Toronto's trash is being put to creative uses, thanks to eco-minded crowdsourcing.
A terrible film spawned two direct-to-video sequels. Naturally, everything was shot in Toronto.
An after-school arts program aims to tap students' creative potential.
With so many other options available, Toronto jazz fans may no longer need upscale venues.
One mensch's hard journey from the sandlots of Toronto to New York's Ebbets Field.
What to watch at Hot Docs as it gets down to the wire.
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