(all-ages entertainment) This Saturday marks the grand opening of Montreal’s new Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium, featuring two theatres with two different shows – both about the stars, one with a more scientific edge and the other more artistic – and an educational centre. Spend the morning of April 6 at Centaur Theatre play Furry Tails with a Twist, a funny and charming take on fairy tales. Learn to dance the flamenco at family-friendly and free event Bal de Dimanche, at Espace culturel Georges-Émile-Lapalme, on Sunday, April 7. And step back in time and bop to the music of Fab Four at Pointe-à-Callière‘ The Beatles in Montreal exhibition, featuring two floors of historical reportage and film clips, cool guitars and sometimes surprising memorabilia.

(food season) Springtime is full and delicious bloom at The FoodLab at the SAT, where chefs cook up creative Quebecois dishes that match the season – and stick around at the SAT for an immersive film-and-sound experience at P3rception, screening in the venue’s 360º Satosphere dome. Meanwhile, sugaring-off season continues, with maple-syrup-inspired menus and food aplenty at restaurants around town, especially at the Old Port’s La Cabane and at authentic sugar shacks just outside the city.

(theatrical moves) Whether you’re a fan of Elton John or a fan of modern ballet – or both – get thee to Love Lies Bleeding, a wonderfully colourful, over-the-top show created by Jean Grand-Maître and the Alberta Ballet, at Place des Arts, April 10-14. More drama unfolds April 5-6, as acclaimed Spanish flamenco dancer-choreographer María Pagés performs her show Autorretrato. Danish dance-theatre troupe Granhøj Dans moves to the music of Leonard Cohen, while cracking jokes and finding sombre moments in Dance Me to the End On/Off Love, to April 14 at the Centaur. Award-winning choreographer and performer Marie-Josée Chartier goes solo in Stria at the Segal Centre. And some of the best, most inventive burlesque dancers get together for rebellious, sexy, funny, life-affirming show Bad Ladies and The Detective, April 11 at Theatre Ste-Catherine.

(spring inspiration) Shake off winter and welcome the new and inspiring during An Evening with Oprah Winfrey, full of storytelling and audience interaction, at the Bell Centre on April 11. Blending classical music and contemporary pop, Canadian singing group The Tenors lift their voices to the light at the Maison Symphonique at Place des Arts on April 6, and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra welcomes spring with a series of fantastic concerts, beginning this week with Jean-François Rivest conducting the Franck Symphony featuring principal bass Ali Yazdanfar, April 5 and 7.

(music time) Friday night begins with amazing British soul singer-songwriter Lianne La Havas at Theatre Corona and the rather transcendent saxophone magic of Colin Stetson at the Musee d’art contemporain. On Saturday, April 6, none other than Boyz II Men make a soulful comeback at Theatre Olympia, hot British music maker Mika puts on a fab show at Theatre Corona, indie-rock out with Wavves, Fidlar and more at Sala Rossa, and Australian electronic music maker Flume brings his melodic bass to Le Belmont. On April 7, French turntable DJ group C2C spins their own tunes and more at Metropolis. There’s also a whole lot of rock n’ roll to keep us up late on a weeknight: on Monday, April 8, Metz get loud at Sala Rossa; on April 9, experience the garage-rock wildness of The King Khan & BBQ Show, with Bloodshot Bill at Il Motore, on April 10, don’t miss the California-rock realness of Redd Kross and UBT at Il Motore, and on April 11, Toronto shows us its rock n’ roll chops with Born Ruffians and Moon King at Sala Rossa. Meanwhile, on April 10 and 11, popular French-language acoustic reggae group Tryo plays two shows at Metropolis.

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(spring vacation) It’s still March Break and Montreal knows it, with all kinds of activities to keep kids happy. Stay active outside while enjoying the last month (fingers crossed) of snow on Mont Royal and other city parks: snowshoe, skate, go ice fishing at the Old Port, sample maple syrup at Botanical Gardens, and more. Inside, let kids literally climb the walls at Allez Up, catch circus show Mi Otro Yo to March 10 at La Tohu circus centre, or watch Mickey, Minnie, princesses and sidekicks play that rock n’ roll music and skate around the whole time in Disney on Ice’s Rockin’ Ever After at the Bell Centre, also to March 10. Also on ice, along with the NHL Senators vs Canadiens game on March 13 at the Bell Centre, Olympic players dazzle as Canadian Women’s Hockey League team Stars play two games this weekend at Aréna Étienne Desmarteau: On March 9 and a fan-appreciation game – FREE entry for all! – on March 10.

(eat well) Celebrate the slow onset of springtime by sampling new menus at great restaurants around the city. March also marks the start of sugaring-off season, when maple syrup is ready for pouring on anything and everything: eat it and much more to your heart’s content at La Cabane in the Old Port, and at Montreal’s Snow Village. The SAT’s FoodLab throws a La Grande Bouffe/Bal with a special locally sourced four-course meal followed by a DJ set from Suuns on March 9. Take a jaunt up to the posh neighbourhood of Outremont, just west of the Plateau and south of Mile End, for delicious delicacies. And find good food the new-fangled way, by perusing Montreal-friendly food apps.

(theatre & dance) Opera de Montreal tackles serious subject matter in a new production of Dead Man Walking, based on a true story and made famous in an award-winning film about a nun who connects with a prisoner on death row. The Mahalia Jackson Musical tells the astounding life story of “The Queen of Gospel” award-winning singer and civil rights activist, starring Montreal sensation Ranee Lee, at the Segal Centre for the Performing Arts, to March 24. Experimental, theatrical Dutch contemporary dance troupe T.r.a.s.h. stuns the senses at Cinquième Salle, to March 9. And In Your Face Entertainment takes a bilingual approach to musical Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris, featuring 25 of the songs of famed French folk writer-singer, at Mainline Theatre, starting March 14.

(city-wide art) Montreal’s underground city, connecting metro stations, office buildings and malls, is home to all kinds of innovative art work during Art Souterrain - wander through under March 17. The McCord Museum brings the realities of life in Haiti to Montreal in Benoit Aquin’s stunning exhibition Haiti: Chaos and Daily Life. Cutting-edge performance art with multiple feminist perspectives is the great stuff of Edgy Women 2013: Arts/Sports/Gender, to March 10 at various venues. And the International Festival of Films on Art begins March 14, screening documentaries, shorts and more films focused on all aspects of the arts, from painting to writing to dancing – also check out the  Zon’Arts exhibition at Place des Arts starting March 9, where Diane Obomsawin’s animated films fleur (2012) and machine (2012) are being projected.

(march music) The weekend beings with the experimental indie-rock sounds of Animal Collective, with opener Dan Deacon, at Metropolis, March 8. Fans of underground music will want to check out the Montreal Underground Music & Arts Fair at St-Denis Church, March 9-10. On March 9, American metal band Soulfly rumbles into the Corona. On Sunday afternoon head down to the Old Port near the Pointe-à-Callière museum to hear the Port Symphonies, a composition created for boat whistles, horns and percussion, and later on check out Classic Album’s Live, an internationally touring show of pitch-perfect cover songs, at the Corona, or a talent-packed night of music and more at the Rialto Theatre to celebrate International Women’s Day. Australian psych-rockers Tame Impala storm Metropolis on March 11. On March 12, it’s power pop to the rescue as Pink plays the Bell Centre. On March 13, UK singer-songwriter-rocker Kate Nash comes to town at Cabaret Mile End, while Dischord records unsettles in at Il Motore with Deathfix, featuring Brendan Canty of Fugazi, Dubpixel and Modern Primitive. And in classical music, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra celebrates mid-March with Kent Nagano conducting Brahms Requiem, March 13-14.

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The sound of French-Canadian folk songs accompanied by spoon and fiddle are audible from down the block on cobblestoned Rue Saint-Paul, a jolly racket in the night air. Through the lobby of the historic hotel and up the elevator to the roof, a rustic scene awaits- usually you have to drive way out of town to get to a shack like this.

Because the Hotel Nelligan is hip and happening, I’d assumed that they would have a modern twist on the traditional Quebecois sugar shack meal – maybe some Rigodon set to techno, or a maple-themed signature cocktail. Certainly, Montreal has a few of these modern takes on the old sugaring-off traditions.

But the folks at the Nelligan are purists, it turns out, because a more picture-perfect old-timey sugar-shack scene can’t be found anywhere within the city limits – or outside them. This is as real as it gets!

The house band, Les Danseux, intersperse foot-stomping folk tunes with instrumental spoons riffs and dance lessons for the crowd, while happy guests fill their plates to heaping from the buffet – also very authentic. Maple ham and molasses baked beans, with Grandfather dumplings in maple syrup and maple-syrup pie, with pickled beets and homemade relish (ketchup maison) on every table- be sure to bring an appetite, as they’ve also got the famous specialty Oreilles de criss (Christ’s ears, also known as bacon rinds). Be sure to bring an appetite, because this is country food.

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THE DETAILS

Terrasse à Sucre, until April 22, 2012

Hotel Nelligan, 106 Saint-Paul West, (514) 788-2040

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Last year was the blockbuster premiere of La Cabane and it did not disapoint. It gave Montrealers the best of both worlds: a stylish urban destination with all the delicious tastiness of the terroir in every bite, cooked by Marc-André Jetté of the award-winning Les 400 Coups.

This year the tasting menu is being handled by Chef Martin Juneau, who recently opened the much buzzed-about Pastaga in Little Italy.

Under kicky temporary chandeliers made of macramé lampshades (the kind your Quebecoise aunt used to decorate the guest room with), the sugaring-on takes place in a soaring loft room with a moody mural of a winter birch forest against one wall. If the air gets too cozy inside, you can take your cocktail- the Kir Quebecoise comes highly recommended – outside to huddle next to the fire.

Starting with smoked-salmon rillettes and a “smoked-meat style” bison canapé, the menu quickly moves to the big time – an elegant and tangy duck broth-noodle soup with stuffed cippolini onions and duck-fat soda crackers, followed by a crispy pork breast and blood-sausage pie, accompanied by large skillets of white molasses-baked beans, served family-style. Of course, a pitcher of maple syrup is at your elbow throughout the meal for extra flavour!

The meal is topped off with a trio of maple-sugar treats, most notably a homemade Whippet. These delicious marshmallowy treats are apparently all the rage this year, as, just last week, we tasted some at Martin Picard’s Sugar Shack. We absolutely approve.

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THE DETAILS

La Cabane, March 8 to April 15, 2012
Scena, Quais du Vieux-Port

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Celebrity chef Martin Picard recently launched his second book, Sugar Shack Au Pied de Cochon, at his own sugar shack (or “Cabane à Sucre”), located an hour away from his wonderfully indulgent Montreal restaurant Au Pied du Cochon. The new artsy tome celebrates one of Picard’s favourite ingredients – maple syrup. In between fattening nibbles and sugary drinks, I got to chat with the Wild Chef, as he’s known on his TV show of the same name, about some of the more risqué aspects of this atypical cookbook, such as “squirrel sushi”, pole-dancing (sort-of) and, oh yeah, 100 recipes that include that gooey, golden, liquid ingredient. The Cabane à Sucre PDC 2012 season is sold out, but you can put yourself on the waiting list for next year

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Now in its 7^th year, the SugarBear Weekend (March 25-27) is exactly what the name suggests. Sugar (maple tree nectar) + Bear (the gay muscly sexy kind) + Weekend (three full days of events) = One fabulous time in Montreal. The first SugarBear Weekend took place in 2004, when some furry Montrealers decided to share their Quebecois culture with the international Bear community. Now with hundreds of participants each year, it has become one of the largest Bear events in Canada!

Presented by Bear411.com, this weekend will be jam-packed with fun events. After the kick-off bash at Stud Bar on the Thursday night, SugarBear roars in the weekend. A Bear Beach Party at Sauna 456, will have plenty of bare-naked bears. Later that night at the Rialto Theater will be the Canadian premier of Man Boobs by playwright J. Julian, followed by cocktails, dinner and a silent disco. That sounds like such a great time, I can bear-ly contain myself! (Are these puns getting hard to… bear?)

The next day comes the main attraction. From Montreal’s Gay Village, everyone will get on a bus and head out to one of Quebec’s famous Cabane a Sucre, which translates literally to “sugar shack”, where sap is collected directly from maple trees, and boiled down into maple syrup. Keeping with Quebec tradition, this will include the traditional Quebecois feast, surprises, and maple toffee! (Bear in mind, you’ll still have to party later, so don’t eat too much.) After all have satisfied the post-hibernation hunger, it’s back to Montreal where Stud Bar hosts the official reception with plenty of contests, performances, dancing and beefy men.

Year after year, this weekend party has proven to be one of the biggest and most popular attractions of its kind. Not only is it a fantastic way to meet people, but also to engage in a unique part of Quebec culture and Canadian history. I’m a wannabe Cub, so this SugarBear Weekend has me excited. So excited, it’s almost unbearable.

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Guest Blogger: Alex Dunphy

DETAILS

SUGARBEAR WEEKEND, March 25-27, 2011 (Tickets are $49 for one day or $89 for both days)

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