I know what you’re thinking – what in the world is Symphonic Rock Evolution?! It’s not a thesis paper written at the School of Rock. It’s not an app for guitar-playing geologists. It’s not a rock opera about the creation vs. evolution debate and the origins of humanity. What Symphonic Rock Evolution is, cue the sparkly disco ball and flashing lights, is a 23-piece symphonic rock ensemble that put on one heckuva rock show on the first Saturday night of…
“There was Something in the Air that Night…..Fernando” On a cool and crisp Friday night in mid-September, Kelowna Community Theatre hosted a doubleheader of dance beats that featured Ryan Langevin as the Piano Man, a tribute to the music of Billy Joel and Elton John, and ABRA Cadabra, a tribute to the music and magic of Swedish super group ABBA. If that sounds like a lot of show, it was. The two-hour-and 50-minute performance was a well-filtered trip down memory…
What do you get when you cross a poet tenor with a seamstress soprano in Paris in the 1920s? The love-struck storyline behind the booming libretto of La bohème. It was opera night at Kelowna Community Theatre on a pleasant mid-August Friday evening. A packed house, some dressed to the nines in gowns and tuxedos, assembled at the 851-seat playhouse to take in this Italian standard composed by Giacomo Puccini. Opera Kelowna and its Artistic Director…
Billy Billy Billy – fantastic job, you little bugger! On one of the hottest nights so far of the Okanagan summer, it was truly a pleasure and privilege to sit inside Kelowna Community Theatre on the last Thursday of July. Not because the air-conditioning was in good working order, but rather because there was a cool-as-an-English-morning performance of Billy Elliot the Musical taking place in the friendly barn. The show runs through August 5th. It was opening night for Billy…
Rann Berry – here’s a message in a bottle. You shook me, and pretty much the entire audience, all night long. Well done. Let’s dance. As I was driving to Kelowna Community Theatre on the last night of June, my mind kept zeroing in on one bewildering point. This was one tough gig. Who booked this concert on the eve of Canada’s 150th Birthday, literally 4.5 hours before the entire country started putting on its Canada Day game face? A…
83 in a 55 could get you approximately 240. On our recent vacation to both Pennsylvania and North Carolina, I had the privilege of being part of something I had never been a part of before. I got to ride along in the front seat of a real police SUV (jet black Ford Explorer with ample muscle) with a real police officer (a 13-year veteran of the Fayetteville, NC police department) on his different-than-normal beat (traffic/moving violations). The man in…
Pardon me boy – am I turning into my parents?! On a toasty June Tuesday night a few ticks shy of Canada’s 150th Birthday, wife Elaine and I strolled into Kelowna Community Theatre officially for the first time this summer. Coming off a three-week vacation in the hot-and-humid USA, we were in the mood for some serenading sounds to shake off a snoozy case of jet lag. All aboard the Chattanooga Choo Choo. We got exactly what we expected, and…
If I were a school teacher giving out grades – Dee would get a B. On a rainy and cooler-than-normal May Monday night, actor and stand-up comedian Gerry Dee was the prized pupil sharing a backpack full of academic anecdotes and personal experiences on stage at Kelowna Community Theatre. He was in town for one night, passing through on his current tour while his popular television show was on hiatus. Dee might be best known for his role as Gerry…
Oh, to be tanned, toned, and pumped about it. On the first Saturday night of May, wife Elaine and I took a “quarter turn to the right” and attended our first-ever gun show. Nope, it’s not what you’re thinking. On this sun-splashed evening, we contemplated doing a few sit-ups before jogging over to Kelowna Community Theatre for the 2017 Kelowna Classic. This sold-out parade of muscle and moxie put a shining light on the sport of bodybuilding and fitness and…
World premieres in Kelowna. They were super suite. On the first Thursday of May, Kelowna Community Theatre was the gracious host site of several world premieres all neatly choreographed and composed into a visual parade of ballet and music. On this balmy eve in front of a packed house, Ballet Kelowna and the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra (OSO) joined forces to present Canadiana Suite: A Sesquicentennial Celebration and tribute performance in honor of Canada’s 150th anniversary. Yeah,…