Michel Marc Bouchard's The Madonna Painter opened at Factory Theatre last week, and has been pleasing audiences and critics since. Set in a rural Quebec town in 1918, it's the story of a attractive young priest who hopes to ward off the Spanish flu epidemic by commissioning a painting of the virgin Mary for the parish church. The coincidence of the play opening amid the current H1N1 craze is just that -- the play was written in French in 2002 and premiered in Italian in 2003. However, in an interesting life imitating art moment, one of the actresses in the show told me on opening night that she was stricken with H1N1 during the course of rehearsals. She's since fully recovered. Catch it at Factory until February 13.

There's also a couple of one-nighters happening over the next week. Buddies' annual fundraiser auction Art Attack is happening tonight and it always loads of fun. This year it's hosted by the ever-delightful Keith Cole. And on Tuesday, Ecce Homo is presenting a one-night only engagement of its 2008 Summerworks Festival hit The Pastor Phelps Project at University of Toronto. It's likely the last chance you'll get to see it, and it's pay-what-you-can, so do try to make it, and arrive early to get tickets.

Speaking of selling out, Anusree Roy's Letters to My Grandma, playing in the Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace has already sold out the first week of its run. There aren't many tickets in the little backspace, and it has a limited run, so book early.

Next week also sees the opening of A Very Lupe X-Mas. Lupe (Melissa D'Agostino) has become a bit of a fixture of the indie theatre/clown scene in Toronto, and her shows are always a blast, so keep it on your radar.

For the past 24 hours, everyone has been tweeting about Brendan Burke, son of the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who came out in an article on espn.com yesterday. Brendan's currently a student manager of the Miami University (Ohio) team (wait, there's a Miami University in Ohio?), having quit playing hockey in high school out of fear that his teammates would find out that he's gay. The elder Burke now insists that there are certainly gay players in pro hockey, and that an out gay player could advance in pro hockey "if he works for the Toronto Maple Leafs!" The story's been picked up in positive coverage in Toronto's mainstream media, and let's hope that it encourages more queer athletes to come out in pro sports.

In less great news, York Regional Police are reexaming a 29-year-old cold case involving an unidentified man who was found with "a compact mirror...and a pair of red high heels." Ignore the Post's disgustingly sensational headline. The case sounds suspiciously like a pair of other cold cases involving young gay men that were reopened last year.  

Well, if this isn't the most adorable news of the week... It's actually good to know that the Toronto Police's SWAT unit is trained in deer rescue. And it is somewhat surprising that a lost deer can get from Union Station to Dundas Street in rush hour without getting run over. That beats many cyclists. I'm assuming the deer got to Union on the morning train from Oshawa.

Speaking of transit, I'm sure we're all aware that the TTC is proving its incompetence once again, with its release of adult tickets to temporarily replace tokens until the fare hike comes into effect on Jan 3. The tickets are a huge pain in the ass, because they don't work in most TTC subway station entrances and turnstyles, causing huge backlogs at major choke points. It's unfortunate that this is all happening as the TTC is experimenting with using Japanese-style herders to move people at Bloor-Yonge Station, since their impact is likely multiplied. Next, the TTC could try using actual cattle prods to move people to the south ends of the station.

Also bizarre: according to the National Post's promo piece on the DVD release of Bruno, gay marriage remains a "hot topic" in Canada, with the public "still unsure of where they stand on the issue."

Meanwhile in the city, tonight OutTV will be taping a live comedy special at the Al Green Theatre featuring some of my favourite queer comedians, including Andrew Johnston, Paul Hutcheson, Ian Lynch and others. There are still some FREE tickets available, which you can claim by e-mailing comedy@outtv.ca.

The big news in theatre as far as I'm concerned is Nina Arsenault's The Silicone Diaries, which officially opened at Buddies last night after two oversold previews. Apparently, most shows of the limited engagement are already sold out, and Buddies even added a performance on Sun Nov 22 to meet demand. The run can't be extended due to bookings in the space, but rumours are already circulating that Buddies will be bringing the show back next season into the larger Mainspace (it's currently in the somewhat claustrophobic cabaret space).

And the show? Well, I saw it in previews and was delighted. Nina's an engaging performer telling a compelling story. Beg, borrow, or barter to get tickets to this.

Also at Buddies is Nightwood's reinvention of Jean-Paul Sartre's novel No Exit. I haven't seen this (and unfortunately won't get a chance to), but everything I'm hearing about it says that it shouldn't be missed.

A reinvention with a more tenuous Buddies connection is Necessary Angel's Hamlet at Harbourfront, which was workshopped at Buddies earlier this year. I enjoyed the workshop, and people I know who've seen the final product are telling me I should see it again. Queer interest: This Hamlet's definitely got somthing going on with his doomed best friend Guidencrantz (get it?), and there's apparently a lot of stage nudity (more than in the workshop).

Last week I told you I was going to the opening of the Mirvishes' production of My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding, but I almost didn't make it. Friday before the opening, critics were uninvited for no given reason (I was allowed to watch because I don't criticise on this blog). Having watched the sold-out performance, it's hard to understand why. The show's roots in the Fringe Festival are still obvious in the minimal staging and design, but it's not like the show isn't ready for prime-time. And audiences loved it. It's a pure, happy little musical about love, tolerance, and coming out, and in the wake of equal marriage losses down south, its message is still quite timely.

Finally, speaking of musicals, I finally made the trek up to North York to catch Dancap's Jersey Boys -- I know, only a year and a half late. The good news is that the musical is still going strong and doesn't fail to entertain. The "boys" give impressive performances as Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons -- sometimes funny, sometimes compelling, and always eager to entertain. It's not hard to see why audiences are still reacting so well to this show. It's certainly worth the trip to North York Centre.

After more than 60 years of entertaining downtown Toronto, the Carlton Cinema will close on Dec 6, citing declining business and stiff competition from the larger, more comfortable multiplexes downtown. This is a hard blow to fans (and makers) of independent, Canadian, and queer cinema, as the Carlton is one of very few cinemas that screens these films (in Toronto at least, if not in Canada as a whole). Unfortunately, this highlights a problem with Canadian and indie filmmaking -- there's simply not many options available for distribution and screening. Perhaps it's time that the government step in and put content quotas in cinemas, like we have on radio and television, and like exist in many other countries that have thriving domestic film industries.

The Globe reports that the space will not be taken over by another movie chain, but will instead be redeveloped into a retail space. On the plus side, a redevelopment that brings increased foot traffic to that part of the neighbourhood may decrease the number of sketchy individuals hanging out on that strip.

Speaking of redevelopment, Toronto is moving to ban corporate and union donations for next year's election, which would remove much of the power that the development industry has over councillors.

In other news, Pride reports that this summer's festival generated a whopping $136 million impact on the Toronto economy, up 37% from just three years ago. That's an impressive figure, and you can read the study yourself (caution: large file), even though from my perusal it seems to mostly amount to blind guesswork and wild extrapolation. Interesting stats from the report: more women attend the festival from out of town than men; around 30 percent of out-of-town festival attendees are straight (fag-hags?); and more people from out-of-town attended the Deborah Cox concert than the Kelly Rowland concert. You remember the Kelly Rowland concert? The one that pride spent that big federal grant on to woo tourists from out of town. I guess that money wasn't so well spent (even if the report plays statistical voodoo to make it look like it generated several millions in economic spin-offs).

In related news, the federal government has decided to move next June's G-20 conference to Toronto from the originally scheduled venue of Huntsville, Ontario, which may prove Pride's earlier decision to reschedule next year's festival to the following week so as not to conflict with the conference to have been wise. On the other hand, while we've got the world's leaders gathered in town, this may be the perfect time for Pride to promote international queer rights.

And just breaking right now: assault charges against Black Eyed Peas manager Polo Molina stemming from his allegedly punching Perez Hilton in the face after the MuchMusic Video Awards have been dropped after Molina promised to apologise to Hilton and stay away from him and make an unspecified charitable donation.