Ballet BC is proud to announce the return to Vancouver of Alberta Ballet’s The Nutcracker, at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre from December 28th until December 31st, 2013 with three evening performances and two matinees.
Photo courtesy of the Alberta Ballet. Credit: Darren Makowichuk
Choreographed by Edmund Stripe, with sets and costumes designed by Emmy Award-winning designer Zack Brown, The Nutcracker is set in turn of the 20th century Imperial Russia, an era of opulent grandeur. This production “…sparkles like a Fabergé egg…” says the Vancouver Sun and extravagantly displays more than a million dollars in stunning sets and costumes. With scores of children, mice in the battle scene dressed as Cossack soldiers, and snowflakes dressed as Russian princesses, this “sparking and spectacular achievement” (The Calgary Herald) offers a perfect complement to Tchaikovsky’s glorious musical score played live by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
Choreography: Edmund Stripe; Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky; Live Music: The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra; Set & Costumes: Zack Brown; Lighting Design: Pierre Lavoie
Performance times are 7:30pm on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, December 28th to December 30th and 2:00pm matinées on Sunday and Tuesday, December 29th and December 31st.
Tickets for The Nutcracker can be purchased through Ticketmaster at 1-855-985-2787 (855-985ARTS) or online, and range in price from $26.50-$85 (excluding service charges). Family packs and child prices available.
Nutcracker New Year’s Eve in Vancouver Contest
Thanks to Ballet BC, the St. Regis Hotel, and Gotham Steakhouse, I have a fantastic prize to offer. I wanted to make this an unforgettable night at the theatre inspired by a date night John and I had earlier this year and these three partners have definitely delivered! The following prize package will go to one lucky reader and a guest to enjoy on New Year’s Eve:
Two matinée tickets to Alberta Ballet The Nutcracker Presented by Ballet BC on December 31, 2013.
Follow Ballet BC on Twitter | Facebook
A one night stay at the St. Regis Hotel on December 31, 2013. Perfectly located in the centre of downtown Vancouver, the St. Regis Hotel offers award-winning service and refined boutique hotel accommodations. The independent, Canadian-owned and operated St. Regis recently completed a total renovation that brought this beautiful heritage building up to the highest level of modern comfort and finish. You stay includes a complimentary full breakfast, high-speed internet, and more within steps of every downtown attraction.
Follow The St. Regis Hotel on Twitter | Facebook
Following the show, warm up with a complimentary round of cocktails for two at Gotham Steakhouse & Cocktail Bar. The cocktail bar at Gotham is a sexy, art deco-inspired space to savour a drink and some lively conversation with friends or clients. And nothing goes better with a stiff cocktail than a baby grand. Guests at the cocktail bar enjoy live music from Thursday to Sunday nights.
Follow Gotham Steakhouse on Twitter | Facebook
RT to enter to win a Nutcracker NYE package from @BalletBC @TheStRegisHotel @GothamVancouver @Miss604 http://ow.ly/rGdpe
I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Thursday, December 19, 2013. Prize is only valid for December 31, 2013 and can not be exchanged for any other date combinations. Should the winner drawn be unable to use the prize on December 31, 2013, a new winner will be selected at random from all entries.
Update The winner is Mike! (Comment December 12, 2013 at 1:12 PM)
Broadway Across Canada presents Blue Man Group at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre coming up in March, 2014. Known for their wildly popular theatrical shows and concerts which combine comedy, music, and technology to produce a totally unique form of entertainment, the New York Times heralds the show as “One of the most delightful performance pieces ever staged.”
Where: Queen Elizabeth Theatre, 630 Hamilton St, Vancouver When: March 25th to March 30th, 2014 Pre-Sale Code: Use this purchase link and the code PONCHO between December 11th and December 15th, 2013 to take advantage of the pre-sale.
Although it is impossible to describe, people of all ages agree that BLUE MAN GROUP is an intensely exciting and wildly outrageous show that leaves the entire audience in a blissful, euphoric state. With no spoken language, BLUE MAN GROUP is perfect for people of all ages, languages, and cultures. BLUE MAN GROUP is now on the road for its first U.S. theatrical tour. This unique experience is a form of entertainment like nothing else; guaranteed to be an outing you will never forget.
The general on-sale date for Blue Man Group in Vancouver is Monday, December 16, 2013. Follow Broadway Across Canada on Twitter and Facebook for more information about the shows they will be bringing to Vancouver in 2014.
Throughout the year my pal Marc Smith chronicles his adventures one day at a time, in themes that last for 30 days. He’s featured food truck eating, random acts of kindness, ethnic eats, travel, and more in 30-day spans.
Along with his video series co-host Steven Schelling, Marc has come up with 30 items that would make great gifts for the holidays and has put together a calendar of gift-giving complete with giveaways for each category he features.
1. Gifts for Him (Contest Closed)
2. Gifts for Her (Contest Closed)
3. Gifts for Party Host (Contest Closed)
4. Gifts for Pets (Contest Prize: The “Good Dog” Gift Pail)
5. Gifts for Foodies (Contest Prize: The Missing Ingredient)
6. Gifts for Home (Contest Prize: Escents Aromatherapy Gift Basket)
7. Gifts for the Kitchen (Contest Prize: Cuisinart Countertop Steam Oven)
8. Charity Gifts to Buy (Upcoming)
9. Gifts to give the Traveller (Upcoming)
10. Marc & Steven’s Favourite things (Upcoming)
Each contest is open for a few days so be sure to jump in with your entries when the latest gift guide is posted. Follow Marc’s 30 Days of Holiday Gifts series for more information.
The event will be a revue, giving each artist a change to play an intimate “unplugged style” set. Come join in for a warm and festive evening, filled with some of the best music of the Pacific Northwest.
After four successful years of sold out shows at Victoria’s Alix Goolden Hall and Vancouver’s Vogue Theatre, the band will also bring the revue to Courtenay’s Sid Williams Theatre for the first time.
Jon and Roy Holiday Special
Friday, December 13th in Vancouver at The Vogue Theatre
Presented by the Vogue Theatre, The Georgia Straight and PEAK 102.7FM
Doors at 7:00pm; Tickets: $25 (all ages)
Tickets available at Zulu, Vogue Box Office and online
Saturday December 14th in Courtenay at the Sid Williams Theatre
Doors at 7:00pm; Tickets: $37 (all ages)
Tickets available at theatre box office (442 Cliffe Ave), 1-866-898-TIXX (8499) and online
Sunday, December 15th in Victoria at Alix Goolden Hall
Presented by Atomique Productions and The Zone FM
Doors at 7:00pm ; Tickets: $28 (all ages)
Tickets available at Lyle’s Place, Ditch Records and online
Victoria, BC folk-roots rockers Jon and Roy have been busy on the road since the June 2012 release of their fourth album Let It Go. The group toured with CBC’s Stuart McLean Vinyl Café and toured Western Canada with fellow Victorians Current Swell. They took home the 2013 Western Canadian Music Award for the Best Roots Group and wrapped up recording a new album this month, which is set for release in Winter 2014.
If you would like to attend the Jon and Roy Holiday Special at the Vogue Theatre in Vancouver I have a pair of tickets up for grabs. Here’s how you can enter to win:
Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)
RT to enter to win tickets to the @jonandroy Holiday Special from @Miss604 http://ow.ly/rE3mc
Since the concert event is this Friday I will draw a winner tomorrow evening. Contest ends at 5:00pm on Wednesday, December 11, 2013. The winner will receive two tickets to the Vancouver show.
Moist was a Discman staple of most good Canadian kids who grew up in Vancouver in the 1990s. Silver, Creature, and Mercedes 5 and Dime heavily rotated on CFOX while kids like me from Surrey would take the SkyTrain, then a bus, to all-ages shows at the Pacific Coliseum. We’d catch triple bills of our local favourites who also appeared each Friday night on TV in the Much Music Countdown.
“We never really broke up,” frontman David Usher told me over the phone today, “we announced it as a hiatus.” After 13 years Moist has regrouped and returned to the stage for a 6-city Canadian tour which lands in Vancouver on Wednesday, December 18, 2013 at the Commodore.
Photo courtesy of Live Nation
From 1993 to 2001, over the course of three multiplatinum albums, MOIST led the vanguard of the Canadian alt-rock scene, sold over a million records and toured relentlessly from sea to sea to sea, literally. After an exhausting decade, the band went on hiatus in 2001 to take a breath, pursue divergent personal and professional trajectories, build families and find their lives outside of MOIST. Now, twenty years after the start of it all and with renewed vigour and an irrepressible urge to rock, MOIST is back and “The Resurrection” is upon us. [Live Nation]
Usher said that they all decided that getting back together would be fun, on a whim, and before he knew it they were “in the sh*t, as they say.” “Every year it gets brought up and there’s always a reason not to do it. This year, I don’t know why, everyone was just really into it.”
“We have found something on stage that didn’t exist before. There’s still this energy… but there’s something new as well.”
They have already recorded a Christmas tune for CBC Radio 3, which make Usher chuckle being “half Jewish, half Buddhist” but it has shown that the group’s cohesiveness hasn’t skipped a beat.
One quick scan of YouTube to look up Moist’s video collection reminds one of just how prolific the band was during its time in the spotlight. Winning the Juno Awards for Best New Group of 1995, Best Video (Gasoline) in 1997, and various video and Canadian rock awards in the years to follow. “Doing this after so many years, I wasn’t really sure what to expect and how to feel about it.” It all seemed to come back together quickly for the group. “We’re pretty goddamn happy to be doing it again.”
David Usher alone has certainly kept busy, cranking out a new solo album every 2-3 years consistently since 1998 while living in New York and then returning to Quebec. He, along with Mark Makoway, Jeff Pearce, Kevin Young, and Francis Fillion (now on drums) have now already played a few shows in Ontario since resurrecting Moist and the reception has been extremely positive.
As for a new album on the horizon, Usher told me that they’re definitely writing songs and are “pretty committed to writing new material.”
During their hiatus, Moist was gone but not forgotten. David Usher was one of the first artists that I followed on Twitter after I joined the social network in March of 2007 — he joined in August of the same year. Referring to himself as an “uber geek” when I asked about social media and Twitter in particular, which didn’t exist when Moist was in its heyday, Usher said that he’s always been a first-adopter of tools. Like many of us who like the experiment with the ever-changing media landscape, he’s found the time to disconnect and also when to let the medium play its role.
You might be like me, attending your long-awaited first “19+” Moist concert at the Commodore, or you might just be getting acquainted with this Vancouver staple of the 1990s (through the previously-mentioned trove of YouTube gems). Tickets are still available online through Ticketmaster so be sure to scoop yours up. You can follow @DavidUsher and @MoistOnline on Twitter for the latest information tour updates.
The holidays are upon us and that means it’s time for the 5th annual 