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THE ROM
Just a hop, skip and a jump from the Four Seasons Hotel is the Royal Ontario Museum; locals call it The ROM. The ROM is housed in an old, classic building until architect Michael Lee-Chin designed a crystal addition that looks just like an asteroid smashed into its side. The new Michael Lee-Chin Crystal is being billed as the most important architectural project of Toronto's history and is being hailed by many as a distinctive new symbol of 21st-century Toronto. I toured on opening day and it was a huge circus. People lined up for hours. In fact, over 25,000 people visited the first day alone. While I was pleased to check out this innovative new structure, my first impression was the same as the one I had when I first saw I.M. Pei's Pyramide du Louvre. WHY? But you know what? After touring it, I realized that strangely, it works ... and it's definitely worth a visit. Admission: Adult $20.00, Senior (with ID) $17.00, Student (with ID) $17.00, Child (5 to 14 years) $14.00, Infant (4 years and under) free. Hours: Saturday to Wednesday: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm, Thursday and Friday: 10:00 am - 9:30 pm. Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen's Park, Toronto; tel.: 1-800-461-3333 or 416-872-1212.

TORONTO'S THEATRE SCENE
I love Toronto because it is so diverse. Did you know that Toronto is home to more than 100 cultures? Toronto is Canada's largest city (population of 4.7 million) and North America's fifth largest city after Mexico City, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Torontonians love theatre, which is why the city has the third largest English-language theatre market in the world, ranking just behind New York and London. I was fortunate enough to visit two of the city's most renowned theatres. First, I visited Roy Thomson Hall to see the world premiere of Not the Messiah, created by Eric Idle and John Du Prez, creators of the hit musical Spamalot. It's possible that I was the only person in the whole theatre who didn't love it. Perhaps that's because I haven't seen Monty Python's Life of Brian. Not the Messiah is a mock oratorio of this cult classic; if you loved the movie, you'd love the show. The second show I caught was Vida at The Royal Alexandra Theatre. The structure is 99 years old and is supposedly the oldest, continuously operating legitimate theatre in North America. Interestingly, I thought I'd really enjoy Not the Messiah and that I wouldn't be so keen on Vida but the opposite proved to be true. Vida tells the story of a woman growing up in Cuba. The production was excellent and I absolutely loved the set design, costumes, colors, smoke effects, music and dancing. Though some of the dances were a little too long, I never tired of watching all the beautiful women on stage. I wasn't the only one; the performance earned a standing ovation.

LUMINATO
I attended these two productions because they were part of Luminato, North America's newest large-scale, multi-genre arts festival. It's a 10-day festival of "arts and creativity". The organizers of the event arranged 100+ free and ticketed presentations of dance, music, theatre and everything else under the performing arts sun. Here's the link so you can attend next year's festival.

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