Tim Williams
Legendary blues singer-songwriter-guitarist Tim Williams – presented locally last year by the White Rock Blues Society – will be back in White Rock tonight (April 6, 8 p.m.) for one night only, at the Sandpiper Pub.
The intimate, up close and personal show will feature Williams’ colourful songs and stories of the road, including playing with the likes of B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Taj Mahal and ZZ Top.
Williams has been described as a “charismatic, funny and entertaining” raconteur, with his own style of folk blues that hints at Mexican and even Hawaiian influences on some numbers.
Special advance reserve tickets ($7) are available at Tapestry Music and Surfside Music; the remainder are first come first served at the door ($5).
For more information, call 604-531-7746 or 604-542-6515.
Ladies of the Camellias
What happens when the two pre-eminant divas of the stage in the 1890s – Sarah Berhardt and Eleanor Duse – are both to perform Lady of the Camellias, by Alexandre Dumas, in Paris, the same week and in the same theatre?
That’s the premise of Lillian Garrett-Groag’s farcical historical comedy Ladies of the Camellias, next presentation of the White Rock Players Club, in a production directed by Paul Kloegman (who helmed last season’s Humble Boy).
The club’s entry in this year’s TheatreBC Vancouver Zone festival will play April 6 to 23 at the Coast Capital Playhouse, 1532 Johnston Rd., with Wednesday to Saturday performances at 8 p.m., plus a 2:30 p.m. Sunday matinee on April 17.
The production reunites Lori Tych (as Duse) and Jason Dedrick (as actor Gustave-Hyppolite Worms), both of whom most recently starred in the thriller Earth and Sky in February at the Coast Capital Playhouse.
Nancy Ebert plays Bernhardt, who has – for reasons best known to herself – extended the invitation to Duse to perform her touring version of the Lady of the Camellias, temporarily without venue, at the divine Sarah’s own theatre, even though she is herself portraying the role there.
Like Worms, actor Flavio Ando (Ryan Johnston) is also caught up in the ensuing battle of the divas, which is complicated – but not interrupted – by the arrival of a Russian anarchist, Ivan (Stephen Benjamin Fowler).
The latter decides to take the two hostage and blow up the theatre if demands for freeing his imprisoned comrades are not met. Adding to the quickly spiralling chaos is sword-swinging Comedie Francaise actor Coquelin (Brent Cross), who has become obsessed with his role as the heroic Cyrano de Bergerac; an elderly man Benoit (Ken Fynn) and an ingenue (Alexandra Wilson).
Tickets can be reserved at the theatre box office (604-536-7535) or visit www.whiterockplayers.ca
A Murder of Crows
Tickets are available now for Surrey Little Theatre’s next production, playwright Ed Graczyk’s serio-comic examination of small town life in rural Ohio, A Murder Of Crows, directed by Lynne Karey-McKenna (April 7 to May 7 at the theatre, 7027 184 St.).
It’s described as “an evening of lovable crotchety Americana” focusing on the amiable, quirky characters to be found at Woodson’s General Store.
But A Murder of Crows is also a compassionate, old-fashioned play about life and death in Middle America touching on themes of aging, love, loyalty and displacement.
The events take place in the town of Wallace – once a thriving farm community but now chemically polluted to the point that it will soon be a ghost town.
Graczyk’s heartfelt story softens the hard facts of life and death with infectious warmth and humour, as aging couple Harley and Jenny Woodson (Steven Burridge, Heather Harris) are relocated to a trailer home in the city by their long-estranged son, Corey, and daughter-in-law, Doris (Brad Hammerstrom, Robyn Bradley).
Also featured are Grant Vlahovic as Luther ‘Digger’ Briggs and Pat Braun as Velma MacKey.
The show will be Surrey Little Theatre’s entry in the Fraser Valley Zone of the Theatre B.C. Festival.
Showtimes are Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8 p.m., with 2 p.m. Sunday matinees on April 17 and May 1.
To reserve tickets ($15), call 604-576-8451or email reservations@surreylittletheatre.com
ULounge music
The ULounge at Grandview Corners is offering live music every Thursday at 8 p.m. (no cover charge), presented by Magnetized Productions.
Next up in the venue’s new Lucky 7 Thursday series will be David Blair (April 7), and David Anthony (April 14).
Gallery shows
A new show of paintings – Krista Eaton: Found In Nature – runs April 8-29 at Semiahmoo Arts’ gallery, 90-1959 152 St. (Windsor Square).
Opening reception will be April 7, 7-9 p.m. with the artist in attendance.
“In this show I hope to portray my love for colour and expression of the joy found in nature; the beauty of flowers, or landscape, or in a bowl of fruit,” Eaton said.
A graduate of the Emily Carr School of Art and Design, Eaton began her professional career in 2003, and – although she has worked with a wide range of media – now paints exclusively in acrylics.
The Crescent Beach-based painter is a member of the Canadian Federation of Artists and the White Rock and South Surrey Art Society.
For more information, call 604-536-8333 or visit www.semiahmooarts.com
Elks Bluegrass
The foot stomping, banjo, guitar and mandolin-picking, fiddle playing, vocal harmonizing sound of bluegrass returns to the White Rock Elks’ Club, 1469 George St., on Saturday, April 9 at 8 p.m.
Featured entertainers will be Highrise Lonesome and The Bullfrogs.
As the name suggests, Highrise Lonesome (Sue Malcolm, vocals, guitar and banjo; Vic Smyth, vocals mandolin and rhythm guitar; Don Fraser, vocals, dobro and lead guitar; Jay Buckwold, five-string banjo; and Stu MacDonald, vocals upright bass) puts a contemporary urban spin on traditional bluegrass, bringing together veteran musicians with a great deal of bluegrass and western swing background, but also acknowledging that they are city dwellers whose influences have included the pop music of the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.
The Surrey-based The Bullfrogs are Sheldon Friesen, banjo and vocals; Ched Miller, bass and vocals; Bob Page, guitar and vocals; and Michael Olexson, mandolin, fiddle, vocals.
Tickets are $15 (non members) and $12.50 (members).
For more information, call 604-538-4016 or email whiterockelks431@shaw.ca Harpdog Brown
Next big event scheduled by the White Rock Blues Society is Harpdog Brown and the Bloodhounds, April 9 at the Rhumba Room of the Pacific Inn, 1160 King George Blvd.
The ace blues harpist and his band (Wayne Berezan, guitar; Joe Hoar, bass; Alex McNair, drums; and Jerry Cook, sax, plus keyboardist Graham Guest, two time Maple Blues nominee) will revisit 21 years of music making, following up on a recent 20-year reunion of the original Bloodhounds at The Yale in Vancouver.
Tickets ($15) are available from Tapestry Music, Surfside Music, the Pacific Inn or Surrey Arts Centre, http://tickets.surrey.ca
For more information, visit www.whiterockblues.com
Auditions
White Rock Players Club is auditioning Sunday, April 17 and Monday, April 18 (7-9 p.m. each day) for its last show of the current season, The Cat’s Meow, which will run June 8 to 25 at the Coast Capital Playhouse.
It’s a Roaring ’20s piece about the real-life mystery surrounding the death of pioneer movie mogul Thomas Ince, who died in 1924, after weekending on the private yacht of millionaire William Randolph Hearst.
Long the subject of scandal and rumours, the enduring myth was fueled by the notoriety of others on Hearst’s guest list that weekend, including movie star Marion Davies, legendary comic Charlie Chaplin and sensational novelist Elinor Glyn.
Playwright Steven Peros’ fictionalized account of the fateful cruise takes its starting point from some of the loudest whispers generated by the rumour mills – presenting a convincing picture of hushed-up private lives, twisted motivations and suppressed passions.
To bring the story to the stage, director Shelagh Shermann needs six men aged 35 to 62, and eight women from 24 to 60.
Auditions are at the theatre, 1532 Johnston Rd. For more information, email Shermann at onesheermann@hotmail.com or producer Lisa Pavilionis at lisapavilionis@hotmail.com
