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Urban Planner: February 1, 2011
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].
J.P. Viernes, Marcus Pei, Myles Erlick, and Cesar Corrales are clearly pretty excited about sharing the lead role in Billy Elliot the Musical. Photo by Cylla Von Tiedemann.
Tonight Billy Elliot has the urge to dance, Birdland and Swanville seek their roots, and The Decemberists overthrow Tsar Nicholas I—wait, wrong Decemberists. These ones play music.
THEATRE: Strap on your dancing shoes (and hang up your boxing gloves) because the Canadian premiere of Billy Elliot the Musical is tonight. The musical was adapted by Lee Hall from his 2000 film about a motherless lad who gives up boxing for ballet, leading to a fair deal of conflict in his mining town community in Northern Ireland. Four talented boys will rotate through the titular role, including one Canadian and three students of Canada’s National Ballet School. The Tony Award-winning team includes director Stephen Daldry, choreographer Peter Darling, and lyrics by Sir Elton Hercules John himself. Canon Theatre (244 Victoria Street), 7:30 p.m., $36–$130.
THEATRE: The interdisciplinary collective Birdland and Swanville, previously responsible for the critically acclaimed 36 Little Plays About Hopeless Girls, is launching its newest project tonight. Family Story seeks to explore the nature of our identities by following the roots of our family trees. Sounds like heavy material, but given that the creators cite Polka Dot Door and Little Golden Books as major influences—not to mention a giant felt Rubik’s Cube among the props—it’s likely to be a pretty madcap journey. The performance includes Jonathan Osborn as an opening act, discussing his fascination with outer space and science fiction. Double Double Land (209 Augusta Avenue), 8 p.m., $15.
MUSIC: Tonight Toronto plays hosts to The Decemberists, and we don’t mean rioting Russian soldiers—though that would have been pretty interesting. Instead we’re getting the indie folk darlings, ready to bathe us in their soothing narrative ballads and quirky Oregonian charm. Baltimore duo Wye Oak—named for the state tree of Maryland—will open. Sound Academy (11 Polson Street), doors at 8 p.m., $35.50.