McCord 2025: Holidays

Holidays at the McCord Stewart Museum  

Until January 11, 2026

The magic of the holidays returns to the McCord Stewart Museum until January 4, 2026. Thanks to the support of Place Montréal Trust, Presenting Partner, and Power Corporation of Canada, Premiere Partner – Montreal Stories, visitors will be able to reconnect with their inner child as they marvel at Ogilvy’s legendary mechanical Christmas windows, which have been delighting Montrealers for over 75 years. The two enchanting scenes filled with animated characters is once again be on view in the Museum’s indoor Theatre and its outdoor Alley. 

The four current exhibitions and rich lineup of fun creative activities for children and adults alike will round out the Museum’s holiday programming. 

Ogilvy’s Christmas mechanical window displays

Until January 11, 2026

Relive the magic of The Enchanted Village indoor and of The Mill in the Forest outdoor of the Museum! Montrealers have been spellbound by the mechanical displays in Ogilvy’s department store windows for over 75 years — a Holiday tradition that began in 1947. The Bavarian scenes, custom made by the German toy manufacturer Steiff, feature dozens of handcrafted animals working and playing.

For more information about current exhibitions and special evens associated with this exhibition, visit the McCord Stewart Museum website.

Centaur Theatre 2025: Kisses Deep

KISSES DEEP

Canadian English Language Premier

Autor:  Michel Marc Bouchard

Translator: Linda Gaboriau

Directed by Eda Holmes

With Lyndz Dantiste, Yves Jacques, Leni Parker, Alice Pascual and Kevin Raymond

November 26 - December 14, 2025

The Montreal’s Centaur Theatre is presenting the long-awaited English-language premiere of the Quebec playwright Michel Marc Bouchard’s play Kisses Deep.

Originally premiering in French in a co-production with Centaur at Théâtre du Nouveau Monde in 2021, Kisses Deep (Embrasse) now takes on a new life in English, reuniting many of the original creative team members under the direction of the very talented Eda Holmes, Centaur’s Artistic & Executive Director, who also directed the original Théâtre du Nouveau Monde French production.

Kisses Deep is an emotionally charged, evocative work that explores the transformative power of creative artistic impulses and talents intertwined with the emotional depth of pain and psychological confusion, at the same time finding the solace in the creative world of fashion and design. This play is striking, filled with raw emotional and psychological pain as well as the impetus to overcome it and to reach in one’s life the creative grandeur and the glamour of the world of fashion.

The central character of the play is the young man Hugo, from the Montreal suburbs, who is consumed by his passion for high fashion and dreams of becoming a designer. He is inspired by his idol Yves Saint Laurent, and dreams to be accepted into a prestigious design school. At the starting point of the play, he has a new obsession. He decides to channel his creativity into a singular mission: to restore the tarnished reputation of his mother, Béatrice, after she had just been arrested for an assault. To help her to reclaim her dignity, he decides to design the perfect outfit for her upcoming court appearance. Though facing turbulent complexities of his relationship with his mother, also caused by his parents’ past divorce, the two are bound by a deep but often painful love, and Hugo’s artistic pursuit becomes a means of both confronting and healing the wounds of their past.

Through heartfelt and striking psychological exploration, Kisses Deep delves into the essence of artistic creation, questioning whether art can serve as a source of comfort or is merely a tool to deal with a deep-seated pain. The play invites the audience on a visually striking and emotionally charged journey of self-discovery and redemption.

The cast consists of exceptionally good actors able to portray the characters' emotional load in an very effective manner.

All photos in this article by Andrée Lanthier, courtesy of Centaur Theater.
For more information, visit the Centaur Theatre website.