What’s on in Montreal – Here are some choice live arts and entertainment events for March, April and early May

What’s on in Montréal courtesy of Tourisme Montréal

Theatre: Adapted from the animated Disney film and centuries-old folktales including One Thousand and One Nights, the hit Broadway musical Aladdin headlines Salle Wilfred-Pelletier for eight performances from March 28 to April 2.

The Segal Centre for Performing Arts presents (March 19 to April 2) award-winning playwright Sanaz Toossi’s intricate play English about a group of adults in Iran preparing for the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) in an “English Only” classroom.

Classical Stage: Orchestre symphonique de Montréal Maestro Rafael Payare conducts the music of Richard Strauss in Rafael Payare Gives Us A Hero’s Life with the mighty Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva on March 28 and 30 at the Maison symphonique de Montréal.

Grammy-winning Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the Orchestre Métropolitain for the final concert of Bach’s complete cantatas at Bourgie Hall for two performances, on March 26 at 2:30 and 7:30 pm.

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts exhibition Parall(elles): A History of Women in Design celebrates the instrumental role women have played in the world of design 
Photo: © Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Photo by Bernard Fougères and Jean-François Lejeun

Also at Bourgie Hall, pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin performs Mozart’s Sonata No. 15 as well as two masterpieces of the Romantic repertoire for piano, one by Brahms and another by Chopin, on April 5.

Dance: Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal presents the double bill Requiem by choreographers Andrew Skeels and Uwe Scholz, with choirs and Les Grands Ballets Orchestra, at Salle Wilfred-Pelletier for five performances, March 23 to 26.

Museums and Exhibitions: The new Montreal Museum of Fine Arts exhibition Parall(elles): A History of Women in Design celebrates the instrumental role women have played in the world of design through art works and objects dating from the mid-19^th century onwards. Parall(elles) also includes the unique prototype Fancy Free Corvette designed by Ruth Glennie in 1958. The exhibition runs to May 28.

Over at the McCord Stewart Museum, Art and Nature is the first major retrospective devoted to Alexander Henderson’s Canadian wilderness photographs. Runs to April 16.

Canada’s largest indoor immersive attraction, OASIS immersion at the Palais des congrès de Montréal presents the transformé exhibition where human courage and empathy are the central themes.

Lasting Impressions / Le Café des Impressionnistes at Le Studio-Cabaret in Espace St-Denis has been extended to April 24

The acclaimed Holographic 3D immersive experience Lasting Impressions / Le Café des Impressionnistes at Le Studio-Cabaret in Espace St-Denis has been extended to April 24. More than 100 classic paintings by such Impressionist masters as Monet, Degas and Renoir come to life on a giant ultra-high-definition screen.

Circus Arts: Passagers by Les 7 Doigts runs March 23 to April 8 at Le TOHU, the only presenter specializing in contemporary circus in North America.

Literature: Paragraphe Bookstore presents Words After Dark with Margaret Atwood at St. James United Church on April 17. Atwood will discuss her new collection of short stories Old Babes in the Wood with Concordia University Professor Kate Sterns live and in-person. Purchase general admission tickets via Paragraphe.

The 25^th anniversary edition of the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival launches on March 22 with online events. The live, in-person festival takes place from April 27 to 30. Their 25^th anniversary theme is the future: the future of borders, the future of democracy, the future of literature, the future of identities, and the future of the planet.

Pop Music: Iconic 80s band Depeche Mode headlines the Bell Centre on April 12, while Montreal favourite Chris de Burgh headlines two concerts at Salle Wilfred-Pelletier on April 16 and 17.

Dubbed “Mr. Montreal” by the CBC, arts and culture journalist and columnist Richard “Bugs” Burnett knows Montreal like a drag queen knows a cosmetics counter.