Bard to Broadway will celebrate 20 years of summer theatre in Parksville/Qualicum Beach this year.
To mark the anniversary, B2B will perform three of what it calls “its most audacious, daring and life-affirming stage productions to date.”
Try not to wig out, but the musical production for the summer will be the Tony-award winning play, Hairspray.
This continues to be one of the most widely produced musicals, not only because of its songs, which include 1960s-style dance music, and ‘downtown’ rhythm and blues, but also because of its social message.
The play is set in 1962 Baltimore, and tells the story of teenager Tracy Turnblad, who wins a role on a TV dance program, and then campaigns for the show’s racial integration. It is a joyful story of acceptance, that helps us learn to look past gender, weight and skin colour, and to champion everyone’s basic humanity. This message is equally timely and resonant today.
The next production in the summer of 2019 will be the hilarious comedy The Servant of Two Masters, written by Italian playwright Carlo Goldoni in 1746, and translated and adapted for modern audiences by Jeffrey Hatcher and Emilio Paulo Landi.
In this physical, fast-paced farce, the poor servant Truffaldino – always complaining loudly of an empty stomach – seizes the opportunity to acquire an extra dinner, by serving a second master. The scheme just might work – as long as he isn’t caught!
The third production this summer will be Jenny’s House of Joy. Written by comic genius Norm Foster, this is a bittersweet play about the world’s oldest profession, infused with the warmth and humour that are Foster’s trademark.
Set in a brothel in Kansas in the 1870s, it is the compelling and often funny tale of five women, which focusses more on their humanity than on the services they sell.
There is still an opportunity to audtion for these plays:
Sat. Jan. 19 12:30 – 4 p.m. St. Paul’s Church Hall (100 Chapel St.), Nanaimo
Sun. Jan. 20 12:30 – 4 p.m. 186 Shelly Rd., Parksville
More information b2btheatre.com
Bard to Broadway also offers education programs for children and teens.
We are proud that these programs have offered education in the preforming arts as well as encouragement to aspiring performers.
Many of these young people have gone on to pursue careers in theatre.
For more informantion, go to b2btheatre.com/education-3
Part of B2B’s 2018 season also lives on, with Savannah Sipping Society being B2B’s entry into the North Island Zone Frestival in May. For more on that, go to theatrebc.org/north-island-zone/
RELATED: REVIEW: B2B comedy a hooting, howling tear-jerker in disguise
— Submitted by B2B
