The Silver Stage: Bloor Cinema @ Fringe

Clever girl....

2009-07-11T10:25:00.005-04:00

A Twitter saga of dinosaur love lost and found

bitwhizzle: craigslist missed connection for a cast member of Jurassic Park (Silver Stage) !!! #FringeTO http://bit.ly/FU8CO (not me btw, i just found) 5:17 PM Jul 9th

Toronto_Fringe: @bitwhizzle I found her tonight at the Silver Screen of Blue Velvet #FringeTO http://bit.ly/FU8CO 10:24 PM Jul 9th

Toronto_Fringe: Found the Missed Connection Velociraptor girl tonight at #FringeTO 10:25 PM Jul 9th

bitwhizzle: @Toronto_Fringe we've made a craigslist connection come true!!! we are HEROES!!! #FringeTO 10:26 PM Jul 9th

prettypoopie: Apparently I can fog up someone's porthole anytime. Totally going to reply to that misconnection.... ;P #FringeTO 12:42 AM Jul 10th

bitwhizzle: i feel like a superhero! #FringeTO brings people together...and craigslist...and Twitter... go get him @prettypoopie (aka Velociraptor 1)!!! 1:17 AM Jul 10th

prettypoopie: @bitwhizzle lol! Dude, it's just too funny! 2:01 AM Jul 10th

postshaggy: @prettypoopie sam got one too!!! 8:00 AM Jul 10th

postshaggy: @prettypoopie I wish someone would misconnect with me :( 8:12 AM Jul 10th

prettypoopie: @postshaggy really?!?!?! Yay!!!! Go Sam!!! 9:05 AM Jul 10th

bitwhizzle: I guess people really love those raptors! #FringeTO about 23 hours ago

bitwhizzle: another craigslist miss.conn. found: http://bit.ly/13yQQG this time for OTHER Velociraptor girl!!! wow! #FringeTO about 23 hours ago

Tonight's the final performance of Jurassic Park, and there are still some advance tickets available; call the Fringe Hotline at 416-966-1062, visit FringeToronto.com, or pop by the Tranzac Club (292 Brunswick) before 6:30 to buy yours. More will become available at the Bloor starting at 8:30, but we expect those to go fairly quickly.

Buffy, Blue Velvet, Jurassic Park

2009-07-10T23:50:00.001-04:00

Blue Velvet on July 1, 4, and 9.

Buffy: "Once More, With Feeling" on July 2, 5, and 10.

Jurassic Park on July 3, 7, and 11.

Repo! on July 8, Rocky Horror on July 12.

All start on time at 9:30 p.m. No latecomers admitted.

For advance tickets, visit www.fringetoronto.com (direct link) or call the Fringe Hotline at 416-966-1062. Be sure to look for "THE SILVER STAGE." You can also buy advance tickets in person at the Fringe Club, aka the Tranzac (292 Brunswick Avenue, just south of Bloor), from noon until 8:00 p.m. every day.

Advance tickets go off sale three hours before show time (i.e. 6:30). At-the-door tickets then become available at the Bloor Cinema (506 Bloor St. W., at Bathurst) one hour before show time.

Follow the Bloor Cinema on Twitter!

Say you're happy now, once more with feeling...

2009-07-10T10:22:00.005-04:00

Photo of Tycoda Gilecki as Sweet by Laura Godfrey.

Tonight's the final night of our Buffy show, and the advance tickets sold out days ago. There will be another 170-180 or so on sale at the Bloor at 8:30 tonight, but we strongly recommend that you get there well ahead of time.

Toronto Newsfix visited a rehearsal a couple weeks ago, and produced this cool behind-the-scenes article and slideshow.

And Torontoist theatre critic Johnnie Walker wrote a lovely review, in which he said that "one of the most exciting things we've seen [at this year's Fringe] is definitely the Silver Stage presentation of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode 'Once More With Feeling'... Although you could tell the audience would have probably just been content to watch the show on the big screen, the shadow cast production brought a whole new element to the experience, making the whole thing unbelievably fun. Whether they're perfectly matching the choreography on screen, or cleverly subverting it with in-jokes and innuendos, the cast is hilarious and pretty much perfect." Read the full review.

Eye Weekly Snaps Blue Velvet

2009-07-09T22:12:00.005-04:00

Eye dispatched photographer Ashlea Wessel to take photos of our Blue Velvet opening night on July 1st for their Snaps section. See the full gallery here.

Blue Velvet takes a bow...

2009-07-09T02:38:00.007-04:00

Blue Velvet (four stars from Eye!) has its final performance on Thursday night.

We can't believe it's already been a week since we kicked off the festival with Anything That Moves (our Bloor Velvet band) performing on the marquee:

Photos by Diana Vasquez.

The Toronto Star recommends Blue Velvet in both of its weekend editions!

2009-07-07T19:22:00.004-04:00

Raju Mudhar's cover story for Saturday's Entertainment section, "My perfect '80s day off," cited Blue Velvet at the Bloor as a superior 80s-nostalgia alternative to Transformers 2 — the movie "serves as a gentle reminder that beyond the oft-celebrated '80s fromage there was plenty of good art created in that decade. "

And in Sunday's paper, there was a kind blurb in "The Week," the rundown of upcoming arts events.

And I can still see Blue Velvet through my tears (of laughter!)

2009-07-07T19:06:00.002-04:00

blogTO: "This is a laugh-a-minute production - both a spoof and tribute to David Lynch's 1986 film." (full review)

Mooney on Theatre: "What The Silver Stage does is hilarious and brilliant" (full review)

EYE WEEKLY loves us!!!!

2009-07-07T18:54:00.006-04:00

Blue Velvet gets FOUR STARS: "This steamy, silly exercise extends the life of the classic ’80s film with profundity and passion." (full review)

Jurassic Park gets THREE STARS: "It's the guiltiest, most foolish kind of fun." (full review)

Buffy gets FOUR STARS: "Come here to get your kumbayayas out!" (full review)

The Silver Stage on CBC!

2009-07-01T10:24:00.005-04:00

Alex Woodside (our Silver Stage producer/Jurassic Park director/T-rex) will be appearing on Here and Now this afternoon, along with Brian Dunn (Dr. Alan Grant) and JP costume designer Ashley Lotecki. Tune in to CBC Radio One (99.1 FM) between 5:45 and 6:00 to hear them! You can also listen online.

BiteTV pays a visit to Jurassic Park!

2009-06-30T23:45:00.000-04:00

BiteTV's The Life of Brian stopped by the theatre last week to hang out at a rehearsal for our Jurassic Park show. The "Brian" is question is Brian Dunn, who plays Dr. Alan Grant in the show.

EYE WEEKLY says some very nice things about us

2009-06-30T23:40:00.000-04:00

Screen Play

The Bloor Cinema joins the Fringe with their shadow-cast program, The Silver Stage

BY Chandler Levack

Day-glo dinosaurs and burlesque raptors — a raunchy version of a classic Spielberg spectacle,” is how director Alex Woodside sums up his revamp of Jurassic Park. While you might be expecting a similarly inclined approach to 2006’s Fringe hit Giant Killer Shark: The Musical, the Bloor Cinema’s Silver Stage lineup offers live theatrical performances occurring alongside 35mm screenings of such cult classics as David Lynch’s Blue Velvet and Joss Whedon’s “Once More, With Feeling” (for non-nerds, the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.) For traditionalists, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Repo! The Genetic Opera also get their due.

Inspired by past shadow-cast productions of Halloween mainstay Rocky Horror, of Pee-wee’s Big Adventure in 2008 by the Toronto Cyclists Union, and of Repo!, which sold out, Woodside, who also acts as the Bloor’s operations manager, wants to hearken back to the cinema’s vaudeville days, when it was called the Madison Theatre.

Read the rest of the article....

Win tickets to Blue Velvet from Rue Morgue!

2009-06-24T13:55:00.001-04:00

(This contest is now closed.)

Bloor Velvet — Concert on Theatre Marquee!

2009-06-23T12:39:00.000-04:00

Robin Sharp, the director of our Blue Velvet shadowcast show, is the man responsible for blogTO's Toronto Portraits series profiling young local artists and musicians. He's now used his connections to round up an all-star band to perform the songs from Blue Velvet, live as part of the show. Calling themselves Anything That Moves, the band includes:

• Carmen Elle (solo singer/songwriter, guitar and vocals for Donlands & Mortimer)

• Johnny Spence (keyboards for Donlands & Mortimer)

• Dorian Thornton (bassist for Spiral Beach)

• Jo Fallak (lead singer of Miss Scarlett)

• Brandon Valdivia (drummer for Picastro)

• Katie Avery (violinist for Beneath the Ice)

• Ryan G. Hinds (performance artist about town)

They're doing five full songs from the movie (Roy Orbison, etc.) as part of the show itself, plus a special set on the marquee of the Bloor Cinema (506 Bloor St. W.) at 7:00 on July 1st.

Silver Stage Press Photos

2009-06-19T12:33:00.001-04:00

Blue Velvet
July 1st, 4th and 9th at 9:30
Facebook event

Jurassic Park
July 3rd, 7th and 11th at 9:30
Facebook Event

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: "Once More, With Feeling"
July 2nd, 5th and 10th at 9:30
Facebook Event

Bloor Cinema teaming up with Fringe Festival

2009-06-11T13:02:00.000-04:00

For Immediate Release

Bloor Cinema teaming up with Fringe Festival

LIVE versions of Blue Velvet, Jurassic Park, Buffy from July 1-12

The Bloor is Toronto’s largest cinema. The Fringe is Toronto’s largest theatre festival. And now they’re partnering to bring you a new kind of event.

The Silver Stage, July 1-12 at the Fringe, will blur the line between theatre and film by taking the Rocky Horror "shadowcasting" experience to the next level. Shadowcasting is when a live ensemble recreates a movie on stage, while the film is playing behind them. The performers mirror and complement the action onscreen, using creative props and costumes to bring the movie to life. It's not simply mimicry, though; these shows take the films to whole new places.

The Silver Stage will run throughout the festival at the Bloor Cinema (506 Bloor Street West), with different movie-shows playing on alternating nights:

• JURASSIC PARK — Steven Spielberg’s classic adventure reimagined with dancing helicopters and day-glo dinosaurs. Directed by Alex Woodside. July 3, 7, 11

• BLUE VELVET — David Lynch’s surreal mystery brought to life with live music, campy excess, and some of Toronto’s hottest young actors and musicians. Directed by Robin Sharp. July 1, 4, 9

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer's "ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING" — The triumphant musical episode of Joss Whedon’s cult horror-comedy comes out as a Broadway-style extravaganza. Directed by Justin Decloux. July 2, 5, 10

• REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA — The Bloor's resident Shadow Cats troupe revels in the Grand Guignol of Darren Lynn Bousman's gothic sci-fi rock opera. July 8

• THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW — The one that started it all closes out the festival, as performed by the Bloor's legendary Excited Mental State. July 12

All shows start at 9:30 p.m., with doors opening at 8:30. Tickets are $10 each and may be purchased at www.fringetoronto.com (look for "THE SILVER STAGE") or via the Fringe Hotline (416-966-1062).

Media contacts
Jonathan Goldsbie, media@bloorcinema.com
Alex Woodside, alex@bloorcinema.com

Schedule

Wednesday July 1 — Blue Velvet
Thursday July 2 — Once More, With Feeling
Friday July 3 — Jurassic Park
Saturday July 4 — Blue Velvet
Sunday July 5 — Once More, With Feeling
Monday July 6 — (night off)
Tuesday July 7 — Jurassic Park
Wednesday July 8 — Repo! The Genetic Opera
Thursday July 9 — Blue Velvet
Friday July 10 — Once More, With Feeling
Saturday July 11 — Jurassic Park
Sunday July 12 — The Rocky Horror Picture Show

All start at 9:30 p.m.