The unofficial start to summer is upon us with sun joining the May Long Weekend line-up of great picks.
Newfoundland: Broadway in Victoria brings the Canadian musical, COME FROM AWAY, based on a remarkable true story, to Victoria’s Royal Theatre May 10 – 24, 2023.
Festival: Continuing until May 28th, Urban Ink and The Cultch welcome new works and past favourites to a free, all-digital TRANSFORM Cabaret Festival focuses on empowering Indigenous artists and encouraging collaboration with non-Indigenous artists.
Legend: When an Elvis impersonator finds career troubles, he finds a new way to make ends meet, The Legend of Georgia McBride brings a banquet of fabulous outfits, fierce performances, and epic drag anthems to the Arts Club Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage until May 21st
Thief: Adapted from the book The Lightning Thief and featuring a thrilling original rock score, CTORA Theatre presents The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical an action-packed mythical adventure bringing the world of Percy Jackson to life on stage until May 28.
Art: The 7th annual ParkerArtSalon runs until June 16th with “What Moves You” exhibition at Pendulum Gallery, Waddington’s Online Auction and Parker Street Studio Tours + Hall Exhibition where the participating artists at Parker Street Studios open up their studios to the public.
Improvise: The Improv Centre on Granville Island debuts its spring show, Bring Back The ‘90s!, on Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30pm until May 27
Ice: Cool down and head into Rogers Arena to witness Kurt Browning, Elivis Stojko, Patrick Chan and more take the rink for Stars on Ice 2023
Cascadia: Regional rivals Vancouver Whitecaps FC play host to Seattle Sounders on Saturday evening at BC Place.
Comedy: Until May 21 Zee Zee Theatre’s world premiere of the female-led comedy Unexpecting, written by emerging Vancouver playwright Bronwyn Carradine, is a celebration of queer love, female relationships, and modern motherhood.
Yeehaw: It’s the long weekend, that means it’s time for the return of the Cloverdale Rodeo in Surrey, 4 day of rodeo action and country fair for the Victoria Day weekend.
Youth: IGNITE! Festival, Western Canada’s largest youth-run arts festival, takes the stage at The Cultch Historic Theatre from May 17-20, 2023, featuring theatre performers, filmmakers, writers, poets, dancers, musicians, VR and visual artists — all aged 13-30 — as well as participants from The Cultch mentorship programs.
Shames: City Opera Vancouver presents the Vancouver premier of The Book of My Shames an original one-man theatre production starring and co-created by Isaiah Bell, with director and co-creator Sean Guist at the Firehall Arts Centre on May 18, 19 and 20
Futures: Until January 14, 2024, 25 years since the artist’s passing, the Bill Reid Gallery presents the Canadian premiere exhibition of Bright Futures, co-curated by Bill Reid Gallery Curator Beth Carter, Assistant Curator Aliya Boubard, and in consultation with Jordan Wilson (Musqueam).
Opera: Astrolabe Musik Theatre brings the Canadian premiere of UK composer George Benjamin’s chamber opera Into the Little Hill, a lyric tale told in two parts, to SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre Friday May 19 and Saturday May 20.
Dance: Tomorrow, May 18th at 12 noon, The Dance Centre’s Discover Dance! series features the groundbreaking vertical dance company Aeriosa, which merges choreography, environment and theatre with elements of rock climbing and contemporary performance art, taking place on the Scotiabank Dance Centre at 677 Davie St
Market: A kaleidoscope of colours, fantastical characters, and mouth-watering international foods combine at the 2023 Richmond Night Market, North America’s largest event of its kind runs weekends until October 9, 2023
Shipyard: Across the lower mainland, another market open this weekend, the 2023 Shipyards Night Market runs Friday nights until September 15th at the Shipyards in North Vancouver.
Exhibition: On display until June 11, Richmond Art Gallery, in partnership with the Richmond Public Library, presents A Small but Comfy House and Maybe a Dog the first major solo exhibition by Amy Ching-Yan Lam, guest curated by Su-Ying Lee, featuring sculptures made in collaboration with HaeAhn Woo Kwon, with objects from the collections of the Gallery and the neighbouring Richmond Public Library.
Gallery: Held over to display until May 21, Polygon Gallery presents As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic Curated by Elliott Ramsey, the exhibition is organized by Aperture and features more than 100 photographs from the Wedge Collection — Canada’s largest privately owned collection committed to championing Black artists.
Jurassic: Dinosaurs come to life as Jurassic World Live Tour brings fan-favourite Velociraptor Blue and a Tyrannosaurus rex more than 40 feet in length to the Pacific Coliseum May 19-21 AND May 26-28 with more than 24 film-accurate, life-sized dinosaurs, with scale, speed and ferocity, operated by animatronics and performers.
