Emilio shows his dad The Way, Carsen tells some lavish Tales and Jason & Carly indulge in hot text

FLICKERS: Get set for “the greatest opera film ever, filmed in 3D and HD video, featuring 1000 extras, 150 musicians and chorus members from the Paris

SHEEN: walking The Walk

Opera, 50 dancers and 20 of the world’s greatest singers.” No kidding. It’s the all-new Tales Of Hoffman, an extravagant film debut for director Robert Carsen. Is Michael Levine designing the sets? Of course. The 150-minute spectacle will be shot in Paris, Milan, Prague and Venice, locations include the Paris Opera and La Scala, and Renee Fleming and Rolando Villazon are set to topline a cast which includes Scott Hendricks, Anne Sophie Von Otter and Bryn Terfel. Stay tuned … Martin Sheen is in Spain, shooting The Way with Deborah Kara Unger for his actor-writer-director son Emilio Estevez. It’s a story about El Camino de

McCORMACK: texting?

Santiago, the famous pilgrimage route that has existed for more than 1000 years. Shirley MacLaine walked the 500 miles from the French village of Saint Jean de Pied de Port to Santiago de Compostela in 1994 — she was 60 at the time — and got a bestseller out of it. Can’t wait to see what Emilio does with it … and Jason Lewis, Eric McCormack and Carly Pope are shooting Liam Card’s Textuality, a comedy about a guy and a girl on the brink of romance who must first end the multiple relationships they were managing through their Blackberries before they met. Also on hand to bring actor-writer Card’s first feature film screenplay to life are director Warren P. Sonoda, producer Marc Rigaux and executive producer Michael Baker. Sounds like fun.

NOW THAT’S GOING GREEN: Looking for enviro-friendly Xmas gifts? Street pole banners featuring those striking images from the National Ballet are being combined with recycled seatbelts and inner tubes (!!) to create National Ballet tote bags and messenger bags. They’re all made with 100% recycled material and you can buy ’em at the Ballet Boutique at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.

BOYD: Peter, Paul & Liona?

QUOTABLE QUOTES: “I’m looking to form a Peter, Paul & Mary style trio (so sad that poor Mary recently died) and wondered if any of you happen to know someone who might fit the bill. He has to be able to play folky acoustic guitar (or even classical, but not essential), and have a good singing voice (preferably a tenor,) plus live in North America. If he happens to be single, nice looking, slim, somewhat enlightened and intelligent and between the age of 50 and 65 so much the better :-)”

The seeker? Guitar virtuoso Liona Boyd, e-talking a musical APB to her friends and fans in her recent newsletter.

UP UP & AWAY: Air Canada is testing whether travelers want to pay to surf the Web, send email or work via the Internet while flying. Internet service on select Toronto-Los Angeles and Montreal-Los Angeles routes will run until January 29. Passengers will pay $9.95 per flight to use a laptop computer and $7.95 to use a personal electronic device, such as a smartphone. Air Canada also began charging extra fees last week to book Preferred seats with additional leg room, starting at $14. Preferred seats refer to the bulkhead and exit row seats in Economy Class that offer added legroom. “These coveted seats are now available to all Air Canada and Jazz® customers for a fee that varies by fare option and destination.”

Hmmmmm. And the fee for using the washroom is …??

 

TOMORROW:

The Bible tells me so.

Brad gives up his metal rug, Liona makes more headlines and Harland goes ape for gorillas

NO PEOPLE LIKE SHOW PEOPLE: Bad news was, Ben Heppner had to cancel his appearance at the Canadian Opera Company’s 60th anniversary

HEPPNER: concert-to-come

concert earlier this month due to the viral infection he caught in October while singing at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. Good news is, Heppner will perform a special solo recital with piano, on stage of the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, at a date to be announced soon. And, his songfest will be free for all ticket purchasers of the Nov. 7 COC Diamond Anniversary concert … the Stratford festival memorial celebration of stage lion Douglas Campbell is set for this Monday at 3 pm on the Festival Stage and is open to the public … National Ballet chief Karen Kain has wooed and won dancer Jirí Jelinek, who will join her merry NBOC band as a Principal Dancer in January. Previously a Principal Dancer for both the National Theatre in Prague and the Stuttgart Ballet, Jelinek has blazed a trail dancing through Europe, and was most recently invited by the

WILLIAMS: going ape?

Hamburg Ballet to dance the role of Stanley Kowalski in John Neumeier’s version of Tennessee Williams‘ A Streetcar Named Desire … and guess who went on an African Gorilla safari, following in the footsteps of Dian Fossey? Would it surprise you to learn that I’m talking about Canuck ex-pat Harland Williams? Oh sure, it can get a bit dicey on The Jay Leno Show, but go to Rwanda, man — it’s a jungle out there. To see Harland and the Gorillas he almost Mist, uuuh, missed, click here.

SHARPS ‘N’ FLATS: As indicated in that extravagant recent photo spread in Hello magazine, Liona Boyd continues to live a fascinating life. From  her eight-

BOYD: it's her year

year romance with Pierre Trudeau — “Pierre asked me to come and live with him and have a child by him” — to her ongoing relationship with HRH Prince Philip (“He’s still my best pen pal”) to her hush-hush performance for the sequestered jurors in the O.J. Simpson trial, the world’s first female guitar virtuoso has blazed her own unique trail in show business. This fall she has two, count ’em, two new albums — Liona Boyd Sings Songs of Love, a collection of duets with Croatian singer-guitarist Srdjan Givoje, and Seven Journeys , a CD of new-age, atmospheric music. And as if that wasn’t enough, her back catalogue is also

JOLIE: no sharp edges

being reissued by Universal on iTunes. Which by my reckoning has gotta make 2009 the Year Of The Lion(a.)

OH, STOP GRIPING: Wonder why my hero, Manhattan gossip girl Liz Smith, can always make me laugh? Here’s an item from one of her recent, eminently readable columns on the frankly fabulous femme website, wowOwow.com.

“Brad and Angie spent a recent weekend personally baby-proofing their French chateau. (Oh, stop griping. They have a chateau, that’s just the way life is. I’m sure you have something they don’t have.) Not only did the parents of six toddlers put plugs over the electrical outlets and all that, they even moved out some of Brad’s art pieces and furniture, objects too sharp, too hard, too high, too appealing to curious tykes. So, for the time being, interesting stuff like Brad’s metal woven rug are in the chateau’s garage. Which is probably a smaller chateau. Life isn’t fair, deal with it.”

Funny lady, our Liz. Truthful, too.

DOUBLE OR NOTHING: Vladimir Putin puttin’ out a rap song? Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton meeting for a cup of coffee at Starbucks? Michael Ignatieff introducing the new Liberal theme song? And Quebec’s favourite game show is “Le Whack Job”? Yes, Linda Cullen & Bob Robertson have gone AWOL again. For another crazy episode of Double Exposure Radio. click here — but do so at your own risk!

AND NOW, MY FAVOURITE POSTER-OF-THE-WEEK:

9th JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL: This poster makes me smile.

Happy weekend!

-/-

If it’s Monday it must be music, music, music!

TONIGHT, TONIGHT: Tonight marks the Canadian debut concert of the world-famous Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela led by

DUDAMELL: he's a rock star

superstar conductor Gustavo Dudamel, the new music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic — (60 Minutes called him “the hottest thing to hit classical music since Leonard Bernstein”) — at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. Special highlight tonight will be the presentation of the Glenn Gould Prize to Dr. José Antonio Abreu, whose visionary music education and youth orchestra system, El Sistema, has transformed the lives of over a million at-risk children and youth in Venezuela. Tonight’s gala concert kicks off a week of performances, education and outreach activities to illuminate, stimulate and communicate the passion for music. For more info, just click here.

SHARPS ‘N’ FLATS: Strumming queen Liona Boyd wants it known that despite the title of her new CD, Liona Boyd Sings Songs Of Love, she has not,

MULDAUR: here Wednesday

repeat, NOT given up guitar. “I might not quite be the virtuoso player I used to be,” the ageless entertainer confides to her fans, “but I can still perform beautiful melodies and incorporate many different guitar techniques, as you’ll clearly hear on my CD.” However, she’s more than partial to vocalizing as well. “I love singing and I practice my songs around the house at every opportunity … one of the great advantages of living alone!” … three dozen albums and one Midnight At The Oasis later, Maria Muldaur returns to her jug band roots with an intimate concert Wednesday night at Hugh’s Room … after almost four years and sales of four million copies of her debut album, Corinne Bailey Rae’s second

AZNAVOUR: jazz roots

album, The Sea, is set for release in February …Geri Halliwell (a.k.a. Ginger Spice) is reportedly set to produce a new West End “pop extravaganza” which would tell the tale of the rise of The Spice Girls, the ‘90s English pop girl group who made a big-boxoffice reunion tour last year … attention Christmas shoppers: The much-anticipated, rumoured-to-be-breathtaking CD featuring Charles Aznavour performing some of his classics with the Clayton Hamilton Jazz Orchestra is due in local disc shops on Dec. 1 … A.M. on A.M.? You bet. You can hear AM740’s two-hour Anne Murray All of Me – the Radio Special at 1 pm today, on the radio or on the internet (in stereo) at www.am740.ca … the new Lighthouse CD/DVD

LIGHTHOUSE: new CD/DVD package

package, 40 Years Of Sunny Days, includes a new DVD of 16 recent Lighthouse videos in surround sound, commentary by band members,s a newly remastered CD of the most requested Lighthouse  classics and a 42 page booklet about the band … and call it a sign of the times, but Chris Colepaugh’s new album Burning —  a collection of live performances captured by his Cosmic Crew — is being released in digtal format only. To preview the new album, go to his website right here.

contains a new DVD of 16 recent Lighthouse videos in surround sound, commentary by band members,s a newly remastered CD of the most requested Lighthouse

classics and a 42 page booklet about the band

QUOTABLE QUOTES: “I’ve been through a lot of change in the 21 years I’ve been anchoring this program, and I can remember times we’ve switched the

MANSBRIDGE: let sleeping dogs lie?

theme music and our loyal viewers got really upset – some of them wrote to us explaining how their dogs used to fall asleep to the old theme music and now they’re barking like mad – so there’s no doubt there will be a few people who will initially be unsure of it.”

The speaker? Peter Mansbridge, in an interview with National Post reporter Vanessa Farquharson, commenting on the new-look changes we’ll see tonight on The National and CBC News.

TOMORROW:

Who gets to play Hef in the movie?

Anne kicks off a new tour, Robin gets ready for Rama, Robert gets ready to make a splash, the NFB gets animated & T.O. film buffs go on Cairo Time

NO PEOPLE LIKE SHOW PEOPLE: Jazz legend Joe Sealy, cabaret queens Nancy White and Judith Lander, and We Will Rock You alumni Yvan

LANDER: October concert

Pedneault and Alana Bridgewater headline an afternoon musicale Oct. 25 at Rosedale United Church … Robin Williams plays Casino Rama Nov. 11 & 12 … Ron James is set to host the Nov. 14 Gemini Awards telecast from Calgary … good news for her Atlantic fans: Serena Ryder will play the first of six “intimate” east coast gigs November 26 in St. John’s … and Robert LePage’s nine-hour theatrical marathon, Lipsynch, is currently on view at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, with intermissions and a dinner-break, through this Sunday. The brilliant Quebec dazzle-master, set to world-premiere his predictably controversial new opera The Nightingale and Other Short Fables

WILLIAMS: at Rama

here next week at the Four Seasons Centre, plans to fill a partially raised orchestra pit with roughly 30 tonnes of water. His singers will wade in, waist-deep, to manipulate puppets while the orchestra plays onstage behind them. Now that’s show business!

FLICKERS: New season for the TIFF Cinemateque screenings at the AGO starts tonight, with Lisa Ray set to make an appearance tomorrow night for the screening of Deepa Mehta’s hit comedy Bollywood/Hollywood. For more info, just click here …  TIFF award-winner Cairo Time, with Patricia Clarkon and Alexander Siddig, opens in T.O. today. Film buffs, take note: Director Ruba Nadda will be attending tonight’s 7pm screening and tomorrow’s 2pm and 7pm

CLARKSON: in TIFF winner

screenings at the Varsity Cinemas for post-screening Q&A’s … award-laden writer-director Paul Haggis’ current film project has an intriguing title: The Next Three Days … and in celebration of International Animation Day and the National Film Board of Canada’s 70th anniversary, the NFB is launching a special edition of Get Animated! – a series of free public screenings, from October 23–31, 2009, in 13 communities across this country. Accordingly, the NFB’s Get Animated! website is already offering exclusive animation programming to all its visitors.

LITERATI: Royalists continue to be fascinated by the Queen Mother’s recently revealed diaries and letters, despite the fact that her younger daughter,

MURRAY: on the road again

the late HRH Princess Margaret, reportedly destroyed a lot of the Queen Mum’s correspondence in an effort to cover up the scandals created by Charles and Diana … look for new books this fall from both Peter Mansbridge and Rex Murphy … on your mark, set, buy: Top Five fiction finalists for this year’s Giller Prize are Kim Echlin, The Disappeared; Annabel Lyon, The Golden Mean; Linden MacIntyre (yes, the Linden MacIntyre,) The Bishop’s Man; Colin McAdam, Fall; and Anne Michaels, The Winter Vault … and Anne Murray is set to kick off her cross-Canada tour to promote her new autobiography, All Of Me, with a signing session at Indigo Books & Music on Oct. 29 at the Eaton Centre. To find out when she’s coming to your town, just click here.

And have a happy Thanksgiving.

-/-

Yo, listen up, next week it’s Moore vs. Barrie as CFRB challenges CBC Radio’s morning monopoly

MOORE: morning glory-seeker

GOOD MORNING, TORONTO: That’s what popular CFRB drive-home lion John Moore will be saying next week when he goes up against CFRB alumnus and current CBC icon Andy Barrie, who continues to rock morning radio ratings on CBC. Moore will reportedly start his on-air ‘RB shift at 5:30 a.m., 15 minutes before Barrie kicks off his daily Metro Morning broadcast. He’ll also get a little help from his friends, e.g., sportscaster Rick Hodge and Breakfast Television grad Liza Fromer, both of whom are old hands at getting up really really early every morning.

Stay tuned.

BERGMAN: her Turn, 1959

ONE MORE TURN OF THE SCREW: It was Ingrid Bergman who first tackled Henry James’ scary psychosexual thriller The Turn Of The Screw on television. Then Deborah Kerr played the governess in the movie version called The Innocents. Now DVxT Theatre Company is set to present a new stage version in Toronto, but not on stage. Instead both cast and audience will inhabit the elegant Campbell House Museum. Built in 1822, its candle-lit rooms “will come to life as the audience weaves through all three levels of the house, following the characters through the labyrinth that is this psychological thriller.” Directed by Vikki Anderson, this new production

KERR: her Turn, 1961

opens Oct 16 and stars Christine Horne as the governess “and Clinton Walker in all (!?!) the other roles. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya!

FOOTLIGHTS: Dancap Productions, the folks behind such hit Toronto productions as The Drowsy Chaperone and the long-running spellbinder Jersey Boys, is now set to present a summer season of theatrical productions at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, starting next year. Which shows will Dancap be staging or importing next summer? Stay tuned … Andrew Lloyd Webber still wants to restage The Wizard of Oz for Broadway with new songs to

TUNE: living landmark

go with the Harold Arlen-Yip Harburg classics … Yo-Yo Ma serenades tomorrow night in Ottawa at the National Arts Centre … and nine-time Tony-winning tap dancer-singer-choreographer Tommy Tune will be made a Living Landmark on November 4 at Cipriani on 42nd Street.

Wow! — a Manhattan monument that still has all the right moves!

HOW SICK IS THAT: Remember when Sick meant Ill? When he was making Sicko. his documentary on U.S. health care woes, Michael Moore gathered a group of Sept. 11 heroes — rescue workers suffering from debilitating illnesses who have been denied medical attention in the United

MOORE: Canadian premiere

States – and took them to Cuba so they could finally receive some care. Outrageous moves like that one helped win him an Oscar for Bowling At Columbine, and some fans believe his recent TIFF entry, Capitalism: A Love Story, is his best film treatise yet. Meanwhile, if you missed Sicko first time ‘round, CBC Newsworld hosts its Canadian television premiere this Sunday night at 9:30 pm on The Passionate Eye.

Happy Nuit Blanche!

-/-