Winter Spectacular by Jan Derbyshire

Dates and Venue 16-19 December 2009 @ 7.30pm and matinee 2pm 19 Dec| Massey Theatre, Burnaby

Reviewer Ed Farolan

The Massey Theatre celebrated its 60th Anniversary by presenting the premiere of Winter Spectacular - a live and multi-media theatrical production that was truly holiday fun for the whole family. What was interesting about this show was not only were the performers aged from 9 to 91, so also was the composite of the audience.

The show was a summary of everything that is spectacular about life: our dreams. In our dreams, we go from the fantastical to the profound, from the nightmarish to the hollywoodish. In this spectacular, the dream brought us from the Beatles to the German philosoher Nietzsche, from the fantasies of the West world to the dance and drumbeats of India.

Even the actors were a mx of the professional and the community amateurs. A show like this is done to merely entertain, as do the holiday pantos. But Massey Theatre did go one step further with a circus of a show. It even had trapeze artists hanging first like coccoons then flying like butterflies.

It had the "Beatles" do a medley of their songs while sets that looked like Alice in Wonderland's scenes came and went.

My only wish was that the show should have stuck to dancing and singing and all the fireworks that went with the light and sound effects. There was just too much talking where dance and song would have accomplished the fairyland theme of this spectacular much better.

© 2009 Ed Farolan