Queer theatre is everywhere, dear readers.

Last night I caught a preview performance of Bash'd, which opens at Theatre Passe Muraille tonight. The gay hip-hopera is set in Edmonton during the same-sex marriage wars, and weaves a hilarious and tragic tale of the impacts of homophobic violence on a young gay couple. 

You may have heard of the show already -- I first caught it during its 2007 Fringe Festival run. It then went on to play at the Next Stage Festival in 2008 before running Off-Broadway earlier this year. And now it's opening TPM's mainstage season. Writer/co-star Chris Craddock has written a number of queer Fringe Festival hits over the years, including PornStar, which I reviewed for Xtra West this summer.

The show has grown a bit since it's Fringe run, with better production values on the music and lighting design, but it still maintains the smallness and intimacy of that first run. The two lead lovers are sweet and instantly recognizable and the rhymes and music are sharp and fun. The show breezes by at a slender 75 minutes, and if I've any complaint it's only that they left me wanting even more of their delicious beats.

This is one you definitely don't want to miss.

Ok, I'm officially bored to death of the mayoral race that hasn't even officially started yet and won't be concluded for thirteen months. But it's not just me, even Dalton McGuinty appears sick of the speculation.

So out of consideration for the premier's feelings, today is going to be all about my other love, the theatre.

Last night I caught Hart House's remount of last season's smash hit, Jerry Springer: The Opera. There's not much I can say about this show that hasn't already been said before, and the show is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin. But I can tell you that it was one of the most fantastically tasteless pieces of filth I've seen in quite a long time. And that's a compliment. My favourite character was "Chick With A Dick With A Heart," but gay Jesus and and pink sequened Klansmen were nice touches as well.

Over at The Star, Richard Ouzounian calls Springer one of the most influential pieces of theatre of the last decade. That's a pretty tall order for a show that's never had a professional production on this side of the Atlantic (indeed, Hart House may be the only place in North America where it's been performed at all). But then, as the original director of the Hart House production, Ouzounian may be a bit biased.

Tonight, I'm running back up to my old hood to catch Altar Boyz at the Toronto Centre for the Arts, up by North York Centre. (Don't worry, it's only 30 minutes north of Bloor by subway. And yes, folks. There's a whole part of the city north of Bloor). It's a musical about a Christian pop boyband with a gay member. And while boyband parodies sound like something that was probably funny five years ago, it's not as if Christian pop music ever stops being funny. Besides, this show's been running off-Broadway since 2004, so obviously it's doing something right down there. Ouzo gives this one a pretty solid 3.5/4 stars, too.

Also, a long, long time ago, Eric Morin, who plays the Boyz' fresh-out-of-rehad member (their "AJ", if you will), was my boss when I worked at Baby Gap. True story.