Goose on the loose
Mother Goose is back at the Coast Capital Playhouse (1532 Johnston Rd.) until Boxing Day – the latest in the White Rock Players Club’s 57-year tradition of Christmas pantomimes.
Directed by Dave Baron, the show is a reboot of Goose: The Mother Of All Pantos by White Rock’s The Brothers Dimm (also known as Tom Saunders, Fred Partridge, Mike Roberds and Jason Dedrick).
Evening performances are at 8 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday, and there are 2:30 p.m. matinees on Sundays.
The show, which features Nigel Watkinson as the title character, and Michelle Gaetz as principal boy Jack, chronicles the kidnapping of Mother Goose and the journey to rescue her from a publishing conglomerate holding her captive in Las Vegas.
White Rock Players Club members are currently holding a food bank drive, and donations of non-perishables for the Sources White Rock/South Surrey Food Bank are gratefully accepted in the lobby.
For tickets and show time information, visit www.whiterockplayers.ca or call 604-536-7535.
Blue Frog Christmas
Blue Frog Studios at 1328 Johnston Rd. will present a A Blue Frog Christmas, Dec. 8 and 9 at 7:30 p.m. featuring headliner Alfie Zappacosta performing his hits and a selection of his Christmas favourites.
Also on the bill will be Blue Frog’s own Juanita with her renditions of seasonal favourites, backed by Rob Gawthrop on piano, John McCreath on drums, Bruce Webster on guitar and Blue Frog owner Kelly Breaks on bass.
Tickets are available at www.bluefrogstudios.ca
Joe Given
Catch a rising star this month at McJac’s Roadhouse Grille.
Acclaimed young singer-songwriter-actor Joe Given will be featured in intimate performances Friday, Dec. 9 and Saturday, Dec. 17 (5:30 to 8:30 p.m. each night) at the restaurant, 1781 King George Blvd.
The 19 year-old performer, by day a business management major at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, will showcase his golden voice – and charisma to match – in sets of originals and covers in the pop and R&B idioms (with a little rock and soul thrown in for good measure).
He’s racked up an impressive record of playing more than 400 venues and special events over the past three years, plus a whole raft of awards and scholarships, and has also branched out into acting, this year earning a Community Theatre Coalition nomination for best actor in a leading role in a musical for the role of Schroeder in Surrey Little Theatre’s You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown.
Chances are his current performances will also feature some of the original material from his second album, which he hopes to release in early 2012. For dinner reservations, call 604-531-3167.
The Nutcracker
The Royal City Youth Ballet’s annual touring production of The Nutcracker usually features talents from South Surrey and White Rock and this year is no exception.
South Surrey’s Samantha Froh, 12, solos in the role of the Snow Princess, as well as doubling as Clara’s friend, Trepak and an Arabian in the production, which plays Surrey Arts Centre Friday, Dec. 9 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 10 at 1 and 4 p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 11 at 1 and 4 p.m.
A perennial favourite, the RCYB production, now in its 23rd year, is noted for its beautiful sets, extravagant costumes, and casts of talented, dedicated and enthusiastic young dancers.
Froh, who has been dancing classical and modern ballet at Mi Cher Dance Academy since she was three years old, first auditioned for RCYB four years ago. Starting with roles as Reindeer and Buffoon, she has been part of the company every year since, and dreams one day of dancing her favourite, the Sugar Plum Fairy.
Her idol is Karen Kain, who she was lucky enough to meet this fall when she came to Vancouver during the National Ballet of Canada’s 60th anniversary tour.
Joining Froh in the current production is veteran White Rock actor Lee Taylor in his customary role as Drosselmaier, the toymaker, plus fellow Semiahmoo Peninsula dancers Sophia Carroll, Madeleine Martin, Kylie Milliken and Desiree Kennedy. For tickets, call 604-501-5566.
Surrey Children’s Choir
Members of the popular Surrey Children’s Choir family will help contribute to the old fashioned Christmas atmosphere this season at Burnaby Village Museum.
Choristers (including adult SCC alumni) directed by founder and artistic director Stephen Horning will be on view as roving carollers at the heritage themed museum site, at 6501 Deer Lake Ave., Saturday, Dec. 10 (1:30 to 3:30 p.m.), Saturday, Dec. 17 (5 to 7 p.m.) an Sunday, Dec. 18 (5 to 7 p.m.).
Yuletide Blues
The 5th annual Yuletide Blues marathon rolls into the Rhumba Room of the Pacific Inn, 1160 King George Blvd. from 5 to 10 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 11.
Presented by the White Rock Blues Society, the benefit for the White Rock/South Surrey Food Bank will feature a veritable who’s who of local blues artists, including Harpdog Brown, Jason Buie, Steve Kozak, David ‘Boxcar’ Gates, Wes Mackey, Pete Sweetzer, The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer, Velvet Bulldozer and The Headlines. Tickets are $15 at the door, plus two non-perishable items for the food bank.
For more information, visit www.whiterockblues.com
John Lee Sanders
Bluesman John Lee Sanders, who, over a long career, has worked with the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Buddy Guy, Carlos Santana, Jimmy Page, Willie Nelson and Stevie Wonder, will headline A Gospel Blues Christmas Concert, Dec. 16, 8 p.m. at First United Church, 15385 Semiahmoo Ave.
Joining Sanders in the show, presented by Geoff Giffin and Wendy Bollard’s Peninsula Productions, will be blues vocalist extraordinaire Sibel Thrasher and Sanders’ all-star five-piece back up band.
Tickets ($25) are available from Tapestry Music, First United Church and www.surreyarts.ca
For more information, visit www.peninsulaproductions.org
