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 tonight (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.
Kent Street showcase
The Kent Street Activity Centre (1475 Kent St.) will stage its annual Showcase – a variety show extravaganza involving many community groups, noon-5 p.m. May 27.
Featured in an afternoon of “singing, dancing and general fun” will be popular pianist/entertainer Rice Honeywell Sr., plus several high school music groups and a dance school troupe.
Tickets ($8) are available at the centre or the door. For reservations or more information, call 604-541-2231.
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).
Traditional jazz
The White Rock Traditional Jazz Society’s regular season 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 for a couple more weeks until summer.
This Sunday (May 27), the featured band is Vancouver’s Creole Jazz Band, a five-piece group dedicated to recreating the Dixieland music of New Orleans in the first quarter of the 20th century, with arrangements true to the ensemble sound of legendary bands like Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and Hot Seven, King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton.
Kevin Yeates (trumpet), Scott Sproxton (clarinet), Mike Lord (trombone), Arnie Backer (banjo) and Ken Steele (tuba) will be joined by traditional jazz star Bria Skonberg (trumpet and vocals), who plans to sit in for a few numbers.
Coming up is the society’s end of season party June 3, a special extended celebration 3-7 p.m. featuring the Jim Armstrong Quintet.
Admission is $8 for members, $10 for non members.
For more information, call 604-591-7275 or visit www.whiterocktradjazz.com
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 on the event, visit websites, www.artbywendy.com and www.audreybakewell.com
Arts Umbrella
The Expressions Festival 2012 comes to Arts Umbrella’s Morgan Crossing location (116 – 15850 26 Ave.) on June 9.
A showcase of work by Semiahmoo Peninsula Arts Umbrella students will start at 1 p.m. with a theatre presentation by the Act One youth group: Objects In Mirror Are Already Here.
The showcase runs until 4 p.m.
For more information, call 604-535-1127.
Blue Frog
Next live concert at White Rock’s Blue Frog Studios (1328 Johnston Rd.), will feature blues-rock guitarist David Gogo, with his special guest, singer-songwriter Bobbi Schram, Saturday, June 9, at 7:30 p.m.
One of Canada’s hardest working musicians, Gogo has won three Juno nominations, received the Saturday Night Blues Great Canadian Blues Award for a lifetime contribution to blues music, and has twice been named Maple Blues guitarist of the year.
He’s also played with such blues and rock legends as B.B. King, Bo Diddley, George Thorogood, ZZ Top, and toured with Johnny Winter.
Former White Rock resident Schram (she had her first concert at the Semiahmoo Park bandshell when she was 16) has performed in many venues throughout B.C., and as far afield as the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville.
Her ‘telling a story in song’ folk style is relaxed, but with a touch of the blues.
For information or reservations, call 604-542-3055 or visit www.bluefrogstudios.ca
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) include a concert at Ocean Park Community Hall (1577 128 St.) June 9, 8 p.m.
For tickets ($10) and info, visit www.starchild.ca
Coast Capital Playhouse
Tickets are available now for a very lively spring and summer of entertainment at Coast Capital Playhouse (1532 Johnston Rd.)
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.
White Rock Blues
John Lee Sanders will serve up a helping of what he advertises as “New Orleans deep-fried funk in a bucket full of blues” Saturday, June 16, 8 p.m. at the Rhumba Room of the Pacific Inn Resort, 1160 King George Blvd., presented by the White Rock Blues Society.
The White Rock-based musician’s growing years and musical career in the U.S. steeped him in the best traditions of pop, jazz, country, gospel, New Orleans street rhythm, funk, soul and rhythm and blues.
He’s shared the stage with the likes of Stevie Wonder, Jimmy Page, Starship, Chuck Berry, Dr. John, The meters, Willie Nelson, Tower of Power and Jimmy Witherspoon, as well as being an Emmy-nominated composer and winner of three 2009 Canadian Music Awards.
The result is a sound that is the real thing. In the words of White Rock Blues Society president Rod Dranfield, Sanders can “sit in front of a piano and bring the smoke from a Texas barbecue, the spirit of a New Orleans street parade and the soul of the Mississippi Delta, all in one set.
Tickets ($20 advance, $25 at the door) are available at www.whiterockblues.com, or by calling 604-542-6515.
Senior stars
The next local Senior Star contest, on June 21, will be hosted by Crescent Gardens Retirement Community, 1222 King George Blvd.
Now in its sixth year, the national Senior Star event is Canada’s largest talent competition dedicated to seniors. A singing and musical competition, it’s open to anyone over 65 who is a Canadian resident.
Contestants will each be given a maximum of five minutes to sing, or play an instrument – or do both – and the performances will be recorded on video (musical accompaniment is provided to singers if required).
A panel of three judges will select the top three local contestants, each of whom will receive a Senior Star trophy.
The videos of the first and second place winners from all local contests across Canada will then go on to a panel of celebrity judges, who will narrow down the field to nine finalists. These will then be invited to compete at the Senior Star National Finals in Niagara Falls, Ont. in November.
Registration forms are available from Crescent Gardens, or, for more details, call Victoria Jackson at 604-541-6712.
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.
