Divas
The White Rock Elks Lodge will be overrun with celebrity divas this Saturday (March 31) at 8 p.m.
Cher, Lady Gaga, Dolly Parton, Tina Turner, Liza Minnelli, Barbra Streisand, Patsy Cline, Marilyn Monroe, Madonna, Bette Midler, Mae West and even Sarah Palin are due to put in appearances in the show Divas – Vegas Meets Vaudeville.
Fortunately, they’re all in the person of tribute artist extraordinaire Bonnie Kilroe, whose singing and comedy talents and sharp observation brings the one-woman ‘parade of parody’ to life.
Last October, after entertaining an enthralled audience at the lodge with her tribute to Patsy Cline, she promised she would return with this all-star Vegas-style show.
Described as “part vaudevillian comic, part torch singer and part sexy siren,” Kilroe looks, acts and sings like each favourite performer – in a show packed with costume changes and audience participation.
Tickets ($25, $20 for members) are available from 604-538-4016 or at www.whiterockelks.ca
Lion In Winter
White Rock Players Club’s next production is its Theatre B.C. entry, the medieval drama of royal intrigue The Lion In Winter, by James Goldman and directed by community theatre veteran Dale Kelly (April 11-28, Coast Capital Playhouse, 1532 Johnston Rd.)
The production will feature two star performers of recent Players Club seasons, Ben Odberg (as Henry II of England) and Lori Tych as his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine.
The 1966 play imagines a Christmas in the year 1183 at Henry’s French chateau at Chinon in the Anjou region, and the verbal and psychological battles between the king and Eleanor – imprisoned by him for supporting a rebellion against his rule – and their sons Richard, Geoffrey and John.
Also at court: Philip II of France and his half sister Alais – who is, in Goldman’s version, at least, Henry’s mistress.
From April 29 to May 5, the club will host the Theatre B.C. zone festival, in which its entry will be judged alongside other notable productions from community theatre groups in the Vancouver zone.
For tickets and show time information, visit www.whiterockplayers.ca or call 604-536-7535.
Talent search
Musically-gifted young people aged 19 and younger are currently being showcased in the Diamond In The Rock competition, until March 28 at the Roadhouse Grille Restaurant (1781 King George Blvd.).
The remaining two weeks of performances start this Wednesday (March 28), 7-9 p.m., and will culminate in a finale at Blue Frog Studio on Saturday, April 14.
Already chosen for the finals are singer Olivia Torrie, rock singer-songwriter Tommy Alto, jazz guitarist Trevor Peverley and his trio, country singer Payton Rector, new country singer Chanel Stasiuk and violinist Julie Lin.
The winner and second- and third-place contestants in the final will each receive a bursary. The top contestant will also receive a wide array of prizes including recording time at Blue Frog and Turtle studios, radio promotion and gigs at the Roadhouse Grille, the Spirit of the Sea Festival and as an opening act in a Rock.It Boy show.
All finalists will be offered a 50 per cent discount on recording time and will be provided with video shot at the finals for use on YouTube. Competition is limited to Peninsula residents (south of 40 Avenue and west of 192 Street) and proof of age and residence is required.
To register for the competiton, email doug_lachance@telus.net
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 (April 1), the band is Red Beans, featuring trumpeter Glen Tremblay in the absence of Rice Honeywell (who returns May 6), and regulars Ray Batten (trombone), Gerry Green (reeds), Peg Thomson (piano), Don Ogilvie (guitar), Casey Tolhurst (bass) and Scott Robertson (drums).
Next up will be the Louisiana Joymakers (April 8).
Admission is $8 for members, $10 for non-–members.
For more information, visit www.whiterocktradjazz.com
Coast Capital Playhouse
Tickets are available now for a very lively spring and summer of entertainment at Coast Capital Playhouse (1532 Johnston Rd.)
In addition to White Rock Players Club’s The Lion On Winter (April 11-28) and the Theatre B.C. Vancouver zone festival (April 29-May 5), the playhouse will also be the venue for the Fraser Valley Gilbert and Sullivan Society’s 30th anniversary production, The Mikado, the classic light opera of old Japan (as re-imagined, in very British fashion, by satirical librettist W.S. Gilbert), and starring Mr. ‘O Canada’ of Canucks games – Mark Donnelly – in the title role (May 9 to 19).
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 in Cleveland in 1934, the show depicts the mayhem when famed tenor Tito Merelli, known as ‘Il Stupendo,’ receives an accidental double-dose of tranquilizers, and the opera company manager has to find a substitute.
For tickets and show time information, visit www.whiterockplayers.ca or call 604-536-7535.
Chris Edwards benefit
Some tickets may still be available for the Friends With Benefits concert organized by friends of popular White Rock videographer Chris Edwards.
Music fans should note, however, that tickets are all by pre-sale and none will be available at the door. Organizers are also looking for donated items for the event’s silent auction, particularly sports, concert and theatre tickets.
The concert, to help pay for treatment for Edwards following a fall that resulted in paralyzing injuries in December, is scheduled for April 14, 7 p.m. at the Royal Canadian Legion Crescent Branch 240, 2643 128 St. and will feature music by James Shepherd, Neil Harnett, Soundstem, Bastard Skinny, the Sumner Brothers, and Their There.
Also promised are some surprise guests from Edwards’ past, which has included working with such bands as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains and Blind Melon.
For more information, visit the Facebook pages for The Christopher Edwards ‘Friends With Benefits’ concert (www.facebook.com/events/355338017822002) or Friends of Christopher Edwards (www.facebook.com/pages/Friends-of-Christopher-Edwards/273895829348239)
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.
Call for artists
Newton Cultural Centre artists-in-residence Wendy Mould and Becky McMahon are issuing an invitation for emerging visual artists in all media, including photography, for the centre’s first open-call show, sponsored by Surrey Arts Council.
Called Just Birds, it’s open to both two- and three-dimensional works on the theme of our feathered residents and visitors, with cash prizes for the top entries (each participant is allowed to enter three works).
Deadline is 4 p.m., April 27, with the show running from June 3 to 30, with a gala reception June 9. Mould and McMahon are also seeking sponsors for awards and the reception (information: 604-583-4538).
For artists, entry forms are available at the centre, 13530 72 Ave., through www.artscouncilofsurrey.com or by calling 604-594-2700.
The Mousetrap
Peninsula Productions summer production of Agatha Christie’s 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. “This is definitely going to be a show that you won’t want to miss.”
The very British show – which at times resembles a live version of Clue – takes place at Monkswell Manor, recently renovated as a guest house by young couple Mollie and Giles Ralston.
Their 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 addendum that the manor house may be next on the murderer’s itinerary.
Tickets are $18 and $22 and can be purchased at www.whiterockplayers.ca or Coast Capital Playhouse, 1532 Johnston Rd.
For more, visit peninsulaproductions.org
