All the movies, theatre, music and museums to look forward to in summer 2023

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Films

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Barbies, bomb-makers and too many Batmans to count

Another year, another Hollywood crisis (or, really, another set of crises). But while the writers’ strike, the financial instability of America’s theatre chains and the looming threat of AI threaten to rain out the 2023 summer movie season, there are still more than enough whiz-bang blockbusters and interesting indies to distract us from the industry’s troubles. And all of them are exclusively on the big screen (sorry, Netflix!).

Read more from Barry Hertz.

Concerts and Festivals

Beyoncé, Brueggergosman, Boygenius and, maybe, Neil Young

From on high, Neil Young declared the concert touring business was broken. “It’s over,” he posted on his website last month. “The old days are gone.”

Young is not the only one frustrated. Fans of Taylor Swift filed a class-action lawsuit against Ticketmaster and parent-company Live Nation Entertainment for “unlawful conduct” after the Swift ticket debacle, and U.S senators held an antitrust hearing earlier this year to investigate whether Ticketmaster and promoter Live Nation hold a monopoly in the ticketing industry.

Amid the outrage, however, the concert business rolls on robustly. Live Nation just posted a record-breaking quarter of US$3.1-billion in revenue, with a record 19.5 million fans attending its events globally. If people are protesting, they are doing it with their words (and lawsuits), not their pocketbooks.

Read more from Brad Wheeler

Galleries and Museums

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Bright ideas abound

Canada’s museums and galleries will be busy this summer. The sector has emerged from the pandemic with lots of bright ideas about how to draw visitors. Climb inside a submarine, film yourself on a green screen or simply admire some unusual contemporary art from the bold carvings of the Northwest Coast artist Dempsey Bob to the dense works on paper by the Japanese artist Manabu Ikeda.

Read more from Kate Taylor

Albums

New musical releases from Arlo Parks, Foo Fighters and, maybe, Frank Ocean

It’s far too early to prejudge what might be the song of the summer, but the fun is in the hunt, anyway. These albums cast their gazes both forward and backward for inspiration, explore love and despair, and often carry hope – either in their lyrics, or in the expectations of their fans, since in some cases these albums may or may not have even been recorded yet. What is summer for, though, if not for longing?

Read more from Josh O’Kane

Theatre

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Shakespeare from coast to coast and fresh new Fringes

The Globe and Mail mainly turns its critical eye on the Stratford Festival and the Shaw Festival in the summer – a couple of classics-plus destination theatre companies in Ontario among the most prestigious in North America. But there’s so much more going on in the performing arts between June and September.

Canada’s city stages are dominated by the Bard and the no-holds-barred – that is to say, William Shakespeare and the Fringe Festival circuit – but there are ample opportunities to see circus and musicals and ultramodern miscellany, too.

Read more from J. Kelly Nestruck

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