March is here! Which means spring is at our doorstep and summer is practically rolling into the driveway. Make sure to adjust your clocks for daylight savings time this month, you won’t want to miss a second of these shows.
Le Petit Prince
Type of Event: Dance – Ballet
When: March 19-28, 8:00pm
Where: Places-des-arts – Theatre Maisonneuve
Tickets: Start at $52 [Buy Tickets]
Relive your childhood with Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s the Little Prince, this time reinterpreted by Dutch choreographer Didy Veldman as a dance. The story is set on Earth this time, where the young boy braves modern-day society and all of its intricacies. The themes from the original novella remain in the ballet but are depicted by dancers instead of words. Friendship, solitude, and enlightenment are all present, giving this story new life. Philip Feeney arranged the musical score with a broad spectrum of styles, from Kimmo Pohjonen to Johann Sebastian Bach. Watch out for stunning set design by Kimie Nakano, who used a projection screen as the backdrop with a live-feed of the back of the dancers, allowing the audience to see the ballet from a different angle.
Simon and the Egg
Type of Event: Theatre for young audiences
When: March 16-22, 10:00am or 1:00pm
Where: Segal Center
Tickets: $25 – General admission [Buy Tickets]
Youtheatre presents Simon and the Egg, a play with a powerful message to the next generation: we need to respect our environment in order to continue having a thriving planet. The main character, The Man, receives mysterious packages and clues that lead him to an island called Penumbra. Penumbra is dying due to climate change and environmental disasters. This leads The Man to make parallels with his own planet Earth and motivates him to try to make a difference and continue striving for a better environment.
The Envelope
Type of Event: Theatre (original play)
When: March 24 – April 19, 8:00pm (extra 2:00pm showing on weekends)
Where: Centaur Theatre
Tickets: $37.50 – General admission [Buy Tickets]
Centaur Theatre is pushing The Envelope, an original play and the newest creation from Montreal born playwright Vittorio Rossi, onto its stage this March. Rossi is an actor, director, and playwright who is best known for his plays A Carpenter’s Trilogy and Paradise by the River. He tends to infuse his works with characters and cultural settings that reflect his own life and The Envelope is no different. The story is set in an Italian restaurant, inspired by Da Franco restaurant in Montreal’s Old Port, as a local playwright struggles with the task of choosing between an L.A. filmmaker and a local producer to produce his upcoming film. The play takes aim at the real-life barriers that Canadian film producers face in today’s Canadian film industry.
Hosanna
Type of Event: Theatre
When: March 17-29, 8:00pm (2:00pm on Sundays)
Where: Mainline Theatre
Tickets: $20 – General admission [Buy Tickets]
Tableau D’Hôte Theatre is bringing Michel Tremblay’s Québécois classic, Hosanna, back home to the Mainline Theatre stage in English for the first time. Originally written by Tremblay in 1973, only four years after the decriminalization of homosexuality in Canada, and then translated into English by Bill Glassco and John Van Burek, this work, directed by Mike Payette, takes an honest look into the identities we take on in order to fit-in to our society. The story takes place over the course of one Halloween night when Hosanna, a Montreal transvestite (a.k.a. Claude Lemieux) played by Eloi ArchamBaudoin, and her partner Cuirette, played by Davide Chiazzese, have a heated discussion over the events that took place earlier that night.
The Goodnight Bird
Type of Event: Theatre – Comedic Drama
When: until March 24, (check listings for times)
Where: Centaur Theatre
Tickets: Start at $49.50 [Buy Tickets]
For long-time married couple Morgan and Lilly Beaumont, a night of blissful sleep is rudely disturbed when a vagrant flies from the roof of a nearby condo building onto the Beaumonts’ balcony. This grave circumstance causes Morgan (played by Christopher Hunt) and Lilly (played by Nicola Cavendish) to wake up and explore what has happened outside, all the while forcing them to learn more about themselves as individuals and as a couple. Parker (played by Graham Cuthbertson) is the suicidal, environmentalist vagrant who completes this trio of characters and who brings a sense of balance and intrigue to the plot. Written by Governor General Award-winning and Quebec-born Colleen Murphy and directed by Roy Surette, this smart-witted yet melancholy play is simply brilliant.
Rocco
Type of Event: Contemporary dance
When: March 5-14, 8:00pm
Where: Place-des-Arts
Tickets: $33 – General Admission [Buy Tickets]
Choreographer Emio Greco and Dutch director Pieter C. Scholten have created a masterpiece that everyone is talking about, so much so that in 201, Rocco won the Golden Swan award for the most impressive dance production. You’ve probably never seen a dance show like it, because instead of the traditional stage, the dancers are literally in the center of the room, in a boxing ring for combat, with the audience seated all around them. This set was inspired by Luchino Visctonti’s film Rocco and his Brothers. Four dancers represent the boxers and represent the male dynamics within boxing with humour and physicality.
Featured image photo credit: Alwin Poiana
