Secret Recipe: Go ahead, indulge

3:08 pm

From the first day of December to the new year, we love to eat non-stop! Here are some of my favourite holiday desserts that are sweet, delicious, decadent — yet lighter in calories and fat.

Coffee almond cheesecake shots
Glow Fresh Grill in Toronto features shot glass desserts as their specialty. Here is one of my favorites. I think of Baskin Robbins’ Jamoca ice cream when I’m devouring these petit treats, but with much fewer calories and less fat!

Soft gingerbread cookies
The flavouring of a gingerbread cookie is such a traditional one, with the most common ingredient being molasses and cinnamon. Whether you like them soft and chewy or crispy, they’re addictive no matter what!

Bailey’s Irish Cream chocolate truffles
If you don’t want those excess calories and fat in holiday truffles, these are the perfect solution. I eliminated the egg yolks and whipping cream and created a smooth and rich chocolate decadence!

Who is the fairest producer of them all?

3:08 pm

The only thing more comical than watching a grown man in drag play Snow White’s evil stepmother is watching that man rehearse the role in jeans and Reeboks.

It’s mid-morning on a rainy November Monday, and I’m sitting in an upstairs studio at the Elgin Theatre watching the cast of Ross Petty’s annual holiday pantomime run through their lines for this year’s show — a mash-up of the classic Snow White fairy tale and a James Bond story.

At 66, Petty is both an actor in the show and its producer. He’s as sprightly and animated as a Christmas elf as he prances around the airy studio and belts out the Evil Queen’s first musical number (I’ve been sworn to secrecy, but let’s just say a certain pop group’s 2012 hit is ingrained in my memory).

While the actors do their thing, stage director Tracey Flye sits at a table with several other members of the production staff observing and taking notes on cues. Later today, she and Petty will meet in his dressing room to discuss some of the production notes they compile.

Flye is also filling in for some of the major set changes: “Then the thing flies out, and now we’re coming in to the next scene,” she calls to the actors, and Snow White (singer Melissa O’Neil — whom you’ll remember as the winner of Canadian Idol season three) steals the spotlight with her powerful voice and girl-next-door likeability — the perfect foil for Petty, who is known for encouraging boos from his young audience members.

Petty is now standing at a floor-to-ceiling window at the opposite side of the room reading his lines, his back to actors “onstage.” They’ve been rehearsing for two and a half weeks already, but he’s having a difficult time keeping all his lines in order, balancing acting with the numerous responsibilities of a producer. When he waltzes back in to the scene, he has the script tucked into his waistband in case he needs a reminder. Eddie Glen, who has starred in Petty’s pantos for 10 years, jokes, “Wow, I can’t believe you remembered your lines!”

“I’ll get them down eventually,” Petty tells me with a wink when the cast breaks for lunch.

Most of the actors sit at another folding table just outside the studio, eating (I can’t help but notice several of them munching on apples and laugh thinking of the Queen’s ploy to poison Snow White). Others check their phones, some playing back scenes they had recorded during the rehearsal.

For Petty, it’s a working lunch. I follow him to a makeshift office down the hall where he opens a laptop to view a quarter-page print ad for Snow White that his agency has just sent over for his review.

After going over the details, deciding to add an exclamation point after the tag line “Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow,” we get to talking about how his pantomimes came to be an annual tradition.

Although he began his acting career in diverse roles, including stints in London’s West End and on Broadway, Petty now says, “I don’t see that I’ll ever wander off and do anything else.” In addition to being hilariously entertaining, he believes his musicals are an accessible way to introduce children to theatre, fostering a lifelong appreciation for the performing arts. He jokes that in that respect he’s in direct competition with his wife, Karen Kain, director of the National Ballet of Canada, which puts on The Nutcracker, another family holiday favourite, every year at the same time.

Besides tweaking marketing materials, a large part of Petty’s behind-the-scenes role is securing sponsors so that his shows can continue to take place each year. It’s a task that begins almost immediately after one show wraps for the season, so there’s very little downtime for him.

But today it’s mainly rehearsals that fill his time, and there are bugs to be worked out before the show opens in a few days. So for the afternoon, Petty and the cast are scheduled for “sitzprobe” — where the actors engage with the orchestra to work out the musical numbers, tweaking volume levels and pacing and making sure everyone is on the same page.

This time, I’m able to watch from the plush red seats of the Elgin, as the actors take the stage proper. Petty becomes even more vibrant in this atmosphere.
It’s a long, active day, and by the end of it, Petty admits, “I’m pretty wiped.” He’s looking forward to a relaxing evening: dinner with his wife, which he explains is a rare treat, and Monday Night Football.

Meet a Comedian: Diana Bailey

1:54 pm

 Copywriting student Diana Bailey is fairly new to Toronto’s comedy scene, but she has already appeared on numerous Toronto comedy stages (Yuk Yuk’s, Comedy Bar) and was a finalist at this year’s Toronto Comedy Brawl. We chatted with the young comic about Sailor Moon, sweating and her crazy mom.  

 Were you the class clown growing up?
I wasn’t the class clown so much as a total mouth-breathing weirdo. When my friends and I picked characters to play Sailor Moon on the playground, I was always the British cat, if that gives you any idea.

How did you know you wanted to pursue comedy?
My sister Laura (co-producer/host of Chicka Boom) is an amazingly talented improviser, so she gets a lot of attention from our parents and I obviously couldn’t let that go uncontested. I do stand-up because I can’t act, as I have zero control over what my face is doing at any given point in time.

Describe your first time performing onstage. Where was it? How did it go? 
My first time doing stand-up was for my Comedy Girl class recital (taught by Dawn Whitwell, who is so funny and so great). It went pretty well, I think. I got really, really sweaty though. By the time I went on stage (second to last), I had pit stains down to my ribs. So I showed everybody. It was liberating.  

What do you like most about stand-up?
  I like that I can just do it whenever. With sketch, you have to have writers’ meetings and rehearsals and time management skills, and that stresses me out. With stand-up, I can just go to a bar, have a beer, get on stage and gab about my vagina. I like that.

Who or what makes you laugh the most?  
My mom kills me. My oldest sister just had a baby, so my mom has taken to making PowerPoint presentations of baby pictures with jokey captions. Sample caption: “Hey, what’s so hard about talking? It’s so easy! Goo, agoo, that’s all you need to know!” And then when she makes me laugh really hard, she says, “See, I always know how to get Diana off!” She’s absurd.

What’s one of worst things you’ve felt bad laughing about?
  Oh, this is a bad one. But recently my Baba (my Macedonian grandmother) had this intense mystery abdominal pain for days and no one could figure out what it was. And after all the tests were done, they discovered that she was just majorly constipated. She’s fine though! And she doesn’t read English! So this is all a-okay!

In five years, where would you like to be? 
On a houseboat.

The details:

Year started stand-up: 2011 
Influences: Maria Bamford, Tig Notaro, Louis C.K, my crazy Greek mom.  
Next gig: The Incubator, Crown and Tiger, 414 College St., 416-920-3115. Dec. 10, 7:30 p.m. 

Animal houses: four Toronto feasts that release the beast

12:16 pm

Let’s be honest: Christmas dinner is not going to be tasty this year. It never is. Turkey is difficult to cook, and Aunt Muriel seldom does a good job, unless she’s deep-frying it, which she probably isn’t. Not only that, but nobody at a holiday dinner — nobody — is permitted to admit that the turkey they’re eating is about as tacky as subway gum. Christmas dinner makes a stoic out of everyone.

This is a travesty, because feasts should be good. Being at a feast means that you’re a part of a clan. It’s a time for hedonism, for setting aside squabbles, for temporarily abandoning fad diets.

The upside is that whole animal feasts are actually getting interesting in this city — in restaurants, at least. That’s partly because nose-to-tail dining is currently as fashionable as scanty facial hair. Take advantage of the times. The unabashed consumption of animals could become passé any day now.

Over on College Street, Bestellen’s suckling pig dinner ($59 per person) is gluttonous in an ancient Rome kind of way. There is something about the perfume of roasted suckling pig — one that has been rubbed with rosemary-lemon salt, brined, steamed, then roasted for four hours — that transports you to a more primal era. When the beast is brought to the large communal table, things get less civilized — fast.

This is what happened to me: I ditched my cutlery and began to stuff succulent, fatty, porky pork into my mouth at a completely unsustainable rate. Agony ensued. Still, I somehow managed to eat a dessert of chocolate ganache with salt flakes and crushed pistachios afterwards, which means that the dessert was good because eating more didn’t even seem possible. (A word of warning to those who get all fuzzy-wuzzy around cute things: a suckling pig is as tasty as it is adorable, even after it’s cooked.)

For something a little more sophisticated, date-y even, Beast does whole animals on request. Chef-owner Scott Vivian serves the animal in multiple courses: lamb, pig or cow, but also less common options like wild boar or even water buffalo. (But since a water buffalo could probably feed “half of Toronto,” as Vivian puts it, he won’t literally cook the whole animal, just a lot of it.)

I had a fine six-course dinner at Beast that revolved entirely around rabbit ($80 per person). It was a dinner that Vivian will probably never replicate because he tries to ensure that each whole-animal dinner is unique.

To start, Thumper’s heart, liver and kidneys were served on grilled bread with a mushroom ragu (fantastic). Another course featured teeny-tiny rabbit ribs with kimchi and carrot-sweet brown butter. Yet another had a crispy, Southern-fried rabbit leg. Other parts that weren’t used directly were used to make sauces and stocks. The only course that didn’t have any rabbit pieces in it was the dessert, but it was rabbit themed, at least: the pastries were called “cottontails” and came with a sweet carrot sauce. They were delicious.

Now, it would be amiss to mention feasts in Toronto without a nod to New York chef David Chang, who seems to have been born with an innate understanding of communal dining. Daishō, one of his three Momofuku restaurants in Toronto, does intense large-format dinners, including a $600 rib-eye steak that’s been aged 65 days.

Still, considering that fried chicken is one of Chang’s all-time favourite meals (“I love, love, love, love, love fried chicken,” he says in his Momofuku cookbook), it would be just plain silly to not try some at Daishō. Bonus: Matt Blondin is in the kitchen, and that guy blew people’s minds when he was at Acadia.

Like the other Momofukus, Daishō is casual. Servers are dressed in T-shirts, and food is served on plastic plates. For $125, diners get two whole chickens, around three pounds each, from a farm in Ontario. The birds are taken apart and cooked sous-vide in buttermilk for two hours, then they’re triple-dredged in flour and other spices before being quickly fried in super-hot canola oil. If you don’t use your hands, you’re a prude. And don’t forget to make use of the accompanying scallion pancakes.

Over on St. Clair West, chef Nigel Finley cooks up fresh seafood feasts at Catch. Depending on what’s available, these could include clam bakes ($100 for two), whole halibut ($162 for a six-pound fish, good for four people) or massive wild striped bass ($625 for a 15 to 25 pounder, serves at least eight).

Finley’s a purist, so he seasons whole fish with just a touch of olive oil, salt and pepper, nothing else, then quickly sears it on a grill. The fish is then baked, seasoned with a bit of olive oil and lemon, and it’s ready to go (after Finley debones it tableside, of course). If you’d like to know which of your friends has actual taste, watch for the one who goes straight for the fish’s head: the best flavours reside in the succulent cheeks or in the moist meat just behind the gills.

Of course, if you’re really in for some holiday overconsumption, you could always go for Finley’s “gout,” which is quite possibly one of the most obnoxious things to ever have been put on a menu in this city: oysters stuffed into a trout stuffed into a goat.

Aunt Muriel would never make that, but then again, maybe that’s a good thing.

Bestellen, 972 College St., 647-341-6769
Beast, 96 Tecumseth St., 647-352-6000
Daishō, 190 University Ave., third floor, reservations taken online
Catch, 744 St. Clair Ave. W., 416-658-0568

Leonard Cohen is awe-inspiring in the first of two shows at the ACC

12:05 pm

The cardinal sin of a reviewer of any kind is to allow your critique to be coloured by preconceived notions and pre-established biases. It was a sin of which I was nearly guilty as I embarked upon my review of Leonard Cohen’s first of two near-sold out ACC shows on Tuesday night. 

 My pre-show research indicated that neither I nor the 11,000 fans in attendance were in for a particularly original or passion-driven night. Rumours suggested that Cohen’s decision to tour again was motivated more by financial troubles than his desire to perform, while reports from his previous dates suggested a rather scripted show. Yet, none of that wound up mattering.   

What did matter was the 78-year-old’s ever-present aura. With his deep, gravelly, baritone voice blanketing the arena, it was impossible to ignore his visceral mystique.  The set wasn’t exactly high on energy, but the authenticity of his soulful classics, such as “Suzanne,” “Ain’t No Cure for Love” and “Bird on a Wire,” more than made up for it. You could argue that Cohen’s most transcendent song, “Hallelujah,” has been improved upon by the many artists who have covered it, but each of the 29 tracks performed were given more weight by his smoky-but-booming voice and his more-than-capable roster of supporting musicians.    

Adding to Cohen’s mystique was his lack of personal expression. He did all he could to emphasize the music over the man, revealing few candid moments other than the odd tongue-in-cheek aside regarding his age. Instead, he offered several instances of spoken word poetry, including the haunting “A Thousand Kisses Deep,” which were clearly rehearsed but nonetheless striking and emotional.   

Cohen looked the part, too. Impeccably dressed in a sharp dark suit and his signature black fedora, he exuded an ageless strength and suave. When the two large screens captured a shot that looked out at the riveted crowd from the stage, the Montreal native’s presence was almost spirit-like (and no, that’s not a crack about his age).   

What I came to understand on Tuesday night was that the details were just that. It didn’t matter what was motivating him to perform, nor did it matter what he had recycled from previous tour dates. Regardless of the circumstances, fans in Toronto were granted an increasingly rare opportunity (two, actually) – the first since a 2008 Sony Centre appearance — to bask in the aura that is Leonard Cohen.

Drink This: an eggnog cocktail from The County General

10:34 am

Now that the holiday season is in full swing, what better way to indulge than with some classic cheer in liquid form? The County General just so happens to be known for its cocktails, and with some 35 bourbons (and just as many rums) available, you know you’re in good hands.

Although it’s not on the official menu, Jeff Carroll has no problem whipping up the so-called Kraken ‘n’ nog ($12). The bartender — who poured at the Ritz-Carlton and the Toronto Temperance Society before moving westward — shakes The Kraken rum together with some Boulard calvados, milk and of course, a whole egg.

Apple-cinnamon bourbon bitters, simple syrup and The General’s warming house spice mix (cinnamon, clove, nutmeg) help imbue the beverage with a taste of the season. The whole affair is finished with some freshly grated nutmeg, and it’s then skewered with a cinnamon stick.

The County General, 936 Queen St. W., 416-531-4447

For more must-try Toronto cocktails, check out our Pinterest page

Must-see Movie: Miracle on 34th Street

4:38 pm

The legitimacy of Santa Claus has always been in question. Say what you will about the man in the red suit, but there is something special about believing in the intangible, and no other film provides a better platform for being pro-Santa Claus than Miracle on 34th Street. The classic Christmas film plays this weekend at Yonge-Dundas Cineplex Theatres.

The 1947 flick is about a nice old gent named Kris Kringle (Edmund Gunn in an Oscar-winning role) who serves as a last-minute replacement for the Santa at the Macy’s toy-department in New York City (turns out the other Santa preferred booze over milk). It’s bad enough that Kringle thinks he’s the genuine St. Nick, but when he’s advising parents to buy their toys at other stores, he’s institutionalized as being insane. A young lawyer (John Payne) decides to defend Kringle by arguing he is the real deal.

The movie went on to win three Academy awards, including Best Screenplay, and was nominated for Best Picture. Look for appearances by a young Natalie Wood and William Frawley (who’s best known for his role as Fred on I Love Lucy).

The film also spawned two remakes, but nothing beats the original.

Miracle on 34th Street, Yonge and Dundas Cineplex, 10 Dundas St. E. 416-977-9262. Dec. 9, 12.

Toronto Style Radar: Suzi Roher, Gotstyle, The Coveterie, Calvin Klein, Holt Renfrew

3:49 pm

Every week, we round up the best events from the city’s fashion scene. In this edition: a celebrity fashion blogger appearance, Calvin Klein opens at Vaughan Mills, not-to-be-missed sample sales and more.

Holiday CRAVE-ings Shopping Party

Where: Rent frock Repeat, 35 Golden Ave., suite 102
When: Dec. 4, 5-9 p.m.
Details: This holiday season, stick it to the man and choose to support some of the best women-owned businesses in the city. The Holiday CRAVE-ings shopping event offers a festive and fun shopping experience in a curated environment to help you shop local and support female entrepreneurs in Toronto. Be sure to look out for one of our personal Toronto favourites, I'MONIQ accessories.

Suzi Roher Sample Sale

Where: 530 Adelaide St. W., suite 202
When: Dec. 4-6
Details: Belt designer Suzi Roher's annual sample sale is back, this time celebrating its 30th year. Along with the great steals and discounts, Roher has partnered with Banu Restaurant to offer an exclusive fixed price menu for its first-ever Girls' Night Out event. Reservation required, and be sure to tell them you're a "Suzi Roher belt babe" to get the special treatment (a.k.a the menu).

Ladies' Shopping Night at Gotstyle!

Where: Gotstyle, 62 Bathurst St.
When: Dec. 5, 5-8 p.m.
Details: Men-focused store Gotstyle is hosting a ladies' night to redeem the perks of being a lady shopping for their man (friend, brother or other). Enjoy 15 per cent off the entire store, hot male models to help you shop (and drool over), complimentary gift wrapping, coat check and bubbly. $25 gift cards for the new Distillery District location will be given out, along with entries to win a new Moose Knuckle parka with every purchase over $100.

Reia Sample Sale

Where: 580 King St. W., second floor
When: Dec. 5-7
Details: All the downtown ladies sick of trekking to the edge of town to hit the sample sales put your hands up in the air! This week, you're in luck, because Wingold's Reia Studio is heading downtown for a sample sale that should not be missed. A large roster of brands includes Alexander McQueen, Martin Margiela, Givenchy, Dries Van Noten and more — thankfully, cash, credit and debit will all be accepted.

The Coveterie Holiday Shop

Where: Soho House, 192 Adelaide W.
When: Dec. 5, 11-8 p.m.
Details: Online boutique The Coveterie, founded by former Holt Renfrew buyer Natasha Geddes, is popping up at Toronto's Soho House for a holiday sale. Enjoy cookies, cocktails and discounts on covetable items such as Rebecca Minkoff Handbags, Biko and La Perla, to name a few. Soho House membership is not required to attend, just make sure you RSVP to [email protected]

Cupcakes and Cashmere personal appearance at Holt Renfrew

Where: Holt Renfrew, 50 Bloor St. W.
When: Dec. 8, 2-4 p.m.
Details: Celebrity blogger Emily Schuman, of Cupcakes and Cashmere, will making a personal appearance at Holt Renfrew this Saturday in support of her new book. Get a glimpse of the real woman behind the polished blog that focuses on style, party-hosting and home décor, not to mention a signed copy of her book.

Calvin Klein opens at Vaughan Mills

Where: Vaughan Mills
When: Dec. 6, 6-9 p.m.
Details: Calvin Klein will be hosting a party this Thursday evening at its new Vaughan Mills store. Pick the brain of FASHION's Sarah Casselman for style tips and advice while enjoying refreshments and 15 per cent off all purchases. A portion of the proceeds made during the event will be donated to Dress for Success.

Gracie Carroll is a Toronto-based freelance writer whose work has appeared in ELLE UK, ELLEcanada.com, Plaid magazine and FILLER magazine. Keep up with her daily blog at www.graciecarroll.com.

Band of Horses hitch their wagons to Massey Hall

12:15 pm

Tyler Ramsey of Band of Horses sounds downright giddy when talk turns to their upcoming show at Toronto’s venerable Massey Hall. “I know, we’re all really excited and on edge about it,” he says. “Massey is one of those places that has that history; you just want to make sure you put on the best show you possibly can.” This from a band that has toured across the globe since the release of their critically acclaimed fourth album, Mirage Rock.

It is part of the charm of the group that has been able to tap into a vein of rock ‘n’ roll from a bygone era and make it new again. It’s “neo-classicist,” as Rolling Stone magazine called it when they put the band on their hot list for 2012.

Mirage Rock, like their previous album, the Grammy-nominated Infinite Arms, has been described by some as “career defining.” There seems no shortage of praise heaped on the South Carolina-based quintet.

Ramsey and his Band of Horses bandmates were recently in Glasgow, Scotland, during the European leg of their tour. “I don’t know, man, I mean hopefully every time out there is a new direction at least a little bit,” says Ramsey, on the phone from the band’s hotel. “We don’t want to go crazy and completely off the wall… But I think everything we’ve done together, even before, has been advancing and changing, offering different perspectives.”

The band was founded in Seattle, Washington, in 2004 by Ben Bridwell and Mat Brooke. They made some noise out of the gate, signing with Sub Pop Records and releasing their debut album, Everything All the Time, in 2006. Band of Horses managed to grow its fan base and its record sales despite a few lineup changes as well as a relocation to Bridwell’s home state of South Carolina. By the release of Infinite Arms in 2010 — their first album with Columbia Records — the lineup had solidified with the addition of Bill Reynolds and Ryan Monroe as well as Ramsey, who first met Bridwell when the band came through his hometown of Asheville, North Carolina. “We hung out together, all of us,” says Ramsey. “We enjoyed each other’s company, and the next thing I knew, he asked me to join the band. It was really fast and unexpected, and after that it went really quickly.”

Until then, it had been Bridwell’s baby, his creative vision. And it is his masterful songwriting that attracted the record labels like flies to honey. But, first with Infinite Arms and now with Mirage Rock, a new collaborative approach is taking hold and steering the band to even greater creative heights. Thanks, in part, to Bridwell’s modest nature, which comes across in interviews as almost shock over the band’s good fortune.
“He’s great. He is that way, he really is,” says Ramsey.

“When we get up onstage, you see the look on his face and realize what’s going on. He’s surprised by it, and you have to be like that to keep perspective. Not many people get to do what we’re doing. It’s a rare thing, and we talk about it enough to realize we’re super lucky to be playing to people and growing as a band and with our audience.”

Band of Horses, Massey Hall, 178 Victoria St., 416-872-4255. Dec. 5, 8 p.m.

This Week in Sound: Jason Collett, Malajube, Julie Doiron, Rheostatics, Elliott BROOD

4:08 pm

Every Monday, we round up the most exciting music news happening in Toronto. In this edition: Jason Collett kicks off his basement revue series at The Dakota Tavern, Julie Doiron announces more tour dates and more.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year: local singer-songwriter Jason Collett’s sixth annual basement revue series kicks off this week (Buck 65 is hosting the first one while Collett is on his European tour), and it will see waves of Toronto musical heavyweights for one wicked lineup. Every year, Collett remains very secretive about the list of performers, traditionally keeping it a surprise until show time. But if past performers — such as Feist, Dave Bidini, Bahamas, Zeus, members of BSS, The Weakerthans and Metric — are any indication, then the gig at The Great Hall on Dec. 20 will be an impressive mishmash of artists.

For those of you who missed Malajube at the Horseshoe Tavern on Nov. 24: too bad, so sad. It might have been your last chance to see the Montreal indie rockers. The band recently announced that they were embarking on an indefinite hiatus. Throughout their almost-10 years of playing together, they have flirted with their own projects, but now they’ll be devoting the time off to really delve deep into their solo work — that includes keyboardist Thomas Augustin, who is finishing up his second album with his side band, Jacquemort. Malajube has been touring for their album, La Caverne, for almost a year now, but we’re not sure if it will be enough to sate fans.

These winter blues calls for, well, winter blues. So we were thrilled to hear that Sackville-Montreal-Toronto-based songstress Julie Doiron has announced more tour dates in support of her newly-released ninth solo record, So Many Days. Dripping with hollow vocals and stirring lyrics, Doiron’s music delves deep into lo-fi and raw territory, perfect for this wintry weather. She’ll be playing a couple of shows early next year in Ontario and Quebec, including a stop in Toronto at the Horseshoe Tavern on Jan. 25.

Iconic alt-rock band Rheostatics announced last week that they were cancelling their reunion tour, which included three Toronto gigs this week starting Dec. 5. The band chalked it up to singer and guitarist Martin Tielli’s inability to perform — stage fright has been something he has struggled with in the past. The guys, Dave Bidini included, broke up in 2007, but were reportedly slated to start dropping new material at their Horseshoe Tavern shows this week.

It’s Monday. So if you, like us, are still coming back to the real world after the weekend, this combination of banjo and Emily Haines might help. Check out local death country stars Elliott BROOD cover Metric’s “Gimme Sympathy.”

Guy Fieri and Drake cooked together for some reason

12:18 pm

The top news story of last week, of course, had nothing to do with Rob Ford and everything to do with Guy Fieri. The American celebrity chef headed to Toronto last week for his show, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, and he apparently hit up Hey Meatball!, Caplansky’s Delicatessen and The Lakeview, among other places. Also: he somehow ended up cooking with Drake. Thanks to the power of Instagram, Your day is now improved.

[h/t Gawker]

Theatre Review: Terminus

12:00 pm

When I was a teenager in university, I had a beloved friend and mentor twice my age with whom I attended much theatre and film and many art galleries. She used to often walk out, turn to me and declare, “Sure, it’s filthy. But is it art?” We always howled at this inspired witticism together. So much artistic achievement through history is crude and violent; but then, not everything that challenges our values, taste and sense of decorum is necessarily great art, is it?

God bless David Mirvish, who has created a new series of theatrical offerings dubbed Off-Mirvish. Terminus is the first of which I fervently pray will be one of dozens of such Mirvish presentations. It was a huge, sold-out hit at last spring’s SummerWorks Festival and it just opened at the still-gorgeous, century-old Royal Alexandra Theatre. It is obscene, passionate and uncomfortable to experience, but it would be a crime to not review it and share with my readers what a memorable 90-minute evening of fascinating live theatre it is.

While Terminus — written by an Irishman named Mark O’Rowe, and which first played at the great Abbey Theatre of Dublin in 2007 — is profoundly original, it is also profoundly ancient: like the plays of ancient Greece, written nearly 2,500 years ago, Terminus is written in rhyming couplets, filled with gods and devils and an obsession with violence and death. It is utterly different than any play I have seen in my half-century-plus years of theatre-going.

During its perfectly-performed, magnificently-directed production (the director is the young Mitchell Cushman, son of the superb theatre critic Robert Cushman of the National Post), I sat upon a chair on the crowded stage (really) of Toronto’s Royal Alex, and wondered to myself, “Will this extraordinary Irish play be looked back on, in a century, as I am now feeling tonight? Will it still be emotionally shattering, as so many ancient Greek plays continue to be?”

I lack the space here to rave about the unique experience of watching and listening to O’Rowe’s fascinating, rap-like rhymes; his endless descriptions of rape, cruelty, viciousness, worm-filled demons, abortions, eyes-dug-out-of-sockets, selling souls to the devil, blood and gore and even murders. There were also the three magnificent, Oscar-level performances of characters with the universal names of A, B and C (Maev Beaty, Ava Jane Markus and Adam Kenneth Wilson), all of them supremely gifted, all spouting endless rhymes alone on the lip of the Royal Alex stage, with nearly 1,500 empty, bright-red seats staring at us behind their lengthy soliloquies. I have always found rap music to be stupid, repetitive, boring and unmusical, but Terminus, with its clever, inspired rhymes (dude/exuding, slo-mo/ebb-and-flow, medicine/jettison and a thousand more), threw me back to the rhyming couplets of ancient Greek theatre and even Shakespearean times.

Is this an enjoyable evening of theatre? I can’t honestly write that. But then, the original purpose of theatre was religious; to move its audience to pity and fear. Terminus certainly achieved that on many occasions. If you have a passion for art that challenges you about the “big subjects” (God, the devil, death, evil, sex, cruelty and more), I urge you to see Terminus at the Royal Alex.

To paraphrase the best friend of my youth, now in her grave: “Sure, Terminus is often obscene and frightening, but, yes, it is art.”

Terminus, Royal Alexandra Theatre, 260 King St. W., 416-872-1212. Now – Dec. 16

Allan Gould is Post City Magazines’ theatre critic. He has a PhD in English and Theatre from York University and has written over 40 books. His writing has appeared in Toronto Life, Chatelaine, enRoute, Canadian Business, Good Times and the Financial Post. He is married, with two children. Aside from his family, his major passions are theatre and film, because they enrich life with pleasure and meaning.

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