Dream tickets
Tickets are now on sale for the Beach House Theatre Society’s eagerly-awaited production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, scheduled for a brief run at Crescent Beach this summer.
Information on tickets ($31, including fees and HST) is posted on the company website, www.beachhousetheatre.org
Directors Candace Radcliffe and Rick Harmon’s inaugural Beachhouse Theatre production will be presented Aug. 15-19 under a tent near Blackie Spit.
The poetic – yet often rollicking and earthy – tale of mistaken identity, young love gone awry and collisions between mortals and the fairy kingdom provides roles for Fraser Valley Gilbert & Sullivan society regulars, plus talented alumni from many of Radcliffe and Harmon’s celebrated Earl Marriott Secondary productions.
The talented cast includes James Walker (as Theseus and Oberon), Dana Schindel (Titania), Roger Hussen (Egeus), Rylan Schinkel (Hermia), Nick Hugh (Lysander), Anne vanLeeuwen (Helena), Sheena Johnson (Hippolyta), Sarah English (Philostrate), Adam Olgui (Peter Quince), Paul Richardson (Flute), Reg Pillay (Snout), Rory Tucker (Snug), Nicki Carbonneau (Starveling), Paula Cooper (Peaseblossom), Anna O’ Brien (Cobweb), Russel Chartrand (Bottom), and Marina Benitez-Lazzarotto (Puck).
Piano man
Versatile pianist/singer Ryan Langevin pays tribute to two musical legends – Elton John and Billy Joel – with his show Piano Man, presented by Rock.It Boy Entertainment and coming to Coast Capital Playhouse (1532 Johnston Rd.) July 5, 7:30 p.m.
A passionate fan of both artists’ music from his youth, Langevin brings a decade of experience teaching voice and piano and performing in a wide spectrum of musical styles to his performance.
His skillful recapturing of the essence of each performer’s appeal – aided by appropriate costuming – will bring a vivid live dimension to such Elton John classics as Saturday Night, Pinball Wizard, Daniel, Rocket Man, Crocodile Rock, Bennie and the Jets and Candle In The Wind, while rocking such Billy Joel favourites as My Life, She’s Always A Woman, Uptown Girl, Only The Good Die Young, It’s Still Rock n’ Roll and the immortal Piano Man.
Tickets are $39.50 (plus facility fees and service charges) at the box office, 604-536-7535 or online at www.whiterockplayers.ca
Summer Acting Camp
Ellie King’s Royal Canadian Theatre Company offers a Young Teens Acting Camp, for ages 12 to 15, July 9 – 14 (10 a.m to 4 p.m. daily), at Newton Cultural Centre, 13530 72 Ave.
Participants will rehearse a fun play that will be presented to family and friends on the final day of the camp, but the program, suitable for all levels of experience, is also geared towards increasing confidence, supplying fun physical activity, building creativity and developing team spirit and responsibility.
Cost is $300 per participant with a discount for siblings.
To register, email info@rctheatreco.com
Mystery classic
Prepare for chills and thrills – Peninsula Productions brings Agatha Christie’s legendary 1952 mystery, The Mousetrap, to White Rock July 11-28 at the Coast Capital Playhouse (8 p.m. performances).
“We really feel that the Peninsula is ripe for high-quality entertainment of all kinds and we intend to fill the gap,” said Geoff Giffin, partner in Peninsula Productions with artistic director Wendy Bollard.
Something like a live-action version of Clue, the theatre classic – which has run continuously in London since its debut 60 years ago – concerns mystery and misdeeds at historic Monkswell Manor, recently renovated as a guest house.
A strange assortment of characters – a newlywed couple, a persnickety older woman, a flamboyant young man, an army major, a mannish woman, an unexpected guest and a keen young police sergeant – are stranded at the manor by a snowstorm. News of a recent murder arrives, along with the suspicion that the murderer may be one of the group.
Among players who will be well-known locally in The Mousetrap are Paul Kloegman (The Cat’s Meow), Lori Tych (The Lion In Winter), Sam Gordon (A Bedfull of Foreigners) and, in a departure from her usual public appearances as a singer, Laine Henderson, in the lead role of Monkswell Manor’s new owner, Mollie Ralston.
Also in the cast are Stephen Benjamin Fowler, Spenser Dunlop and Everett Shea.
Tickets are $23 ($18 seniors) and can be purchased at www.whiterockplayers.ca or in person at The Coast Capital Playhouse, 1532 Johnston Rd.
Gala opening is July 13, and there will be 2:30 p.m. matinees on July 15 and 22.
For more information, visit peninsulaproductions.org
Blues barbecue
Billed as “two nights of smoking hot blues, ice cold beer and Southern barbecue”, the second annual Blues BBQ Bash – a joint presentation of the White Rock Blues Society and Blue Frog Studios – comes to Blue Frog’s performance centre (1328 Johnston Rd.). On Friday, July 13, the music is by singer-multi-instrumentalist John Lee Sanders and his band. and on Saturday, July 14, the headliners are the Michael Van Eyes Band.
David Boxcar Gates is the special guest for each evening.
Also featured as part of the mini-festival is blues-inspired art by musician Stan Street from Clarksdale, Mississippi, plus White Rock-area artists and music fans Gerry Edwards, Tom McIntosh, Serge Dube and others.
Adding to the atmosphere will be authentic Southern barbecue.
For tickets and information, call 604-542-3055 or visit www.bluefrogstuios.ca
Samphire Fusion
Two artists well-known on the Semiahmoo Peninsula – particularly as members of the Crescent Beach-based Artists At Hand collective – will be highlighted in a mother-daughter exhibition at Granville Island’s Circle Craft Gallery in July.
Pottery by Adele Samphire and glasswork by Lisa Samphire will be featured in the gallery’s Samphire Fusion show, running July 6-31.
The Circle Craft Shop and Gallery is open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at 1-1666 Johnston St., Granville Island, Vancouver.
For more, call 604-669-8021 or visit www.circlecraft.net
Red Beans and Rice
The White Rock Traditional Jazz Society’s regular season of Sunday afternoon live hot jazz music and dance sessions (usually 3-6 p.m. at the Royal Canadian Legion Crescent Branch 240, 2643 128 St.) have wound down for the summer but that doesn’t mean doing without the sounds of vintage jazz.
House band Red Beans and Rice, led by trumpeter Rice Honeywell Sr., will continue to play most Sundays through the summer, 3-6 p.m. at the legion.
But there’s also another chance to enjoy the local favourites. On Friday nights, 7-10 p.m. they play at Porter’s Bistro, 21611 48 Ave. in Langley’s historic Murrayville (reservations 604-530-5297).
