Skip to main content

The Strumbellas.

Independent Music Awards
The Indies are an annual celebration of the music made by artists outside the major-label realm. The show on Saturday (part of Canadian Music Week) features performances by nominated artists, including high-energy types Hollerado, Mounties, Born Ruffians and the Juno-winning Strumbellas. Imported from Sweden for the occasion is Little Dragon, the electro-popsters who just might treat with tunes from its forthcoming album. May 10, 8 p.m. $34.50 (or CMW wristband or pass). Kool Haus, 132 Queens Quay E., cmw.net or ticketweb.ca

Too Much Johnson
When Orson Welles was a pitchman for Paul Masson wine in the 1970s, his line was: "We will sell no wine before its time." Apparently the maxim also applies to his movies, because the director's long-lost 1938 silent film Too Much Johnson is only now making its Canadian premiere, as part of a TIFF Cinematheque mini-retrospective of the man's work (May 9 to 13). The fast-paced farce of mistaken identities was never shown publicly; the only known print was destroyed in a fire in 1970. A work print was recently discovered and restored, however, and ready for unveiling. It's about time. May 10, 4:30 p.m. $9.50 to $12. TIFF Bell Lightbox, 350 King St. W., 416-599-8433 or tiff.net.

Kidd Pivot: The Tempest Replica
Here's an inventive take on Shakespeare's The Tempest from the Vancouver-based wunderkind Crystal Pite, whose staging ideas involve a silent movie, projected text, a repeating structure and dancers who are manipulated by the puppet-master Prospero, who is just as busy wrestling with his own demons. Upon it's 2012 premiere, Globe dance reviewer Paul Citron praised a dancey show with "stunning multimedia effects and striking visual optics." Quite a stormer, then, this choreographer Pite. May 7 to 10 (8 p.m.) and May 11 (2 p.m.). $29 to $99. Bluma Appel Theatre, 27 Front St. E., 416-368-3110 or canadianstage.com.

Canadian Opera Company: Don Quichotte
The beloved basso Ferruccio Furlanetto is in a titular role very familiar to him, that of literature's great Spanish hero and ultimate dreamer, Don Quixote. Based on the same classic novel that inspired the Broadway hit Man of La Mancha, the lush production is storybook – literally so, as characters pop out of mammoth, leather-bound tomes. The libretto is sung in French, the star is Italian, the rhythms are Spanish and the dream-the-impossible-dream story is famous the world over. May 9 to 24. $24 to $332. Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W., 416-363-8231 or coc.ca.

Arts on the Road: Kingston Road's Creative Walk
The group has received a lot of media attention of late, but at the risk of repeating ourselves, we just can't say enough about Choir! Choir! Choir! On Saturday, the charismatic singing collective, along with Canadian Idol finalist Luke McMaster, takes part in a free, one-day arts adventure that has students placing their large-scale art into and onto a strip of east-end restaurants, shops, banks and the Cliffcrest Public Library. Photography, music and dance are also part of the deal. May 10, 11 a.m to 2 p.m. Free. On Kingston Road, near R.H. King Academy (at 3800 St. Clair Ave. E). Event page.

Follow related authors and topics

Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.

Interact with The Globe