BLANCHE is coming home. After a summer spent treading the boards stateside, Calgary’s it girl of musical theatre, Onalea Gilbertson, is bringing home her original production of BLANCHE: The Bittersweet Life of a Wild Prairie Dame for an extended run during the 2013 High Performance Rodeo.
Billed as a theatrical poetic song cycle, BLANCHE explores the life of Gilbertson’s grandmother, a vivacious belle of the Alberta prairie. Through a depression-era upbringing, two widowhoods, and five children whom she raised mostly single-handedly (while throwing legendary parties), Blanche Gilbertson embodied the independent western spirit that built this province. Before her death, her stories were gathered and recorded by her granddaughter Onalea, who turned them into songs.
BLANCHE was originally commissioned for the Banff Centre and was workshopped at the Sunset Theatre in Wells, BC. The musical production premiered Off Broadway in 2011 as a special event of the New York Musical Theatre Festival, and was pronounced “one of the 20 best shows of 2011” by the Huffington Post. In July 2012, BLANCHE played the Capital Fringe in Washington DC, where it was awarded 5 stars. It received similar accolades when it played the NYC Fringe in August 2012.
At last, BLANCHE is coming home to Calgary. A co-production of High Performance Rodeo and Lunchbox Theatre, BLANCHE: The Bittersweet Life of a Wild Prairie Dame is a haunting amalgam of jazz, folk, torch and chamber music, from one of Calgary’s most prolific performers. It promises to be a top pick of this year’s High Performance Rodeo.
What: BLANCHE: The Bittersweet Life of a Wild Prairie Dame
Where: TransCanada Stage, Lunchbox Theatre, 160 - 115 9 Ave SE
When: Jan 14-26, 2013
Show Times: Mon-Sat 12:10 pm, Friday 6:10 pm, Saturday 7:30 pm
How Much: Adults = $28, students & seniors = $25,
Get Tix: Lunchbox Theatre box office 403-265-4292 or online
Related Posts
BLANCHE is one heckuva girl
Want to squeeze a little High Performance Rodeo into your busy day? Why not pack a lunch and head over to Lunchbox Theatre's TransCanada Stage for a noon performance of BLANCHE: the […]
6 Guitars celebrates its three hundredth performance while in the High Performance Rodeo
Chase Padgett has performed his one-man show 6 Guitars almost three hundred times. In fact, he will celebrate his three-hundredth performance in Calgary, at Lunchbox Theatre, in the […]
Lunchbox Theatre’s ‘Beneath Springhill: The Maurice Ruddick Story’ is a tale worth telling
Most people have not heard of Maurice Ruddick, or how it was his positive outlook and love of singing that saved him and five other men from dying in a collapsed mine in Springhill, […]
Downtown Calgary Events - Week of January 9, 2022
6 GUITARS AT HIGH PERFORMANCE RODEO - Begins January 9, 2022
6 Styles - 6 Characters - 1 Performer.
In January, Lunchbox Theatre partners with the High Performance Rodeo to […]
HPR - Blind Date Review This review might be late, but so was her original date...
There's a question sometimes about the value of a review for a show that only runs for a week. If you're able to get a review up […]
| Tweet |
|
Warning: Declaration of Social_Walker_Comment::start_lvl(&$output, $depth, $args) should be compatible with Walker_Comment::start_lvl(&$output, $depth = 0, $args = Array) in /raid/home/getdown/getdown/wp-content/plugins/social/lib/social/walker/comment.php on line 60
Warning: Declaration of Social_Walker_Comment::end_lvl(&$output, $depth, $args) should be compatible with Walker_Comment::end_lvl(&$output, $depth = 0, $args = Array) in /raid/home/getdown/getdown/wp-content/plugins/social/lib/social/walker/comment.php on line 60
[…] by BARBARA BRUEDERLIN · 0 COMMENTS […]