Saturday, November 15, 2014

Theatre and music notes around Niagara this November

The month of November is fast approaching the half-way mark already, and there is no shortage of great music and theatre available right here in Niagara for you to enjoy.  I'll touch on three such events getting underway or happening this weekend you would do well to attend if you have the time.

First up, Garden City Productions' new fall show is actually an early Christmas show this year:  Irving Berlin's White Christmas, which opened Friday evening at the Mandeville Theatre at Ridley College.  I'm sure everyone is familiar with the story by now, thanks to Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye hoofing and singing in the movie version many years ago.  For some it is the quintessential holiday "feel-good" movie and for a time, my season was not complete without watching it at least once.

Garden City Productions always punch above their weight, as it were, and this new show, directed and choreographed by Wendy Leard and featuring Tom Inglis as music director, should be no different.  Condensing the large story line from the popular movie is not an easy job, but GCP always seems to find a way to pull it off.

Performances continue this weekend with a Sunday matinee, and the remainder of the run will be Friday and Saturday evening performances the following two weekends, as well as Sunday matinees until November 30th.

For tickets and more information, call 905-682-1353 or go to www.cp.tix.com.

At the other end of the theatrical spectrum is the fall offering by Essential Collective Theatre, Joan MacLeod's play The Valley, which opened this evening at the Sullivan Mahoney Courthouse Theatre in downtown St. Catharines.

This show is presented in the round and explores mental health issues and the stigma that surrounds them.  Admittedly theatre not for everyone, I suppose, it will however appeal to those with a social conscience and aware of the need for a better understanding of and treatment of mental health issues in society today.

Performances continue evenings, Tuesday through Saturday until November 30th with pay-what-you-can matinee performances each Sunday afternoon at 2.  Of special note is this coming Tuesday evening, November 18th, playwright Joan MacLeod will do a play reading at 7 pm prior to the performance, and participate with the cast in a post-show talkback with the audience.

There is also a community event coming up Monday evening of this week at Brock University's Sean O'Sullivan Theatre that ties in nicely with the subject matter covered in The Valley.  It's a Town Hall Forum entitled "Out of Our Minds" featuring a guest panel of representatives from mental health and police services as they discuss themes present in the play.  This event is free and open to the public, by the way.

New Artistic Director Monica Default is taking ECT into exciting new directions, continuing the tradition of presenting quality thought-provoking local theatre in the heart of the city.

Tickets for The Valley will be available at the door prior to each performance through to November 30th.

Finally, a music note with a sincere apology attached.  The Gallery Players of Niagara kick off their 20th season Sunday afternoon with a performance featuring their founding music director, Heather Dawn Taves in a concert of piano and woodwind music.

I must apologize, though, as I detailed the wrong information when I included concert details from last year's inaugural concert in my November newsletter that came out a couple of weekends ago.  My mistake, totally, and my sincere apologies to The Gallery Players and their devoted fans for the mix-up in the newsletter.

Yes, this is indeed Gallery Players' 20th season, and this kickoff concert is tomorrow afternoon at 2 at the Silver Spire United Church on St. Paul Street in downtown St. Catharines.  Tickets should be available at the door, or you can order in advance by calling 905-468-1525 or log on to www.galleryplayers.ca.

Incidentally, Gallery Players are just about to release their brand-new CD to mark their 20th anniversary season, and I hope to have a copy in my hands shortly so I can review it in this space in the near future.

So there you go:  fun theatre, serious theatre and music to brighten up a November Sunday afternoon.  What more could you want to chase away thoughts of early snow in Niagara?

Enjoy the weekend!

November 15th, 2014

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