News From Around the Barrio

We are very fortunate to live in a country of exceptional talent. I am continually in awe of the scope of it in the individuals that I encounter in this community, especially because it so often seems as though no one is content simply to be incredible at one specific thing, but delight instead in being marvellous in a wide array of different things! I’d like to share with you just a small selection of some of the amazing things that are happening around our barrio.

Allie Price and Patrick Smith from the sketch troupe Haircut rock this music video- it is so great! Smart. Hilarious. Catchy. Sleek and Crisp. “Suburbanite” is an 83 Pictures Production, was written by Patrick Smith and directed by Brett Blackwell. Checker Out.

I have started looking so forward each week to the new episodes of The Irrelevant Show, which you can listen to for free from CBC Podcasts! The Irrelevant Show is a weekly sketchy comedy show that is broadcast from Edmonton and features a crack team of some of the funniest performers and writers working in this country such as Mark Meer, Donovan Workun, Jana O’Connor, Marianne Copithorne, Neil Grahn and Leona Brausen. Led by head writer Neil Grahn, the writing team includes members of the cast as well as writers from Edmonton’s comedy community, including Chris Craddock and Dana Anderson. The show also reaches across the country for contributions from some of Canada’s funniest non-Edmontonians: Ian Boothby, Kurt Smeaton, Nile Seguin and George Westerholm. This show is some of the best sketch comedy I have ever come across. I guarantee you will laugh, you will be permeated by mirth and you will wait with bated breath, as I do, for the next episode to come your way! Also, if you’re lucky enough to live in Edmonton, you can attend the live taping shows, which I’m sure are even more uproarious and fun than listening in on the radio. Check out these deets!

I think that Torontonian soul/jazz/funk/pop musical sensation Maylee Todd is an incredible songstress, and her video for “Aerobics in Space” is a zany, creative hodgepodge of music and comics and comedians and cameos that harkens back to the cartoon and comic culture of a wistfully nerdy time gone by. You should mosey on over to the Torontoist website and read what Steve Fisher has to say about it too. Can ya dig it!? Ka-POW!

Hellllllllllllz yeah.

Oh! This is exciting, Edmonton! Teatro La Quindicina closes its season with a brand new musical from the composers of Everybody Goes to Mitzi’s! The Infinite Shiver opens on October 7th at 7:0pm and runs until October 23rd. Here’s some information from Jeff (Haslam) and the gang! “After a summer that saw record-breaking attendance for our hit shows The Ambassador’s Wives and Witness to a Conga, Teatro La Quindicina is pleased to announce the imminent premiere of our season closer, a brand new musical from the creators of last year’s award-winning musical comedy Everybody Goes to Mitzi’s. In The Infinite Shiver, playing at the Varscona Theatre from October 7 to 23, writers Jocelyn Ahlf and Andrew MacDonald-Smith, lyricist Farren Timoteo, and composer Ryan Sigurdson have created another exhilarating songfest that tears a page from Edmonton’s imagined history. This time, we visit the post-WW2 1940s, where a where a returning serviceman’s succumbing to love at first sight has startling consequences for the entire town. You’ll want to swing, swoon, and cozy up tight, when you hear the toe-tapping score to this mythical, mystical, and often hilarious romantic escapade.

Fresh from leading Teatro’s Conga at the Fringe, Andrew MacDonald-Smith returns to star as the lovestruck private Arthur Fitzroy, indelibly smitten by Sadie, an exotic new river city citizen, played by Jocelyn Ahlf. Aiding, abetting, and generally complicating their road to romance are Kendra Connor as a warbling WREN with an agenda, Shannon Blanchet as a wiseacre widow who dabbles in the mystic arts, and Geran Koornhof in his Teatro debut as Arthur’s optimally optimistic best pal. Mitzi’s director Farren Timoteo returns to lead a production team that includes designers Leona Brausen (costumes), Belinda Cornish, Bobby Smale & Jeff Haslam (set), and Bobby Smale and Matt Currie (lighting). Teatro playwright emeritus Stewart Lemoine serves as Elucidator to the writing team, while Jeff Haslam and Rachel Rudd share stage management duties, and more than a few laughs with musical director Cathy Derkach, who leads the live onstage band.

The Infinite Shiver runs at the Varscona Theatre from October 7 to 23. Performances are Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 7:30 pm, with additional matinee performances on Saturdays at 2pm.

Ticket prices are $26 for adults and $21 for students and seniors on Wednesday through Saturday evenings. All seats on Saturday afternoons are $15, and Tuesday evenings are Pay-What-You-Can. Friday October 8th at 7:30pm is our special 2 tickets for the price of 1 night! For reservations, call 780 433-3399, Voice box #1. Tickets also available through Tix on-the-Square at 780 420-1757 or http://www.tixonthesquare.ca/

Seriously, guys. What could be better?

On the other side of the country, Halifax is being hit with a storm of Shakespeare, with Romeo and Juliet still playing at Neptune’s Fountain Hall, now Hamlet is coming to the Bus Stop Theatre! Perchance Productions, a newly established, Halifax based theatre company, will present this Shakespeare classic, opening October 6 and running until October 24 with evening performances Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8:00 and public Matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2:00. Standard Admission is $25, discounted to $20 for students and seniors. For ticket information or reservations call: (902) 293-8383.

Perchance Productions is a group of local artists who came together under the leadership of director, Nancy Marshall, specifically to mount a full-scale community production of this play, which is perhaps Shakespeare’s most popular tragedy. The company is a mix of amateurs and professionals, newcomers and veterans, young people and (slightly) older people, who share a passion for Shakespeare. Gregory Slack, a graduate of King’s College, heads up a cast of 17, which includes well-known Halifax entertainers Bill Wood and Emily Shute, who play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Halifax Filmmaker Glenn Walton portrays King Claudius and Nancy Marshall, Queen Gertrude. Polonius is played by Terry Mullan. Familiar Halifax Feast Dinner Theatre veteran, Steven Heisler appears as Horatio. Dilly MacFarlane plays the First Player and the Gravedigger. Ophelia is Lauren Messervy. The role of Laertes is played by Jordan Gracie. Jasmine Oore is featured as The Player Queen and long time DaPoPo member Eric Benson will play the Player King, Old Hamlet, and Osric. In addition to playing Bernardo and Reynaldo, local composer Erin Hansen has written original music for the production. Also in the company are: Andy Watt playing Norwegian Prince Fortinbras, Shawn Maggio in the role of Voltemand, and Couriters Sabrina Li Hansen and Elizabeth Ashworth. Elizabeth alternates Player Queen with Jasmine.

If you were in High School in Halifax five to fifteen years ago, Nancy Marshall likely directed your High School musicals, as she did mine, so you know that she is a formidable talent and a brilliant teacher. I bet this one is magical!

Lastly, I am absolutely obsessed with The Gramercy Riffs, a “heartbreak/nostalgia” pop group from Newfoundland. I love them. I love their songs and their vibe and Mara Pellerin’s voice. Expect me to write more about them in the future. Right now, just listen to THIS SONG. GAH. I LOVE IT.