Tag: 2016

[Victoria Fringe Festival ’16] SMUS Shakes it Up with Disney’s Camp Rock!

CAMP-ROCK_4CNOTE: Reblogged from Two Hungry Blokes & written by Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

LOCATION:
St. Michaels
University School
3400 Richmond Road
Saanich, BC

SHOWTIMES:
Fri Aug. 26 – 7pm
Sat Aug. 27 – 2pm
Sat Aug. 27 – 7pm

Sometimes it’s tough to decide on what to take on as the first Victoria Fringe Festival presentation for the 2016 season. This year, the decision was a no-brainer and I had to see the results of what St. Michaels University School (SMUS) Summer Musical Theatre program produced. The folks involved always deliver a quality educational curriculum to teach the next rising stars the basics while having fun at the same time. On opening night, they put on the musical version of Disney’s Camp Rock.

This show highlights the musical stylings of bands like The Jonas Brothers and the modern sounds of the past decade. Like ’em or not, those who grew up to these tunes had a rollicking time with this production. James Shaw admits to not being fond of today’s music whereas I’m open; at least I keep up when he can not, thus making me the ideal candidate to look at this production. His limitations in what he likes to talk about make for better opportunities for me to talk about my fondness for modern Disney.

Opening night was not without a few chuckle-worthy moments, gaffes included; the group was able to roll with it and continue on. They also helped each other out on stage when lines were forgotten and I believe that’s the heart of what this program extols than to provide a higher calibre show other local professional theatre schools like Canadian College of Performing Arts works on. I’ve seen their production of Little Shop of Horrors years ago, and that was a memorable show to which I grinned like a Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland when rubber bands were shot towards audiences!

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Harry Potter’s Draco Malfoy to Appear at Fan Expo Vancouver!

TomFeltonProImageBy James Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)

Tom Felton, better known as villainous Draco Malfoy from J.K. Rowling‘s Harry Potter films, will be appearing at the 2016 Fan Expo Vancouver.

Originally hailing from Epsom in Surrey, Felton is a talented actor who established himself in two feature films before landing the role as Potter’s Slytherin house rival. Felton played Peagreen Clock in the 1997 film The Borrowers with Jim Broadbent and as Louis Leonowens in Anna and the King starring Jodie Foster and Chow-Yun-Fat.

Felton’s post Potter acting credits include Dodge Landon in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, as Viscount Trencavel with John Hurt in the TV mini series Labyrinth, James Ashford in Belle, and as tech genius and prime suspect in the Steven Bocho series Murder in the First.

Felton is a noted singer who turned down a position with the famed Guildford Cathedral Choir at a younger age. His YouTube performances have racked up millions of hits. He is also one of the founding owners and talents at Six String Productions, a record company that signs young musical talent normally overlooked by major recording labels.

Fan Expo Vancouver will be held November 11-13 at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia. For more information, visit their official website at http://fanexpovancouver.com/.

Source(s): Fan Expo Vancouver and InternetPerson16.

Wind up Geek’s Must See Movies – August, 2016

NewSuicideSquadPosterBy James Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)

It appears this August, the only thing that is hot is the temperature. I’ve read through what will be released in the theatres and it appears, with the exception of Suicide Squad, we may be in for a dismal blockbuster month. Going by what could be viewed in the available movie trailers, Mechanic: Resurrection appears to be your average action flick, Nine Lives as a family film is nothing we haven’t seen before from companies like Disney, Pete’s Dragon appears to be lacking the magic that made the original a box office hit, and Sausage Party shouldn’t be a summer movie at all.

Film goers need to look for the lower budgeted, international, and independent films for their entertainment this month. Of the list of 18 films I started with, I whittled it down to a top ten. Of those that didn’t make the list was Mel Gibson in Blood Father. The movie looked good and I Love Mel Gibson’s acting, I thought he stole all the scenes in Expendables 3, but his new movie was just outside the ten. Another film that missed the cut comes from Quebec province in Canada. Embrasses-moi comme tu m’aimes was co-written and directed by André Forcier and deals with the subject of incest between twin siblings. Normally something this hard-hitting would make the list. Canadians have never shied away from taboo subjects in film (like 1996’s Kissed starring Molly Parker and Peter Outerbridge) before, but with Embrasses-moi a comedy-drama instead of a straight drama, I felt the power the film could deliver was lost. A Genie Award nomination maybe, but to win the Genie, I don’t believe it will.

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Ed’s 10 Nerdy Picks of the 2016 Victoria Fringe Festival (and these Artists Tour Worldwide!)

Fringe-badge-16-mint-background-2008-1By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

A few fond favourites are back at this year’s Victoria Fringe Festival, and in my picks, I hope to do more than a few “Dick Tricks” to get to each venue spread around the city to get my theatre nerd on. This year is special as this event is celebrating its 30th anniversary! I’m betting there will be cake, and a whole lot more surprises! In order to feast upon the entire list, I do recommend that for locals, to check out the opening ceremonies which takes place at Centennial Square. An entire preview will take place then and if that is not enough to salivate the taste buds, perhaps drinks will be offered too (at cost). This preview night will take place August 24th.

In the following, I offer my selection in what caught my eye and hope you can join me. If not at this particular festival, then perhaps at another Fringe that’s closer to where each person lives. This unique style of theatre can be found nearly worldwide. From Vancouver to Edinburgh (where it first started), this small-scale production offers a better, if not intimate, experience.

Passes can be bought at the Intrepid Theatre’s office on 1609 Blanshard or online through Ticket Rocket:

ON THE FRINGE (DOCUMENTARY FILM)
BROKEN TURTLE PRODUCTIONS

DATES:
Sep 3, 2016

LOCATION: Victoria Event Centre (Fringe Venue 1)

Still don’t know what Fringe Festivals are about? Well, this documentary should tell all! This video documentary began as a chronicle of artists doing the Canadian Fringe Festival circuit and it evolved from there. It goes on a road trip and shows what life is like on the other side of the stage! Best of all, this screening is by donation! All you have to do is present your badge.

6-Dick-Tricks-ITC

6 QUICK DICK TRICKS:
A DIRK DARROW INVESTIGATION
RACING SLOTH PRODUCTIONS

DATES:
Fri Aug 26 – 5:00pm
Sat Aug 27 – 8:00pm
Sun Aug 28 – 10:00pm
Wed Aug 31 – 8:00pm
Fri Sep 2 – 9:45pm
Sat Sep 3 – 2:00pm

LOCATION: The Roxy Theatre (Fringe Venue 7)

I’ve chatted with Tim Motley in the past about his previous shows, and I’m glad to see that he’s coming back to show a few new magic tricks along with a noir narrative to appease the Sherlock Holmes in me to solve. Not every show is going to be exactly the same, as audiences can sometimes trip him up. The laughs are great, and I’ll be in line to see what he has up his sleeve for this year.

Playful-8-ITC

AN IMPROVISED
QUENTIN TARANTINO 2 –
THE PLAYFUL 8

DATES:
Thu Aug 25 – 6:45pm
Fri Aug 26 – 10:15pm
Sat Aug 27 – 2:30pm
Wed Aug 31 – 10:15pm
Thu Sept 1 – 8:15pm
Sat Sept 3 – 8:45pm

LOCATION: Victoria Event Centre (Fringe Venue 1)

The first time I saw Paper Street Theatre‘s show, I laughed myself silly. With a title implying that this sequel of sorts is inspired by the latest Tarantino movie, I have to wonder what can go wrong. I suspect a basic plot will keep the night merrily moving along, but as for what happens, feedback from audiences will dictate the performance. Dave Morris leads his ensemble cast and I wonder if how fast the eight will get whittled down to one?

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[Victoria, BC] Kelly Hudson to Star as Piglet in “Hundred Acre” Vic Fringe Play

KellyHudsonBy James Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)

If you’ve followed Kelly Hudson’s Twitter in a previous lifetime you’ll surmise that this actress is nothing like the timid Piglet she’ll be portraying in Outpost 31 Victoria‘s Fringe play Winnie the Pooh and Tales of 100 Acre Wood. But her bubbly personality matches the talent she will bring to the stage during this play that is based off the works of A. A. Milne.

After uprooting from Saskatchewan over 20 years ago, Hudson has become a comfortable fixture of the West Coast arts scene. A co-founder of RKO Productions, the company that performed The Rocky Horror Show in 2014 (where she played Riff Raff), Hudson has loaned her talent to many local productions on the island she now calls home. Some of her past roles have included Wes Borg and Paul Mather’s The War of 1812 (One Dead Troll and a Cranny), the Conjur Woman of Howard Richardson and Richard Berney’s Dark of the Moon (at the University of Victoria’s Phoenix Theatre), Ronnette in Little Shop of Horrors (Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre), Madre/Chorus in Elaine Avila’s Lieutenant Nun (Theatre SKAM, Puente Theatre, and SNAFU Dance Theatre), and Constance Blackwood in the Broadway-bound, Dora award-winning musical Ride the Cyclone (Atomic Vaudeville).

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Occupants Set to Screen at San Diego Comic Con and Looking Beyond

Occupants Poster JPEG Small

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

Quite often, movies using the found footage format is used synonymously with a supernatural horror film and Occupants is a film that subverts this idea. This movie will be screened during San Diego Comic-Con‘s Film Festival on July 23 and San Antonio Film Festival on July 28. For me, as an enthusiast of paranormal studies, this movie is highly recommended.

I would call this product more of a budget thriller instead of in your face horror. For once, this movie is not about another ghostly haunting. This time, the viewer (me) gets to see how one of these found footage films are constructed within the confines of itself. Director Russ Emanuel crafted a wickedly fascinating look into the mirror darkly of the lives of a believably happy couple — Annie (Briana White) and Neil Curtis (Michael Pugliese) — who are about to cleanse their body of various toxins found in food. Buried in the narrative is also a cleansing of who they are mind, body and soul.

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