encoreNOW is a bi-weekly column by Paul Rellinger where he features upcoming music, theatre, film, and performing arts events and news from across the Kawarthas.
This week, Paul highlights the opening of Peterborough Musicfest’s 37th season, a tribute to Carole King’s timeless music at Fenelon Falls’ Grove Theatre, the 25th anniversary celebration at Westben in Trent Hills, 4th Line Theatre’s first production of the summer, Globus Theatre’s staging of Where You Are in Bobcaygeon, award-winning Latin jazz at Cobourg’s Victoria Hall, and the Capitol Theatre’s tackling of The Full Monty.
It ain’t broke and, thankfully, Peterborough Musicfest hasn’t fixed it
VIDEO: “As You Are” – Tenille Townes
The calendar tells us summer began on June 20 but, for thousands of area residents and visitors to the region, it begins to feel like summer the moment the first note is struck at Del Crary Park.
On July 1, 1987, what was then the Peterborough Festival of Lights debuted with founder Fred Anderson bringing Canadian jazz great Moe Koffman to the park. Fast forward to this coming Saturday (June 29) and the much-anticipated opening of Peterborough Musicfest’s 37th season, with Canadian country music recording artist Tenille Townes headlining and opener Griffen Palmer.
We don’t really know what we have until it’s gone. Let’s pray it never comes to that in regards to what remains Canada’s longest-running multiple-date free admission music festival.
Anderson was clearly onto something pretty special all those years ago and, through the hard work of multiple staff, board members, and event volunteers, not to mention the sponsor support of countless local businesses, kawarthaNOW among them, well, here we are.
Townes’ concert marks the first of 16 shows this summer, presented each Wednesday and Saturday at 8 p.m. until August 17 when classic rocker David Wilcox closes things out. Also in the mix is a Canada Day concert featuring Road Apples tribute to The Tragically Hip. It doesn’t get much more Canadian than that.
Check out the full Musicfest schedule at www.ptbomusicfest.ca, where you can also invest In Musicfest, thus helping ensure the uniquely Peterborough jewel continues to shine for many more years to come.
Carole King’s timeless songs are Fenelon Falls bound
When talk centres on the great songwriters of the latter half of the 20th century, it would be a crime worthy of serious jail time if Carole King’s name didn’t come pop up.
Musically active since 1958, King wrote or co-wrote 118 Billboard Hot 100 hits. Add to that her 61 songs that charted in the UK, making the New York City native the most successful female songwriter represented on the UK charts from 1962 to 2005. “Wow!” comes to mind pretty quickly.
With 25 albums to her credit, 1971’s Tapestry marked, by far, her most commercially successful record. Sprinkled with timeless songs such as “It’s Too Late,” “So Far Away,” “You’ve Got A Friend,” “I Feel The Earth Move” and a powerful cover of “(You Make Me Feel) Like A Natural Woman,” Tapestry won — get this — four Grammy Awards and is certified 14 times platinum in terms of sales, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time.
If King’s career ended there, her legacy would still be secure. Thankfully, she carried on, sharing her gift for many years thereafter.
Starting June 29, an ensemble of very talented singers, musicians and actors is paying tribute to King’s legacy and music at Fenelon Falls’ Grove Theatre. Start to finish, audiences will be treated to songs they know well, or at least know of. That alone ensures a great evening out.
Performance dates for A Musical Tribute to Carole King are June 29 and 30, and July 8, 12 and 17, 7:30 p.m. For tickets, which cost $58.50, visit www.grovetheatre.ca.
Westben in Campbellford marks a milestone the best way it knows how
When Westben in Campbellford formed in 1999, co-founders Donna Bennett and Brian Finley — she a soprano singer and he a pianist/composer — were pretty confident they were onto something good that would be lasting.
Here we are, years after the barn doors were flung open in 2000. Trent Hills-based Westben has since called on the talents of more than 1,000 musicians and performance artists, staged just more than 1,100 shows, and sold more than 163,000 tickets.
Bennett and Finley, recipients of the Order of Ontario in 2017 for creating “a cultural cornerstone in rural Ontario,” indeed knew what they were doing all those years ago and, in fact, still know.
Westben’s 25th anniversary season is worthy of a party. That is what’s planned for Sunday (June 30) when “Celebrating The Garden” salutes the past while looking to the future.
Scheduled to perform alongside Bennett and Finley at The Barn are Westben regulars Kim Dafoe, Mark DuBois, Virginia Hatfield, Robert Longo, Dave Mowat, Gabrielle Prata, Ken Tizzard and Music for Goats, Caitlin Wood, members of the Westben choruses, Ben Finley, annais linares, and Eve Parker Finley.
Tickets to the 2 p.m. showcase cost $25, $5 for under 18, and are available at www.westben.ca.
4th Line Theatre stays on task at the Winslow Farm in Millbrook
Peterborough Musicfest isn’t the only perennial multiple-date event that marks the beginning of summer for arts patrons. There’s also this other thing near Millbrook that has brought local history to life on its outdoor barn stage since 1992.
One can’t help but admire the vision of 4th Line Theatre founder Robert Winslow, who transformed his family’s fifth-generation farm into an idyllic outdoor theatre experience.
Since Winslow’s play The Cavan Blazers got the ball rolling, 4th Line Theatre has developed and presented more than 40 original plays based on regional history — both good and not-so-good historical events — and culture.
As has been the case forever, 4th Line Theatre is presenting a two-play bill this summer, the first play being the world premiere of Onion Skins and Peach Fuzz: The Farmerettes.
Written by Alison Lawrence, based on the book by Shirleyan English and Bonnie Sitter, it relates the relatively unknown story of teenage girls who stepped up and worked on farms across Canada to feed the troops, and indeed all Canadians, during the Second World War.
Even if you’re not a huge fan of live theatre, it’s well worth the ticket price just to relax near the Winslow Farm’s peaceful surroundings on a warm summer evening. It’s an experience on its own.
Dates for Onion Skins and Peach Fuzz: The Farmerettes are July 1 to 6, July 8 to 13, and July 15 to 20 — all a 6 p.m. start. Tickets are $50 ($45 for children and youth ages five to 16), with $38 tickets available for the two preview nights on July 2 and 3. Tickets can be purchased by phone at 705-932-4445 or toll-free at 1-800-814-0055, online at www.4thlinetheatre.on.ca/, or in person at at 4th Line Theatre’s box office at 9 Tupper Street in Millbrook (hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays to Fridays).
Ambitious 2024 season continues at Globus Theatre in Bobcaygeon
Bobcaygeon’s Globus Theatre is continuing a very busy 2024 presentation schedule at the Lakeview Arts Barn off Pigeon Lake Road, bringing Kristen Da Silva’s comedy Where You Are to its stage July 3 to 13.
A playwright and actor, Oakville native Da Silva has seen her work produced across Canada and the United States. Set in Ontario locales, her plays, Where You Are among them, have twice earned her the Playwrights Guild’s New Comedy Award.
Where You Are introduces us to sisters Glenda and Suzanne, who are living a quiet retirement selling homemade jam on Manitoulin Island. But one summer, their concerns — such as trying to orchestrate sightings of their handsome veterinarian neighbour and preparing for the visit of Suzanne’s grown daughter Beth — are complicated by a secret the sisters can no longer contain. When Beth’s arrival brings some secrets of her own to the table, the three women face things that will change their lives forever.
Where You Are had its world premiere in 2019 at Theatre Orangeville and is still bringing audiences out, proving once again that a good story is gold, no matter the form it’s presented in.
Performance dates are July 3 to 6 and 10 to 13, 8 p.m., with 2 p.m. matinees on July 6 and 11. Tickets are $50 for the show only, or $100 for the show with dinner before the evening performances. For tickets, visit globustheatre.com or phone 705-738-2037.
Latin jazz in Cobourg courtesy of a Juno award-winning ensemble
VIDEO: “Cry Me A River” – Hilario Duran and his Latin Jazz Big Band
When you have the chance to catch a Juno award recipient in concert, it’s a very good idea to jump on the opportunity.
At the 2024 ceremony honouring all things Canadian music, Hilario Durán and his Latin Jazz Big Band took home the Jazz Album of the Year (Group) statue for the album Cry Me A River.
Also a Grammy Award nominee, Durán — a celebrated Cuban-Canadian composer and piano master — will lead a 19-member ensemble Saturday, July 6th in the Concert Hall at Cobourg’s historic Victoria Hall.
Presented by A Loft Production and Port Hope Jazz, the performance will see Durán “throw overboard melodic, harmonic, and structural hooks that have becoming excessively blunted through overuse,” the result being selections “that bloom in colour, texture, and atmospheric beauty.” Translated, this is a treat for both longtime fans of the genre and those just catching on.
Tickets to the 7:30 p.m. performance cost $44 and are available at tickets.cobourg.ca or by calling the Concert Hall box office at 905-372-2210.
Will they leave their hats on at Port Hope’s Capitol Theatre?
Port Hope’s Capitol Theatre has rarely seen a dark night and all indications are that trend will continue through this year.
On the heels of presenting the comedy Bed And Breakfast, the theatre is ramping up for more rollicking stage fun in the form of The Full Monty, being presented July 12 to 28.
This Broadway version of the raucous pop-rock musical is, thanks to the 1997 critically acclaimed British film version. As such, many know the storyline, but we’ll summarize it here for those who don’t.
Set in Sheffield in England’s north during the 1990s, The Full Monty tells the story of six unemployed men who decide to form a male striptease act in order to make some money for the main character, Gaz, to be able to see his son. Gaz publicly declares the show will be much better than that of the renowned Chippendales dancers because they will go “the full monty” when it comes to removing their clothes — as in, remove everything. Hence the pressure is on to deliver.
How the Capitol Theatre production will handle the final scene is anyone’s guess but, once Tom Jones’ “You Can Leave Your Hat On” fills the air, well, all bets are off, along with the characters clothes. Now that’s entertainment!
Performances are July 12 and 13, 17 and 20, and 24 to 27, 7:30 p.m., with 2 p.m. matinees July 14, 16, 17, 20, 21, 23, 24, 27 and 28. Tickets are $48 ($40 for those under 30), with a pay-what-you-can option available for the July 12th performance. Visit capitoltheatre.com for tickets.
Encore
- Yet another terrific performance venue waiting to be discovered is as close as the Jalynn Bennett Amphitheatre in downtown Peterborough. The university’s Catharine Parr Trail College is presenting the William and Nona Heaslip Music on the Hill series — six concerts every other Thursday during the summer — featuring an eclectic mix of jazz, classical, and folk-rock music at the outdoor venue. The next concert on Thursday (June 27) features the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra Chamber Ensemble. Admission to all concerts is free, with the music starting at 7 p.m.
- This summer, as you enjoy live music on an outdoor patio or nestled inside a downtown pub, there’ll more than likely be a container of some sort — a jar or a plastic margarine container or whatever — staring you down from the stage or close thereby. This is for tips for the performer — a sign of appreciation for his or her talent and willingness to share it. Restaurant and pub owners do what they can to pay musicians they hire for gigs, as they should. However, contributions from patrons send the message “I was entertained. Thank you.” Ante up. It’s the right thing to do.
