A lovely weekend in Toronto ...

Had a great time in Toronto this weekend. Driving up on Friday was a breeze - clean and dry highway and we arrived after the rush-hour so it was clear sailing down the DVP, across the Gardiner and off on Lakeshore Boulevard to our hotel. We had chosen the Four Points Sheraton because it's near the CNE grounds where the boat show is held - all right, it was cheaper than downtown!

It's still impressive for us small-town-types to drive by the Air Canada Centre, CN Tower and Rogers Centre at night - kind of like seeing the Eiffel Tower from the highway in Paris (well, not quite!).

The Toronto Boat Show is always interesting. We had a lottery ticket this weekend and told the Carver rep we'd be back Sunday morning if we won to buy the $759,000 yacht. This was the first time we boarded the luxury boats and actually found things about our own boat we prefer. We bought a few boaty things and did some serious investigation of chart plotting/gps hardware. We met up with Neil, from Gordon Marine, and decided that the Thousand Islands is the best place in this part of the world for boating. We didn't win the lottery, btw, so it looks like Daydream Believer for us this season.

Saturday evening we drove downtown, parked the car (see rant #4), had dinner and a drink at the Elephant and Castle and then headed to the Princess of Wales Theatre for a production of The Sound of Music. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, we had followed the search for a Maria on CBC earlier this year and were anxious to see the production. We were not disappointed. We have not, actually, seen a professional production of S of M before. I've done dozens of performances of the show, however, so I know every note that's sung or played. Those who know me will know that my favourite music in the show is the French horn figure in 'Climb Every Mountain' right after the key change and the line "all the love you can give" - gives me goose bumps just to think of it now. Maybe in heaven they'll give me a French horn instead of a harp and let me play that line for eternity. And maybe Robert Russell Bennett (who did the masterful orchestrations) will be there to give me pointers.

These theatre spectaculars are tighter than amateur productions but often don't have any more talented actors/singers than we've seen elsewhere. Where they are outstanding is in the technical aspects of the production. The sets were amazing (I won't describe them, for fear of spoiling the effect for those readers who have yet to see the show). My favourite moment in the show has always been when the family Von Trapp begins to sing Do-Re-Mi at their home and then, in a miraculous theatre instant, they are on stage at the festival and we are the audience. Worth the price of the ticket just for that moment!

I was crushed to discover that Ted Simonett was 'out' for Saturday's performance. Ted is a Kingstonian that I had the privilege to work with in the early 70s in the St. Lawrence Summer Playhouse. Ted was a high school student, working at Rideau Marina, and played Jesus in 'Godspell' (picture) and Bobby Van Husen in 'The Boyfriend' in productions for which I was musical director. I have followed his career with interest right from those days through to his stint as the annoying neighbour in the Canadian Tire ads (remember the guy with the beard who always had the latest gadget?). He never came over to help me with my projects 'cos I ALREADY have all the Canadian Tire gadgets!! BTW, while we're on a 'Summer Playhouse' kick, I was also musical director for a production at that same theatre of 'You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown'; the title role was played by none other than Nicholas Campbell. Sorry - don't have any pics of that production.

After a leisurely breakfast at the hotel this morning, we headed home. The highway had a bit of snow but was basically wet - until we hit Oshawa. From there it was 40-60 kph - there was a steady string of cars and trucks in the ditch. After a quick pit stop we poked along as far as Trenton and then decided it wasn't safe to proceed any further on 401. We switched over to Highway 2 and although the road was no better than 401 it was much safer and even faster. It was actually kind of nice to travel through Trenton, Belleville, Napanee. Hard to imagine that before 401 all traffic between Montreal and Toronto travelled that route.

We still made it home before dark and in time to see our skatergirl performing on NBC's Progressive Skating and Gymnastics Spectacular.