Former CTV journalist helps reveal tale of Leonard and Joni

A work of enthusiastic musical journalism, Leonard and Joni: The Untold Love Story tells the tale of just that — the story of the romantic collision of two of Canada's most iconic artists.

Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen met backstage at the Newport Folk Festival in the Summer of Love, sparking a brief romance yet powerful relationship which lasted until the day Cohen died on Mitchell's birthday in 2016.

Backed by deep-digging research from whip-smart former CTV entertainment journalist Graham Neil, the story of how the two legends got to Newport and what happened there and for decades after will be augmented by musical performances by talented locals Dana Wylie and Joe Nolan.

“We don't have anyone playing Leonard and Joni and there's no dialogue in it,” show producer Neil explains. “It's no different than a reporter telling a story, except the music becomes part of the story,” he says. “So they just start out and say, ` We're in 1966 Greenwich Village and there's a 32-year-old struggling poet hanging out with folk singer Judy Collins,' and then they play a song.”

What we will be treated to are stories like Cohen getting kicked out of Edmonton's Hotel Macdonald and ending up at Alberta Hotel with two women who inspired him to write the song Sisters of Mercy.

Starting at $51.10 all-in, tickets are on sale at jubileeauditorium. com.

ART

4/5-27: Liliya Kostiuk, Liudmyla Lushchyk, Taras Lachowsky (Alberta Council for the Ukrainian Arts) 4/6-16: Nancy Corrigan: Wonders in the Play (Trinity)

4/6-20: Jim Davies: Valley Reflections (Bugera)

4/6-27: Misty Ring: Our Collective Stories: A Shared Reflection by the Sky (Bleeding Heart)

4/6-5/7: The Long and Short of It Edmonton Art Club Spring Show (NOA Gallery)

Thru 4/6: Finding Our Way group show; Rhayne Vermette: Letters (Ociciwan)

Thru 4/9: Metanoia: 2024 Bachelor of Design Graduation Show (FAB) Thru 4/9: Adrien Veczan: Nuances (CAVA)

Thru 4/13: Eveline Kolijn: The Energy Futures Portfolio Project (Harcourt) Thru 4/13: Luke Johnson:

Farewell to the North (Do Not Apply Compression Gently) (Harcourt)

Thru 4/17: Oksana Movchan: Metanoia (Gallery@501)

Thru 4/19: Ingrained in Time

(Red Brick Common)

Thru 4/23: Sheila Luck, Mitchel Smith: Scenes from a Marriage

(Peter Robertson)

Thru 4/25: Raneece Buddan: Threading Through Time

(Art Gallery St. Albert)

Thru 4/26: Visions of Grandeur: Lands Worth Saving (Wild Skies)

Thru 5/4: Santosh Korthiwada: Inseparable Fragments

(Art Gallery of St. Albert)

Thru 5/5: Brenda Draney: Drink from the River (AGA)

Thru 5/5: Emmanuel Osahor: I made this place for you (AGA)

Thru 5/18: Coming Up Next

(Alberta Craft Gallery)

Thru 5/26: Braxton Garneau:

Pay Dirt (AGA)

Thru 6/15: Minutiae (Alberta Craft Gallery)

Thru 6/29: The Wild Side: Polar Prairie Pacific (Musée Héritage Museum) Thru 8/4: Dwayne Martineau:

Boreal Fortress (AGA)

Thru 12/31: Damian Moppett: Untitled Abstract Object in Space (AGA)

BOOKS

4/4: Thom Vernon's I Met Death & Sex Through My Friend, Tom Meuley launch (Audreys)

COMEDY

4/4: James Roque (Grindstone) 4/4-6: Kurt Metzger (Comic Strip) 4/5: Bianca Del Rio: Dead Inside (Jubilee)

4/5-6: Dan Brodribb

(Comedy Factory)

4/5-6: Dave Nystrom (Yuk Yuk's)

EXHIBITS

Thru 4/12: Pysanky for Peace (Kingsway Mall)

Thru 4/28: Disney Immersive Animation (EXPO Centre)

Thru 7/28: Angkor: The Lost Empire of Cambodia (RAM)

Thru 9/9: Dinosaurs: The Exhibition (TWOSE)

FESTIVALS

Thru 4/4: Expanse Festival (Westbury)

MUSIC

4/4: Matthew Good (Midway)

4/4: Carl Mayotte (Yardbird)

4/4-6: ESO Classics: The Organ Concert (Winspear)

4/5: Alestorm, Elvenking, Glyph (Midway)

4/5: Anciients, Dead Quiet, Quietus, Hydracat (Temple)

4/5: Born Stoic, Undiagnosed, DillyGreen, Wayne the Bartender, Lucky Keith (Aviary)

4/5: The Fretless (Arden)

4/5: The Rubber Bullys,

The Andrechts, Rogue Theory

(Dive Bar)

4/5: Veal, Molly's Reach,

The Confusionaires (Soho)

4/5: The Way Back Whens (Yardbird) 4/6: Jimmy Burnett (Dive Bar)

4/6: Cash and Skye, Busker Drew, Caylie G (Blakbar)

4/6: Comeback Kid, Spy, Open Eyes (Buckingham)

4/6: Escape Goat, Dead City Casuals (Aviary)

4/6: John Hewitt (Yardbird)

4/6: Trevor Howlett, Blue Light Special (Soho)

4/6: I Love 80s Dance Party (Starlite)

4/6: Mini Pop Kids (Jubilee)

4/6: Noose Sweat, Obroa-Skai, Autolysis, Demise (Temple)

4/6: Will Sparks (Union)

4/6: Ben Sures & Eileen Laverty (Parkview)

4/7: ESO Classics: Mozart's Requiem (Winspear)

4/7: Sarah Hagen: The Goldberg Variations (Arden)

4/7: Rodrigo Sosa and the Holy Trinity Big Band (Yardbird)

4/8: Garneau String Quartet (Muttart Hall)

4/9: Gareth Gilliland Tuesday Jam (Yardbird)

4/9: Tyr, Trollfest, Aether Realm (Starlite)

4/10: Lime Cordiale (Union) 4/10-12: Edmonton Opera: Golijov's Ayre (Triffo)

4/10-11,13: ESO's The Magical Music of Harry Potter (Winspear)

THEATRE/ DANCE

4/4: Leonard & Joni: The Untold Love Story (Jubilee)

Thru 4/4: The Adventure of Young Turtle (Westbury)

4/5-20: Candy & The Beast (Studio Theatre)

4/9-6/16: Grease (Mayfield) 4/10-12: Golijov's Ayre (Triffo)