Friday on My Mind is a highly subjective, curated rundown of five of the cooler things happening in Montreal during the weekend.
The Rocky Horror Show
Friday and Saturday at Théâtre La Comédie de Montréal.
“I saw the movie when I was a teenager,” said Amy Blackmore, who is the director of The Rocky Horror Show, a musical on stage this weekend, an adaptation of the original 1973 London stage show by Richard O’Brien, which in turned inspired the cult hit movie.
“I snuck downtown from the South Shore,” said Blackmore. “I’m from Greenfield Park. I remember falling in love immediately with what was going on. We watched the movie and we were throwing rice and toilet paper. But we don’t allow you to do that when you come to our show. No throwing of physical items because there are real actors on stage. But what we do encourage is for the audience to do callbacks. So the same way as if you go to the movie, you yell at the movie, well the actors are ready for you to yell callbacks to them. It becomes this fun participation experience. Everyone loves to call Brad an a–hole.”
The stage show and the movie tell a wacky story about a young engaged couple who end up in a castle where they meet Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a cross-dressing mad scientist who belts out the show’s marquee song, Sweet Transvestite.
“It was ahead of its time but it’s also timeless,” said Blackmore. “There are aspects and elements in the script that are totally dated. We’ve changed certain words that wouldn’t be appropriate to share in 2025 on stage. For us and for MainLine (Theatre), trans rights are super important. We run a company that wants to be welcoming to all. I take that part of the show very seriously. It’s a community that puts on the show and when you come to the show, you’re entering into that community. At the end of the day, we’re all looking to be part of something and hopefully to be accepted for who we are. The lesson the show has taught me is it’s OK to be myself.”
MainLine Theatre, one of the city’s leading indie theatre outfits, has been doing The Rocky Horror Show the week of Halloween since 2012.
“I’ve been directing since … well at least 10 times,” said Blackmore, with a laugh. “I don’t remember how many now. As soon as September rolls around and the leaves start to change colour, it becomes Rocky season for me.”
This year marks the first time it won’t be happening at the old MainLine site, for the very good (and sad) reason that the small theatre on The Main closed its doors for good this past July. MainLine, the company, is still alive and well and Blackmore, who is executive director of MainLine and the Fringe Festival, said they are actively seeking a new home.
That’s why Rocky Horror has moved neighbourhoods and is being presented at Théâtre La Comédie de Montréal at 1113 de Maisonneuve Blvd. E.
Tickets: mainlinetheatre.ca
Veteran Montreal garage band The Gruesomes.
The Gruesomes
Friday at Bar le Ritz.
The Gruesomes are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year. Does that make you feel old? Not if you’re 20 and not if you’ve never heard of this absolutely brilliant garage band. But I remember them well from the mid-’80s when we were starting up the Montreal Mirror and we’d often catch them in places like Les Foufounes Électriques bashing out their highly-appealing punk-flavoured rave-ups. Well you can relive it all on Halloween night. They’re launching a new album, Dimension of Fear, their first new album in 25 years! This is also a rare gig in Canada. They play way more often in Europe, where they remain very popular. Gotta love it.
Tickets: barleritzpdb.com
Lydol.
Friday at Club Balattou.
Lydol is a much-lauded slam artist from Cameroon. Basically poetry and music. Basically amazing.
Tickets: balattou.com
Alice’s Playthings
Friday at Macallan’s Pub.
It’s billed as a “theatrical tribute to Alice Cooper” and I can’t think of a better way of spending Halloween night than rocking it with a band cranking out the old chestnuts from the original shock rocker at a West Island bar. I’m half serious, half joking. “They asked me why the singer’s name was Alice …”, to quote my fave Alice Cooper song, Be My Lover. Free show.
Information: macallanspub.ca
Tom Morello
Saturday at the Beanfield Theatre.
This one is billed as “A Night of Stories and Music,” and you can expect the former member of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave to play loads of tunes solo and tell stories, not so much about his rock-star days but more about things like running an underground high-school newspaper and playing for striking unions. Cool.
Tickets: evenko.ca
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source ca.news.yahoo.com ’
