Lana’s sweet and hypnotic tour
MONDAY
Lana Del Rey Watch this if: Your 2018 resolutions include more Lana choir-singing in an even bigger room That ongoing publishing row with Radiohead has given this LA to the Moon tour some oomph and for the canny Del Rey, a new narrative tailor-made for more in-concert bonding with her flowered fans. With plenty of good seats still available, she’ll need every one of them as she brings her brand of sweet, deadpan intimacy to stadiums, and at least seems equipped with some irony along with a production budget — among the accompaniment are a pair of backup singers/dancers whose slowmo moves and lip-synchs echo and at times all but roll their eyes at the deliberate, hypnotic Del Rey songbook. Rising throwback R&B singer Kali Uchis starts it off. (Air Canada Centre, 40 Bay St., 8 p.m.) —Chris Young
WEDNESDAY
Krapp’s Last Tape Watch this if: You want to celebrate a Toronto theatre legend About fifty years ago, there was a movement in Toronto to create a uniquely Canadian brand of theatre, one that was esthetically, narratively and stylistically different than the offerings coming into the country from America and the U.K. A major force in that movement was Theatre Passe Muraille, and celebrating the 50th anniversary of the theatre company and venue is opening night of a production of Samuel Beckett’s one-man show Krapp’s Last Tape, starring another Toronto theatre icon, actor Bob Naismith. (Theatre Passe Muraille, 16 Ryerson Ave., 8:30 p.m.) —Carly Maga
Fool’s Paradise Watch this if: You prefer nature at a distance There’s an O’Keeffeian air to the recent work of Rachel MacFarlane, with its insistence on rendering a version of nature not to be found, in colour or form, anywhere on earth. But where Georgia O’Keeffe’s vision might have grown from a modern insistence that privileged the viewer — her — over the viewed, MacFarlane’s is both more sincere and more manufactured. Building tabletop dioramas of the scenes she paints, she’s working less with landscape than still life, which, in translation to the more sinister French, brims with intent: Nature morte, something into which our world is rapidly devolving, with MacFarlane determined to leave a beautiful corpse. (Nicholas Metivier Gallery, 451 King St W., 10-6 p.m.) —Murray Whyte
THURSDAY
The Road Movie Watch this if: You (wrongly) believe you’ve seen everything Russian drivers know that anything can happen on the road, which is why many of them have a camera running in case there’s a legal need for documentation. A word-of-mouth/can-youbelieve-this?! sensation since it debuted on the festival circuit in 2016, director Dmitry Kalashnikov’s documentary presents some of the weirdest and wildest sights ever captured on dashboard cams. Raging forest fires, stray cattle and very angry guys are just a few of the real-life road hazards. And then there’s that UFO. Patrons at the Royal will be suitably awed by the film’s three screenings this month. (Royal Cinema, 608 College St., 7 p.m.) —Jason Anderson
Bears Watch this if: You think the tarsands are a 2017 issue Edmonton-based playwright Matthew MacKenzie was a teenager when he found out he had Indigenous ancestry — now, his family is rediscovering their Cree, Ojibwe and Métis heritage by reconnecting with the land of northern Saskatchewan. (his great grandmother’s name, Kisiskaciwan, is Cree for Saskatchewan). The play Bears, getting its Toronto premiere, is directly inspired by this personal journey as it looks at the impact of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline on animal habitats. Bears struck a deep chord when it premiered in Alberta, and now it brings its message here for its Toronto opening night. (The Theatre Centre, 1115 Queen St. W., 8 p.m.) —C.M.
Come Up To My Room Watch this if: You need some intense bedroom design inspiration For the fifteenth year, the Gladstone Hotel is inviting artists to take over its entire interior for four days. This week, during Come Up To My Room, the hotel’s annual “alternative design exhibition,” Torontonians can enter the Gladstone to see immersive, sometimes interactive installations — this year might be more interactive than usual, since the theme involves the relationship between the viewer and the art (which hopefully goes beyond providing great photo ops for social media). A highlight from this year’s program is Room 208, titled Ferris Forever, a virtual-reality recreation of Ferris’s bedroom from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off by artist Sarah Keenlyside and director Ryan Mains. (The Gladstone, 1214 Queen St. W., 7-10 p.m.) —C.M. Potpourri Watch this if: You like your beauty complicated Further subversions of the nature theme can be found at the Clint Roenisch Gallery, where Sarah Cale’s Potpourri displays an array of floral paintings cobbled from “recycled packaging, reused dried paint flecks chipped from dead surfaces and oil paint built up in an oozing history.” Cale gathers up all of this, transmuting its inherent chaos into things of radiantly hectic beauty. At the same time, she seems to be saying, beauty is an illusion, and she prefers its complications right on the surface. (Roenisch Gallery, 190 St. Helen’s Ave., until Feb. 25. noon-6 p.m.) —M.W.
Young M.A. Watch this if: Hardcore from a new queer queen intrigues you “Everybody in the same lane, so I take the other route,” says the Brooklyn rapper who comes in here still spitting on top of a wave that’s lasted almost two years, and it’s been all her own doing. Hard-as-nails rhymes and stylings to match have earned her guest invites from Beyoncé and Empire’s casting director. As M.A. (for Me, Always), she’s steered an independent course while billed as big-time rap’s first openly gay female emcee with a string of endorsements including fave 50 Cent’s “hottest s--- out” seal of approval. The drama will flow, then, and with smart T.O. rapper-producer Clairmont the Second’s more soulful blend starting things off it should vary some. (Danforth Music Hall, 147 Danforth, doors 7 p.m.) —C.Y.
SATURDAY
In Conversation with . . . Evan Rachel Wood Watch this if: You want to the straight goods from one of Hollywood’s best young actors From her breakthrough role as an adolescent looking for trouble in Thirteen (2003) all the way to her Emmy-nominated performance as an increasingly empowered fembot in HBO’s Westworld, Wood has consistently made bold creative choices. The dangerously obsessed protagonist in the new Canadian drama Allure is just the latest. She’ll talk about that challenge along with other aspects of her life and work in one of several onstage conversations in TIFF Bell Lightbox’s Canada’s Top Ten series. Directors Alanis Obomsawin and Jeremy Podeswa share their hard-earned wisdom this week, too. (Bell Lightbox, 350 King St. W., 7 p.m.) —J.A.