It’s just about 2019, and that means a new year on the arts and entertainment scene.
To get your year started on the right foot, we’ve rounded up these 10 must-see shows of all kinds – visual art, dance, theatre, music – so that you can enter all these dates into your calendars and make sure you don’t miss out.
Here are just a few of the highlights of what Burnaby has to offer in the new year:
1. Annie (theatre)
Align Entertainment is returning to the Michael J. Fox Theatre (7373 MacPherson Ave.) from Feb. 1 to 16 with its production of the popular Broadway musical, telling the tale of the red-headed orphan who takes on New York City and captures hearts everywhere she goes. It features tickets starting at $15 for family matinee seats, $20 for preview night and $25 for the regular run. See www.alignentertainment.ca or buy through www.vtixonline.com/align-entertainment.
2. Blind Date (theatre)
This Arts Club on Tour production is coming to the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts for shows on Saturday, Feb. 2 and Sunday, Feb. 3 at 8 p.m. This spontaneous theatre creation by Rebecca Northan features one actor going on a “blind date” with one man picked directly from the audience, in a fusion of clown, improv, theatre and social experiment. Buy tickets through tickets.shadboltcentre.com or call 604-205-3000.
3. In Fiction (dance)
In Fiction is a new work from Action at a Distance, created and performed by Vanessa Goodman in collaboration with lighting designer James Proudfoot. “This visceral solo strikes a balance between cognitive understanding and phantasmal imagination with engaging, highly physical results,” says a write-up about the show. It’s onstage at Shadbolt Centre for the Arts from Feb. 6 through 9 at 8 p.m. See tickets.shadboltcentre.com or call 604-205-3000.
4. Mary Stallings (music)
This San Francisco-born and raised jazz singer comes to the stage with a career that spans seven decades and that has included sharing the stage with luminaries such as Ella Fitzgerald and Tony Bennett. She’s performing at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts on Thursday, Feb. 14 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $40; buy through tickets.shadboltcentre.com or call 604-205-3000.
5. L’elisir d’amore/The Elixir of Love (opera)
Burnaby Lyric Opera returns with its annual full-scale production, this time with Gaetano Donizetti’s popular tale of lovers’ quarrels and reconciliation, magic love potions and romantic confusion. It will feature a cast of rising opera stars from around B.C., with some of the best up-and-coming talent on the local scene. It’s onstage at Shadbolt Centre for the Arts Feb. 23, 28 and March 2 at 8 p.m., with 2 p.m. shows on Feb. 25 and 27. Buy tickets through tickets.shadboltcentre.com or call 604-205-3000.
6. Broken Tailbone (theatre)
Celebrated writer and performer Carmen Aguirre comes to the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts stage with a Latin American dance lesson that flows into her stories of intimacy, politics, culture and the forgotten origins of the salsa, with DJ Don Pedro. Catch it onstage March 13 through 16. Tickets are available at tickets.shadboltcentre.com or 604-205-3000.
7. Lynne Cohen: These Walls (visual art)
The Burnaby Art Gallery in Ceperley House will be shut down for renovations between Jan. 14 and March 13. When the new, improved gallery opens again March 14, it will feature Lynne Cohen: These Walls, an exhibition of photographs featuring Cohen’s inside look at institutional interior spaces that are generally inaccessible to the public: medical laboratories, private offices, factories, shooting ranges, military installations. It’s on as part of the Capture Photography Festival 2019, running from March 14 to April 21. The gallery is at 6344 Deer Lake Ave. See www.burnabyartgallery.ca or call 604-297-4422 for information.
8. Luminescence IV (visual art)
The fourth edition of the Luminescence show marking the spring equinox will run at the Deer Lake Gallery from March 16 to April 6. It will feature indoor and outdoor works, two- and three-dimensional, from visual artists working in all media – from wood and metal to ceramics, photography and painting. The exhibition will start with a gala opening evening on Saturday, March 17 that includes interactive art and entertainment. In its past three incarnations, Luminescence has established itself as one of the go-to destinations on the Vancouver art scene; it seems certain that the 2019 edition will be equally popular and worth seeing. Follow www.burnabyartscouncil.org for details as the date nears (the list of participants is still being set; a call for entries is closing later in January).
9. Circle Game: Reimagining the Music of Joni Mitchell (theatre)
This Firehall Arts Centre production is returning to the stage at Shadbolt Centre for the Arts as part of the Arts Club on Tour series. Circle Game reinterprets such iconic songs as Big Yellow Taxi, River, California and A Case of You through the ears and eyes of a new generation. It’s onstage Friday, March 16 and Saturday, March 17 at 8 p.m. See tickets.shadboltcentre.com or call 604-205-3000.
10. Kellylee Evans (music)
Juno Award-winning jazz-soul vocalist Kellylee Evans is onstage at Shadbolt Centre for the Arts on Wednesday, March 21 at 8 p.m. Her latest Decca album, Come On, follows on the heels of five previous offerings running the gamut from jazz to R&B and pop – including I Remember When, fight or flight?, and Nina, her Juno Award-winning tribute to the legendary Nina Simone. Get tickets at tickets.shadboltcentre.com or call 604-205-3000.
