Les Grands Ballets, Bourgie Hall, and a TOHU clown show: Quoi faire à Montréal

A few weeks ago we wrote about Ballet Ouest de Montréal taking on Tchaikovsky’s holiday classic, The Nutcracker. Well, since it is the holiday season, the two-act classical ballet will get plenty of play from companies far and wide, including Les Grands Ballets Canadiens from December 12-30 at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier in Place des Arts. By the way, this famed production by Québec choreographer emeritus, the late Fernand Nault, is celebrating its 60th anniversary.

For those unfamiliar with the plot, it has something to do with a couple of kids called Clara and Fritz, a Doctor Drosselmeyer (who is said to have magical powers), magic shoes, a nutcracker, invading rodents, tin soldiers, snowflakes, a Kingdom of Sweets, a Sugar Plum Fairy, a king, a prince, some chefs… and evidently copious amounts of mind-altering substances.

It is all held together in an enchanting ballet performed by over 60 dancers and 100 extras in shimmering costumes accompanied by the 43 musicians and soloists of Les Grands Ballets Orchestra, under the astute direction Principal Conductor Dina Gilbert.

Visit https://grandsballets.com/en/ performances/detail/nutcracker/

On the marquee at Bourgie Hall

Bourgie Hall, part of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA), always has a wide variety of top-notch artistic programming at affordable prices on its schedule. On Thursday, Dec. 12 at 6 p.m., for example, Juno Award-winner Kellylee Evans sings winter songs from her 2024 album aptly titled Winter Songs — a mix of Christmas classics and original pieces that veer between jazz, soul, pop, R&B and gospel. Evans and her warm, velvety voice will be accompanied Steve Boudreau (piano), Ed Lister (trumpet), Chris Pond (double bass and electric bass) as well as Stephen Adubofuor (drums).

On Friday, Dec. 13 at 7:30 p.m., the Orchestre de l’Agora, led by Nicolas Ellis — with Alexis Chartrand on baroque fiddle and foot percussion, and Nicolas Babineau on fiddle and guitar — perform music for traditional folk dances like the jig, cotillion, and contra dance heard at generations of Québécois family gatherings and festive réveillons. I’ve been to my share of those and I tell you. I assume clapping, hollering and foot stomping will be permitted, if not encouraged. Then again, maybe not.

On Saturday, Dec. 14 at 2:30 p.m., an exquisite afternoon of French baroque music is on offer. Actor Jean-François Beauvais’ French reading of Les trois messes basses — a tale by Alphonse Daudet that tells the story of a Christmas night in the chapel of a 17th-century French castle — is interspersed with beautiful noëls by French composers Louis-Claude Daquin and Jean-François Dandrieu, performed on organ and harpsichord by François Zeitouni. Did I not say “exquisite”?

Visit https://www.mbam.qc.ca/en/bourgie-hall/

A clown show at le TOHU

From December 18 to January 5, TOHU — located in the Cité des arts du cirque, 2345, Jarry St. E. — welcomes Ha Ha Ha, a clown show by Okidok, a pair of Belgians named Xavier Bouvier and Benoît Devos. On stage wearing the typical red noses and face paint, Bouvier and Devos mix the comic antics seen in those old Tex Avery cartoons blended with object theatre with silent film era influences, from Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin to Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Perfect for families with young children.

Friends and stage partners for 37 years, Bouvier and Devos started clowning around together when they met at school at age 12. “We took advantage of school breaks to work on juggling, while our classmates played football (soccer) in the schoolyard,” stated the duo. “And gradually, the desire to put on our own acts took hold. A teacher from the school, a clown and magician, took charge of us and put us on the right track.”

And the great thing about a clown show is that they can reach a truly universal audience. “Without the language barrier, clowns go through simple situations, situations that can be a mirror for everyone, regardless of age or culture.”

Visit https://tohu.ca/en/season/ha-ha-ha n