Urban Planner: May 10, 2013

In today's Urban Planner: a block party, Ethiopian jazz, and an expormidable moose (whatever that means).

By Torontoist

The cast of The Charge of the Expormidable Moose. Photo by Adam Seelig.

• Food: To open the third summer season of the Live Local Marketplace, Market 707 is throwing a free-to-all block party entitled Flavours of the City. Besides the wonderfully diverse selection available from the resident container shops, the street food menu will be bolstered by food trucks, and a number of buskers and music acts will be on hand for the party, as well. Market 707 (707 Dundas Street West), 5 p.m., FREE. Details
• Music: The Lula Music and Arts Centre’s annual Lulaworld festival kicks off on May 10 with Ethiopian jazz innovators Jay Danley and Fantahun Shewankochew. The festival travels around the world for the month of May, with performances most nights (and some afternoons) from local world music purveyors Uma Nota, Cuban player Bobby Carcasses, the Ukrainian Telnyuk Sisters, and more. (For a full schedule, prices, and reservations, visit the Lula Lounge website.) Lula Lounge (1585 Dundas Street West), 7 p.m., FREE–$25. Details
• Theatre: Theatre company One Little Goat presents the English-language premiere of The Charge of the Expormidable Moose, an adaptation of Québecois playwright Claude Gauvreau’s story of a embattled poet who may or may not be a prisoner. Gauvreau, a noted figure in Quebec’s radical movement in the mid-20th century, wrote the play in the ’50s while in and out of a mental institution. The show, which was not produced until the ’70s, has become a landmark of Quebec theatre. The seven-member cast includes veterans like Hume Baugh, established indie actors like David Christo, and up-and-comers like Jessica Salgueiro. Tarragon Theatre (30 Bridgman Avenue), 8 p.m., $13–$25. Details
• Comedy: Every second Friday of the month, The Texas Comedy Massacre 2 has been hosting a mix of professional and amateur stand-ups on the third floor of the Fox and Fiddle pub, just east of Yonge and Wellesley streets. Host Xerxes Cortes has been at it since 2006, and he has a typically strong bill to celebrate year seven, including Fraser Young, Rebecca Kohler, and Bryan O’Gorman. (And perhaps there will be cake?) Fox & The Fiddle (27 Wellesley Street East), 8:30 p.m., PWYC. Details

Ongoing…

• Photography: David Kaufman’s Early Sunday Morning photography exhibit simultaneously celebrates the heritage of Toronto’s architecture, while pleading for its preservation, in the face of gentrification and condo development. The building facades and structures, rich in texture and colour, are each captured at their most beautiful—basking in the light of early morning. Twist Gallery (1100 Queen Street West), 11 a.m., FREE. Details
• Theatre: Fans of the seminal 1968 horror-film classic, Night of the Living Dead, will delight in Night of the Living Dead Live, a new theatrical production of the story. Despite a weak second act, it’s a fun black-and-white romp with some inventive deaths—and even a chipper musical number. Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace (16 Ryerson Avenue), 7 p.m. and 11 p.m., $20–$80. Details
• Theatre: Life x 3 presents the tale of Henry and Sonia, who have to deal with a couple that unexpectedly shows up to dinner a day early. The best part? In this play, you get to see three different versions of the evening’s events. Directed by Andrew Lamb (My Mother’s Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding). Unit 102 Theatre (376 Dufferin Street), 8 p.m., $25, $20 for students, seniors, and art workers. Details
• Theatre: Falsettos, a groundbreaking and Tony Award–winning musical, comes to town for a short run, presented by The Acting Up Stage Company. The story takes us to New York City in 1979, where the Sexual Revolution is hot, AIDS is on the rise, and Marvin, a husband and father, has decided to leave his family for a man. Directed by Robert McQueen and starring Darrin Baker, Sara-Jeanne Hosie, Sarah Gibbons, Michael Levinson, Eric Morin, Stephen Patterson, and Glynis Ranney. Daniels Spectrum (585 Dundas Street East), 8 p.m., $39-$55. Details
• Theatre: David Yee examines life’s interconnectivity in Carried Away on the Crest of a Wave. The play follows an escort in Thailand, a housewife in Utah, and a Catholic priest in India, and how their lives are simultaneously brought together and torn apart by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Tarragon Theatre (30 Bridgman Avenue), 8 p.m., $21-$53. Details
• Theatre: Mick Gordon’s BEA tells the story of a young woman suffering from a debilitating illness that has left her bedridden for eight years. She needs someone to feed her, wash her, dress her. But she still controls her right to live or die; a decision with which she struggles. BEA features performances from Bahareh Yaraghi, Deborah Drakeford, and Brendan McMurtry-Howlett. Factory Theatre (125 Bathurst Street), 8 p.m., $10-$25. Details
• Theatre: Fly By Night Theatre Company has put a modern twist on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. The dual love story now takes place in Toronto in 2011, against the backdrop of the federal election, as soldiers return home from Afghanistan. Proceeds from the show go to Royal Seed Needy Home, an orphanage in Ghana. Young People’s Theatre Studio Space (165 Front Street East), 8 p.m., $20, $18 for Students and Seniors. Details
• Theatre: Written and directed by Maya Rabinovitch, I Will Not Hatch! features a cast of 10 actors telling the darkly comic story of how a number of passengers react when their airplane begins losing altitude. It’s a remount of their earlier Fringe show, which sold out house and earned praise in both Toronto and Winnipeg. Berkeley Street Theatre (26 Berkeley Street), 8 p.m., $15. Details
• Theatre: If you’ve been paying attention to musical theatre news over the past two years, you know that The Book of Mormon has a passionate and devout following of fans who swear it’s the long-awaited saviour of the artform. The show won nine Tonys in 2011, the cast recording reached number three on the Billboard chart, and tickets for its Broadway run are rare and expensive. Princess of Wales Theatre (300 King Street West), 8 p.m., Prices vary. Details
• Comedy: Comedy and life partners Matt Baram (CityTV’s Seed) and Naomi Snieckus (CBC’s Mr. D) are workshopping a new show format (“come see it get built right before your eyes!”) in a weekly residency in April and May at Second City’s Training Centre. The master improvisers and co-creators of Script Tease have been busy touring and on television of late, and these Baram and Snieckus shows will be a rare opportunity to see our 2010 hero nominees in a back to basics comedy format. John Candy Box Theatre (70 Peter Street), 8:30 p.m., PWYC. Details

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 us with all the details (including images, if you’ve got any), ideally at least a week in advance.