Author Ian McEwan pens libretto

Music often figures in novels by Ian McEwan. The English author's current novella, On Chesil Beach, centres on a violin player as one of its two main characters, while his previous novel, Saturday, featured a young blues musician.

Now, the author has become more directly involved with the subject, telling an audience at a Harbourfront Centre reading Monday evening that he has just finished work on the libretto for an opera. The musical work is a collaboration with Michael Berkeley, a composer and BBC Radio 3 host.

The opera is about a composer who, while conducting a piece of music he wrote at an earlier point in his career, finds he no longer identifies with the passions and preoccupations of his younger self.

McEwan described himself as a having "very catholic tastes" in music, admitting to having once played the flute "rather badly."

Vit Wagner

Say "Freeze!"

For those of you going clubbing on this balmy Monday night (known as Industry night for those who work weekends in bars and restaurants) be aware that starting today, your drunken antics in the Entertainment District will be on candid camera. Toronto police installed security cameras at several locations along Richmond, Peter and John streets to cut down on crime in the area.

But I wonder: Is there much for police to watch, other than underage girls tottering around in heels, swaggering guys trying to pick up girls tottering in heels, and bouncers playing God? There's already a pretty significant police presence on Friday and Saturday nights, and a camera isn't going to be much help during a closing time fist fight.

People who live in the neighbourhood say it's rowdy at night but the crime isn't all that bad. Star interns who listen every night to police activity over scanners and track major crimes in the city, say while a stabbing isn't unheard of, the Entertainment District isn't exactly Jane-Finch. That area, by the way, is also receiving cameras under the pilot project.

Many clubbers don't think of it, but the Entertainment District is a mixed-use neighbourhood, with housing as well as clubs. I know I'd feel a bit creeped out knowing a camera lens was following me home with my groceries.

But fisticuffs aside, there is the potential - with all those party people with all that alcohol in their bloodstream - for booze-fuelled mayhem to break out. And the memory of the 2005 Boxing Day shooting in Yonge-Dundas square (where cameras were also briefly installed this Christmas) is still fresh for many people.

In the UK, CCTV cameras are widely used in all sorts of neighbourhoods and footage is shown to the public to aid in fighting crime. Rather than seen as an invasion of privacy, it's considered a good thing if cameras go into a residential or mixed neighbourhood, because it's been shown that petty crime rates drop after installation. But the crime elements just move into the adjacent hood and soon residents in those communties are asking for CCTV. It becomes a pattern.

In Toronto it's just a pilot project, so for the time being at least, don't forget to smile when you're out and about. You never know who's watching.

-Shauna Rempel

Reese's Piece

The perky cast of the stage musical Legally Blonde.

The musical of Legally Blonde opened last night on Broadway and I'd like to say "I told you so," but I never really got to do it the first time in print.

Let me explain. I saw the show early last February during its San Francisco tryout. The code of critical ethics (yes, we have ethics!) states that you don't review a show out-of-town, unless you're from the town in question. So I didn't write anything about the show at the time.

But, off the record, I let it be known that - although perkier than a drum-majorette on dexedrine - Legally Blonde, the musical lacked several things: a decent score, some honest emotion and Reese Witherspoon. The young woman who plays the part on stage, Laura Bell Bundy, is kind of like the Stepford Wives version of Elle Woods: everything's there except for the light behind the eyes.

I hoped that the creators of the show would see the (to me) obvious problems and fix them in the 10 weeks before they opened on Broadway: slow down the pace, add a little heart, toss in a catchy tune or two and humanize Ms. Bundy.

Judging from this morning's reviews, none of this seems to have happened.

The N.Y. Times said the show "approximates the experience of eating a jumbo box of Gummi Bears in one sitting."  The N.Y. Post christened it "Legally Bland", the Daily News blamed  "the amorphous, synthetic and maniacally empty-headed music" for its failure and the Associated Press summed it up as "only fitfully entertaining".

It did have its defenders, like Variety which insisted that "It may not be bulging with subtext or boast a score for the ages, but this pinksapoppin funhouse delivers exactly what it promises."

But most of the reviews zeroed in on the same things I noticed 10 weeks ago in San Francisco: no heart, no tunes, no Reese.

It will probably have a nice enough run on Broadway and I'm pretty sure we'll be seeing it up here in Toronto, where the girlpower audiences have proved their clout with the sellout audiences for both runs of Wicked (a much better show, IMHO), but I still think it's safe to say that Legally Blonde will ultimately remain known as the Reese Witherspoon movie, not the Laura Bell Bundy musical.

- Richard Ouzounian

Lockdown

It's hard not to notice those bulky bike lockers that have recently been popping up all over town. They've found publicity as part of the City of Toronto's street furniture campaign, and you can expect them to proliferate further. You can already find a cluster of these graceless boxes, for instance, tucked away behind city hall, at St. Lawrence Market, and at a handful of subway stations.

Astral Media's proposal: Making bike lockers safe for advertising.

This is a triumph of function over form. For the lucky few cyclists who manage to get a key to one of these coveted cubbies — and the privilege of forking over $10 a month — they can rest easy that their wheels are safe from bad weather and theft. But it's hard to imagine that the city has the space or resources to install nearly enough lockers to satisfy a growing community of cyclists.

Which means the rest of us must resort to the subpar security of the "post and ring" or other bike stands, risking theft. With the right tools, thieves can snap bike chains or pry apart "indestructible" U-locks within minutes. They've been known to saw off bike stands, break into garages or slice through porch railings to "free" the attached bikes. On second thought, maybe those lockers aren't so secure after all. Surely those wily crooks will think of something.

As usual, we can look to California for innovation. In San Francisco and elsewhere you will find 24-hour security at attended bicycle parking lots and even bike valets. Some enterprising cycling company here would do well to blaze a similar trail while our city's planners are stuck in the ditch.

-Ariel Teplitsky

Etching Sketch

Welcome! This is the Star's new home for arts and culture in Toronto.  We hope this will become a necessary pit stop for anyone interested in keeping on top of the entertainment scene.

What took us so long? Let's just say we've been too busy eating, drinking, listening, watching and participating in Toronto's ceaseless diversions.

What we hope to provide is a daily glimpse of the pulse of this changing city: A bit of art, a bit of comedy, a quick, rough portrait. In short, a sketch.

Oh, and if anything we say is a bit too sketchy, by all means let us know.

Here's To Hilary

Hilary Duff and Michael Ouzounian at "Kids With a Cause" event at the Fairmont Royal York, March, 2004.

Hilary Duff's visit to Toronto this week reminded me once again about why I respect her more than all the Lindsays and Britneys and Avrils put together. She comes across in all of her interviews as a nice, level-headed young woman who has no illusions about herself or her career.

Whether or not you like her music or her acting isn't the question here. What you see is what you get: a dedicated artist, trying to grow under the merciless glow of the spotlight. She works hard, parties little (or if she does, she's wise enough to make sure it stays private) and although she does tons of charity work, she keeps that pretty quiet as well.

Total disclosure: I've seen up close the magic she works with less fortunate kids. A couple of years ago, she came to Toronto for a series of private fund-raising evens for Kids With A Cause (a charity she's been working for since 1999). Each time, she took a whole day to meet with dozens of kids with various mental and physical disabilities. She talked to each one individually and made them feel special.

My son Michael lives with a developmental disability and Hilary met up with him on two separate occasions, a year apart. This picture was from the second meeting in 2004, when he was 16. Without anyone coaching her, she remembered Mike by name, brought up the same topics of conversation they had discussed before and generally made him feel like a million bucks. And she must have done the same thing with over a hundred kids that day.

Hilary, as far as I'm concerned, you're welcome back here anytime.

- Richard Ouzounian

Know your audience

And speaking of Rocky Horror, CanStage artistic producer Martin Bragg learned the hard way not to pitch a rowdy crowd of Rocky Horror fans on the benefits of CanStage subscribership. His pre-show speech on that topic was interrupted with a pointed shout of "Boring!" That's the word that greets speeches by the Narrator character in both the stage and movie version of the show.

- Debra Yeo

Rocky outfit needs work

David Mirvish attended the midnight show (okay, 11 p.m.) of CanStage's The Rocky Horror Show on Friday. He could just be a Rocky Horror fan, but his business attire looked a tad out of place in a capacity crowd full of people in feather boas and fishnets. Could he be scoping out the show for one of his own theatres? Rocky Horror at the Royal Alexandra has a nice ring to it, no?

- Debra Yeo

Robbie Lane's brainwave

It's an Old School kind of day. Toronto rock 'n' roll veteran Robbie Lane is going back to his old alma mater, York Mills Collegiate Institute, tonight to help kick off its 50th reunion at the Capitol Events Theatre (2492 Yonge Street). Robbie, one of the princes of Yorkville in the boom days, starts rocking with his band the Disciples at 7:00 p.m.

A commemorative CD of original music created and produced by members of the Class of 1975 is out there, sort of like a musical yearbook. Proceeds from the CD will benefit Sick Kids Foundation’s b.r.a.i.nchild Fund (Brain-tumor Research Assistance and Information Network), which was founded by renowned pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. James Rutka, an esteemed member of the Class of 1975.

Tomorrow it's like high school all over again as an expected 4,000 alumni from all over the world will congregate at York Mills Collegiate's open house from 11a.m. till 5 p.m.

-Greg Quill

Kickin' it up a notch

Keepin' it old school...Will the movie Kickin' it Old Skool do for breakdancing what Strictly Ballroom did for ballroom dancing and Dirty Dancing did for, er, dancing dirty?

The movie, which opens in Toronto theatres today and features Jamie Kennedy (the actor, not the local celebrity chef) as champion b-boy Justin Schumacher who wakes up after being in a coma for 20 years, could just boost the dance form from the fringes into dance craze territory. Hilarity ensues as Schumacher (a.k.a. "Rocketshoe") tries to turn on a current generation to the wonders of '80s hip hop, floats, spins and freezes.

RICHARD LAUTENS/TORONTO STAR

With a new breakdance movie out, you may be seeing a lot more of this in Toronto. Maybe.

At least, we assume that's what happens. Yari Film Group is opening it in theatres without preview screenings for media, which means Star movie critics Geoff Pevere and Peter Howell didn't get to weigh in early. (Read Howell's review in Sunday's Buzz section.) One can only hope it follows in such classic breakdance movie tradition as Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo (tagline: "If you can't beat the system, break it!")

But if you find yourself itching to kick it b-boy or b-girl style, there are a few options here in town to learn the moves. City Dance Corps offers a weekly "absolute beginner breakdance" workshop. The current 7-week course has already started but if you ask nice maybe they'll still let you come bust a move. Vibe in Thornhill offers classes, as do a bunch of other dance studios and exercise clubs in the GTA. There's even a MeetUp group. Sunday's free dance festival at Yonge-Dundas Square doesn't have any breakdancers on the bill, but by the time the next International Dance Day comes around, who knows? Meanwhile, the Hip Hop 360 event in June can give you your breakdance fix.

Time will tell if it's really true what Kickin' It says: "Breakdancing isn't dead. It's been in a coma."

-Shauna Rempel