For over 40 years, Kempenfelt Community Players (KCP) has been a pillar in Barrie’s arts community and they will be joining over 2,500 theatre organizations in over 40 countries in producing their own production of Music Theatre International’s All Together Now!: A Global Event Celebrating Local Theatre.
Like many arts organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic, KCP faced unprecedented obstacles and were forced to adapt its creative practices in accordance with the ever-changing government mandates.
In addition to the pandemic, it was also announced that the City of Barrie was cutting ties with the only large performance venue in the city (Georgian Theatre), essentially leaving KCP with no stage to return to.
In response to the global struggle faced by theatre companies across the globe, Music Theatre International (MTI) created a musical revue to use as a local fundraising event performed over the same weekend of Nov. 12, 2021.
All Together Now! features musical selections from such beloved musicals as Annie, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Come From Away, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Fiddler on the Roof, Guys and Dolls, Hairspray, Into the Woods, Les Misérables, Little Shop of Horrors, Mamma Mia!, Matilda, My Fair Lady, Rent and many more.
Under the formidable artistic direction of Renee Cingolani and Dave Ball, the cast of 12 local performers will present 15 musical numbers that make up the revue.
"MTI has put together a fantastic opportunity to reintroduce the phenomenon of live theatre to our community after such a jarring end," Cingolani says. "There has been a significant change to the theatre landscape, both rehearsal and performance safety protocols, but as a company unit, we've pivoted and KCP is back.
“Local theatre is a lifeline for so many, a second home to some, and an escape from reality for others. It's time to return and remember why this community matters."
KCP’s performances will be live and in-person as well as streamed online over three days.
Further information about the production and how to get tickets can be found at www.kempenfeltplayers.com.
Make your way to the dance floor!
On any given night along Dunlop Street or in pubs across our beautiful city, you can hear live music beckoning passersby to the front of the stage.
Barrie plays host to and his home to a wide variety of musical acts, but if there is one genre that is not represented enough it is the beat-bringing DJ and the rave scene.
On Thursday, Nov. 11, The Dirty Q at The Queens on Dunlop Street East will be the place to be for what is to be an experience that will transport people back to the rave scene.
For one night only, The Queens Hotel will be vibrating with electricity as a myriad of seasoned rave scene DJs and personalities bring the beats. Guaranteed to bring you to the dance floor are Barrie’s own Robb G and Reaver, with Collingwood’s Nokturnal and Toronto’s DJ MartyMcFly.
“People are in for a beautiful night of old-school rave music, breaks, house, and a full on dance party," says Gillian Dorella, who is the house booker at The Queens Hotel and PureGrains Promotion.
For more information and to buy tickets, click here.
Acclaimed production coming to Five Points Theatre
For over 10 years, Argentina’s Un Poyo Rojo has toured and performed to sold-out audiences around the world and will be bringing their provocative crossover between acrobatics, dance and humour to Barrie.
As part of Talk Is Free Theatre’s fall season programming, Un Poyo Rojo has been hailed as a physical theatre masterclass guaranteed to make audiences laugh and re-examine what can be accomplished without words.
Un Poyo Rojo runs Nov. 16-20 at the Five Points Theatre in downtown Barrie.
All core-theatre programming in Barrie is free and tickets can be booked by clicking here.
