The World Famous Popovich Comedy Pet Theatre
Gregory Popovich and his cast of house cats, pooches and birds have appeared on David Letterman’s late-night television show, but the pet tricks involved are anything but stupid. Dogs dance, kitties risk whiskers jumping through hoops and the geese are worth a gander. There are also clowns and jugglers, and at the centre of the circus is Mr. Popovich, an entertainer whose pet projects – his animals are rescued from shelters – are literally that. March 15, 1 and 4 p.m. $15 to $25. Mississauga Living Arts Centre, 4141 Living Arts Dr., Mississauga, Ont., 905-306-6000 or livingartscentre.ca.
Blood Wedding
When it comes to poetically tragic stories of feuding families and star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet is hardly exclusive to the trope. Translated from Spanish by Langston Hughes, Garcia Lorca’s 20th-century classic Blood Wedding is inspired by a fragment of a newspaper story found by the playwright and tells the tale of a romance doomed under the weight of their family’s histories. “That’s what life is,” says the groom’s mother, “conflict, misery and pain.” Needless to say, she won’t be called upon to deliver a toast at the reception. To March 29. $15 to $25. Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander St., 416-975-8555 or buddiesinbadtimes.com.
Walt Disney Classics
When it was announced this week that Tim Burton would direct a live-action remake of the animated 1941 classic Dumbo, animal-rights activists expressed a wish that the film’s ending be rejigged, so as to have the big-eared pachyderm free from his circus servitude. What’s next? Citing Disney’s fish-tailed princess as an example of unhealthy body image? As part of TIFF’s 10-film family-friendly program, 1989’s The Little Mermaid (March 14, 1 p.m.) and the original Dumbo (March 15, 1 p.m.) will be screened this weekend. March 14 to 22. $9 to $13. TIFF Bell Lightbox, 350 King St. W., 416-599-8433 or tiff.net.
TSO: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7
“All tumult, all yearning and storming of the heart, become here the blissful insolence of joy.” Tell us what you really think, Richard Wagner. On Saturday, under the baton of the animated Italian conductor Gianandrea Noseda, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra has at Beethoven’s energetic and rhythmic Symphony No. 7, a favourite of fellow composer Wagner. His opera Tristan und Isolde will be represented in a program featuring the great Canadian soprano Adrianne Pieczonka. March 14, 8 p.m. $33 to $145. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St., 416-872-4255 or tso.ca.
National Home Show
If not already, soon the backyard hockey rinks of the GTA will melt or otherwise be done for, leaving empty plots in their places. Thank goodness, then, for the National Home Show folks, who may or may not know shinny from Shinola, but do have real ideas on rear-lawn makeovers. At this year’s show (which runs concurrently at the same venue as Canada Blooms) you’ll find an exhibit that showcases tiki bars, hot tubs, putting greens and portable bunkies (above). To March 22. $13 to $20. Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place, 100 Princes' Blvd., 416-263-3000 or nationalhomeshow.com.