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, it’s all about holiday entertainment as Paul highlights The Emperor’s New Clothes at Peterborough Theatre Guild, the return of the “In From The Cold” benefit concert to the Market Hall in downtown Peterborough, the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra’s “Quartom Sings Noel” concert at Emmanuel United Church, New Stages Theatre’s restaging of It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play at the Market Hall, “Elvis’ Wonderful World of Christmas” at the Academy Theatre in Lindsay, and the return of “A Cozy Christmas” with the Foley family to Showplace Performance Centre in downtown Peterborough.
Peterborough Theatre Guild’s “The Emperor’s New Clothes” fit perfectly with the season
What started as a bid to keep pandemic-quarantined students engaged has, five years on, progressed to bigger and better things.
The Emperor’s New Clothes, written by Gerry McBride, opens Friday (December 5) for seven public performances at the Guild Hall on Rogers Street in East City. The third production of the Peterborough Theatre Guild’s 2025-26 season, the reimagined musical is based on the folktale penned by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen that was first published in 1837.
Featuring music composed by John Austin, the story begins on the eve of the prideful Emperor Von Gaston Von Schmidt’s 50th birthday celebration. Two cunning swindlers arrive in town posing as tailors. Equipped with the most “exquisite magical fabric,” the tailors teach the emperor, and indeed the whole town, a valuable lesson in humility.
What I like — really like — is the Guild is making the production as accessible as possible to all, with the ticket price set at just $15. For those looking to keep the kids entertained in the hectic lead-up to Christmas, there really isn’t a better bargain in the kingdom.
While McBride stayed true to the story for the most part, he has taken some creative liberties, the introduction of a new character being one. There are more than a few twists and surprises beyond that.
“I hope kids leave this thinking ‘I want to go to another one (play)’ or ‘I want to get involved in live theatre’ … that they see it and that makes them want to see more,” said McBride during a recent sit-down with kawarthaNOW. Amen to that.
The Emperor’s New Clothes stars Jack van Roosmalen as the Emperor, supported by leading cast members Tom Stanley, Karen Woolley, Aaron Black, Laura Yandt, David MacKinnon, Alice Loeb, Linnaea Couling-Fligg, and Mark Carravaggio.
Curtain is 7:30 p.m. on December 5, 10 and 12, with matinee performances at 1:30 p.m. on the weekends of December 6 and 7 and 13 and 14. Tickets are available by phone at 705-745-4211 or online at www.peterboroughtheatreguild.com.
Come In From The Cold to the great benefit of YES Shelter for Youth and Families
VIDEO: “In From the Cold” – A Film By Rodney Fuentes (2017)
There are unique Peterborough holiday season traditions, and then there’s In From The Cold, which is in a league all of its own.
The annual presentation of little-heard traditional and contemporary Christmas and winter-themed songs was first staged in 2000 and hasn’t missed a beat since, with the 26th coming of the concert taking to the stage at Market Hall Performing Arts Centre in downtown Peterborough this Friday and Saturday (December 5 and 6).
The acoustic string and vocal band Carried Away — John Hoffman, Susan Newman, Rob Fortin, Michael Ketemer, and Tanah Haney — will be front-and-centre again, along with Curtis Driedger and the 28-member Convivio Chorus.
In addition, for the first time in quite awhile, a special guest is in the mix in the former of roots singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Benj Rowland. He’ll perform a set on his own and also join the others for a few songs.
According to Hoffman, the concert’s enduring popularity is partly rooted in the fact that the performers are friends that have been involved since the inaugural concert.
“We don’t necessarily see each other that often,” says Hoffman, noting In From The Cold “is always like a reunion. “When Susan (Newman) asks people if they want to be involved, it’s always ‘Yeah, bring it on. This is something we look forward to.’ It’s the same for the audience.”
That’s very good news for Peterborough’s YES Shelter for Youth and Families which remains the benefactor of the proceeds. More than $220,000 has been raised to date for the shelter’s programs.
New this year, the concert features an earlier Friday evening start at 7:30 p.m. and a new matinee show Saturday at 2 p.m.. Tickets cost $29 for regular assigned seating ($34 for assigned cabaret table seating) and are available at tickets.markethall.org.
Peterborough Symphony Orchestra and Quebec’s vocal quartet Quartom get all festive
VIDEO: “Minuit, chrétiens” – Quartom (with tenor Kerry Bursey)
Maybe it’s my Catholic upbringing where attending midnight Mass was part of the deal, but traditional Christmas music performed in a church setting still tingles my senses and gives me goosebumps.
The Peterborough Symphony Orchestra (PSO) is hoping many will have that same sensation this Saturday night (December 6) when it performs with Québécois vocal quartet Quartom at Emmanuel United Church at George and McDonnel streets.
“Quartom Sings Noel,” the second concert of the PSO’s current season, will see Julien Patenaude, Benoit Le Blanc, Philippe Martel, and Joé Lampron-Dandonneau sing popular Christmas songs but also serve up some festive French tunes. Accompaniment by the Michael Newnham-conducted orchestra is the icing on the cake.
As well as accompanying Quartom, the PSO will perform the waltz from Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty as well as “Carillon and the Farandole” from French composer Georges Bizet’s L’Arlésienne suite.
There will also be music from Canadian composer Ronald Royer, who researched Canadian Christmas carols and holiday traditions for Canada’s 150th anniversary in 2017 and subsequently composed “Fantasia on Canadian Christmas Carols” for orchestra.
Depending on the seat you choose, tickets to the 7:30 p.m. concert cost $60.04, $52.84, or $38.42 (all fees included), with student tickets costing $16.79 for all seats. Tickets are available at thepso.org/quartom.
New Stages Theatre reprises “It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play”
VIDEO: “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play”
Back in 2023, Peterborough’s New Stages Theatre learned good things happen when you bring a version of what is one of the most beloved Christmas films to the stage.
So it is that artistic director Mark Wallace et al are restaging It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play for six performances from Wednesday, December 10 to Sunday, December 14 at Market Hall Performing Arts Centre in downtown Peterborough.
When it was first staged by New Stages, the production earned plaudits as the most acclaimed show it has ever presented. Well, if ain’t broke …
Returning is the entire original cast of M. John Kennedy, Megan Murphy, Kerry Griffin, Brad Breckenridge, and Ordena Stephens-Thompson, with musical direction by Gabriel Vaillant and Wallace in the director’s chair. New this time around is the addition of young actors Poppy Anderson, Faela Conroy, and Evie Wallace.
Joe Landry’s adaptation retells the 1946 holiday cult classic film, directed and produced by Frank Capra and starring James Stewart and Donna Reed, as a 1940s radio broadcast.
The play is set in a 1940s radio studio where cast member play all the characters from the film, as well as create all the scripted sound effects. An wholly immersive production, it invites audience members into the show as the live studio audience.
Curtain is 7 p.m. from December 10 to 13, with 2 p.m. matinee performances on December 13 and 14. With all fees included, tickets cost $44 ($24 for youth under 18) or $136 for a family of four, and there is a $34 “welcome rate” for those who need it, and a $54 “pay it forward” rate for those who can afford it (to help cover the costs of the welcome rate).
Tickets can be purchased at the Market Hall box office at 140 Charlotte Street, by calling 705-749-1146, or online at tickets.markethall.org/?category=20.
Elvis is alive, sort of, in the form of one Steve Michaels
VIDEO: “Elvis’ Wonderful World of Christmas” featuring Steve Michaels
As the husband of a woman who lives, breathes, and loves Elvis, I’m forever walking in the shadow of The King.
I’m OK with that. I mean, you’ve got to admire a guy who’s as popular now as he was when he was alive all those years ago. In fact, arguably more popular.
After Elvis’ passing in 1977, tribute artists came out of the woodwork, with whole festivals dedicated to all things Presley, including not far from here in Collingwood. Some are good, most are terrible, and then there’s a handful that are exceptional.
Steve Michaels falls into the latter category. Mary and I have caught his tribute to The King a few times and he has never failed to deliver. It’s not just the voice, which is incredibly spot-on. It’s the strong-jawed look, the mannerisms, the lip curl.
The King is alive when Michaels is on stage — not working at a grocery store or anyone of a thousand places he has been spotted over the years.
On Saturday, December 13, Michaels will headline “Elvis’ Wonderful World of Christmas” at Lindsay’s Academy Theatre, backed by a full band ensemble.
Christmas was Elvis’ favourite time of year, and that spirit will be evident as Michaels delivers seasonal favourites lke “Blue Christmas,” “Silver Bells,” and “Do You Hear What I Hear,” as well as a few of Elvis’ classic hits.
If you’re going to see one Elvis tribute, this is it. Trust me on this one.
Tickets to the 7:30 p.m. concert cost $45 to $55 and are available at www.flatoacademytheatre.com.
The Foley family gets all cozy again for its Christmas concert
I love my family — no question of that — but this time of year has a little part of me wishing Peterborough’s Foley family would adopt me, at least long enough to join them for their annual Christmas-themed concert.
On December 14, the Foley family’s “A Cozy Christmas” returns to Showplace for its 21st year, with storyteller supreme Hugh Foley front and centre of a musical lineup featuring performances by Bridget Foley and the Gospel Girls, Woodhouse Crooks, Asante (Theresa Foley, Sheila Prophet, and Norma Curtis), Amelia Foley, Colleen (Foley) Anthony, a quartet of Foley grandkids, Lizeh Basciano, Butter, and more.
Meanwhile, the lower level Cogeco Studio will be home to vendors and a silent auction.
There’s a purpose to all this festive madness as, once again, the show is a fundraiser to pay teachers to do their good work in a small Liberian village in West Africa.
Tickets to the 2 p.m. event — it really is an event — cost $25 ($15 for students) at www.showplace.org.
Encore
- A new arts collective has sprung up, and it isn’t wasting any time getting out there. On December 13, Mosaic Arts Collective presents a “performance showcase” that’s billed as “a night of music, spoken word, poetry and more.” The collective’s debut fundraiser will be held at Sadleir House, 751 George Street North, starting at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $15 or pay-what-you-can at Bluestreak Records and at the door. In advance of the event, organizers asking those interested in performing to reach out at mosaicartscollective@gmail.com.
- We have more new music to check out, this time courtesy of Nicholas Campbell. The singer and guitarist has released a new single, “I’ll Regret It In The Morning.” Check it out on Spotify — it’s quite good. But then it was produced by James McKenty at his In Record Time studio, so that pretty much goes without saying. The breadth and depth of talent in this town has never ceased to amaze me. Campbell’s new single is just another example of that.
