Book of Mormon, Wicked, Flashdance all coming to Vancouver
Vancouver finally gets the chance to see much-acclaimed musical Book of Mormon, along with returning favourite Wicked and the Vancouver premiere ofFlashdance for Broadway Across Canadas 2014-15 season. Wicked flies into town May 28June 29 while Flashdance: The Musical chases dreams November 1116.
Fans of South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone will have to wait until April 7-12, 2015 to see whats been billed as the best musical of this century (New York Times) and the funniest musical of all time (Entertainment Weekly). Tickets, however, go on sale Feb. 3 at 10am at BroadwayAcrossCanada.ca and 1-855-542-7469.
Romeo, meet Tony
You can have your fix of Romeo and Juliet's tragic love story two ways in the upcoming days. First there's the classical, lyrical version when the Royal Winnipeg Ballet brings Prokofiev's ballet to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre from January 30 to February 1.
Then there's the Stephen Sondheim/Leonard Bernstein/Jerome Robbins version: West Side Story. Instead of warring families in Italy, we have warring gangs in 1950s New York City.
Romeo is transformed into Tony, who wants to escape the street life.He's at a Mambo dance competition when he falls in love with Maria, the sister of the leader of a Puerto Rican gang called the Sharks.The Sharks are enemies of the Jets, a gang led by Tony's friend. It's the type of musical where you leave the theatre humming the songs (or, throwing caution to the wind, belting them out.)When you're a Jet, you're a Jet all the way, from your first cigarette to your last dying day. I've just met a girl named Maria. I like to be in America, everything free in America. I feel pretty, Oh, so pretty, I feel pretty and witty and bright.
The touring Broadway revival is at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Feb. 4 to 9. Ticket prices range from $93 to $333 and are available at Ticketmaster.ca.
String Fling returns
The second annual String Fling is set to take place on Thursday, Feb. 6 at the Rio Theatre (1660 E. Broadway). Presented by the Four on The Floor String Quartet, the event will feature performances by Four on The Floor with specials guests: Ryan Guldemond (Mother Mother), Jay Malinowski (Bedouin Soundclash), Steve Bays and Parker Bosley (Fur Trade, Hot Hot Heat), Brandon Scott (Yukon Blonde), Laura Smith (Rococode) and Tonye Aganaba. Tickets are $20 in advance and are on sale now at Red Cat, Zulu and Hipcity.ca; 19+.
Bones creator to speak at UBC
Hart Hanson, the creator of Bones and the person responsible for the newly announced Fox television series Backstrom, will be giving a free lecture at his alma mater. From Here to There: A Nice Canadian Boy goes to Hollywood is at UBCs Chan Centre on February 5 at 8pm.
The lecture is part of Hansons week-long stay at UBC as Cliff Writer-in-Residence. Hanson got his Master of Fine Arts at UBC and taught there. He now lives in Malibu.
Hansons CV is certainly impressive and prodigious. Backstrom stars Rainn Wilson (The Office) and the pilot was recently shot in Vancouver. Bones is in its ninth season and prior to that he was executive producer of Judging Amy and Joan of Arcadia. His experience on this side of the border includes writing and producing shows for Beachcombers, North of 60, The Road to Avonlea, and Stargate. He won the Writers Guild of Canada award for best writing in a television series for Traders.
Learn special effects secrets
Did you leave the film Gravity wondering how they did that, or inspired to create special effects like that yourself? SPARK [FWD] is putting on a five-day event which includes a job fair, a conference and a film festival which showcases some of the best from the past and present of visual effects, stereo 3D and advanced imaging. Leading the conference are presenters who have shaped and changed the industry with their work: notably, John Knoll, chief creative officer of Industrial Light and Magic; Steve Spaz Williams, director, VFX supervisor and ILMs chief animator and modeler on Jurassic Park and The Mask and more. Passes are now available at SparkFX.ca; single $20/full pass $250.
