The Montreal Fringe Festival heats up with the launch of dozens of theatre, comedy and dance shows through the Plateau and downtown areas. The tickets are cheap, the shows are about an hour and the artists can do whatever they like! How to Fringe? Pick a handful of shows, including something you want to see and at least one show at random. It’s that element of surprise that can yield the sweetest of results! Then share your thoughts over a cold beer at Fringe Park, and dash off your recommendations with a handwritten Fringebuzz note. The Fringe runs until June 18.
Here are some recommendations to get you started:
In the same ‘hood, the Mural Festival celebrates public art and fun along the axis of the Main, which is now exclusively for pedestrians as the street fair takes over. Pick up something nice at the Mural Market, take a guided tour of the area’s expansive murals and scope out murals-in-progress. Live DJ sets and music performances are daily on stages around St-Laurent and Prince-Arthur. Until June 18.
The Desjardins Expo Ormstown returns with a packed schedule of animal shows (everything from horses to rabbits to guinea pigs!), the track and truck pull, as well as a demolition derby. Check out live bands in the evenings, and hop on a ride from 11am to 11pm. The Fair Until Sunday.
Over 50 patisseries province-wide are taking part in the 12th Fête du Croissant, where you can pick up a dose of deliciousness for $1.50 apiece, or four croissants for $6. Saturday, at participating locations = including Avec Le Temps in Ville-Émard, Marius et Fanny in Lachine, Duc de Lorraine in Côte-des-Neiges and Brioche à tête in Mile End.
The 3-D art show Lasting Impressions returns for one final extension! The show wraps you up in various iconic scenes painted by the artists both in and adjacent to the Impressionist movement. Get cozy with Renoir’s luncheon guests and idle with Georges Seurat’s park-goers, while enveloped in a French soundtrack ranging from Debussy to Piaf to Aznavour. At Espace St-Denis until June 30.
Friday music picks: BRKN Love opens for rockers Bad Flower at Bar Le Ritz PDB, 8pm.
Saturday music picks: Canadian rock legends April Wine, Beanfield Theatre aka the Corona, 8pm.
Sunday music picks: The amazing Lizzo makes her grand return to the Bell Centre, at 8pm, rescheduling a show she missed last month due to ill health. Irish singer-songwriter Dermot Kennedy performs at Place Bell, 7:30pm.
The music of Harmonium will get special treatment at Pure Symphony, an arrangement by Simon Leclerc performed by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra with conductor Dina Gilbert. (There will be no amplification at this live performance!) Singers Kim Richardson and Luce Dufault will also appear, along with guitarist Sylvain Quesnel and Choeur des jeunes de Laval. At Maison symphonique on Friday, 7:30 and Saturday, 2:30 and 7:30pm.
Acclaimed soprano Angel Blue lends her pipes to conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Orchestre métropolitain for Symphonic Explorations. The program includes Black composer Florence Price, Montreal-based contemporary composer Keiko Devaux and Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915. June 11, 3pm at Maison symphonique.
KlezKanada hosts a Klezmer jam with Boston-based band Mamaliga. Local musicians are invited to join a short repertoire workshop, Sunday, 6:30 to 8:30pm at Cafe Depanneur. The band then performs at 9:30pm, at La Petite Marche, 5035 St-Denis.
A lonely, rundown movie theatre is the setting for Annie Baker’s Pulitzer-winning The Flick. Three workers keep the place running, maintaining one of the only 35mm film projects left in the region. Persephone Productions, which gives emerging artists a chance to break into the business, puts on this tribute to authenticity and cinema (with an interesting twist on the staging) at the Centaur until June 11.
Entertainer, lover, mother, civil rights campaigner, celebrity, spy. Josephine Baker lived many lives in her 68 years, and Josephine: A Musical Cabaret is an award-winning bijou of a play that attempts to contain her multitudes! Co-creator and star Tymisha Harris has been touring the show since 2016, including a run off-Broadway, and an acclaimed appearance at the 2022 Fringe. Now, she presents a revamped edition, guided by noted director Sean Cheesman and music director and Montreal jazz scene fixture Taurey Butler. Until June 18.
The Cote Saint-Luc Dramatic Society presents a Shakespearean satire. Something Rotten! The Musical follows Nick and Nigel Bottom, two struggling scribblers eager to emulate the Bard’s success - by turning to a ‘mysterious soothsayer’ to help them. Until Sunday at Wagar Auditorium in Cote Saint-Luc.
The wonderfully-named Moody McCarthy (The Late Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Conan) headlines at the Comedy Nest with support from Walter Lyng, Emo Majok, Aliya Kanani, and more. Friday and Saturday, 8:30 and 10pm.
Get cozy at Hurley’s Bar on Crescent with The World's Smallest Comedy Night. Friday, 8pm.
At Montreal Improv in St Henri, check out Scenes from a Hat with Joe Conto, with the performer and teacher guiding newbie improvisers through scenes concocted from the title of a single scene, Friday 9pm. The Hot Topic show includes the following teams: Dancing on the ceiling, Spectacular Longlegs, The Ghost of Electricity and Pyramid Scheme. Sunday, 8pm.
Varietease is the theme this weekend at The Wiggle Room. On the bill, Roxy Torpedo, Lily Monroe, Enshantay and Charli Deville, with hosting from host-performer Frenchy Jones. Friday and Saturday at 9pm.
Have you tried fencing? Duel Notre-Dame-de-Grace is an outdoor fencing tournament in NDG Park. Organizers Escrime Mont-Royal are providing free demonstrations where you can learn about different fencing styles, Saturday, 10am to 4pm.
Lighting designer Paul Chambers creates a fascinating experience with Phosphos. The installation invites you into a darkened room, with a long strip on the floor coated with specialized paint. You are invited to interact with the space: create a doodle with a laser pointer or leave an imprint with your body and hair. At the MAI Tuesday to Saturday, 12 to 6pm, until June 29
Over at the Botanical Gardens, the irises and peonies are beginning to bloom, while the tulips and irises are coming to a close. See which other flowers are in bloom this week.
SOS Vortex is the ‘little brother’ to the SOS Labyrinth in the Old Port. Enter the vibrant time vortex of a mad scientist while learning about ecology and climate change. The structure is made of recycled containers, with eye-catching colours and Pop Art esthetic. At the the CF Carrefour Laval parking lot (corner of Daniel-Johnon and Le Carrefour) until October 29.
The Infinite virtual reality experience returns to Montreal at a different location, with new, immersive footage shot from the International Space Station. Over the course of an hour, the exhibit puts you shoulder-to-shoulder with astronauts like David Saint-Jacques, taking you through their day orbiting the Earth. A jaw-dropping V-R treat! At 2 de la Commune Street West in the Old Port, until July 3.
Cirque du soleil has launched their 20th “big top” show, Echo. Fifty-one artists bring this ode to nature and creativity to life, with thrilling acrobatic acts, controsion and animal-masked antics. Echo is a bit of an esthetic departure from the visual over-the-topness you might have come to expect from a Cirque production. Visually, the bowler hats and blue skies brought Belgian surrealist René Magritte to mind. The stage is dominated by a large, white cube that moves and interacts with performers - with a super-sized, unexpected transformation before intermission. I adored the banquine and human cradle acts with Color Paper People, and the soaring 'fireflies' - a duo that are lifted into the air by their hair. Until August 20 in the Old Port.
Pointe-à-Callière Museum in Old Montreal just launched Egypt: Three Millennia on the Nile. This exhibit traces life both ordinary and royal on the legendary river, dating from the start of human settlement to the Roman conquest. Some 320 items will be displayed in an exclusive agreement with the Museo Egizio in Turin, including jewelry, statues, tools, sarcophagi and more! Until October 15.
Get your hockey fix down at the Montreal Science Centre, where they have just launched Hockey: Faster Than Ever, an action-packed exploration of the science and culture, technology and triumph of the sport. Experience what it is like to be in an NHL locker room and the corridor that leads to the ice, test your slapshot and get acquainted with some of the legendary stars of the Canadiens franchise. Until September 10.
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts hosts Parall(elles), a look at the influence of female designers from the mid-19th century to today.