Michael Bernard Fitzgerald

Coastal Jazz presents Winterruption at Performance Works on Granville Island Feb 24-26. It is the seventh annual, truly unique Vancouver winter festival. The magic is in the mix as we once again celebrate our local and international artists of all disciplines.

There is food, arts, kids stuff along with music and performances by Michael Bernard Fitzgerald with special guests Acres of Lions, Aidan Knight with special guests The Belle Game, Celso Machado, and 3 others.

Artists and artisans fill the galleries, nooks and crannies of Granville Island. There are exhibitions and open studios around every corner! ReVision at the Creekhouse is exhibiting recycled, salvaged, or found materials transformed into amazing art! Dalbergia Wood + Fine Objects Studio in Railspur Alley is presenting Woodenough, a wood exhibition, sharing techniques and exploring new frontiers in the world of wood. Continuing Studies at Emily Carr University of Art and Design is offering a behind-the-scenes tour of the University as well as a Drop-In Life Drawing workshop.

The Island is alive with theatre and dance. Visit the Granville Island Stage where the Arts Club Theatre Company is presenting Intimate Apparel, a richly textured love story by Lynn Nottage. Or expect the unexpected as some of Vancouver’s favourite dancers pop up in unusual spaces all over the Island.

More info on Winterruption is here.

The Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company, in co-production with Canadian Stage and The Citadel Theatre, present John Logan’s Tony Award-winning play, Red. This stark and passionate production explores the life and work of celebrated Abstract Expressionist painter Mark Rothko as he struggles to create a masterpiece in the face of fame, fortune and commercialism.

This was a wonderful production about life, of course it was also about painting and being focussed on a painting career. It was a well-acted production that featured Jim Mezon who played Mark Rothko. Set in his studio in the late 1950s, the play is a fictionalized account of one of Rothko’s historic artistic commissions: to create a series of murals for the new Four Seasons restaurant in the Seagram Building in New York City. As he paints, Rothko begins to question the project he’s committed to and his role as an artist. When he sees that his great commission will reduce his paintings to being merely decorative rather than transformative, he confronts this new truth through a visceral and passionate debate of ideas, art and relevance. Actor David Coomber played Ken and aspiring painter who became Rothko’s assistant. This pairing between an experienced actor and an emerging performer echoes the master-apprentice relationship between their respective characters and brings an added layer of depth to the performance.

Red will be on stage at the Vancouver Playhouse to February 4, 2012

For tickets Call 604 873 3311 or book ONLINE vancouverplayhouse.com

DanceHouse & Vancouver New Music present

DanceHouse’s third presentation of its four-show series features white-hot UK choreographer Wayne McGregor, with work for his own company, Random Dance, at the Vancouver Playhouse February 10 and 11, 2012, 8pm.

An hour-long breathtaking trip through a soundscape created by Coldplay and Massive Attack collaborator Jon Hopkins and award-winning composer Joby Talbot (The Divine Comedy), ENTITY is a staggering blend of bodies, lights, and technology that places McGregor at the cutting edge of contemporary culture. Technically astonishing, emotionally uncompromising and hard-hitting, McGregor’s work breaks boundaries and defies categorization.

Wayne McGregor is a multi-award winning British choreographer, renowned for his physically testing choreography and groundbreaking collaborations across dance, film, music, visual art, technology, and science. He is the Artistic Director of Wayne McGregor | Random Dance, Resident Company at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London and Resident Choreographer of The Royal Ballet (appointed 2006).

February 10  & 11, 8pm, Vancouver Playhouse

For more information, call 604.801.6225 or visit dancehouse.ca.

On Tuesday night I saw the Premiere of this quirky one of a kind show that is a must see. Telling the tale of the Craigslist ads in song and comedy, I could relate and the majority of the audience could relate as well. Just spending a few minutes on Craigslist randomly checking the ads in Vancouver as well as in other cities reveals story after story. With awesome music, a great cast and a well designed set, this production is a hit, and I hope it makes it to Broadway someday soon.

Your personal ads, set to music! Irregular hats for cats, mounted lobsters, autographed copies of the Bible: this new work from composer Veda Hille and the CBC’s Bill Richardson explores what humanity has to offer and turns it into sidesplitting musical fare. Who wouldn’t want a broken time machine, for free? Come and take a look at the vagaries and intimacies of the internet. Featuring the original songs “300 Stuffed Penguins,” “Chilli Eating Buddy,” “Decapitated Dolls,” and more.

With more than 700 local sites in 70 countries, and over 20 billion page-views and 50 million new ads posted monthly, Craigslist has become a treasured online locus where we are sanctioned to share our needs, wants, and offerings. Hille describes it as “the mass of humanity pressed against the glass,” offering a forum that is simultaneously anonymous and incredibly public. After its smashing debut as part of Twenty-Minute Musicals at Club PuSh in 2009, Do You Want What I Have Got? A Craigslist Cantata returns as a full-fledged production with 80 heartfelt minutes of quick-witted spoken text and song.

Do You Want What I Have Got? A Craigslist Cantata is the brainchild of two of Vancouver’s most beloved cultural icons. An award-winning writer and broadcaster, Bill Richardson has contributed to CBC Radio since 1984 and currently hosts “Saturday Afternoon at the Opera” and “In Concert.” Composer Veda Hille is one of Canada’s foremost indie singer-songwriters and has been described as “visceral, luminescent, fierce, haunting, and with talent to burn” (The Coast, Halifax).

January 19 – February 11, 2012 8:00pm | Tues 7:30pm

Matinee Wed & Sat 2:00pm, No show Sun

Arts Club, Revue Stage. 1601 Johnston Street, Granville Island

Post-Show Talkback Feb 7

Tickets from $25

Arts Club Box Office

artsclub.com | 604.687.1644

Mariano Pensotti (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Presented by the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival and SFU Woodward’s

8:00pm

The Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre, Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, 149 West Hastings Street.

Post-Show Talkback Feb 3, led by Kenji Maeda

…the past arises… an animal glimpsed in our dream jungle. An animal that changes shape each time we remember it. A grotesque animal.

It’s 1999 in Buenos Aires. Mario, Laura, Pablo, and Vicky are in their mid-twenties and ready for careers, love, and adulthood. Over the next 10 years, Argentina’s economy will collapse and their lives will take a series of unexpected turns. In this fast-paced, multilayered “mega fiction,” director Mariano Pensotti—the artist responsible for lighting up the streets of Gastown with La Marea as part of PuSh 2011—deftly unfolds the lives of these four characters. El pasado es un animal grotesco (The Past is a Grotesque Animal) is a funny and moving portrait that takes place atop a slowly spinning turntable stage; a reminder of time’s ceaseless march. Guided by a narrative voice-over, we are granted access to a string of defining moments in the touching and tumultuous lives of the four characters. Moments that illustrate how quickly and easily real life can transform into fiction and back again.

>>[Pensotti creates] a compelling portrait of the self-obsession of his own generation that achieves that rare feat of profoundly moving an audience without ever descending into trite stereotypes or easy sentimentalism…The production is also blisteringly funny.<< Plays International

Mariano Pensotti is an Argentinean-born writer and director whose experimental work incorporates elements of theatre, literature, film and visual arts. His work has been shown extensively in his home country of Argentina, as well as in Belgium, Germany, Ireland, France, Spain, Denmark, Canada, Poland, Latvia, England, Switzerland, Austria and Japan.

In Spanish with English subtitles

Tickets Advance $32 /$28 /$26; at door $34 /$30 /$28

Tickets Tonight

ticketstonight.ca | 604.684.2787 Additional service charges apply to phone orders

Eligible for PuSh Pass access

In the House Festival and Salt Tasting Room present:

Fourplay

A dinner/theatre experience like no other!

Why is love so illogical? Enticing, compelling and often oh so awkward, what makes us behave the way we do in our quest

for partnership? Fourplay takes you on an interactive exploration of the various stages of courtship.

February 13, 20, 27 and March 5, 2012

Doors at 7:00 pm

Show at 7:30 pm sharp

45 Blood Alley

Come to one show or come to all!

$65 per night or save $20 and come to all 4!

Ticket price includes dinner + theatre

*beverages + gratuity not included

What are you in store for when you go to Fourplay? Here are some more details about each of the nights:

Monday, February 13

Episode 1 – Chemistry

The seeds of love often come from the strangest places. Come partake in a grand experiment to try to discover the secrets and foibles of romantic behaviour. Special guests: musician + lyrical

raconteur, Melissa Bandura, Actor + clown,  Deneh Thompson

Monday, February 20

Episode 2 – Magic

Engagement – the golden apple of so many relationships. It’s not often we get to witness such a special sight, but now’s your chance. Special guest: Magician + purveyor of all things wondrous, Travis Bernhardt

Monday, February 27

Episode 3 – Spice

What happens when the stag party and the wedding shower get booked at the same restaurant on the same date? Fireworks guaranteed! Special guest: TBA – hint: it involves burlesque

Monday, March 5

Episode 4 – Union

It’s a wedding! Come and join us for a celebration you’ll never forget. Special guests: Orkestar Slivovica

Follow the story the whole way or join us for just one episode.

All shows take place at Salt Tasting Room. Each show has a special menu created uniquely for each event. Vegetarian option available.

Tickets must be purchased in advance

Info and tickets at www.inthehousefestival.com

Eating meets Theatre for families as the Push Festival takes family entertainment to another level.

Taking place in Vancouver January 25 – February 4, 2012

At various restaurants in Gastown and surrounding neighbourhoods

Costs: The price of whatever you’re feeling fly enough to order!

See below for a complete list of participating restaurants and dates, and be sure to stop by to meet the kids and grab a bite to eat.

Fine dining the way it was meant to be—with children.

Mammalian Diving Reflex, the company behind Haircuts by Children, is at it again with a whimsical work of contemporary performance that yanks power and authority from the clutches of adults and places it in the deserving hands of children. Following a culinary session with a professional chef, grades five and six students from Bridgeview Elementary in Surrey will make stops at several of the city’s most notable eateries in Gastown and surrounding neighbourhoods. They will be feted and fed throughout the three weeks of the Festival, charged with offering their brutally honest, uncensored opinions on the food, the service, the décor, the state of the washrooms and the charm of the dishwasher.

For the mere cost of a meal, the public is invited to sit amongst the kids for a front-row view of the youthful connoisseurs in action. It will be the most fun meal you’ve had since you, yourself, sat at the kids table. Check back for a complete list of restaurants and dates, or follow the shenanigans at eatdastreet.blogspot.com. Then join the panel of pre-adolescent adjudicators for an uproarious awards ceremony where awards are bestowed for everything from “Most Delicious” and “Coolest Chef” to “Least Graffiti in the Washroom.”

Produced by Mammalian Diving Reflex

Supported by The Roundhouse Arts and Recreation Centre and TELUS Vancouver Community Board.

Special thanks to the Gastown Business Improvement Association.

……………………..

RESTAURANTS AND DATES

Irish Heather GastroPub- January 25, 6pm

210 Carrall Street

Mains range from $13-24, email reso.irishheather@gmail.com for reservations.

Calabash Bistro – January 26, 6pm

428 Carrall Street   604.568.5882

Mains range from $12-21, reservations recommended.

Nuba @ The Waldorf – January 27, 6pm

1489 E Hastings Street   604.253.7141

Appies and mains range from $6-19, reservations recommended.

Subeez – January 28, 6pm

891 Homer Street   604.687.6107

Share plates and mains range from $7-18, reservations recommended.

La Casita – January 29, 6pm

101 West Cordova Street   604.646.2444

Mains range from $11-23, reservations recommended.

Chambar – January 30, 6pm

562 Beatty Street   604.879.7119

Appies range from $12-16, Mains range from $22-33. Reservations recommended.

Chill Winston – January 31, 6pm

3 Alexander Street

Nothing on the menu over $20. No reservations, arrive early to avoid disappointment.

Nicli Antica Pizzeria – February 1, 5pm

62 East Cordova Street

Pizzas range from $9-20. No reservations, arrive early to avoid disappointment.

The Old Spaghetti Factory – February 2, 6pm

53 Water Street

Mains range from $9.50-17.95, reservations recommended.

For the mere cost of a meal, join the youthful connoisseurs for a front-row view of the action!

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

1. Choose a restaurant

2. Make a reservation, or show up at the appointed date and time.

(Make sure to tell them you’re coming for Eat the Street.)

3. Join the fun!

Then to top off the week, they are inviting everyone back for the

Eat the Street Awards Ceremonies

February 4, 2pm at The Roundhouse, 181 Roundhouse Mews.

FREE

More details here

Colourful World

Claude Debussy, Rodney Sharman, Toru Takemitsu

Sunday, January 29, 2012 at 8pm

Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre

 Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, SFU Woodward’s

Presented with SFU Woodward’s and PuSh International Performing Arts Festival 

Prepare yourself for a truly outstanding evening as the Turning Point Ensemble celebrates a century of colour and new expression with reinvented  Debussy masterworks of 1912, the exquisite music of Toru Takemitsu and with a premiere by one of Canada’s leading composers, Rodney Sharman.

Michael Bushnell has created a new arrangement of Debussy’s rarely performed orchestral masterpiece – the enigmatic and sensual Jeux - also included will be the Debussy Cello Sonata performed by talented cellist, Ari Barnes.

The evening will also provide another rare treat of Toru Takemitusu’s work, Rain Coming and the Canadian Premiere of Archipelago S for 21 players.  With the orchestra dispersed in five different sections (“calling out to each other across the great distance separating them”), the music describes an imaginary archipelago made up of five real islands, each island’s name beginning with an “S”: islands in Stockholm, Seattle, and the Seto Inland Sea of Japan.

The dynamic concert is completed with the work of Rodney Sharman who is well-known to Vancouver audiences as a composer with a distinctive voice, a precise command of orchestration and an ability to conjure a unique sound world from Turning Point Ensemble’s large-size ensemble.  The Colourful World program is built around connections to Sharman’s music and this large-scale new commission. Visit www.turningpointensemble.ca for further information.

Los Campesinos

From Wales, popular indie pop band will make a stop on their tour in Vancouver to perform at the Electric Owl on February 3^rd.

Doors at 7:00pm, Show at 8:00pm, End 11:00pm

Tickets $16.00 advance available online at www.northerntickets.com, Charge By Phone 604-569-1144 and at the Northern Tickets box office (located at the Vogue Theatre 918 Granville Street).

Also available at Red Cat and Zulu Records.

Listen to their music