The Black Stallion, part of Family Classics at the Lightbox |
The five new screens of the
Bell Lightbox are conveniently close to Le Sélect and feature a great selection of films and documentaries.
Wim Wenders' Pina is the German director's tribute to the choreographer Pina Bausch with the enthusiastic participation of her dance troupe.
Bangkok Dangerous: The Cinema of Nicolas Cage is a selective retrospective of the actor's work (to April 7). The Lightbox marks Black History Month with
Music, Magic, Clash: New Voices in the African Diaspora, including films from Canada, the Caribbean, and Africa.
Family Classics is an ongoing series with a classic kid-friendly film every Saturday morning at 10:30. Upcoming gems include
Fly Away Home and
The Black Stallion.
Rubens' Massacre of the Innocents, part of the Thomson Collection |
The
Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) now houses
a bigger and better collection of art, with some tremendous additions
from the Thomson and Frum collections. They include a stunning collection
of European art and sculpture, a flotilla
of extraordinary model ships, and art and sculpture from sub-Saharan
Africa. Plus there's the old favourites:
11000 years of Canadian art, Dutch and Flemish masters, Henry Moore, and
a big contemporary collection overlooking Grange Park.
Jack Chambers gets a retrospective at the AGO |
Jack Chambers: Light, Spirit, Time, Place and Life is a retrospective of the Canadian painter's work.
Constructing Utopia: Books and Posters from Revolutionary Russia (1910-1940) brings together Russian avant-garde books and Soviet Russian propaganda posters to reveal the hugely influential design movement spawned by the Revolution, which continues to affect our visual culture.
Songs of the Future: Canadian Industrial Photographs, 1858 to Today (to April 29 2012) reveals a vital part of Canadian history through views both critical and celebratory.
The ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza |
At the Royal Ontario
Museum: there's the permanent collection - everything
early Canadiana to Chinese temple art to the textile and costume collection to the
amazing assemblage of crystals which
inspired Daniel Liebeskind's glass and
metal extension.
Maya: Secrets of their Ancient World (to April 9, 2012) is a groundbreaking exhibition featuring 250 artifacts exploring the entire world of the Maya, from the rule of kings and queens to the lives of everyday people, and the mysteries surrounding the puzzling collapse of the classical Maya civilization.
The ROM |
Riotous Colour, Daring Patterns: Fashions + Textiles 18th to 21st Centuries features pieces by design icons John Galliano for Christian Dior and Jean Paul Gaultier. To April 2012.
Sitting Still: Faces of Childhood (to Spring 2012) is an unsentimental look at sentimental portraits from the ROM's 19th century Canadian collection. The exhibition includes paintings that for generations had remained within the child's family.
Embellished Reality: Indian Painted Photographs brings together 60 works from the ROM's collection, representing a distinctive aspect of South Asian visual culture, combining the practice of painting with the technique of photography. To March 2012. Plan your trip on the
ROM website.
Charcoal works by Alison Lambert at the Metevier Gallery |
Right in our neighbourhood: Nicholas
Metivier Gallery at 451 King St West, west of Spadina has a series of photographs entitled Objects Waiting by Max Dean. To January 28. Paintings by Shelley Adler run from February 2 to 25, along with charcoal works by Alison Lambert. Check out the gallery
website.
Down the road from us at Diaz Contemporary, 100 Niagara Street: pearlmaiden by Dara Gellman, an experimental video adaptation of a 14th century text. To February 11.
Penny Plain by Ronnie Burkett |
Factory Theatre is also an easy walk from Le Sélect, and always features outstanding new Canadian theatre. From January 20 to February 26,
Penny Plain by Ronnie Burkett's Theatre of Marionettes is an end-of-the-world romance told with puppets. From February 22 to March 4 is
The Big Smoke, the Canadian premiere of an award-winning one-woman show inspired by the lives of Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton, starring Amy Nostbakken.
My Granny the Goldfish by Anosh Irani runs from March 17 to April 15, in which Granny travels from Bombay to visit her beloved grandson Nico who is in hospital in Vancouver. Her "cure alls" are attitudes, platitudes and a full flask of whiskey. See more on the
Factory Theatre website.
Sleeping Beauty at the Four Seasons Centre |
The
Canadian Opera Company at the Four Seasons
Centre at Queen and University presents Puccini's
Tosca from January 21 to February 25, 2012 and
Love from Afar by Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho from February 2 to 22. Check the
COC
website for
details.
Also sharing the Four Seasons Centre is the
National
Ballet of Canada, where
La Fille mal gardée runs from February 29 to March 4, and Marius Petipa's
The Sleeping Beauty, with music by Tchaikovsky, runs from March 10 to 18.
