Music as a positive force
TUESDAY
The King and I
Watch this if: You want to get to know this acclaimed musical. When the Lincoln Center Theater’s revival of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic The King and I premiered in 2015, all eyes were transfixed on the cast — Ken Watanabe as the King of Siam, Ruthie Ann Miles as Lady Thiang, and Kelli O’Hara as Anna Leonowens, all three receiving Tony nominations and the latter two winning (it was O’Hara’s first win after five previous nominations). As O’Hara and Watanabe reprise their roles in London’s West End this month, Mirvish Productions brings the international tour to Toronto, obviously without the star cast. Still, Bartlett Sher’s production is renowned for its opulence in costume and set, as well as delivering a straightforward but loving presentation of a musical that can feel out of place in today’s socially conscious world. (Until Aug. 21, at the Princess of Wales Theatre, 300 King St. W.) — Carly Maga
WEDNESDAY
Femi Kuti & the Positive Force
Watch this if: The name Fela Kuti and the Afrobeat trail he blazed ring a bell. Nigerian sax and keyboard man Femi Kuti, and his long-running band Positive Force, remain after 30-plus years since their formation, both as standard-bearers and streamlining refiners of his late father Fela’s powerful and politically charged work and legacy. The band of upwards a dozen hasn’t been around these parts for five years — they can cook live — and the next generation is in evidence via Femi’s bass-playing son Omorinmade. It’s a natural lead-in, too, to a couple of weekend doings: Nigerian-Canadian Odie’s local coming-out party Saturday at the Drake, and this weekend’s Afrochic Toronto festival. (Opera House, 735 Queen St. E., doors 8 p.m.) — Chris Young
THURSDAY
Toronto Bicycle Music Festival Sunset Series
Watch this if: You want a workout with your concertgoing. Since 2010, The Toronto Bicycle Music Festival has fused live music with pedal transportation, taking a show on the road from one venue to another on one day in September. This year, the festival is expanding into weekly concerts every Thursday at sunset (with a custom bike route to each week’s outdoor venue). It’s the ideal hipster summer evening event, if you add a homemade picnic and local craft beers. (Every Thursday, July 12 to Aug. 23, various locations) — C.M.
Brave: Festival of Risk and Failure
Watch this if: You think safe is boring. The Harbourfront Centre is known for its summer weekend festivals, but there’s never been one this edgy before. On the lineup of all-star guests are Canadian ’90s alt-rock musician Bif Naked, satirical comedian and “Egypt’s Jon Stewart” Bassem Youssef, and — first up, this Thursday — the king of filth/cult film icon John Waters. These three headliners are complemented by weeks of film screenings, standup comedy and music. It may be a festival about risk, but this is a safe bet for art-loving Torontonians. (Until July 29, Harbourfront Centre, 253 Queens Quay W.) — C.M.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Watch this if: You want to enjoy the most Torontopian movie ever under the night sky.
Harlots
“Cinematic Cities” is the theme for this year’s Toronto Outdoor Picture Show, a series of screenings in local parks all summer long. And when it comes to big-screen celebrations of this city, nothing’s cooler than director Edgar Wright’s hugely enjoyable adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novels about the fantastical misadventures of a quintessential Toronto slacker. Headlined by Brampton’s own Michael Cera, the 2010 action comedy screens in Corktown Common Park on a bill that also includes Peter Pasyk’s Pole and Chris Deacon’s OK TV, two fun shorts that share Scott Pilgrim’s proudly Toronto setting. (July 12, Corktown Commons Park) — Jason Anderson Watch this if: You like your period drama racy. Yes, the show is about prostitutes, but with two female creators (Moira Buffini and Alison Newman), and women in the writing room and director’s chairs, it’s not just slap and tickle but about women struggling to survive with the deck stacked against them in Georgian England. The cast are no slouches either. You’ve got Samantha Morton and Lesley Manville, who richly deserved her Oscar nomination for Phantom Thread, as rival madams Margaret Wells and Lydia Quigley, and Downton Abbey’s Jessica Brown Findlay as Margaret’s clever daughter, Charlotte. The competition between the two reaches dangerous new levels in Season 2. And Liv Tyler joins the cast as aristocrat Lady Isabella Fitzwilliam, who has her own brand of misogyny to contend with. (Super Channel Fuse at 9 p.m.) — Debra Yeo
Escher Quartet
Watch this to: Kick off a summer concert series that drills deeper than any other in town. The New York-based Escher, aptly named for artist M.C. Escher’s flowing artwork, get the call to open their local account and the 13th Toronto Summer Music Festival (TSMT)after Moscow’s venerable Borodin Quartet cancelled late last month. Don’t go thinking they’re a second prize, with a program including Tchaikovsky’s String Quartet No. 1, which they recently added to their discography. This TSMF is as wide-ranging as ever in execution, with master classes, film, open rehearsals and late-night windups to augment the music-making — compared to the usual summer festival fare it’s an all-inclusive resort and this year’s “Reflections of Wartime” theme promises some heady and poignant nights ahead, starting here. (Koerner Hall, 273 Bloor St. W., 7:30 p.m.) — C.Y.
FRIDAY Cruising
Watch this if: You want to see Al Pacino’s most controversial movie. A crime thriller starring Pacino as a cop searching for a serial killer in New York’s gay BDSM community, Cruising inspired protests from LBGTQ activists both during its production in the summer of 1979 and release a year later. But what was once assailed as homophobic has since been reappraised by many critics as one of Hollywood’s boldest representations of gay male sexuality and a fascinating document of a subculture that would soon be ravaged by AIDS. So you can bet that critic and programmer Sarah-Tai Black will have plenty to say about Cruising when it plays the Lightbox’s five-film retro on director William Friedkin. (July 13, TIFF Bell Lightbox, 350 King St. W.) — J.A.