Chris Botti

Hot Nights + Cool Jazz
Summer nights in Victoria filled with cool jazz…it doesn’t get any better than that!
More than 350 of the world’s best jazz, blues and worldbeat musicians entertain in over 95 exciting performances on 13 stages in downtown Victoria for the TD Victoria International JazzFest 2012, June 22 to July 1.
Highlights include Chris Botti, Dianne Reeves, George Benson and Robert Randolph and the Family Band. Don’t miss Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue, Janelle Monáe, Terrell Stafford, Delhi 2 Dublin, Balkan Beat Box and Los Amigos Invisibles. With a mix of ticketed events, free performances and workshops, there’s truly something for every music fan.

Summer dreams
Ballet Victoria brings one of Shakespeare’s most beloved performances to life on the Victoria stage this spring.
Coming to the Royal Theatre May 31 and June 1, dance fans will enjoy A Midsummer Night’s Dream and other works, including Vivaldi’s Gloria and a series of Russian songs sung by the Linden Choir: “a vivacious and hilarious retelling of this classic – Ballet Victoria-style – to Mendelson’s stunning music (as) Puck’s mischief plays havoc amongst fairies and mortals in their quest for love.”

Stars on Ice: Love ‘n’ Life
Co-directed and choreographed by skating superstar Kurt Browning, figure skating’s elite visits Victoria’s Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre May 16 with Stars on Ice: Love ‘n’ Life.
Welcoming some of the world’s most creative and cherished champions performing together in both individual and ensemble routines, this year’s tour features a stellar cast of world-renowned athletes, including four-time World Champion and four-time Canadian National Champion Kurt Browning, 2010 Olympic Gold Medalists and World Champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, 2010 Olympic Bronze Medalist Joannie Rochette and Olympic Bronze Medalist & World Champion Jeffrey Buttle.

Gorgeous Gardens
Enjoy a personal look at some of Victoria’s most stunning private gardens during the 30th annual Victoria Conservatory of Music Mother’s Day Garden Tour, May 12 and 13.
A fundraiser for the Victoria Conservatory of Music, your ticket is your passport into 10 sensational spring landscapes, open from 10am to 4pm both days. Ranging from exotic to native, new to established, country to urban, the gardens will also play host to performances by the conservatory’s talented students and faculty.
Tickets – $30 for a two-day pass – will be available at a variety of locations, including the conservatory (250-386-5311) and Victoria Thrifty Foods locations.

Shirley Valentine

On Stage
Langham Court Theatre stages the summer-friendly 1959 Pink Thunderbird Convertible, two one-act plays in one from James McLure  to May 12. In Lone Star, set outside a small town Texas bar, Roy regales his brother, Ray, with stories about his three loves: his country, his wife, and his beloved 1959 pink Thunderbird convertible. In Laundry and Bourbon, bourbon and gossip flow freely while Elizabeth waits for her wayward husband, Roy, with friends Hattie and Amy Lee. As the bottle empties, past indiscretions and present fears bubble to the surface.
Come June, the long-standing community theatre company presents Larry Shue’s “Obie Award-winning farce with a big heart,” The Foreigner. What will people say to your face if they think you cannot understand a word of their language? Shue “answers this question in a hilarious two hours of challenges overcome, evil plans thwarted, and good intentions eventually triumphant.”
Victoria’s Fernwood neighbourhood is home to Theatre Inconnu, presenting Edna Walsh’s The Walworth Farce May 29 to June 16. Winner of the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe Festival’s Fringe First Award, this hilarious comedy takes farce to new heights as the world’s most dysfunctional family participates in its annual “releasing of the ghosts from the closet,” as father and sons reenact the “incident” that has defined their lunacy.
Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre welcomes Canadian theatre icon Nicola Cavendish back to Victoria to present her award-winning performance of Willy Russell’s international hit Shirley Valentine, May 15 to 20.
For more than 20 years Canadian audiences from coast-to-coast have enjoyed this remarkable one-woman tour-de-force about a neglected housewife that “has enough,” packs her bags and takes off on a journey of self-discovery. Join Cavendish at the McPherson Playhouse and enjoy the trip!