Lots of live entertainment if you’re looking for a good time
Live music venues are starting to pop up in various little hubs and hideaways across our valley because of creative and enthusiastic musicians who live by the same rule that I have always held true: “Create your own work and stop waiting by the phone in hope that it will find you.”
Local musician Sean Bray is doing just that by creating an Art & Jazz Night at Sandhill Urban Winery in Kelowna. Bray has secured the Chill Room, (aka: The Old Gretzky Bar) for a once-amonth concert to feature various local jazz artists to perform all the while surrounded by local art. Tonight is the first of the monthly series and will feature The Sean Bray Trio to include Chris Startup on Saxophone and Stefan Bienz on Double Bass. Displaying their painting this month will feature artists Lynda Norman and Debby Markel. I hope we can all gather and support this inaugural event. Tickets are $20 at the door. The concert begins at 7 p.m. tonight.
Tonight is also opening night for New Vintage Theatre’s recent endeavor The Girl on the Train. This stage adaptation of Paula Hawkins’ bestselling novel which sold a bazillion copies and spawned a hit film starring Emily Blunt, is now a stage play and it’s making its B.C. premiere at the Rotary Centre For The Arts April 25 to 27 and then again in May 2 and 3. This is a story of a woman who finds solace imagining the lives of a couple she sees each day from the window of her train commute. When the woman she’s been watching disappears, she takes on the role of amateur sleuth only to become a suspect. The play stars local actors Sarah Foss, Hannah Krostewich, Matt Che’z, Josh Richardson, Erika Nemeth, Matt Gunn, Karliana DeWolff and Alvin Tam. Tickets available thru rotarycentreforthearts.com.
In Penticton, The Many Hats Theatre Company presents ‘Jonas and Barry in the Home’, a quick-witted play, written by Canada’s preeminent comic playwright Norman Foster. Meet Barry, who is too young to live in a senior home but does so to be near his daughter, who works at the home, and Jonas, a one-hitwonder pop star from 40 years ago. Both men bicker and bond over women, sports, and family values. Directed by Jane Pikey and starring Liz Barry, Rob King and Vance Potter. The show run is Friday to Sunday only until May 5 at The Cannery Trade Centre Stage. Tickets are $28 to $30 thru app.ticketowl.io/@ manyhatstheatre.
Musaic vocal ensemble will perform their spring concert this weekend in the Okanagan under the leadership of Zach Goerlitz. The concert is under the banner name of Memories Through Melodies which will take listeners on a journey in music from Vivaldi Gloria, Faure Requiem, The Ave Verum Corpus, Henry Balfour Gardiner, Evening Hymn, Song for Athene and others, including a promised, “stirring rendition” of a favourite Scottish song called “The Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomond.” The voices will be accompanied by Piano, Organ and a small ensemble of strings. Held on Saturday April 27 at Concordia Lutheran Church, Penticton and again Sunday April 28 at St John’s Lutheran Church in Summerland. Both concerts will be performed at 2 p.m. Tickets are $20 for adults and $5 for students. Purchase by cash at the door on the day or visit the website at www.musaicvocalensemble.ca for advance tickets and more information about the ensemble.
Also happening on Saturday evening in Kelowna is The Okanagan Festival Singers and their spring concert, Roses I Send To You. Held at St. Michaels All Angels in Kelowna at 7 p.m. and then on Sunday April 28, in Lake Country at The Creekside Theatre beginning at 2 p.m. Led by Music Director Tami Harker, with accompanist Ursula Pidgeon and the Vita Nova String Ensemble. This is quite an eclectic program of music to include folk songs from the British Isles, spirituals, Canadian songs, and highlighted by beautiful works by J.S. Bach and Antonio Vivaldi. Tickets are $25 thru ofsingers.ca.
Elvis is in the building at Kelowna Actors Studio this weekend from April 26 to 28, with “Burnin’ Love”. An evening of nostalgia when Darren Lee takes on the persona of Elvis Presley to relive the Hawaiian concert that became a legendary performance for the “King’. Accompanying Lee is The Memphis Flash who impeccably reproduces the sound of the original recording. The evening also promises spot-on vocals and dazzling costumes. Tickets start at $66.55 and can be purchased thru kelownaactorsstudio.com.