Pride Festival Weekend
After a two-year pandemic hiatus, Pride festivities finally return to the streets. Friday’s Trans March starts with a community fair at Allen Gardens (3 pm), a rally at Church and Charles streets (7 pm), then the march down Yonge Street (8 pm) and finishing at Allen Gardens with an after-party. Saturday’s Dyke March follows the same route as Friday, with a rally at 1 pm and the march starting at 2 pm. And Sunday’s big parade starts at 2 pm at Church and Bloor and sashays down Yonge toward a massive party at Yonge-Dundas Square.
Also on Friday, the Festival Weekend opening ceremony will feature Jamaican dancehall artist Spice on the Yonge-Dundas main stage. Multidisciplinary artist d’bi.young anitafrika wrote an impassioned essay about what Spice’s performance at Pride means to them as a queer artist of Jamaican descent.
June 24-26. Free. pridetoronto.com
Cynthia Dale: Take The Moment
The Musical Stage Company presents the Canadian TV and stage star in an intimate cabaret-style show. Dale honours the extraordinary life-changing moments that shape us through personal stories and songs set to the musical catalogue of Stephen Sondheim.
June 23-25. $32-$129. Winter Garden Theatre, 189 Yonge. musicalstagecompany.com
Toronto Craft Beer Festival
If you’re hopped up for another beer festival, TCBF has four sessions and 40+ craft beer, cider and spirit varieties. There will also be food trucks and music by cover band the Lonely Hearts and DJ Jug-E.
June 24-26. $30. Ontario Place West Island, 955 Lake Shore West. tcbf.ca
Toronto Jazz Festival
Now in its 35th year, this annual festival features dozens of free shows as well as five ticketed headliner events. On Friday, you can groove to the Shuffle Demons at 6:30 pm, and Afro-Cuban Toronto duo OKAN at 8:30 pm. On Saturday, see jazz/blues legend Jackie Richardson performing a tribute to Bill Withers at 4:30 pm, and NOW cover star Savannah Ré at 7:15 pm. On Sunday at 5 pm, Heather Bambrick’s Jazz Party In The Park will feature Richardson, Alex Pangman, Jane Bunnett and others. The free outdoor shows are in the Yorkville area and just south of Bloor between the ROM and Bay Street.
June 24-July 3. Free and ticketed shows. Various venues. torontojazz.com
Legacy Tap Dance Concert
Canadian Stage and dance Immersion present a genre-bending celebration of Black culture born from the Harlem Renaissance, featuring an intergenerational cast led by Travis Knights, Lisa La Touche and Donny Milwalkee.
June 23-25 at 8 pm. Pwyc, reserve $30. High Park Amphitheatre, 1873 Bloor West. canadianstage.com
The Best Of The Fest Award Show 2022
Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival presents a live show celebrating the best of TOSketchFest 22, with screenings of the nominated works and awards presentations. Hosted by 2020 Best of the Fest winner Laura Ramoso.
June 23 at 6 pm. $20. Fox Theatre, 2236 Queen East. torontosketchfest.com
The Cave
After its Luminato run, John Millard, Tomson Highway and Martha Ross’s sung-through story cabaret about the effect of the climate crisis on animals continues through the weekend at Theatre Passe Muraille.
To June 26, 7:30 pm, some 9:30 and 2 pm shows. $40, some $22.50. Theatre Passe Muraille, 16 Ryerson. luminatofestival.com
Our Lady Peace: The Wonderful Future Theatrical Experience
In 2000, Canadian rock band OLP released Spiritual Machines, an album heavily influenced by inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil. Last year, OLP released Spiritual Machines 2 and have turned the supporting tour into something befitting Kurzweil’s futuristic proclamations. The concert combines decades of Our Lady Peace music with one-on-one real-time holographic conversations with Kurzweil and some AI personalities he created.
June 24 at 7:30 pm. $55 and up. Massey Hall, 178 Victoria. ticketmaster.ca
Ken Lum and Ed Pien at the AGO
Exhibitions by two contemporary Canadian artists will open at the Art Gallery of Ontario on Saturday. Ken Lum’s Death And Furniture showcases the artist’s newest pandemic-inspired works as well as selected works from his internationally celebrated 40-year practice. Ed Pien’s Present: Past/Future combines audio, video, photos and furniture into an exhibit that explores the lives of a group of elders in a suburban neighbourhood of Havana, Cuba. Pien has visited the group regularly since 2014 and his presentation weaves together stories shared by the elders and moments captured by the artist.
Both shows open June 25 for a limited run. $25 (free for members, annual pass holders and visitors age 25 and under). 317 Dundas West. ago.ca
