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 sarah.deshaies@bellmedia.ca.
Final chance to see live art at The Montreal Fringe Festival! DIY theatre, dance and more from Montreal and all around the world in short, affordable shows held in venues scattered around the Plateau. The Fringe Park at St Laurent and Rachel is a cool spot to grab a beer, share what you loved and see a free music.
Nuit is an effervescent sketch comedy show out of Ottawa with snazzy dance interludes about going up, having fun, being queer and dating.
I was floored by De l’eau dans les yeux, a cutting dance-theatre piece in French about violence against women
By Our Side is a true story performed by a Sutton-based tap dancing couple, while one of them awaits a much-needed kidney transplant.
The Singing Psychic Game Show offers a retro, improvised fun vibe based entirely on audience interactions.
Vancouver-based magician Rob Teszka admits I Hate Magic in his solo show.
Master storyteller Jon Bennett finally returns to the city with Ameri-can’t, his tale of covid lockdown and love.
Iris Bahr (Hacks, Curb Your Enthusiasm) performs true, near-death tales in Stories from the Brink, Musical storyteller Lou Laurence collabs with her date - you, the audience - in Love, Sharks & Frenching
Former Montrealer and storyteller Al Lafrance says, Hey Buddy, Good to See You
Two Aussies tell stories about touring in the Outback in Vehicle
Storyteller Keith Sperry ponders about masculinity and the search for guidance in The List.
New this week: Hedwig and the Angry Inch, a rock musical about a music star looking for fame and love after a botched gender reassignment surgery.
The bold, rising Contact Theatre presents Spring Awakening, the hit Broadway adaptation of the late 19th century play about teenagers discovering themselves and each other. Wendla, Melchior and Mortiz are coming of age in a Germany where desires are repressed and knowledge is suppressed. Friday and Saturday, 7:30pm at Monument-National’s Studio Hydro-Québec.
The Francos de Montréal kick off a week of music dans la langue de Molière, with a mix of free outdoor and ticketed indoor shows around the Place des Festivals. The acts come from a wide range of genres. The Québec Redneck Bluegrass Project officially opens the festival Friday 9pm at the Bell Stage. Influential French folk singer Francis Cabrel plays to Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Friday 8pm. Long-running Quebec folk group La Bottine Souriante perform at the Loto Quebec stage, Friday 8pm. Rapper Souldia (the pride of Limoilou tears up the Bell Stage, Saturday 8pm. Taking to the same venue on Sunday, 9pm: French pop singer Pomme. Les Francos continue to June 22.
Rockers The Damn Truth will perform at free, family-friendly Festival Sur le Canal, Friday 9:30pm. The group anchors a mix of performances, including power vocalist Dawn Tyler Watson, bluegrass duo Veranda and psychedelic rockers Museums. Free admission, until Sunday at the Centennial Esplanade alongside the Lachine Canal, in the Sud-Ouest borough.
Normand Brathwaite’s New Orleans Blues begins an extended run at the Studio-Cabaret at Espace St Denis. The live show is an homage to the city’s famously musical French quarter, anchored by immersive projections and a Cajun menu designed by Chef Paul Toussaint. Until September 1.
The free noontime concerts are back at The Montreal Chamber Music Festival! See the Vatra trio perform Shostakovich and Brahms on Saturday, 12pm at Salle Bourgie - the free tickets will be released 45 minutes before showtime. Les Passions de Clara will mix music with text to explore the love triangle between Clara Schumann, her husband Robert and their protégé, Sunday at 3:30pm. The Festival continues until June 23.
Mural Festival celebrates urban and public art, with walking tours and block parties in the Plateau… with programming this year in Griffintown, like rapper Rick Ross, who will perform Saturday at the Peel Basin. Pétula Claque hosts a drag brunch at the Milton state, Sunday at noon. Until Sunday.
More music picks Friday: Aussie house music producer Dom Dolla at Parc Jean Drapeau, 4pm, before a night time set at New City Gas. Caracas-based ‘trippy pop’ band Rawayana at Beanfield, 8pm. R&B singer Nourished by Time at Bar Le Ritz, 7:30pm.
Saturday’s music picks: Electronic music duo Cosmo’s Midnight, 10:30pm at Le Ministere.
Sunday’s music picks: Aussie singer Xavier Rudd plays the first of two nights at MTelus, 8pm.
A yatai is a Japanese food stall, and the word lends itself to Yatai MTL, a multi-day celebration of Japanese food and culture. Over two dozen food booths, and 30 vendors, will ply you with food, drink and goods. Dress up for the Ghibli cosplay contest, Saturday 2pm, and stick around for Soirée Citypop, an 80s disco night, at 5pm. Until Sunday at Hangar 1825, alongside the Lachine canal. Admission is $5, free for kids under 12.
Écomusée du fier monde hosts Festival de Mosaïque: Poèmes de Verre, an art exhibit assembling pieces in mosaic form from 30 artists from around the province including the Gazette’s Susan Semenak.The vernissage is Friday, 5 to 9pm, with two workshops on Saturday and Sunday. The show continues to June 23.
Graham Kay (Tonight Show, Late Show) headlines The Comedy Nest with support from the likes of Bobby Condon, Dan Donnelly, Elspeth Wright and more! Friday and Saturday, 8 and 10:30pm.
Montreal Improv in St Henri hosts a medley of shows, including Choose Your Destiny, Friday 6:30pm.
At burlesque headquarters The Wiggle Room, host and owner Frenchy Jones presents two soirées: Charli Deville, Olivia Killjoy, Enshantay and Rosie Bourgeoisie perform their favourite gaming alter egos for Mission Undressed: Video Game Tease, Friday 9pm. Then, All That Jazz! Dancers Satin Simone, Lily Monroe, Célesta O’Lee and Crimson Duchess perform in Chicago! A Burlesque Tribute to the Broadway musical, Saturday, 9pm
Taylor Swift is the inspiration for a fundraiser held in the memory of Cassandra Lévesque. Her family and friends are hosting a Swiftie Soirée to benefit the mobile outreach program at the The Douglas Foundation. Food, dance, music and swag bags at 3 Soeurs, in DDO, on Saturday, 6pm Centre.
The Saint-Ambroise Church in Rosemont holds its outdoor flea market on Friday and Saturday, 8am to 4:30pm, at the corner of Beaubien and de la Roche.
The Suburban hosts a fun day in Beaconsfield, with music, food trucks, face painting, magic and more, Saturday 10am to 5:30pm at Centennial Park. Funds will be raised for the West Island Women’s Shelter and Gerry’s Animal Rescue.
The fifth annual Polski Piknik celebrates Polish culture and food, with live music, arts workshops and all-ages fun. At Jeanne-Mance Park in the Plateau, Saturday 11am-11pm.
ONGOING EVENTS
Cirque du soleil’s steampunk extravaganza Kurios: Cabinet of Curiosities is back! Step into the Seeker’s wondrous, funny world, filled with contortionists and acrobats! Kurios is at the Big Top in Old Montreal until August 25.
Take a walk downtown to look out for 15 giant pink sculptures! Le Mignonisme is a series of sculptures known as Monsieur Rose, from the mind of artist Philippe Katerine. You’ll find them along an art walk downtown, including the Quartier des Spectacles and Place des Arts to the Esplanade PVM at Place Ville Marie and Phillips Square. Until September 29.
At the Botanical Gardens, the daylilies are starting to bloom, while the primroses and peonies are flowering and the rhododendrons are reaching the end of their blooms. Check out the other blooms of the week here.
Nearby, the Montreal Planetarium’s new show imagines what human life could like on Mars.. in 2100! With help from NASA aerospace engineer Farah Alibay and celebrated troupe Cirque Éloize, ROUGE 2100 explores the environment of the red planet as well as what astronauts would need to survive. You’ll have the A-I bot Felicity 87, to take you through the immersive exhibit.
Pointe-À-Callière Museum has launched a first-in-Canada show, Olmecs and the Civilizations of the Gulf of Mexico Explore 4,000 years of Olmec history through nearly 300 objects, some of which will be seen for the first time by the public. What’s fascinating is that traces of the Olmecs were not really “discovered” until the 1800s. This show, a collaboration with Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, runs until September 15.
Explore the beauty and diversity of our natural world in Root for Nature. This new, 90-minute show is a “nature hike” indoors, conceived as a powerful piece of edutainment inspired by the COP15 biodiversity talks hosted by Montreal in late 2022. This collaboration between National Geographic and OASIS Immersive Studios will take place in the same location as the UN conference, at the Palais des congrès. Also at the venue: Dreaming of Asia is a stunning exploration of Chinese and Japanese culture, making its North American premiere at OASIS Immersions. French digital art studio Danny Rose has crafted four different experiences, including a look at shadow puppet theatre.
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. Two of the McCord’s current shows include Becoming Montreal is about the depictions of the city in the 1800s, and Wampum: Beads of diplomacy, which displays over 40 wampum belts from different collections, underscoring their symbolism and history.