FASHION Magazine

See pics from the Toronto premiere of If I Loved You »

If you were anywhere near the Sony Centre on Saturday night, you’d have witnessed the collective swoon from virtually every guy, gal and gay in the vicinity. As one of the final events during the Luminato Festival, “If I Loved You” welcomed a troupe of babely troubadours to the city including David Byrne, Boy George, Josh Groban, Brent Carver, Steven Page, Brennan Hall and Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig for a one-night-only performance of Broadway duets sung exclusively by men. Orchestrated by resident showman (and husband of Luminato creative director Jörn Weisbrodt) Rufus Wainwright alongside musical director Steven Oremus, the show brought songs from classics like Guys and Dolls, Porgy and Bess and West Side Story to the stage with as many modern day flourishes as were, really, there hidden all along. Case in point: a kiss between Wainwright and Koenig at the end of “We Kiss in a Shadow,” a mid-performance birthday cake for Boy George (the icon turned 53 that day) and a sing-along finale featuring Grease’s “Summer Nights.”

Last Saturday night, Toronto’s historic Fort York was transformed into an enchanted spot fit for a diva. A diva and 500 of the city’s most well heeled (and well dressed) donors that is. Grammy and Oscar winning singer, actress and belter Jennifer Hudson headlined the first ever Bliss Ball marking 10 years of philanthropic work by the SickKids Foundation and the Dilawri Foundation. Also featuring Barenaked Ladies frontman Steven Page, who acted as host, Emmy award winning actor Martin Sheen who acted as auctioneer and supermodel and ex-Victoria’s Secret Angel Selita Ebanks who did her best Vanna White alongside Sheen, the night was star-studded, to say the least.