Inside Vancouver

Theatre Under the Stars 2012 at Stanley Park: The Music Man & TITANIC

by Dana Lynch in Entertainment on July 3, 2012

TUTS at Stanley Park. Photo: TUTS

Stanley Park’s Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS) is back for Summer 2012 with two new musical productions, The Music Man and TITANIC, starting July 8.

One of Vancouver’s largest musical theatre companies, TUTS performs two musicals every summer at Stanley Park’s outdoor Malkin Bowl, where you can sit in traditional seating or bring your picnic blanket and watch from the grassy lawns. It literally is “theatre under the stars.”

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Theatre Under the Stars 2012 at Stanley Park: The Music Man & TITANIC

BC Cultural Crawl – August 1 – 31, 2011

by Dana Lynch in Entertainment on July 22, 2011

It’s a big year for Vancouver. Not only is 2011 the City of Vancouver’s 125th birthday and Parks Canada’s 100th anniversary, it’s also the 10th birthday for the BC Cultural Crawl. Launched as a B.C. Day celebration in 2001, today’s BC Culture Crawl is a huge arts festival that spans the province and the entire month of August.

The BC Cultural Crawl is a collection of arts and cultural events at 70 cities and towns throughout British Columbia, including outdoor theatre, art walks, annual festivals, and special events that demonstrate the unique “footprints” of the various B.C. communities.

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BC Cultural Crawl – August 1 – 31, 2011

Theatre Under the Stars 2011 – Stanley Park’s Outdoor Musical Theatre

by Dana Lynch in Entertainment on July 14, 2011

Seth Little as Lord Evelyn Oakleigh & Andrew Cownden as Moonface Martin in TUTS 2011 production of Anything Goes.

Last night, when my partner and I went to the opening night of Stanley Park’s Theatre Under the Stars’ (TUTS) Anything Goes, it was raining. It wasn’t raining terribly hard—more of drizzle, really—but it was wet enough that the TUTS crew gave out complimentary rain ponchos. So there we are, my partner and I, holding hands under our plastic-bag ponchos, listening to star Irene Karas (playing Reno Sweeney) belt out Cole Porter hits like “I Get a Kick Out of You,” and thinking that it doesn’t get any more Pacific Northwest than this: watching outdoor theatre in July in the rain and loving it.

The smiles on our faces lasted long after the show ended. It’s experiences like that that make TUTS a Vancouver summer tradition, rain or shine.

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Theatre Under the Stars 2011 – Stanley Park’s Outdoor Musical Theatre

Bard on the Beach 2011

by Dana Lynch in Entertainment on May 26, 2011

Summer in Vancouver is the season of outdoor theatre and concerts—there’s Stanley Park’s Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS) and outdoor music at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, to name just a few—but there is no other summer theatre festival that pairs Vancouver’s stunning scenery with top-notch productions better than Bard on the Beach.

A summer tradition for many Vancouverites (our own Suzanne Raikes goes every year), Bard on the Beach is one of Canada’s largest Shakespeare festivals. Each summer, the festival produces four Shakespeare plays in open-backed tents at Vanier Park, allowing gorgeous views of the northern mountains and English Bay to become the literal backdrop for each production.

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Bard on the Beach 2011

Theatre Under the Stars 2010: Singin’ in the Rain & Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

by Dana Lynch in Entertainment on July 15, 2010

Theatre Under the Stars 2010 performs Singin' in the Rain

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit: My partner and I LOVE Singin’ in the Rain. Like, if Singin’ in the Rain had conventions, we would totally go (dressed as Lina Lamont and Don Lockwood, of course). My partner once did the Gene Kelly windmill-arm dance in a bar; “Moses Supposes” is one of the few songs I know well enough to sing to my four-month old.

So you can imagine how excited we were when we found out that TUTS—Stanley Park’s famous outdoor Theatre Under the Stars—is performing Singin’ in the Rain for their 2010 season. It’s the perfect marriage of two of our favourite things!

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Theatre Under the Stars 2010: Singin’ in the Rain & Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat