Live theatre, music and art have returned in full force, and New West audiences have plenty of options for entertainment this month.
Check out the events on this week's Must-Do List:
SCREWBALL COMEDY
Those classic Hollywood movies starring such luminaries as Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn have gotten an update — and you can catch the fun at the Anvil Centre Theatre (777 Columbia St.).
Royal Canadian Theatre Co. is presenting Screwball Comedy from Thursday, May 5 to Sunday, May 8. The show marks the company's second try at the Western Canadian premiere of Norm Foster’s comedy (the first attempt got cancelled by COVID, of course).
Get set for the fast-talking, gag-cracking hilarity that characterized those silver screen delights as you travel back to 1938, where the courageous and hard-working Mary Hayes is trying to find a new career. She sets her sights on the male-dominated world of newspaper journalism — and finds herself in competition with the self-absorbed ace reporter, Jeff Kincaid.
It’s suitable for adults and older children (12+).
You can catch it onstage May 5, 6 and 7 at 7:30 p.m., with matinees on May 7 and 8 at 3:30 p.m. The Sunday afternoon matinee is a special “relaxed performance” that’s designed to be less intense for those with sensory or other intellectual challenges.
You can buy tickets online.
ART TALKS
This exhibition at the Anvil Centre’s Community Art Gallery has its official opening on Thursday, May 5 from 5 to 7 p.m.
Art Talks is an exhibition that brings together eight artists who met online during the COVID-19 pandemic, at a time when isolation created unforeseen challenges for artists — and people generally.
The group — which includes Olga Campbell, Dorothy Doherty, Faye Gordon-Lewis, Julie Pappajohn, Ellen Pelto, Terry Rammell, Victoria Scudamore, Carolyn Sullivan and Sande Waters — evolved out of a desire to stay connected with other artists, the art world and the world in general during the pandemic.
The artists work in a variety of media, including photography, 3D, fibre/textiles, painting, drawing, collage and mixed media.
“The isolation caused by COVID-19 reveals there is a powerful desire for artists to communicate; to engage in discussion, to share art, knowledge, skills and to help each other navigate areas that are unfamiliar. These artists wish to convey that art can be an extraordinary unifying force and bring inspiration and meaning to people’s lives,” a press release explains.
Drop in to the third-floor gallery (777 Columbia St.) to check it out.
MUSIC OF THE NIGHT
If just the title of the concert instantly has a soundtrack playing in your head, you’re probably the right audience for this one: a concert celebration marking the 75th birthday of acclaimed musical theatre composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Join professional cast of performers in a concert of selections from Phantom of the Opera, Evita, Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar, Sunset Boulevard and more.
It’s on Friday, May 6 at 7:30 p.m. at Massey Theatre, 735 Eighth Ave. Tickets are $45 to $55, plus GST; buy online.
FRASER VALLEY POTTERS GUILD
The Fraser Valley Potters Guild makes a return to the world of live shows with its Artists’ Choice exhibition at the Gallery at Queen’s Park.
The exhibition runs May 4 to 29 at the Arts Council of New Westminster’s gallery in Centennial Lodge.
There’s also an upcoming Inter/Action event, Play With Clay, set for Saturday, May 21 in the Queen’s Park Bandshell from 1 to 4 p.m.
Each artist taking part was allowed to contribute a piece made at any time. Normally, the group’s juried shows feature work made just in the past year, but this show’s boundaries were extended to recognize the difficulties many artists have faced accessing classes and facilities over the past two years.
You can stop in to the gallery Wednesdays through Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
SHAUN MAJUMDER
Award-winning actor and comedy Shaun Majumder brings his newest stand-up show, LOVE, to the Massey Theatre stage on Friday, May 13 at 7:30 p.m.
It’s a followup to his tour-de-force show, HATE, which he brought to the Massey Theatre in 2019. That show was largely in response to living amid rampant Trumpism and the rise of hate he was witnessing in the U.S. and Canada. (Here's an interview with Shaun Majumder from that year.) Now, he’s flipping the script with the new show, LOVE.
Majumder, born and raised in small-town Newfoundland, will be familiar to Canadian audiences from 14 years in the cast of This Hour Has 22 Minutes. He has also starred in the Farrelly Brothers comedy Unhitched and had roles on 24, Robson Arms and Da Kink in My Hair. He’s now hosting the CBC series Race Against the Tide.
Tickets for his Massey show are $56, on sale now online.
Follow Julie MacLellan on Twitter @juliemaclellan.
Email Julie, [email protected].
