Happy 2017, everyone!
We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season! It’s 2017 and there are plenty of events to kick the year off. So if you’re in recovery mode, let’s ease into this slowly. But if you’re raring to go, (because there’s so many great upcoming events!), we curated the very best this city has to offer this month. Let’s do this!
Bright Nights in Stanley Park – Stanley Park Miniature Train
Event dates: November 28-January 1 | Various times
During the holiday season, the Bright Nights Christmas Train and Stanley Park Train Plaza sparkle with three million twinkling lights.
Mary Poppins – Stanley Industrial Theatre
Event dates: December 3-January 1 | Various times
Watch Mary Poppins fly over the rooftops of London, and feel like a kid again! Remember, anything can happen if you let it. This family musical features the unforgettable songs from the popular Disney film – “A Spoonful of Sugar”, “Chim Chim Cher-ee” and “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” – is practically perfect in every way.
Polar Bear Swim – English Bay Beach
Event date: January 1 | Time: 2:30pm
Join in or just watch this annual Vancouver tradition in which thousands of brave souls (some in costumes!) welcome the new year by plunging into the icy cold waters of English Bay.
Salute to Vienna New Year’s Concert – Orpheum Theatre
Event date: January 1 | Time: 230pm
Welcome 2017 with this elegant concert – celebrating its 20th anniversary in Vancouver! This New Year’s Day, a stunning new program featuring Strauss waltzes and sweeping melodies from operettas will be performed by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, acclaimed European singers, ballet and ballroom dancers.
Heritage Christmas – Burnaby Village Museum
Event dates: November 19-January 2
A stroll down the streets of the Village is magica; the cedar boughs, soft coloured lights, wreaths and big red bows are welcoming. Vintage-themed shop window displays highlight special winter and Christmas items. The light displays throughout the site will delight.
Festival of Trees – Four Seasons Hotel and Pacific Centre Mall
Event dates: November 25-January 2
Now on its 30th year – make a donation and vote for your favourite decorated tree.
The Peak of Christmas – Grouse Mountain
Event dates: November 25-January 2
Believe in the jolly man, in elves, in magic and in reindeer. Believe in all things Christmas. Experience it all at Vancouver’s North Pole where you can have breakfast with Santa, visit his workshop and meet real reindeer. This Christmas, believe again.
Festival of Lights – Van Dusen Gardens
Event dates: December 1-January 2
A magical winter wonderland with over one million lights decorating Van Dusen Botanical Gardens.
Fireworks – Orpheum Theatre
Event date: January 5 | Time: 2pm
Rollicking, celebratory music with a bang – Bernstein’s Candide, Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, and Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks play starring roles.
Michael Kosta – The Comedy Mix
Event dates: January 5-7 | Various times
Known primarily for his humour and sarcastic wit, Kosta also brings a sports background to the FOX Sports family. He played tennis professionally and at the University of Illinois, where he won four Big Ten championships. Kosta traded his racket for a microphone and full-time job as a stand-up comic based in LA.
Ellis Hall – Soul Unlimited – Orpheum Theatre
Event dates: January 6-7 | Time: 8pm
Superstar vocalist and instrumentalist Ellis Hall channels the greats in a concert with sou. Get your groove on to classic music by Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, Earth, Wind and Fire, Otis Redding, and of course, the great Ray Charles.
All Together Now – Musuem of Vancouver
Event dates: June 20-Jan 8 | Various times
Check out the Museum of Vancouver’s latest exhibition of the weird and wonderful stuff collected by the residents of Vancouver, including artistic taxidermy, artificial eyeballs and antique corsets.
Canyon Lights – Capilano Suspension Bridge
Event dates: November 24-January 8
The suspension bridge, Treetops Adventure, Cliffwalk, the rainforest and canyon are transformed into a world of festive lights and visual enchantment.
Enchantment Theatre Co: The Firebird – Orpheum Theatre
Event date: January 8 | Time: 2pm
An enchanted tree bears golden apples and an evil magician conjures a terrible storm in this imaginative production about Prince Ivan and the fabulous Firebird. With puppets, masks and magic, Enchantment Theatre Company presents the classic Russian tale The Firebird set to the evocative music of Igor Stravinsky.
Brent Morin – The Comedy Mix
Event dates: January 12-14 | Various times
Featured on undateable, Chelsea Lately, Netflix Original I’m Brent Morin, Conan and Brooklyn 99.
STOMP – Queen Elizabeth Theatre
Event dates: January 13-15 | Various times
STOMP is explosive, provocative, sophisticated, sexy, utterly unique and appeals to audiences of all ages. The international percussion sensation has garnered an armful of awards and rave reviews, and has appeared on numerous national television shows.
Symphonic Dances with Otto Tausk – Orpheum Theatre
Event dates: January 14-16 | Time: 8pm
Outstanding young conductor Otto Tausk makes a return visit to the Orpheum stage, conducting a program that includes Rachmaninoff’s sumptuous Symphonic Dances and Shostakovich’s stunning Violin Concerto No. 1, performed by violinist Simone Lamsma in her VSO debut.
Jan Martens – Scotiabank Dance Centre
Event dates: January 18-20 | Time: 8p
Maverick Flemish choreographer Jan Martens follows up his stunning Vancouver debut last season with a signature work which has toured all over the world. Sweat Baby Sweat takes the most cliched theme in dance – the relationship between a man and a woman – and distills it into an intensely physical, intimate duet depicting all-consuming love.
Macbeth – Vancouver Playhouse
Event dates: January 16-21 | Various times
Simon King – The Comedy Mix
Event dates: January 19-21 | Various times
Simon King utterly changes a room when he hits the stage. His high energy, dynamic intelligent and edgy comedy style makes him nothing short of a force of nature.
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo – Queen Elizabeth Theatre
Event dates: January 20-21
New York’s infamous all male ballerinas return with a fresh batch of highbrow hilarity following Vancouver’s 2015 sold out smash hit.
Walker Evans: Depth of Field – Vancouver Art Gallery
Event dates: October 29-January 22
The American photographer Walker Evans (1903-1975) is among the most influential artists of the 20th century. Covering the full arc of his career, Walker Evans: Depth of Field present the most comprehensive look at Evans’ work ever mounted in Canada.
Alexander Melnikov (Piano) – Vancouver Playhouse
Event date: January 22 | Time: 3pm
With his enormously diverse range of repertoire, Russian pianist Alexander Melnikov is in demand both as a soloist and chamber musician.
Queyras and Melnikov (Cello and Piano) – Vancouver Playhouse
Event date: January 22 | Time: 730pm
With his enormously diverse range of repertoire, Russian pianist Alexander Melnikov is in demand both as a soloist and chamber musician. These two Sunday performances offer the pleasure of hearing him on his own – in the afternoon – and in collaboration with Jean-Guihen Queyras in the evening.
Adrianne Pieczonka Sings Strauss – Orpheum Theatre
Event dates: January 21-23 | Time: 8pm
Symphony concerts do not get much more epic than this: Bramwell Tovey conducting the music of the great late-Romantic composer, Richard Strauss, with breathtaking Canadian soprano Adrianne Pieczonka – renowned for her interpretation of the works of Strauss, Wagner and Verdi – and the semi-autobiographical tone poem Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life). Fasten your seat belts!
Faure and Brahms CMS Piano Quartet – Vancouver Playhouse
Event date: January 24 | Time: 8pm
Aaron Copland called Fauer the “French Brahms” – an apt analogy when considering the dense textures, rhapsodic stringing together of ideas, fastidious craftsmanship and emotional, yet retrained, musical expression of both composers. But, while Brahms sweeps us away with earthy passion in works like his second Piano Quartet, Faure’s magic resides in the luminous, sensuous and elusive beauty of his music.
Scott Thompson – The Comedy Mix
Event dates: January 26-28 | Various times
Featured in Larry Sanders Show, Hannibal and Kids in the Hall.
Blue Rodeo – Queen Elizabeth Theatre
Event dates: January 27-28 | Time: 8pm
2017 Street Food City – South Plaza outside Vancouver Art Gallery
Event dates: January 23-29 | Various times
Inexpensive and constantly surprising in the array and quality of their offerings, more than 25 food trucks will be open for business.
Sting – Commodore Ballroom
Event date: February 1 | Time: 8pm
Throwndown – The Improv Centre at Granville Island
Event dates: February 1-4 | Various times
Presenting local comedy teams in around robin competitions.
Alessandro Sciarroni – Scotiabank Dance Centre
Event dates: February 2-4 | Time: 8pm
The boundary-bustin works of Italian choreographer Alessandro Sciarroni range freely between dance, theatre, performance art and anthropology. In FOLK-S, he deconstructs the schuhplttler, a Bavarian folk dance where the performers slap their shoes and legs with their hands, and refines it to its most essential elements, reactivating the movements in a contemporary context.
Nikki Glaser – The Comedy Mixx
Event dates: February 3-4
Executive producer and star of the Comedy Central series, ‘Not Safe with Nikki Glaser.’
Juxtapoz X Superflat – Vancouver Art Gallery
Event dates: November 5-February 5
Juxtapoz x Superflat is a manifesto for new creative practices that can no longer be adequately described by the traditional categories of art and production. Presenting the work of more than 30 artists from Japan, China, Korea, Europe, the US and Canada, this remarkable exhibition offers a unique insight into contemporary art and its place in cultural life.
2017 Dine Out Vancouver – Various restaurants
Event dates: January 20-February 5 | Time: Lunch and Dinner
Annual dining fest in Vancouver, featuring set menus at reasonable prices.
Salmon Girl – Presentation House Theatre
Event dates: January 26-February 5 | Various times
Raven Spirit Dance’s Salmon Girl explores the world of water and salmon. Through theatre, dance, music and puppetry, this piece for all ages follows the journey of a young girl into this magical world.
The New World Symphony – Orpheum Theatre
Event dates: February 4-5 | Time: 2pm and 8pm
One of the brightest lights on the Finnish classical music scene, Juho Pohjonen makes his VSO debut performing Prokofiev’s flat-out exciting Piano Concerto No. 1 with his countryman, conductor Pietari Inkinen. Two different sides of Prokofiev are on display in this concert, as we also hear his throwback to the Classical style of composition. Dvorak’s New World Symphony is one of the best-known and most-loved symphonies ever written, a delicious soundscape of melodies, orchestral colours and musical styles.
As I Lay Dying – Goldcorp Stage at BMO Theatre Centre
Event dates: January 19-February 12 | Various times
Witness this classic novel come to life in a highly imaginative production where drama and dance intersect. The Bundren family embarks on a 40-mile funeral procession to bring their mother to a final resting place and fulfill her dying wish. Through their calamitous journey, each member struggles with the promises made to the departed, revealing secrets and confronting their own selfish desires along the way. Faulkner’s expressive characters leap from the stage to present a gripping and unforgettable examination of humanity – with all its virtues and vices.
7th Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival – Various locations
Event dates: January 17-February 14 | Various times
The Hot Chocolate Festival once again makes for a deletable countdown to the sweetest day of the year.
Cavalia Odysseo – White Big Top at Olympic Village
Event dates: January 31-February 19 | Various times
With a production double the size of Cavalia’s eponymous creation, which enjoyed a very successful run in Chicago in 2009, Odysseo is a show unlike any other on the planet, an immersive theatrical experience in which horses are front and centre.
Corleone: The Shakespearean Godfather – Pacific Theatre on Hemlock and 12th
Event dates: February 3-25 | Various times
A classic tale of power, destiny, betrayal and honour: what if Shakespeare had written The Godfather?
The Audience – Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage
Event dates: January 26-February 26 | Various times
From Winston Churchill to Margaret Thatcher, through Tony Blair and right up to David Cameron, the Queen has held a weekly meeting, or “audience,” with each of her twelve prime ministers. Peter Morgan’s imaginary glimpses into these tête-à-têtes provide a droll and fascinating portrayal of a lioness of history—one who, over the span of six decades, transforms from an uncertain young monarch into the revered figurehead of today.
42nd Street – Studio 58
Event dates: February 2-26 | Various times
The quintessential backstage musical comedy classic, 42nd Street is the song and dance fable of Broadway with an American Dream story and includes some of the greatest songs ever written, such as “We’re in the Money”, “Lullaby of Broadway”, “Shuffle Off to Buffalo”, “Dames”, “I Only Have Eyes for You” and of course, “42nd Street”. Based on a novel by Brandford Ropes and Busby Berkeley’s 1933 movie, 42nd Street tells this story of a starry-eyed young dancer named Peggy Sawyer who leaves her Allentown home and comes to New York to audition for the new Broadway musical Pretty Lady. When the leading lady breaks her ankle, Peggy takes over and becomes a star.
Robson Square Ice Rink – Robson Square
Event dates: December 1- February 28 | Various times
Free for all ages, if you bring your own skates. Otherwise, skate rentals are $4 and rentals end 30 minutes before closing times. Note: helmets are mandatory for children 12 years and under.
Vancouver Special: Ambivalent Pleasures – Vancouver Art Gallery
Event dates: December 3-April 17
Presenting works by forty artists, the exhibition encompasses a range of approaches and reinvigorated explorations of surrealism, abstraction, and conceptual practices.
The Cultch – Various theatres
Event dates: October 4-June 3 | Varius times
Comic relief, international hits, daring drama, family fun, movement, and mash ups!
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