It's not really surprising but it is disappointing that the extreme contagiousness of the Omicron variant and the fact that it easily infects vaccinated people (and that booster shots still aren't that easy to come by*) has led to a bunch of cancellations, with surely a lot more to come. So this is the unfortunate and sad rebuttal of this post.
In fact, it was just over a week ago that I was tempted by a live music outing -- The Lowest of the Low playing all the songs off Shakespeare My Butt at Lee's Palace. I knew that it was fairly risky as lots of people would be drinking (and then conveniently forgetting to put their masks back on) and singing along.** The new rules about 50% capacity and no concessions weren't in place. And no question this is making a lot of concert halls and movie theatres wonder if it is even worth staying open! And as I noted, I wasn't able to get my booster shot in time. But I decided that this likely would be the last chance to do something like this for a while as Omicron lets rip. The music was great. I'm a bit sorry I didn't record the version of Gamble they did as part of the encore; maybe someone else did. I believe this is actually the fourth time I've seen The Lowest of the Low, which means they've pulled ahead of The Tragically Hip at 3.5 shows! As far as I know, I didn't catch Omicron at the show. But it was still pretty risky, and I probably shouldn't have gone. It's definitely safer, though still not safe, going to the theatre or a classical concert where masks do stay on the whole time and there is no singing along...
In terms of what else I have done this fall, I did see Tafelmusik live, a few jazz shows at the Crows Nest (usually with just a tiny audience and very spaced out), a concert at Koerner Hall and two plays at Crows Nest (one of which was definitely not worth leaving the house for). And I visited a bunch of museums. Note that even a few museums are closing down again!
In terms of the bad news, Mirvish has already cancelled the new Stoppard play, Leopoldstadt. It could be years before they are able to bring that back. They had temporarily paused Come From Away, but just decided to shut it down completely. That's a shame, and I was considering taking my son to see it. I expect that their entire 2021-22 season will go down the drain. And this may well push off the return of Hamilton yet another year.
Smaller indy shows can probably go forward, as they have much smaller crews, though for how long is anyone's guess. I wasn't entirely sure I was going to go (as it is a looong streetcar ride out west), but Assembly Theatre was doing a play called Two Minutes to Midnight by Michael Ross Albert. I liked one of the actors in the production, and Albert's piece, The Huns, was one of the highlights of the last pre-Covid Fringe, so I was leaning toward going. While this probably could have gone forward (small cast and probably no stage crew other than a stage manager), they have decided to postpone.
As of today, Crows Nest is still putting on Rajiv Joseph's Bengal Tiger at the Bagdad Zoo and Coal Mine is putting on Annie Baker's The Antipodes in early January, but I have my doubts that either will happen. I'll probably try to go to both a day or two after previews are over.
Kronos Quartet is pulling out (for the second time) of their January concerts here. At the moment, the other TSO and Koerner Hall concerts are going ahead, but I expect most of them will ultimately be cancelled.
It's harder to say about late spring concerts and summer concert tours. I probably won't buy any more tickets, but I'll hang onto the ones I do have.
Somewhat amusingly, the Toronto Jazz Festival just announced Herbie Hancock is coming to town on April 22, though I don't think this will actually happen. That is certainly an overstuffed day, as Joshua Redman is supposedly playing Koerner Hall (I have a ticket to that) and Bruce Cockburn is playing Massey Hall. I suspect in the end, Cockburn, being a Canadian, will make his show and the others will cancel or be moved back, but I guess we'll see.
There are a few things of interest in Feb and March at Factory and Soulpepper (including the Ex-Boyfriend Yard Sale, which was already rescheduled), but I am not holding my breath.
* I was supposed to have my booster shot 2 weeks ago, but I got there and their shipment of Pfizer hadn't shown up. It was pretty random, depending on which pharmacist you talked to, whether they offered you Moderna instead or told you to reschedule. I was told to reschedule. I probably could have insisted on Moderna, but the study showing its effectiveness still hadn't come out at that time. Also, while I am not expecting to travel across the border anytime soon, I didn't want to get caught up in that whole vaccine mixing kerfuffle that happened last year. I have an appointment for my booster at Metro Convention Centre on the 30th, and this one had better not fall through, or I'll be supremely pissed.
** In fact, I passed on an opportunity to see 54-40 at the Horseshoe a bit earlier in December, partly because I didn't want to stand all night but also because it feels even more crowded and cramped than Lee's Palace. But the opportunity to hear Shakespeare My Butt in all its glory was enough to sway me. What's interesting to me is that while they are a group from the 90s that reformed and still lean a bit on nostalgia, their newest CDs (Do the Right Now and Agitpop) are every bit as good as their early albums. While I do like some of the songs on the new Camper Van Beethoven/Cracker CDs, it isn't quite as sustained a comeback.
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