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Did you follow arts and culture news this week? Are you up to speed on the latest books, plays and movies? Take our quiz to test yourself.


1 Greta Gerwig’s Barbie just had the most successful opening weekend for a film directed by a woman ever, bringing in US$155-million. Which film directed by a woman had the second-highest opening weekend at North American box offices?
a. Frozen, co-directed by Jennifer Lee
b. Wonder Woman, directed by Patty Jenkins
c. Captain Marvel, co-directed Anna Boden
d. A League of Their Own, directed by Penny Marshall

c. Captain Marvel, co-directed Anna Boden. The film opened to US$153.4-million in 2019. The contagious fever for Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer – which earned US$81-million in its opening weekend – meant it felt like the movies were truly and fully back.

2 Which Toronto-based author’s latest thriller Everyone Here is Lying is set in a small community called Stanhope, and features lots of well-drawn characters doing nasty things?
a. Nicole Lundrigan
b. Lousie Penny
c. Ausma Zehanat Khan
d. Shari Lapena

d. Shari Lapena. Lapena builds on the success of The Couple Next Door with this story about nice people gone bad in a pretty neighbourhood. The book is one of 10 thrillers recommended by Margaret Cannon for Globe readers to enjoy this summer.

3 Victoria drag artist Jimbo became the first Canadian to win which iteration of RuPaul’s Drag Race?
a. RuPaul’s Drag Race Holi-Slay Spectacular
b. RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars
c. RuPaul’s Drag Race: UK vs the World
d. RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked!

b. RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars. Drag queen Jimbo, from Victoria, won her third Drag Race crown last week on season eight of the popular series.

4 The 48th annual Toronto International Film Festival lineup was announced this week. Which films made the 60-movie list?
a. Dune: Part Two, Challengers, Wonka
b. Pain Hustlers, The Burial, Dumb Money
c. The Marvels, Paw Patrol 2, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3
d. Coup de Chance, The Palace, Dogman

b. Pain Hustlers, The Burial, Dumb Money. Medical thriller Pain Hustlers starring Emily Blunt, legal drama The Burial with Jamie Foxx, and finance-world comedy Dumb Money starring Seth Rogen are all heading to this year’s festival, which runs Sept. 7 to 17. Whether stars will be walking the red carpet is an entirely separate drama that is more intense than any movie premiering in the city.

5 The stalwart Broadway musical Rent, playing as part of the Stratford Festival’s current season, is based on which opera??
a. Antonio Ghislanzoni and Giuseppe Verdi’s Adia (1871)
b. Arthur Sullivan and W.S. Gilbert’s H.M.S. Pinafore (1978)
c. Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème (1896)
d. Giacomo Puccini’s Madame Butterfly (1898)

c. Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème. This summer, the Stratford Festival’s Thom Allison takes on Rent with Nestor Lozano Jr. in the role of Angel Dumott Schunard, the kind-hearted percussionist drag queen. Photographer Carlos Osorio followed Lozano Jr. for a day as he prepared to play this physically demanding and musically challenging role.

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