Blue Man Group Entertains In Vancouver

 
The Blue Man Group is in Vancouver performing at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre until March 30th and I had the pleasure of attending on opening night earlier this week. The show is 90 minutes of fun, full of music, humour and audience interaction. The Blue Men play on PVC pipes and it's pretty awesome when it all comes together (plus I really like anything to do with drumming), with their band joining in. It is neat to see music being created out of anything from eating cereal to plastic pipes. Audience participation is encouraged, and the Blue Men will seek out audience members to go on stage as part of a skit or art project, so don't be shy! You'll be laughing throughout the show at their funny antics. The show ends with a giant dance party where everyone is told to get up and shake their behind, streamers shoot out over the audience and there are giant balloons bounce above the crowd. 

You'll get a chance to meet the band after the show and admire the art created. Blue Man Group is a very different type of show, but fun(ny) and definitely worth seeing! Visit Broadway Across Canada for tickets.

Billy Elliot The Musical Lights Up the Stage With Dance

Based on the 2000 movie of the same name, Billy Elliot the musical features music by Elton John and choreography by Peter Darling. Set during the 1984 coal miners' strike in Britain, a young Billy discovers his talent and love of ballet, which in turn inspires his community to help him achieve his dream of getting into the Royal Ballet School.

One of four rotating actors who plays Billy, Drew Minard was fabulous on opening night. Many of the child actors are 10-13 years in age, which makes it even more impressive! Jake Kitchin, playing Billy's best friend Michael, almost steals the show with "Expressing Yourself", a number where the two have fun cross-dressing. Janet Dickinson's Mrs. Wilkinson was enjoyable to watch as the ballet teacher, who really believes in Billy.

One of my favourite scenes was Billy's Angry Dance, where Billy let out his frustration and the young actor danced against police shields - such talent!

An amazing performance by the entire cast, Billy Elliot will leave you feeling good and itching to dance.

Billy Elliot will be playing at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre until April 7, 2013. Visit Broadway Across Canada for more information or purchase your tickets at Ticketmaster. 

Broadway Across Canada 2013/14 Preview

Broadway Across Canada hosted a 2013/14 season preview party at the QE Theatre downtown a couple of weeks ago. There were drinks and appetizers to start the evening off, and then we were ushered into the theatre.

 Mike Shaeffer from 103.5 QM/FM hosted the event where clips from the upcoming musicals were shown - Les Miserables (June 12 - 23, 2013), War Horse (September 24 - 29, 2013), and West Side Story (February 4 - 9, 2014).

Scott Tucker, the production representative of War Horse, then came on stage to tell us more about War Horse, a Tony award winning show that is currently playing (and very popular) in London, UK. We were all surprised when Joey, the star of the show came on stage!

Joey is an amazing puppet created by the Handspring Puppet Company that takes three actors to operate. The puppeteers breathes, snorts and whinnies just like a real horse. It was amazing watching the actors perform - you forget that it's a puppet and really start to believe Joey is a real horse!

Afterwards, the three puppeteers came out to answer questions the audiences had. Each trio of actors will do things differently, so you will get a different show every night. Unbelievably, it was the first show that these three had together that night!

I'm very excited for the upcoming season, as I haven't watched any of the three shows before. I can't wait!