Aussie company Gravity & Other Myths present The Mirror, an exploration of entertainment and self-representation. The show delighted sold-out crowds last summer at the city’s circus festival, but now’s your chance to enjoy this acrobatics-heavy show, which careens from sombre to sexy to flirtatious. The show uses selfie sticks, an electric proscenium arch and an analog radio to amplify its impressive stunts. It’s a cheeky show! At La Tohu until March 3.
Black History Month programming continues: Black Theatre Workshop hosts a Sitzpub evening, a welcoming, curated performance lineup for emerging artists in different disciplines, at Maison d’Haiti, 6pm.
Carrefour Jeunesse Emploi de Côte de Neiges presents its annual talent show, Monnaie Money. The lineup includes a new award named for Egbert Gaye, longtime CJAD contributor who also published the Community Contact newspaper. Support young talent at Oscar Peterson Concert Hall, Saturday, 6pm. Eddy King leads a French comedy soiree that will poke fun (and combat) racial profiling, at Olympia, Saturday 7:30pm. Vanier students will explore Black clothing and presentation over the years in a fashion show, spanning streetwear to formal to heritage threads, Friday 6pm at Jake’s Mall (821 Ste-Croix).
The food portion of Montreal en lumiere has begun, in advance of the festival’s full launch. Sample the business class menu on Air France at the ITHQ this weekend, and sup at over 50 restaurants like Le Boulevardier, Marcus and Le Virunga, offering up special menus curated by star chefs. (The full festival programming launches on February 29.)
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts explores how nature inspired two great artists of the 20th cnetury. Georgia O’Keefe and Henry Moore: Giants of Modern Art is an exhibit curated by the San Diego Museum of Art; it recreates both artists’ studios down to minute detail. Admire O’Keefe bodacious flowers and landscapes, contrasted with Moore’s sculptures inspired by stones and bones, and his Helmet heads. Until June 2.
Final weekend to see Imago Theatre’s The Flood, a play following women incarcerated in a dank basement prison in Toronto. Today, the historic St Lawrence Market is a tony place to sup and shop, like our Marché Atwater, but at the turn of the 19th century it housed a prison. Canadian author Leah-Simone Bowen explores the experiences of Black and indigenous prisoners through an unlikely friendship between two women named Mary. Until Sunday at Centaur Theatre.
Storyteller Paul Shenkar de Tourreil recounts all his near-death encounters, from a car accident to a dangerous lover to a knife-wielding stranger, in 9 Lives, 8 Near-Misses: Life Lessons from Near-Death Events. At MainLine Theatre Friday, 7pm and Saturday, 7pm.
Friday’s music picks: Japanese folk singer and songwriter Ichiko Aoba at Beanfield, 8pm. Rising Montreal singer (and daughter of the former Prime Minister of Djibouti!) Shay Lia at Le Studio TD, 8pm.
Sand on stage at an interesting Orchestre Métropolitain show, where they will perform Zemlinsky’s The Mermaid while Ukrainian artist Kseniya Simonova creates a word of sand art (via livestream). American conductor JoAnn Falletta will also oversee Holst’s Winter Idyll and and Khachaturian Violin Concerto, with violinist Nemanja Radulovic. Friday, 7:30pm at Maison symphonique.
Orchestre FILMharmonique will perform selections from 14 video games, including League of Legends and World of Warcraft in Game ON! - Symphonic Game Music. Friday, 7:30pm at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier.
Saturday’s music picks: Jazz and soul singer Lady Blackbird at Le Studio TD, 8pm. Quebec singer Alex Nevsky’s latest contemplative side project De la beauté takes to le Gesu, 8pm.
Sunday’s music picks: Cameroonian-Canadian singer Johaedi presents her blend of afrobeat, jazz and R&B, Sunday, 9pm at Club Balattou, part of Nuits d’Afrique continues its series of weekend concerts, Les Cabarets Acoustique.
Choreographer Rafael Palacios and his company Sankofa Danzafro perform their stereotyping-busting homage to Afro-Colombian history and artistry. Friday and Saturday, 8pm at Théâtre Maisonneuve.
Bizet’s torrid romantic opera Carmen will be performed in a concert format with Orchestre Philharmonique et Choeur des Mélomanes and Petits Chanteurs de Mont-Royal. Saturday, 7:30pm and Sunday, 2pm at Maison symphonique.
Perles holds up chansons from the Quebec catalogue from the ‘60s to today, infused with live music and dancing. Friday and Saturday, 8pm at Cinquième Salle.
Comedian and Long Island native Pete Correale (he’s pals with Sebatian Maniscalco!) performs his standup solo at the Beanfield, 7:30pm on Saturday.
Nick Reynoldson (LOL Network, CTV Comedy Channel) headlines at The Comedy Nest, with support from the likes of Joey Elias, Kelly Zemnickis, David Pryde and more! Friday and Saturday, 8 and 10:30pm.
Several shows on tap at Montreal Improv in St Henri, including Vampire Stories, an improvised show set amid vampire roommates, Friday 8pm.
At burlesque headquarters The Wiggle Room: It’s a video game theme night in Mission Undress, with Crimson Dutchess, Charli Deville, Enshantay, Sugar Vixen and Quinzy Chase performing Friday, 9pm. Saturday is all about Old Hollywood. Lineup includes sirens The Lady Josephine, Minx Arcana, Miami Minx and LuLu Les Belles Mirettes.
The Arsenal hosts Immersive Disney Animation, which spotlights House of Mouse characters and music, including movies like Frozen, The Lion King and The Little Mermaid. At Arsenal Contemporary Gallery until May 4.
Visit the ongoing 14th edition of Luminothérapie, a display of outdoor light installations in and around Place des Festivals, including the larger-than-life flower installation Astera. Bring your skates (or rent a pair) for a turn around the refrigerated rink at Place Tranquille. The rink has an interactive projection nightly at 6:30pm: Au Bord du Lac Tranquille captures the flora and fauna of the St Lawrence, playfully moving along with your feet. (But do check weather conditions - 15 to 20 cm of snow is expected to fall by Saturday night.)
Dreaming of Asia is a stunning exploration of Chinese and Japanese culture, making its North American premiere at OASIS Immersions. French digital art studio Danny Rose has crafted four different experiences, including a look at shadow puppet theatre. On now at Palais des congres.
Still time to visit the city’s newest museum: Centre des Mémoires Montréalaises promises to capture the metropois’ history and citizens. Check out the vintage neon signs at the entrance, and look for the colourful balls that once decorated Ste-Catherine in the Gay Village. There are two exhibition up now: a lookback at the 90 years of Le Chaînon, the women’s shelter and resource centre, and Détours, which focuses on hidden corners of the city. Located at 1201 St Laurent.
Artist Sonia Bazar explores the people and history of a Jewish cemetery using photography, textiles and sculpture. Back River is at the Museum of Jewish Montreal, until March 3.
The McCord Stewart Museum’s excellent and informative Indigenous Voices of Today: Knowledge, Trauma, Resilience. The show profiles the 11 nations living within the borders of Quebec, with testimonies and carefully curated objects. Two of the McCord’s current shows include Becoming Montreal is about the depictions of the city in the 1800s, and Wampum: Beads of diplomacy, which displays over 40 wampum belts from different collections, underscoring their symbolism and history.