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Urban Planner: July 20, 2010
Urban Planner is Torontoist’s guide to what’s on in Toronto, published every weekday morning, and in a weekend edition Friday afternoons. If you have an event you’d like considered, email all of its details—as well as images, if you’ve got any—to [email protected].
The Book Revue turns its sights on Leo and Kate’s big screen interpretation of Richard Yates’ novel Revolutionary Road. Photo courtesy of Evamere Entertainment.
Today in TO: books on film, a multimedia pageant tour in Parkdale, readings at the Painted Lady, and silent plays set to classical music.
FILM: The Revue Cinema continues its new monthly screening/talkback combo The Book Revue, focusing on the process of adapting books for the big screen. On deck tonight with this cinematic book club is Richard Yates’ Revolutionary Road, a critique of suburban life and the American Dream in the fifties later adapted for film by Sam Mendes. Mendes reunited the Titanic team of Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, and Kathy Bates for the project, which was filmed almost half a century after the novel was originally penned. The heavy subject matter will likely give host and Toronto Star critic Geoff Pevere plenty to talk about in his post-screening discussion. The Revue Cinema (400 Roncesvalles Avenue), 7 p.m., $10.
THEATRE: The DitchWitch Brigade levels their crosshairs on beauty pageants in their new site-specific multimedia project Miss Toronto Gets a Life_in Parkdale, cycling through every performance style from silent film to cooking show while recounting the history of Miss Toronto. Eve Wylden, a.k.a. the Diva of Parkdale, dons the crown of the former pageant queen depicted on the Rhino’s mural and leads the audience through “a fluctuating space-time-music-stagemedia continuum,” which sounds worth the experience alone. Locations for this mobile performance include The Rhino to see the mural itself and Sunnyside Pavilion, where the Miss Toronto Beauty Pageant once took place. The Theatre Centre (1087 Queen Street West), 8 p.m., $10 for tonight’s preview, $18/$13 normal/student for all following performances.
WORDS: The Painted Lady and Capture Global Lit Mag team up to bring you Me and My Big Mouth, an evening of writers’ readings on Ossington. Hear new works from some of the city’s top wordsmiths, such as poet Evie Christie and playwright Tom Walmsley. Round out the evening’s entertainment by sticking around for a performance by The Painted Lady (218 Ossington Avenue), 8 p.m., FREE.
THEATRE: The Garrison rocks it old school—very old school—tonight at Salon de Bon-Bon, a series of silent short plays set to the music of the nineteenth century. The Reductionists Assembly and soprano Kristin Mueller-Heaslip will tackle the greatest hits from Beethoven, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, and others in this evening of unique storytelling. Following the show the stage will open up for performances of original works by young Canadian composers, such as Matthew Allard and Vera Burmenko. The Garrison (1197 Dundas Street West), 9 p.m., $5.