The Mikado
Fraser Valley Gilbert & Sullivan Society’s 30th anniversary production, The Mikado, opens this Wednesday (May 9) at a new venue, White Rock’s Coast Capital Playhouse, 1532 Johnston Rd.
One of B.C.’s most recognized tenors, Mark Donnelly – well-known as ‘Mr. O Canada’ for his anthem singing at Canucks games – trades his microphone for a kimono as he plays the title role of the imperious Mikado of Japan to his own son Sean’s performance as “wandering minstrel” Nanki-Poo.
The show runs until May 19.
A strong cast of popular G & S players includes James Walker as Ko-Ko, the Mikado’s Lord High Executioner; Adam Olgui as the pompous Pooh-Bah; Rebekah MacEwan as Yum-Yum, Tamara Wilhelm as Pitti-Sing, Samantha Andrews as Peep-Bo and mezzo Jacquollyne Keath as Nanki-Poo’s “slightly bloodthirsty” would-be fiance, Katisha.
Don’t let the Japanese costumes fool you – W.S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan’s witty 1885 operetta, much like Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, is, at heart, a thinly-disguised satire of Victorian England’s manners and mores.
Produced by Kate Bethell (director of the recent White Rock Players Club pantomime Robinson Crusoe), the show’s artistic director is well-known actor/musician Dann Wilhelm, while music direction is by Herbert Tsang and choreography by the ever-creative and reliable Carol Seitz.
Evening performances are Wednesday to Sunday at 8 p.m. with a 2:30 p.m. matinee May 13.
To reserve tickets, call 604-536-7535, or visit www.whiterockplayers.ca
Flamenco del Mar
A Peninsula tradition, the annual Mother’s Day afternoon show by dance troupe Flamenco del Mar, returns to Ocean Park Community Hall (1577 128 St.) this Sunday, May 13, 3-5 p.m.
An exhibition of the spirited Spanish dance and music style, the show will highlight adult members of the troupe as well as some of the youngest budding talents, under the direction of Flamenco del Mar founder Jill Tunbridge.
Admission, which includes coffee or tea and dessert, are $12 ($5 for children five and under).
Tickets are available from Christopher’s Gift Gallery in Ocean Park, by calling 604-542-2096 or by emailing flamencotickets@hotmail.com
For more information, visit www.flamencodelmar.com
Traditional jazz
The White Rock Traditional Jazz Society’s series of Sunday afternoon live hot jazz music and dance sessions (3-6 p.m. at the Royal Canadian Legion Crescent Branch 240, 2643 128 St.) continue each week until the summer.
This Sunday (May 13), it’s the turn of multi-instrumentalist Simon Stribling’s New Orleans Ale Stars.
Upcoming bands include bassist Jen Hodge and her All Stars (featuring Bonnie Northgraves trumpet, Evan Arntzen reeds, and Dave Taylor guitar, May 20) and The Creole Jazz Band (May 27).
Admission is $8 for members, $10 for non members.
For more information, visit www.whiterocktradjazz.com
Starchild
Well-known Peninsula singer-songwriters-multi-instrumentalists Fanny Starchild and Vegari Cendar, and their band The Mystiques, are currently appearing in a series of live events to promote their new album Liberte (available in both a French language and bilingual CD).
Upcoming events featuring Starchild, Cendar and the Mystiques (Victor Smith, piano and accordion; Ron Stelting, drums and percussion; Randy Schultz, guitar; and Ena, aka Catherine McLellan, backup vocals) includes a special French language launch concert at the CBC Espace Studio (700 Hamilton St.) May 18, 7:30 p.m. (recorded for broadcast, tickets $10), and at Ocean Park Community Hall (1577 128 St.) June 9, 8 p.m., also $10.
For tickets and more information, visit www.northerntickets.com or www.starchild.ca
Jay Aymar
Nominee for the emerging artists category in the 2010 Canadian Folk Music Awards, Jay Aymar, will bring his unique and passionate vocals, guitar and life-on-the-road-inspired songwriting to the Royal Canadian Legion, Crescent Branch 240, Thursday, May 17, 7 p.m.
Aymar had the distinction of having one of his songs, My Cherry-Coloured Rose, a tribute to sports commentator Don Cherry, covered by the legendary Ian Tyson in his last CD, From Yellowhead To Yellowstone.
For more information on his music, visit www.jayaymar.com
Tickets are $8 in advance and $10 at the door.
Coast Capital Playhouse
Tickets are available now for a very lively spring and summer of entertainment at Coast Capital Playhouse (1532 Johnston Rd.)
Until May 19 the playhouse will be the venue for the Fraser Valley Gilbert and Sullivan Society’s 30th anniversary production, The Mikado,
From June 13 to 30 the scheduled White Rock Players Club show will be Ken Ludwig’s farce Lend Me A Tenor, directed by Ryan Mooney (who helmed last year’s Nunsense, a notable collaboration of Mooney’s Fighting Chance Productions and the Players Club).
Set at Cleveland’s opera house in 1934, the show depicts the mayhem when famed tenor Tito Merelli, known as ‘Il Stupendo,’ receives an accidental double-dose of tranquilizers, and Saunders, the company manager has to find a substitute.
Following Peninsula Productions’ production of the classic British whodunnit, The Mousetrap (July 11-28), the Coast Capital Playhouse will be home to a new collaboration between Fighting Chance and the Players Club, the popular musical Little Shop of Horrors.
For tickets and show time information, visit www.whiterockplayers.ca or call 604-536-7535.
Shakespeare auditions
The Beachhouse Theatre Society – presenters of the eagerly awaited production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Crescent Beach this August – will be auditioning actors for roles on Tuesday, May 22 and Thursday, May 24 (7-10 p.m. both nights).
Directors Candace Radcliffe and Rick Harmon are seeking to cast non-Equity males and females between the ages of 19 and 60.
Auditions will be held at Semiahmoo Arts’ Mel Edwards Centre, 14600 North Bluff Rd. (in Centennial Park), and actors are asked to prepare a “one-to-two minute comic Shakespearean monologue.”
Callbacks will be held Tuesday, May 29 at 7 p.m.
Rehearsals for the show will start in June and run through August, with the show itself held Aug. 15-19 under a tent near Blackie Spit.
To set up an audition, email info@beachhousetheatre.org, leaving the date and time you wish to audition.
For more information, call Radcliffe at 604-710-4929 or Harmon at 604-574-3044.
Ben Nuttall-Smith
Semiahmoo Arts will present the special literary event Two Compelling Tales: An evening with Ben Nuttall-Smith, Thursday, May 31, 7:30 p.m. at Pelican Rouge Coffee House, 15142 North Bluff Rd. (Central Plaza).
Nuttall-Smith will read from his two recently-published novels: Blood, Feathers and Holy Men, a page-turning blending of Irish, Norse and Pre-Columbian mythology tracing an unknown chapter in the story of the Americas; and Secrets Kept/Secrets Told, a work of biographical fiction in which the author confronts his extended flight from memories of the sexual abuse he experienced while a child during the London blitz.
Both novelist and poet, the Crescent Beach resident formerly taught music, theatre and language before retiring in 1991.
Doors open at 7 p.m. and patrons are asked to arrive early and order a beverage before the reading gets underway (the coffee bar will be closed after 7:30 p.m. to avoid disturbances).
Paints n’ Bloom
A new art event, Paints n’ Bloom comes to the West Coast Garden Centre (1420 172 St.) Friday, June 1 and Saturday, June 2 in support of the Alzheimer Society of British Columbia.
Featuring work by award-winning artists Wendy Mould and Audrey Bakewell, the exhibit will also include two live demonstrations on June 1.
At 11 a.m. Mould will present Drawing Birds and Animals in Graphite, while Bakewell will demonstrate Painting on Yupo Paper in Watercolour at 1:30 p.m.
For more information, visit www.artbywendy.com and www.audreybakewell.com
The Mousetrap
Peninsula Productions summer production of Agatha Christie’s celebrated 1952 thriller The Mousetrap runs July 11 to 28 at the Coast Capital Playhouse.
“We have brought together an amazing cast of seasoned actors and fresh faces,” said artistic director Wendy Bollard, who helmed last year’s popular production of Waiting For The Parade.
“The spirit of this play is indomitable. As with every great play it is all about the characters and the story.”
The very British show – which at times resembles a live version of Clue – takes place at historic Monkswell Manor, recently renovated as a guest house by young couple Mollie and Giles Ralston.
Their first guests include the erratic Christopher Wren, the hypercritical Mrs. Boyle, retired military man Major Metcalf, the mannish Miss Casewell, and mysterious foreigner Mr. Paravicini – all of whom are promptly stranded at Monkswell by a snowstorm, just as news arrives of a murder in London…with the distressing addendum that the manor house may be next on the murderer’s itinerary.
The local production of The Mousetrap is part of the 60th anniversary celebrations worldwide for the venerable whodunit – which has broken all records by running continuously in London since it first opened.
“Many people have seen The Mousetrap over the years but they keep coming back,” Bollard said. “One of its endearing qualities is that at the end of every performance the audience is asked to become part of its success by keeping the secret of who the murderer really is.”
Tickets are $18 and $22 and can be purchased at www.whiterockplayers.ca or in person at The Coast Capital Playhouse, 1532 Johnston Road.
For more information, visit peninsulaproductions.org
Singers wanted
The 6 O’Clock Jazz Group is looking for another bass and tenor and, possibly, another soprano.
The eight-member, four-part light jazz vocal group, is directed by David Proznick.
Practices are held Monday evenings from 6-7 p.m. and Saturdays from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Singers must be able to read music and have a good sense of rhythm.
Potential candidates who also play guitar should be aware the group has singing and playing jams for fun after each Saturday practice.
For more information, text or leave a message for Anneke at 604-220-3230.
