Two upcoming shows promise entertainment aimed at conjuring up the spirit of fall, while Vashon Center for the Arts plans a celebration of Dia de los Muertos.
The Drunken Tenor
A show The Seattle Times has called “a cheerful collision of opera and sketch comedy” will lift off at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, at Vashon Center for the Arts (VCA).
“The Drunken Tenor’s Spooktacular,” a musical variety show in the old-school vein of the Rat Pack and Carol Burnett, stars Grammy award-winning Metropolitan Opera tenor Robert McPherson.
Performing with a cast of talented singers, McPherson dishes up both hijinks and high art.
“McPherson is genuinely charming and impressive in his performance as a loveably inebriated opera singer and his show is unlike anything I’ve seen,” said Paris Nguyen, of KCTS9.
Find out more and get tickets at vashoncenterforthearts.org.
The Poet’s Journey
The second show of Vashon Repertory Theatre’s fall season will transport show-goers to the obsessive world of Edgar Alan Poe, at 4 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct 28, at Snapdragon’s Black Cat Cabaret.
In the one-person show, “Edgar Allan Poe, The Poet’s Journey,” written by Bryan Willis, Bradford Farwell will play the role of the master poet, critic and father of the detective novel, in a particularly passionate and desperate moment in his life
Farwell’s performance recreates an 1849 literary salon in the last months of Poe’s life, as he toured the country in an effort to woo subscribers for a new magazine of his own creation, “The Stylus.”
These speaking engagements ranged from intimate conversations to public lectures, where Poe would recite his work and share his views on the state of American literature, the philosophy of composition, and the noblest of professions, in his estimation – that of the poet.
Poe was also known for devoting entire lectures to deriding Longfellow, Emerson, and “the other incorrigibly arrogant bumpkins we find in New England.”
Poe was at once charming and destructive — and Farwell’s performance reflects Poe’s lifelong battle for recognition in a young nation, struggling to define its own history and voice.
Find out more and purchase tickets at vashoncenterforthearts.org.
Dia de los Muertos
Vason Center for the Arts will host its annual celebration of Dia de los Muertos from 2-4 p.m. Sunday Nov. 5, at the arts center.
A new element in the lineup this year will be joyful music from Mariachi Noreste, and a peformance from Lux Gaxiola, of Duo Finelli. This year, Bailedores de Bronce folkloric dancers will return to the VCA stage, along with Luz Gaxiola of Duo Finelli.
The centerpiece of the event will be Bailadores de Bronce’s special 50th Anniversary performance, showcasing traditional dances from all over Mexico with dancers from all over Washington state. The diversity of Mexican culture — influenced by Indigenous, European, and African roots — will be on full display, with audiences taken on a journey from Nuevo Leon and south, all the way down to the Yucatan peninsula.
Bailadores de Bronce was founded at the University of Washington in 1972, representing the era of Civil Rights and the Chicano movements. The company creates a bridge of understanding among all people by sharing their culture, preserving their traditions, and instilling pride in their youth.
After the performance in Kay White Hall, join with other community members for a fiesta in VCA’s atrium, where there will be more music, dancing, crafts and food provided by Vashon’s La Isla Mexican Food.
For more information, visit vashoncenterforthearts.org.
