Sarah's Weekend List, January 27-29

Sarah Deshaies produces the Andrew Carter Morning Show. Every Friday at 8:20am, she tells you about the big, quirky and off-the-beaten-path events happening in Montreal. Here is this week's list, with links for more information so you can get out and enjoy the city! Submit your event to [email protected].

Final weekend to check out the 78th Salon de l’Auto de Montréal! While the gathering will be a shade more modest than pre-pandemic editions, there are still dozens of vehicles to ogle at, including 67 green cars, the largest gathering of its kind ever presented in a public event in Quebec. Sign up for a test drive. Or view a selection from Luc Poirier’s collection of luxury vehicles, including Ferraris, Porsche and the new McLaren Altura. At the Palais des congrès until Sunday. 

It’s Weekend Two of Igloo Fest, the big dance party in the Old Port. Wear your warmest gear, and get ready to dance the chilly night away! Friday’s lineup: Hickey & Kalo, EDX and Nora En Pure at Scène Sapporo, and Lilya Mandre, Fabrikate and The Holy at Scène Vidéotron. Saturday’s lineup: Molyness, Ash and Worakis at Scène Sapporo, and No Police, Isabel Soto and u.r.trax at Scène Vidéotron.  IglooFest continues February 12. 

Pop singer Jonathan Roy performs at MTelus Friday, 8pm. (Yes, he’s the son of Patrick!) 

Belgian-Congolese star rapper Damso takes over Place Bell in Laval, Saturday and Sunday, 8pm.

Northern Ontario siblings Jenna and Stuart Cooke, aka country duo The Reklaws, put on a party at Corona Theatre on Sunday, 8pm.

Over a dozen dancers and musicians will bring Irish stories and legends to life with Irish Celtic: Spirit of Ireland. This touring show has been performed to over a million people around the world. Friday, 7:30 and Saturday and Sunday, 2pm and 7:30pm, at Theatre St-Denis. 

Also at Espace St-Denis: Lasting Impressions 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. The first half is a primer to the artists, highlighting lesser-known women artists. After an entracte, you don yellow 3D glasses for the full immersive effect. Seating is arranged like a bistro, complete with a simple menu and wine list. Until March 12.

The Orchestre symphonique du Conservatoire de musique de Montréal performs Brahms’ Symphonie no 1, under the auspices of conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni. Compositions by Shostakovitch, Debussy and Maxime McKinley round out the program. Maison symphonique on Saturday, 7:30pm. 

Orchestre symphonique de Montréal digs into the connection between science and art with The Mathematics of Music. Saint-Saëns, Strauss, Mahler and Bach are just some of the names on this stacked program. Maison symphonique, Sunday 2pm. 

Operatic soprano Joyce DiDonato teams up with instrumental ensemble Il Pomo d’Oro and a local children’s choir to bring to life a sprawling program that includes Handel and Gluck. Sunday, 4pm at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier. 

Centaur’s Wildside Festival continues, with provocative and evocative theatre. New this week: the dramatic Proje(c)t; Les Bonnes, a recent, trilingual adaptation of Jean Genet’s classic play, inspired by the murder of a French family by their servants. Writer and performer Roxane Loumède was inspired by her own grandmother’s time spent working as a domestic in Westmount, transposing the action to Montreal. Friday, 7:30pm, Saturday 3pm and 7:30pm and Sunday, 3pm. The performance will be followed by a Vice Versa, a free post-show music show that highlights popular English songs originally written in French. 

Family trauma and deferred hope run amok in David Paquet’s Wildfire. This is the English début of the award-winning writer’s play triptych, presented by Talisman Theatre with Centaur and La Chapelle. Three performers spin three tales of different families trying to escape poisonous legacies, while hoping for the future. Wildfire is a biting, witty surreal romp, with a spare but gorgeous staging, and delicious acting. Until Saturday at La Chapelle Scènes contemporaines.

Geordie Theatre Fest invites the public to experience the two shows currently touring schools: What If is about a little girl, Nicky, who learns to manage her anxiety with the help of a new friend (for ages 5+). Poof, for kids 12+, tells the story of Gill, an ordinary 16-year-old learning about love. The shows will be presented by Maison Théâatre Friday to Sunday. Kids can sign up for a puppet workshop that precedes What If, Saturday and Sunday at 11:45am. 

René Richard Cyr has adapted, translated and directed a glam rock-punk musical classic for French audiences: Hedwig: Pouce en Furie is opening in Montreal before heading on tour across Quebec. The musical, created by John Cameron Mitchell and Steven Trask, follows an East German genderqueer rock star on tour. At Le Studio TD, Friday, 8pm and Saturday, 6 or 9:30pm. Until February 4. 

Dancer Emile Pineault and writer Gabriel Cholette team up for rock bottom, a solo dance show that examines the idea of hitting your lowest point, both literally and figuratively. Friday, 7:30pm at the MAI. 

Joey Elias and a bevy of comics including Heidi Foss are assembling to support the General Vanier Legion 234 branch. The Roxboro office suffered a fire shortly before Remembrance Day last November, and fundraising continues to help get the branch back on its feet. Saturday’s show is sold out, but there are tickets for Friday evening. Marcel Morin Community Centre, Friday at 9pm. (Saturday’s show in DDO is sold out.) 

Mark Little (Conan, Just for Laughs, Mr D) headlines at the Comedy Nest with support from Carly Baker, Mariam Khan, Walter Lyng and more. Friday and Saturday, 8:30 and 10pm. 

Montreal Improv in St-Henri takes a trip to Westeros for The Iron Throne: Improvised Game of Thrones, an improvised play inspired by George RR Martin’s saga, Saturday at 8:30pm. There are several other improv shows through Friday and Saturday, plus a performance by the St-Henri Jazz Society, on Sunday, 5pm.

Energy is the theme at The Wiggle Room this weekend, with burlesque performers Joy Rider, Enshantay, Sugar Vixen and Zyra Lee Vanity & Aizysse Baga. New owner Frenchy Jones hosts. Friday and Saturday, 9pm.

And Friday is Holocaust Remembrance Day. Tune in to the Holocaust Survivor Memoirs Collection, a collaboration between the Azrieli Foundation and Penguin Random House Canada. Five memoirs written and voiced by five survivors who ended up in Canada - apparently the first time survivors have voiced their own audiobooks. (One of the memoirists is a Montrealer named Morris Schnitzer who passed away in 2020; his story is narrated by actor Jake Epstein.) Available for free where you get your podcasts before February 6. 

CHECK OUT A MUSEUM The Espace pour la vie umbrella is open, including the Botanical Gardens, Biosphère, Planetarium and recently-renovated Insectarium.  At the McCord Stewart Museum, there are three photography exhibits ongoing: Alex Henderson’s outdoor images, a 50th anniversary revisiting of the Quebec Disraeli project and Michel Huneault’s portrayal of the pandemic.  Pointe-à-calliere Museum has a new show about headdresses both ordinary and ceremonial from around the world, as well as a display of 400 ‘coup-de-coeur’ items for its 30th anniversary (and the city’s 380th) in 2022.  A few weeks left to check out the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts’ Seeing Loud: Basquiat and Music, the first major exploration of the electric artist’s work to land in Montreal. The MMFA teamed up with the Musée de la musique - Philharmonie de Paris to examine the role of music in his work, from Beethoven to Charlie Parker to Maria Callas to New York’s underground scene.  Exporail, the Canadian train museum in St Constant, has put up their Christmas décor for fun viewing with the kids.  The historic Chateau Ramezay in Old Montreal shares Christmas traditions, including a $10 stocking you can purchase for your kid, then return to pick up with something from Santa starting January 2.  The Ecomuseum in Ste Anne’s is open through the holidays, with special programming for kids and families. ONGOING EVENTS

Final weekend to enjoy X Y Z, an art exhibit looking back on the 50-year career of multidisciplinary artist François Morelli. Viewers can trace his work through the guise of the artist book, flipping through themes of transformation and travel. At the McClure Gallery, in Westmount’s Visual Arts Centre, until Saturday. 

The Van Gogh - Distorsion immersive walk-through show returns from its COP15-Christmas break as of Monday. Experience 225 of the iconic artist’s works in this three-gallery show, set up in the OASIS immersion space at Palais des congrès. 

Get moving and go for a walk, skate, toboggan or cross-country ski… check out which parks have recently maintained hills, trails and skating rinks at the City of Montreal’s portal. 

Two places to lace up your skates (whether you rent or bring your own): The skating rink at Esplanade Tranquille is in its second season! This is on Ste Catherine, near Place des Arts.The Old Port Skating Rink has full weekend entertainment, including Fabulous Fridays, live music on Saturdays and games and games for Family Sundays. Admission for one day is $8.25, $5.65 for kids 6 to 12, and free for under 6. Until March 5. 

The 13th edition of Luminothérapie provides opportunities for wonder (and social media photos!) outside at the Esplanade at Place des Arts. Check out seven interactive light installations, and four video projections. Daily, 10 am to 11pm, until March 5. 

The Pink Floyd Exhibition: Their Mortal Remains displays over 350 artifacts from the band’s days touring and recording… from audio equipment to cover art to set pieces. The show made a splash at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 2017, and has been touring the world - now it’s your turn to discover the story behind the music! Opens Friday at Arsenal Contemporary Art Gallery in Griffintown, until March 5. (Hear Andrew’s chat with album cover designer and exhibit founder Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell here.)