ComiCon, a Heart concert and eight other things to do this week
ComiCon, a cosplayer’s paradise
Comic lovers, geeks and gamers will have a whole new cast of Star Wars characters to cosplay this year. Anyone who manages to weave through this three-day convention’s throngs of Reys, Finns and Kylo Rens will find guests like Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy) and Tovah Feldshuh (The Walking Dead’s Deanna), and discover a trove of celebrity photo sessions, panels and Q&As, retail booths, workshops, seminars, and sketching duels. Friday, March 18 to Sunday, March 20. $20–$30; pass $50. Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 222 Bremner Blvd., comicontoronto.com.
A throwback rock romp with Heart and Joan Jett
Sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson’s iconic classic-rock band, Heart, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013, after a 40-year career filled with the galloping guitars of “Barracuda” and wailing vocal work of “Crazy on You.” Here, they’re joined by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. Sunday, March 20. $88.50–$138.50. Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, 1 Front St. E., ticketmaster.ca.
Romeo and Juliet, a lively National Ballet hit
Russian choreographer Alexei Ratmansky debuted this quick, contemporary version of Shakespeare’s most popular love story with the National Ballet of Canada in 2011. His fluid movements lend new life to Sergei Prokofiev’s 1938 score. Wednesday, March 16 to Sunday, March 20. From $37. Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W., national.ballet.ca.
An uncanny Beatles tribute, mop tops and all
Since Rain formed as a Fab Four cover band in 1975, they’ve provided the soundtrack for the Birth of the Beatles biopic, played 300 shows on Broadway and expanded their live act into a two-hour multimedia spectacle. This time-warp performance recreates the band’s best singles and shows, including an uncanny version of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” Tuesday, March 15 to Sunday, March 20. $32–$119. Princess of Wales Theatre, 300 King St. W., ticketking.com.
You Will Remember Me, a devestating look at dementia
Edouard is a university professor, a public intellectual and a politically engaged patriarch. Both his professional and personal lives are built around his quick wit, so he’s particularly devastated when dementia begins to meddle with his mind—and, subsequently, his most intimate relationships. R. H. Thomson stars in the Toronto premiere of Québécois playwright François Archambault’s unsettling story about family, illness and how memory informs identity. To Sunday, April 10. $28–$60. Tarragon Theatre, 30 Bridgman Ave., tarragontheatre.com.
A chat with Occupy mastermind Micah White
The co-founder of the Occupy Wall Street movement and former editor of anti-consumerist magazine Adbusters reads and discusses his new book, The End of Protest: A New Playbook for Revolution, with Now magazine’s Susan G. Cole. He adeptly transcends the fuzzy utopianism that doomed the movement he helped spawn, instead providing an honest, critical and practical examination of the state of activism in the 21st century. Thursday, March 17. FREE. Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge St., eventbrite.ca.
The sounds of Zelda, symphony style
A video game franchise seems like an unlikely source for a symphonic concert—unless it’s Zelda. To fans, the adventure series’ rich soundtracks, composed by Koji Kondo (the same mastermind behind the Super Mario Bros. theme), are as iconic as the Star Wars overture or opening da-da-da-dum of Beethoven’s Fifth. This concert includes music from Tri Force Heroes, the latest Zelda instalment, as well as favourites from A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time and more. Saturday, March 19. $30–$115. Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, 1 Front St. E., ticketmaster.ca.
One hundred years of Disney on ice
Parents can give their Elsa-obsessed tots a history lesson in classic kids’ cinema at this icy retrospective. The show revisits Disney’s greatest hits—Cinderella, The Lion King, Toy Story—and features more than 50 performers, gliding and twirling across the ice in costume as Mickey, Minnie, Donald Duck and a squad of princesses that stretches from Snow White to Tiana. All ages. Thursday, March 17 to Sunday, March 20. $28–$95. Rogers Centre, 1 Blue Jays Way, ticketmaster.ca.
The Just, a contemplative Camus play
Albert Camus’s 1949 play, originally translated as The Just Assassins, was inspired by Russian Socialist Revolutionaries’ murder of the Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich in 1905. It’s told from the perspective of the rebels as they prepare for the revolution and grapple with opposing moral beliefs: how far are they willing to go in order to enact social change? To Saturday, March 26. $32–$89. Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 50 Tank House Ln., youngcentre.ca.
A show of Susanna Heller’s swirling cityscapes
The American painter offers a vision of New York City in perpetual motion. She twists traditional perspectives—that of an observer across the water or a plane flying above—to transform the familiar forms of Manhattan and Brooklyn’s skylines: buildings become blurred streaks of paint, rivers and clouds swirl like tentacles. The works are expressive and moody, prioritizing the city’s essence over its geometric contours. Artwork $2,000–$80,000. To Saturday, April 23. Olga Korper Gallery, 17 Morrow Ave., olgakorpergallery.com.
 and Tovah Feldshuh (The Walking Dead’s Deanna), and discover a trove of celebrity photo sessions, panels and Q&As, retail booths, workshops, seminars, and sketching duels. Friday, March 18 to Sunday, March 20. $20–$30; pass $50. Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 222 Bremner Blvd., comicontoronto.com.
A throwback rock romp with Heart and Joan Jett
Sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson’s iconic classic-rock band, Heart, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013, after a 40-year career filled with the galloping guitars of “Barracuda” and wailing vocal work of “Crazy on You.” Here, they’re joined by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. Sunday, March 20. $88.50–$138.50. Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, 1 Front St. E., ticketmaster.ca.
[caption id="attachment_360188" align="alignnone" width="2000"] (Image: Bruce Zinger)[/caption]
Romeo and Juliet, a lively National Ballet hit
Russian choreographer Alexei Ratmansky debuted this quick, contemporary version of Shakespeare’s most popular love story with the National Ballet of Canada in 2011. His fluid movements lend new life to Sergei Prokofiev’s 1938 score. Wednesday, March 16 to Sunday, March 20. From $37. Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W., national.ballet.ca.
An uncanny Beatles tribute, mop tops and all
Since Rain formed as a Fab Four cover band in 1975, they’ve provided the soundtrack for the Birth of the Beatles biopic, played 300 shows on Broadway and expanded their live act into a two-hour multimedia spectacle. This time-warp performance recreates the band’s best singles and shows, including an uncanny version of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” Tuesday, March 15 to Sunday, March 20. $32–$119. Princess of Wales Theatre, 300 King St. W., ticketking.com.
[caption id="attachment_373792" align="alignnone" width="2000"] (Image: Cylla von Tiedemann)[/caption]
You Will Remember Me, a devestating look at dementia
Edouard is a university professor, a public intellectual and a politically engaged patriarch. Both his professional and personal lives are built around his quick wit, so he’s particularly devastated when dementia begins to meddle with his mind—and, subsequently, his most intimate relationships. R. H. Thomson stars in the Toronto premiere of Québécois playwright François Archambault’s unsettling story about family, illness and how memory informs identity. To Sunday, April 10. $28–$60. Tarragon Theatre, 30 Bridgman Ave., tarragontheatre.com.
A chat with Occupy mastermind Micah White
The co-founder of the Occupy Wall Street movement and former editor of anti-consumerist magazine Adbusters reads and discusses his new book, The End of Protest: A New Playbook for Revolution, with Now magazine’s Susan G. Cole. He adeptly transcends the fuzzy utopianism that doomed the movement he helped spawn, instead providing an honest, critical and practical examination of the state of activism in the 21st century. Thursday, March 17. FREE. Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge St., eventbrite.ca.
The sounds of Zelda, symphony style
A video game franchise seems like an unlikely source for a symphonic concert—unless it’s Zelda. To fans, the adventure series’ rich soundtracks, composed by Koji Kondo (the same mastermind behind the Super Mario Bros. theme), are as iconic as the Star Wars overture or opening da-da-da-dum of Beethoven’s Fifth. This concert includes music from Tri Force Heroes, the latest Zelda instalment, as well as favourites from A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time and more. Saturday, March 19. $30–$115. Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, 1 Front St. E., ticketmaster.ca.
One hundred years of Disney on ice
Parents can give their Elsa-obsessed tots a history lesson in classic kids’ cinema at this icy retrospective. The show revisits Disney’s greatest hits—Cinderella, The Lion King, Toy Story—and features more than 50 performers, gliding and twirling across the ice in costume as Mickey, Minnie, Donald Duck and a squad of princesses that stretches from Snow White to Tiana. All ages. Thursday, March 17 to Sunday, March 20. $28–$95. Rogers Centre, 1 Blue Jays Way, ticketmaster.ca.
[caption id="attachment_373791" align="alignnone" width="2000"] (Image: Cylla von Tiedemann)[/caption]
The Just, a contemplative Camus play
Albert Camus’s 1949 play, originally translated as The Just Assassins, was inspired by Russian Socialist Revolutionaries’ murder of the Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich in 1905. It’s told from the perspective of the rebels as they prepare for the revolution and grapple with opposing moral beliefs: how far are they willing to go in order to enact social change? To Saturday, March 26. $32–$89. Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 50 Tank House Ln., youngcentre.ca.
A show of Susanna Heller’s swirling cityscapes
The American painter offers a vision of New York City in perpetual motion. She twists traditional perspectives—that of an observer across the water or a plane flying above—to transform the familiar forms of Manhattan and Brooklyn’s skylines: buildings become blurred streaks of paint, rivers and clouds swirl like tentacles. The works are expressive and moody, prioritizing the city’s essence over its geometric contours. Artwork $2,000–$80,000. To Saturday, April 23. Olga Korper Gallery, 17 Morrow Ave., olgakorpergallery.com.){kind=link}