Opera Kelowna returns to the stage
Opera Kelowna’s production of Isaiah Bell and Sean Guist’s The Book of My Shames will take place over three evenings this month: July 22, 23 and 24.
Opera Kelowna and the Kelowna Community Theatre have worked to accommodate physical distancing and safety protocols in keeping with the Stage 3 recommendations of the Provincial Health Authority of BC.
Co-created by tenor Isaiah Bell and director Sean Guist, with newly commissioned orchestration by the Okanagan’s Kolby Zinger-Harris, The Book of My Shames is an intimate and heartfelt piece of cabaret style opera that tells Isaiah’s coming-out story.
Rapid-fire monologues and an eclectic assortment of musical styles underpin some big questions: What would it take to really change? How do we learn to love when we’ve turned on ourselves? Is it too late?
The show has been described as a “comic, wrenching, and a personal tour-de-force” that reminds us that desire, rejection, and acceptance are themes common to us all. Isaiah just does it with a bit of glitz, some operatic pathos, and a campy wink.
This is the first production back on stage for Opera Kelowna since 2019, and it’s also the first production staged under the company's new artistic and managing directors.
Artistic Director Rosemary Thomson says “We are so thrilled to be able to bring Isaiah Bell and The Book of My Shames to the stage at this time. This moving and funny musical portrait of self-acceptance and community inclusiveness is a message that is more important and relevant in our world today than ever.”
Brianna Wells is the new managing director.
Tickets are available online through simpletix.com. Search for the Book of My Shames.
Tickets are $46 per person, sold in tables of two, three or four.