Can ‘Pinocchio’ change Timothée Chalamet’s mind about ballet?

I’m not sure why they call it March Break since there are so many shows opening in Toronto this week.

Officially opening tonight, Shifting Ground Collective’s The Drowsy Chaperone brings the golden-age homage screwball musical back home to Theatre Passe Muraille. Easily one of the most anticipated indie productions of the season, its arrival got me wondering about how long it’s been since Drowsy has played here in the city where it all began. Though it appears that the last major production at the Elgin Theatre was in 2007, there was a more recent pair of smaller-scale stagings a decade later in 2017 — one presented by No Strings Theatre in the Tarragon Mainspace, followed only a few months later by another from the extracurricular theatre troupe Victoria College Drama Society on University of Toronto campus. Ironically, a similar pairing is happening now a decade later, with Shifting Ground’s staging soon to be followed later this month by another student production at Sheridan College. Maybe this will become a regular tradition every 10 years or so.

But Drowsy isn’t the only play about a wedding opening this week. Actors Repertory Company (ARC) is unveiling A Mirror by acclaimed U.K. playwright Sam Holcroft, asking you to save the date for opening night on Thurs., March 12. On the same evening, Nautanki Bazaar revives their 2022 hit blend of Bollywood aesthetics and immigration law, An IMM-Permanent Resident, written and performed by Neha Poduval and Himanshu Sitlani, now being presented at Factory Theatre. You may have also heard whispers that the Off-Mirvish production of Virginia Gay’s Cyrano begins previews on Sat., March 14.

Meanwhile, Queen Maeve opens tomorrow night at Tarragon Theatre. It’s always an event whenever legendary Canadian playwright Judith Thompson comes out with a new piece, but this one is made even more exciting by starring equally legendary Canadian performer Clare Coulter, showing off her dramatic range as both a nursing home patient and an Irish warrior queen. As much as I can’t wait to see it, I’ve deliberately postponed my own attendance until a week from today, since this particular story’s Celtic flavouring struck me as too perfect of a St. Paddy’s Day plan to pass up.

For anyone whose kids are on March Break and are too young to behold Little Willy’s dancing sausages, there are two age-appropriate puppet shows opening this week. On Thurs., March 12, WeeFest starts early this year with the Hemingwayesque Old Man and the River, presented at Etobicoke’s Assembly Hall and starring an adorably tiny fisherman. Then, beginning on Sat., March 14, Theatre TO’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show inches its way into the Al Green Theatre, offering a similar tributary anthology of Eric Carle’s catalogue of picture books as Young People’s Theatre’s Love You Forever And More Munch has provided of Robert Munsch’s.

And speaking of puppets (from a certain point of view), National Ballet of Canada opens Pinocchio on Fri., March 13. Now more than ever, we all need to prove Timothée Chalamet wrong by showing our support for some not-quite-dead-yet artforms. Though, let’s be real: Chalamet is to ballet and opera what Quentin Tarantino is to Paul Dano. Sometimes it takes an arrogant comment from a celebrity to remind the public how much they love something that they didn’t realize needed to be defended.

As for what’s closing this weekend, don’t miss your last chances to see Some Like It Hot, The Neighbours and Toronto Sketchfest, as well as the shorter runs of The Herald and Syndrome. There’s also still time to see The Surrogate, Shucked and (as always) & Juliet.