Sarah’s Weekend List, November 17-19

GO ALS GO! Tune in to TSN 690 at 6pm Sunday to hear the Alouettes take on the Blue Bombers. Pre-game show starts at 4pm.

Cirque Eloize is going back to its roots for its 30th anniversary. The company’s new show Entre ciel et mer is an homage to their origins in the Magdalen Islands. Dipping into Acadian and Quebecois references and folklore, the circus unfolds alongside storyteller Cédric Landry and musical group Suroît. After a summer run in the Islands, the show now comes to our own island, with performances Friday, 8pm and Saturday, 2 and 8pm at Théâtre Maisonneuve.

The 26th edition of the Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) started this week. Director Sarah Baril Gaudet will see the world premiere of her film, Sisters of Wrestling, an intimate look at three female performers (French, with English subtitles). The screening is Friday 7:45pm at Cinema Quartier Latin, and it will be followed by a live wrestling showdown, next door at the Cinémathèque québécoise, 10pm. RIDM continues to November 26.  

Final call to sup at MTLàTABLE! Over 125 Montreal restaurants have signed up to offer limited-time prix fixe menus, with three or four courses. The price points are $38, $53, $63 and $83. Feast on chicken and waffles at The Blind Pig in HoMa, parmesan pesto gnocchi at vegan hotspot LOV McGill or  seafood jambalaya at Restaurant Kamúy near Place-des-Arts. Or head to the restaurant list to locate your next meal by cuisine, neighbourhood and price point. Until Sunday. 

Actor Jake Epstein achieved success early in his career, from making his stage debut at age 12 and then getting cast as aspiring musician Craig Manning in a Degrassi High reboot. But despite his time on Broadway (including Beautiful and the doomed Spider-Man musical) and success in TV, Jake found himself plagued with doubt and the fear of failure. His solo show, Boy Falls From the Sky, tackles the pitfalls of show business. Previews begin Sunday, 1:30pm. And I will speak with Jake’s real-life agent, Shari Quallenberg, for Sunday at the Segal, this Sunday at 11am. Join us for coffee and conversation! Until December 10. 

Gregory Charles goes to the movies with his seventh major show, with selections from major musical cinema hits like West Side Story, Les Misérables, Moulin Rouge, Chicago, Cabaret, Rocket Man and Elvis. Backed by an orchestra and a bevy of singers, Charles performs 7 at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, with multiple performances, concluding with a Sunday matinée. 

Friday’s music picks: English pop rockers The 1975 take over the Bell Centre, 7:30pm. Toronto singer-songwriter Scot Helman teams up with Sofia Camara at Le Studio TD, 8pm. American R&B singer-songwriter Mac Ayres at the Beanfield, 8pm. 

And as part of the Festival Bach Montreal, renowned German conductor Reinhard Goebel is back to helm the fest’s orchestra, along with concert pianist Schaghajegh Nosrati. They will perform selections from two of Bach’s own progeny, composers Johan Christian and Christoph Friedrich. Friday, 7:30pm at Maison symphonique. 

Saturday’s music picks: KISS army, assemble! The glam rockers perform at the Bell Centre, 7:30 pm. Rockers Big Wreck at Beanfield, 8pm. Harry Manx calls his fusion of blues, Hindustani classical music and folks ‘mysticssippi’, and he’ll bring that sound to le Gesù, 8pm. Elector producer Calcium at Le Studio TD, 10pm. 

Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads the Orchestre métropolitain in Shostakovich’s Leningrad symphony. They are also joined by violinist Maria Dueñas for Norwegian composer Halvorsen’s Violin Concerto - a composition thought to be lost to time until it was discovered at the University of Toronto a few years ago. Saturday, 7:30pm at Maison symphonique.  

Sunday’s music picks: Portland-based indie greats Portugal, The Man at MTelus, 8pm. Alt-metal rockers TOOL continue their return to Canada with a stop at Bell Centre, 7pm. Montreal’s own death metal icons Kataklysm, at Le Studio TD, 7pm.

The Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra performs excerpts from composer Aram Khachaturian’s Spartacus ballet, with acclaimed violinist Sergey Khachatryan. This year marks Khachaturian’s 120th anniversary, and the Orchestra will also honour Sergei Rachmaninoff’s 150th anniversary by adding Symphony No. 2 to the second half of the program. At Maison symphonique, Sunday, 8pm. 

Hip-hop dance producer 100Lux hosts Intertwine, a freestyle competition between sets of two performers: a street dancer and a beatmaker are set to challenge each other in the hopes of making it to the next round. Sunday, 7pm at Cinquième Salle. 

Nuits d’Afrique continues its series of weekend mini-festivals this month. Les Cabarets Acoustique begins with acts all weekend. Reggae star Dakka of Cote d’Ivoire opens the weekend, with a 9pm show Friday. 

Comic and actor Dave Hemstad (DC Titans, Flashpoint, Just for Laughs) is headlining at The Comedy Nest, with support from Hadi Kubba, Gino Durante, Matt Shury and more. Friday and Saturday, 8 and 10:30pm.  

Comedians Al Val and Walter Lyng promise “unbridled wonderment and insanity” at their double bill Saturday, 9pm at MainLine Theatre. 

At Montreal Improv in St Henri, check out a variety of shows, including Wassup?, in which improvisers will spin scenes from audience stories. Friday 8pm. 

Dangerous Dames Burlesque is the theme at The Wiggle Room! On the bill: Honey Dynamite, Galadriel Caresse, Minx Arcana and Lumen Lux, with hosting by owner-performer Frenchy Jones. Friday and Saturday, 8pm. And on Sunday, Seska Lee marks her 25th anniversary with a fundraiser for Chez Stella, with performers Elle Diabloe, The Divine Danny D, The Lady Katrina, Sugarpuss and Dj Sasha Von Bon Bon. Sunday, 7:30pm. 

The Antigua and Barbuda Association of Montreal hosts their 42nd Celebration Independence Gala, with a visit from the Governor-General of Antigua and Barbuda Sir Rodney Williams, and musical performances. Saturday, 6pm at Buffet Il Gabbiano in LaSalle. Call 514-233-8067 for tickets and more information. 

All Saints by the Lake hosts a bazaar, with holiday gifts, baked goods, jewelry, secondhand treasures and knitted items up for grabs. A light lunch is also on offer, with soup, rolls, desert and a hot beverage for $10. Saturday, 9am to 2pm at All Saints by the Lake, on Lakeshore Blvd, west of Dorval Ave. 

St John Fisher Elementary hosts a holiday craft fair with over 30 vendors. Of special note: the No-Parents Allowed zone, where volunteers will guide kids through the shopping, budgeting and wrapping. Saturday, 10am to 3pm, at the school’s senior campus, 121 Summerhill in Pointe-Claire. 

ONGOING EVENTS

Actress Melora Hardin, of The Office and Monk fame, is a Montrealer! She has a home and studio in Old Montreal, and large, colourful collages are currently being exhibited at Galerie Le Royer, 42 St Paul St West. Listen to Melora speak with Andrew about her work here.  

The Arsenal Contemporary Gallery in Griffintown hosts an immersive show that takes you inside the Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral. Consecrated nearly a thousand years ago, the impressive Medieval church was nearly lost during a brutal fire amid restoration in 2019. This show takes you into the history of the Cathedral, and its rebuilding process. Until December 30. 

Cavalia’s Illumi – Dazzling World of Lights in Laval has returned, with the option to walk or drive through 19 universes along a 3-kilometre path, and be dazzled by 25 million LED lights! Open until early January. 

A new museum has opened in the heart of downtown: Centre des Mémoires Montréalaises promises to capture the city’s 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. 

Place des Arts opened 60 years ago this year! The sprawling complex looks back on its long history with a new exhibition, An Artistic Journey, with images from major performances and first-hand stories. At the Espace Culture Georges-Émile-Lapalme. 

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. 

The very popular Bébé symphonique show has just returned to the Planetarium! This multisensory show is designed for kiddos up to 18 months of age, with adapted sound levels and swirling images of the stars. The 33-minute show is paired with the educational short film, Stardust. Though this weekend is booked,  start making your plans to see this popular show before it ends December 17.