Here are my choice Montreal arts and culture highlights for May 2018:
MUSIC
Many top touring acts are headlining various concert venues this month, notably Viking metal rockers TYR (May 7 at the Corona Theatre), Petula Clark (May 10 at Théâtre Maisonneuve) and Kiefer Sutherland (May 11 at Club Soda). Other headliners include Melvins (May 14 at the Corona) – whose sound was a strong influence on Nirvana and Soundgarden, Joe Satriani (May 25 at MTELUS), Cowboy Junkies (May 26 at the Corona), The Decemberists (May 28 at MTELUS) and Slayer (May 30 at Place Bell).
After the flu sidelined Jon Bon Jovi last month, Bon Jovi’s Bell Centre make-up dates are May 17 and 18, and pop icon Nana Mouskouri brings her Forever Young Tour to the Maison Symphonique on May 19.
Then living legend Billie Joe Armstrong brings his The Longshot project to Foufounes Electriques on May 29 – the show sold out almost instantly, so good luck with the scalpers. This promises to be a show for the ages.
Local shows of note: Two knock-out acts headline Upstairs Jazz Bar & Grill this month, the Beth McKenna Quartet on May 11 and RnB diva Ria Reece on May 17. The Damn Truth headline the Corona on May 18, The Besnard Lakes play the Distorsion Psych Fest 2018 at Église du Mile-End on May 10, Three O’Clock Train frontman Mack MacKenzie brings his solo show to Barfly on May 5, and killer RnB band The Brooks launch their new EP at L’Astral on May 29.
Another must-attend album launch is MTL RNB by Montreal singer-songwriter Paul Cargnello at Maison 2109 on May 2. Cargnello’s new funk-and-soul album is a genuine throwback to 70s RnB, but with a contemporary feel, and features some truly great Montreal soul singers: Aiza Ntibarikure, the legendary Alan Prater, Gardy Fury, Fredy V, Sarah MK (the album’s lead-off track Between Us featuring Sarah MK is one of the best soul jams / dance tracks I’ve heard in a long long time), Jasmine Bleile and Wayne Tennant. A couple of them will make live cameos at the album launch. The album will be available May 5, but a free album will be given to all those who attend the May 2 launch.
Last but not least, Montreal Soul Queen Michelle Sweeney and her band headline the downtown House of Jazz every Friday this month. Showtime: 9 pm.
CLASSICAL MUSIC
Conductor Dina Gilbert will lead the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal in a live performance of Hollywood composer and conductor John Williams’ soundtrack of film director Steven Spielberg’s iconic E.T. the Extraterrestrial, which will be screened at the same time, at the Maison symphonique de Montréal on May 22.
The OSM and Maestro Kent Nagano will perform Beethoven’s nine symphonies over the course of five concerts (May 27 to June 2) during the Beethoven Festival, also at the Maison symphonique. These masterpieces remain relevant today. As Nagano – who idolizes Beethoven – told me some years ago, “In the late ’60s, one of the bumper stickers around was ‘Beethoven grooves.’ I remember when I saw that my eyes popped out! ‘Beethoven grooves.’”
Fifty years later, it is the Maestro Nagano who grooves.
Over at the Orchestre Métropolitain, Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin – the Montreal homeboy who will become music director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York beginning next season – conducts Rolando Villazon Returns, starring the famed French-Mexican tenor, on May 5 at the Maison symphonique.
The Opéra de Montréal’s 38th season winds down with Gounod’s 1867 classic Roméo et Juliette (May 19 to 26), adapted from Shakespeare’s play.
ART AND MUSEUMS
Witness the opulent lifestyles of Emperor Napoleon and his court in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts blockbuster exhibition Napoleon: Art and Court Life in the Imperial Palace which has been extended to May 10.
The exhibition features more than 400 art works and objects from French palaces – paintings, sculptures, furniture, silverware and porcelain, tapestries, silk hangings and court dress – most of them never before been displayed in North America. The splendour of the apartments are also recreated by mapping projections throughout the layout.
Over at the Pointe-à-Callière Montréal Archaeology and History Complex, I really enjoyed the blockbuster Queens of Egypt exhibition. Visitors will travel back in time to Ancient Egypt to meet some remarkable women who became the Royal wives, mothers and daughters of the pharaohs.
The exhibition features some 350 artifacts, including monumental statues, frescos, sarcophagi, a mummy, funerary objects and jewelry related to such legendary queens as Nefertari, Nefertiti and Hatshepsut. Developed by Pointe-à-Callière in collaboration with Museo Egizio of Turin (the world’s oldest Egyptian museum, second only to the Cairo Museum), this must-see exhibition runs to November 4.
THEATRE
The dramedy Successions – written by Michaela Di Cesare and directed by Tamara Brown – is an entertaining family saga about two second-generation Italian-Canadian brothers, one an uptight upwardly mobile lawyer running for office, and his kid brother who’d rather party than work. The play runs at the Centaur Theatre in Old Montreal to May 6.
The Centaur then closes its 2017-2018 season with a remount of Tableau D’Hôte Theatre Production’s superb 2015 award-winning English adaptation (pictured at top) of Michel Tremblay’s landmark 1973 play Hosanna about a drag queen and her biker boyfriend, with Tableau D’Hôte’s original director Mike Payette directing his original cast, Eloi ArchamBaudoin and Davide Chiazzese. I first saw this production in 2015 and the cast deserved every award and accolade. This much-anticipated remount runs at the Centaur from May 15 to June 10. 
Over at the Segal Centre for Performing Arts, I also really enjoyed The Angel & The Sparrow, a 20-song musical based on the true story of the fascinating friendship between showbiz icons (and lovers) Marlene Dietrich and Edith Piaf. Tony Award nominee Louise Pitre (for her role as Donna Sheridan in the Broadway musical Mamma Mia!) is nothing less than monumental as Piaf, and Dora Award Winner Carly Street plays Dietrich. The run has been extended to May 13.
The Segal then closes its 2017-2018 season with Golda’s Balcony starring Broadway star Tovah Feldshuh as Golda Meir, Israel’s first and only female Prime Minister. This one-woman tour-de-force – starring Feldshuh – is the longest-running one-woman show in Broadway history and earned Feldshuh one of her four career Tony nominations. Golda’s Balcony runs from May 22 to June 10.
DANCE
Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal presents Cinderella – a fixture of the classical repertoire –performed by The National Ballet of Ukraine, from May 2 to 6.
Danse Danse closes its 2017-2018 season with Belgian choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s signature work Sutra, at Théâtre Maisonneuve from May 3 to 9. Sutra interweaves Buddhist philosophy and contemporary elements, bringing together Chinese monks and modern-day artists.
Chinese avant-garde choreographer Tao Ye’s TAO Dance Theater launches the 12th edition of the Festival TransAmériques with their hotly-anticipated 6 & 9 double bill at Théâtre Jean-Duceppe from May 23 to 25. There is plenty of cutting-edge dance and theatre at the FTA which runs from May 23 to June 7.
FILM
Cinéma du Parc kicks off its summer-long Parc For Kids weekend screenings with the Steven Spielberg classic Back To The Future on May 5. Other titles in this series include The Neverending Story, Babe and The Wizard of Oz.
The 45th Concordia Film Festival – run by students, for students, showcasing films made by undergraduate students in Concordia’s Film and Animation programs, as well as post-secondary student filmmakers from around the world – runs from May 3 to 6.
LITERATURE
Renowned Montreal writers H. Nigel Thomas, Horace Goddard and Maguy Métellus co-host Lectures Logos Readings, the monthly bilingual reading series of poetry, fiction and spoken word at the Universal Negro Improvement Association (U.N.I.A. Hall at 2741 Notre Dame St. W.) in Little Burgundy, May 14 from 7 to 9 pm. The guest readers this month are award-winning authors Dr. Pamela Mordecai, Anthony Phelps and Dr. Cecil Foster. The event is free, but a small donation is welcome.
Montreal-based dream analyst/researcher Craig Webb launches his new book The Dreams Behind the Music: Learn Creative Dreaming as 100+ Top Artists Reveal their Breakthrough Inspirations at a book signing at Indigo Place Montréal Trust on May 19 from 1 to 4 pm.
The Atwater Poetry Project presents readings by critically-acclaimed poets Faizal Deen and Pamela Mordecai at the Atwater Library, May 10 at 7 pm. Free admission.
VARIOUS
America’s best-known whistleblower, Chelsea Manning, will take the stage at the 7th edition of C2 Montréal which runs May 23 to 25 at the Arsenal art gallery in Griffintown. Other notable speakers include Snoop Dogg, Jim Coulter and Dr. Sylvia Earle.
The Rose Festival – named after Joe Rose, the young Montreal LGBTQ activist who was stabbed to death by homophobic thugs on March 19, 1989, just because he had pink hair – is an annual festival celebrating Montreal’s queer artists and their work. This year’s edition runs from May 10 to 13.
Over on the Main, BoylesqueTO, Canada’s premiere all-male burlesque troupe, will perform its signature show Oh Manada! at The Wiggle Room on May 26.
Downtown, since the March 2018 fire on lower Bishop Street, the Comedyworks presents its weekly Burnin Down the House comedy showcase each Saturday night at McLean’s Pub on Peel Street, while their Bishop Street digs are under renovation.
Then there is the blockbuster Stars on Ice revue at the Bell Centre on May 2 which features eight 2018 Olympic medalists, including 2018 Olympic Gold and Bronze Medalists, two-time World Champions, and seven-time Canadian National Pair Champions Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford.
Last spring Eric told me, “I used to watch figure skating on television when I was a kid and I was naturally attracted to it. It was Nancy Kerrigan’s long program during the 1992 Olympics that sparked my passion for skating. It reminded me of flying, because when I was younger I was obsessed with planes and flying. I wanted to be a pilot. But watching a skater fly around the ice and do the jumps—it all just happened like that.”
Stars on Ice showtime is 7 pm.
Over at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel on May 5, Montreal event planner Maddy Kojakian and radio-TV host Natasha Gargiulo present some of the city’s influential keynote speakers, professionals, life coaches, writers and philanthropists for their day-long conference and networking event I AM – a Conference for Her to help women “become the architects of their stories and their lives.”
Foodies will enjoy the Lobster Clam Jam 2018 at the Esplanade Du Centenaire De Canal Lachine on Sunday, May 27 beginning at noon. I’ve been to the last three editions and much enjoyed scoffing on lobster while drinking cold suds under the hot sun. A great people-watching event.
Last but not least, on May 20, during the Centaur Theatre’s run of Hosanna, Montreal Gazette Editor-in-Chief Lucinda Chodan will host another of her popular Sunday Chat-Ups at the Centaur: Chodan will speak with kickass drag queen Uma Gahd about what it is like to be a fabulous drag queen in Montreal in 2018. Showtime is 12:30 pm. Free admission.
