Nobody can deny, we live in one of the planet’s most beautiful places. Add to that an unbelievably rich Shuswap arts and entertainment scene.
Within the past month, I have happily dipped my toes, no, make that feet, into the talent pool – some local, some international – all excellent.
It could have been in Vancouver, London or any other major world city, such was the quality of performances by Welsh tenor Peter Karrie and Vernon soprano Melina Moore in last Tuesday’s Phantom of the Opera Returns at Haney Heritage Village.
Both singers earned standing ovations for their performances – Karrie for a haunting number from Phantom of the Opera and Moore for an equally powerful song from Les Miserables.
The two have amazing voices and mesh well onstage. Their easy banter filled the gaps between numbers very well. I hope they return next year and bring the Phantom with them.
Haney’s new amphitheatre is delightful, as is this year’s Villains and Vittles production of Peter Blacklock’s Captain Louie and the Pirate of the Shuswap.
Heading south, I attended the opening night of The Notorious Right Robert and His Robber Bride at Caravan Farm Theatre – considered by many to be a national treasure that draws talent from across the country.
What a rollicking, fun summer adventure! A great way to spend a warm summer evening.
Vintage cars and accomplished actors take the audience back to the Bonnie and Clyde era, with the tone set to perfection by the music, written and performed by Salmon Arm’s Herald Nix.
Talk about talented – In September, Nix will exhibit his artwork at SAGA Public Art Gallery – another local cultural jewel.
In between these two stellar performances, I joined hundreds of others at Marine Park for Wednesday on the Wharf. What more could you ask for than to lounge in a beautiful lakeside park, listen to high-energy Cod Gone Wild and watch people of all ages – and a plethora of dogs – enjoying a lovely summer evening.
I had planned to go to Shuswap Theatre Sunday to see Legend, a series of First Nations stories, but I had a crisis of the rodent variety and spent the weekend, scrubbing, bleaching, laundering and trying to seal up possible entry points.
But I hear the play is well worth seeing and have put it on my look-forward-to-doing list.
Also high on that list is the Roots and Blues Festival, which runs Aug. 17 to 19 and the weeklong preamble that includes an exciting outreach program involving local and visiting talent. Again this year, festival organizers are expanding the outreach to include performances in downtown businesses. The art gallery is doing the same with the “Salmon Arm Culture Crawl,” with the gallery being the starting point on a downtown walking tour of 29 businesses featuring local artists.