Radar: If We Were Birds, A Year in Lucy's Kitchen, Hey Babe You've Got Paint on Your Elbow, The Cast of Grease Sings Sondheim, Clean Train Student Coalation
THEATRE | If We Were Birds
Starting today, Tarragon Theatre goes Greek with a modern retelling of Ovid's Metamorphases. If We Were Birds recounts Book VI of Ovid's epic work, and for those who may have skipped that chapter here's a refresher: things start off well for our Thracian hero Tereus and his young bride Procne, but after a few years of marriage Procne starts to miss her sister Philomela who's still back in Athens. Dutiful husband that he is, Tereus heads to Athens to bring Philomela back to Procne, but as they seem to in all Greek myths, things go decidedly awry. Tereus falls in love with Philomela and all kinds of calamity ensues; some one gets raped, tongues are cut out, people get cooked and eaten, and eventually everyone's turned into birds. Not exactly a feel-good story, but the play won SummerWorks most prestigious award when it debuted there in 2008.
Tarragon Theatre, 30 Bridgman Ave., $21 - $39, Tuesday to Sunday 8 pm, Saturday and Sunday matinees 2:30 pm
BOOKS AND LIT | Books, Food and Wine
Lucy Waverman writes a weekly food column for the Globe and Mail and holds the record for the most wins at the Canadian Culinary Book Awards. If that wasn't prestigious enough, she was recently named one of the 50 best Twittering chefs, which is impressive because it's probably hard to tweet while you make a souffle. Tonight she comes to the Toronto Reference Library to discuss her new book A Year In Lucy's Kitchen, a month by month guide of how to take advantage of local ingredients. You'll have a chance to sample three of her recipes, along with three different companion wines chosen by the Wine Doctor, Edward Finstein.
Toronto Reference Library, Bram and Bluma Appel Salon, 789 Yonge St., 2nd Floor, $35 through the library's website, 6 pm
GALLERY | Hey Babe, You've Got Pain on Your Elbow
The endearing name of this show at the Cream Tangerine Gallery commemorates the moment seven months ago when Julie Gladstone and K. Hinto began painting together and realized they shared similar tastes for art as well as each other, which basically makes the exhibition one giant PDA. The pair each have contrasting styles, with Gladstone working with oil paint and found objects, and Hinto (who's the curator and host of the popular Art Battle series) preferring acrylics. But this exhibition shows that while at first their work merely complimented each other, they've begun to showing some cross-influence in their paintings. Isn't that sweet? Runs til April 28.
Cream Tangerine Gallery, 1087 Queen St. West, Wednesday to Friday 10 am - 9 pm, Saturday 11 am - 11 pm, Sunday 12 am- 5 pm, Monday 10 am - 3 pm
MUSIC THEATRE | The Cast of Grease Sings Sondheim
The classic bobbysoxer musical Grease is currently playing at Yonge Street's Canon Theatre, but for one night only you can see the big talent of the play's cast in a small setting at a benefit for the Actor's Fund of Canada. The National Touring Company of Grease will be singing the songs of Canadian great Stephen Sondheim to raise funds for the AFC as well as Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, an American organization that has raised over $175 million to combat the disease. There will also be a raffle of Grease merchandise and post-show meet and greet with the cast.
The Rivoli, 334 Queen St. West, $20 - $35, 9 pm
COMMUNITY | Clean Train Student Coalition Information Meeting
As the future of David Miller's legacy project Transit City was cast into doubt this week with the announcement that TTC chair Adam Giambrone, a major proponent of expanded light rail service, will not be running for re-election, another rail project is taking shape in Toronto's West End. The proposed Union-Pearson rail corridor was a part of the city's successful bid to win the 2015 Pan Am Games, and will link Toronto's two busiest transportation hubs, allowing for rapid transport between our airport and train station. A good idea in theory, the decision to use diesel instead of electric trains has caused concern among environmental advocates and property owners alike, who are urging the government to consider more eco-friendly electric trains. It's a debate that will only get more intense as the project ramps up, but at the moment there's still room for civil conversations. Tonight the Clean Train Student Coalition hosts an information meeting to examine the effect diesel trains will have on property values and discuss the government's transparency and decision-making process.
Innis Town Hall, 2 Sussex Ave., Free, 7 pm - 9 pm
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Photo: "Starway to Heaven" by DdotG, member of the blogTO Flickr Pool.
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