The grand dame of Toronto's performing arts venues, the Royal Alexandra Theatre, celebrates its 100th birthday tomorrow. To mark the event, the Mirvishes have organized a free open house from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., during which you can go on a self-guided backstage tour, eat free grub at the BBQ in front of the theatre (weather permitting), or catch a tribute performance from the original members of the 1969 Canadian cast of Hair.......

Stage Struck: 100 Years At The Royal Alex, a free exhibition commemorating the Royal Alexandra Theatre's centennial, opened yesterday at the Toronto Reference Library. Torontoist was at the opening to oggle at the rare playbills, posters and other paraphernalia that would make any theatre geek weak in the knees. Organized by the Toronto Public Library, the Stage Struck exhibit features photos, design sketches, scripts and souvenir books that highlight the long history of the......

The flags will be at half-mast Thursday at all civic buildings and an entire city is saddened by the loss of "Honest Ed" Mirvish at the age of 92. The Mirvish family has released public details about the funeral: Friday, July 13 Beth Tzedec Synagogue 1700 Bathurst Street, just south of Eglinton Avenue [map] 11:00 a.m. (a strictly private family Shiva will follow) Donations can be made in lieu of flowers to the Ed......

Toronto legend Edwin "Honest Ed" Mirvish has died. He was 92. The philanthropic businessman was a crucial part of Toronto's reputation as a world-renowned theatre centre, and had been mostly out of the public eye after contracting a severe case of pneumonia in 2003 and experiencing deteriorating health ever since. Mirvish died at St. Michael's Hospital at 1:30 a.m. Mirvish was born in Virginia on July 25, 1914 to Lithuanian Jewish immigrants. His introduction to......

Torontoist's online HQ has been all a-twitter and a-quiver this afternoon with the delicious (if a little startling) news from Mirvish Productions. Below, Paige shares a top-priority emergency dispatch from her 9-5 outpost. Torontoist was horrified at last month's news that a Dirty Dancing remake is in the works. We may watch the film over and over again, but that doesn't mean that we want former Saved by the Bell'er Mario Lopez taking Patrick......

He was known for his tales of Old Hollywood as much as his ever-present hairpiece, and Toronto just became way more boring without him. Yesterday, famous publicist and personal manager Gino Empry died at Western Memorial Hospital from congestive heart failure due to a stroke he suffered in July. Though he lived in a huge downtown penthouse condo on Mutual Street, Empry had been in the hospital since the stroke. Empry never revealed his true......