Happy artful New Year's Eve: Serve up streaming by Vancouver performers in the safety of your living room
From whacked-out theatre to edgy ballet to festive cantatas, here are ways to ring in 2022 and celebrate local arts
East Van Panto: Alice in Wonderland. Photo by Emily Cooper
After We Glow in Ballet BC’s Unfold + Give. Photo by Michael Slobodian
BY NOW, THE reality should be settling in: you are not going to a New Year’s Eve party. Never mind the omicron variant: you’re also snowed in.
And even though local stages are largely closed December 31, you can still stream shows by Vancouver’s best performers. Added bonus: you can also support artists hard hit by pandemic shutdowns and uncertainty.
Here are just some of the standout dance, theatre, and music that you can watch from the comfort of your living-room couch. And if you feel more like a movie, remember both VIFF Connect and the Whistler Film Festival have online offerings.
East Van Panto: Alice in Wonderland
The whacked-out hyperlocal tradition moved entirely online amid omicron fears. At 2 pm on December 31, you can partake in the live-performed family-friendly hilarity at the York Theatre, Sonja Bennett’s musically driven script pitting an Amazon-like corporation against the small retailers of Commercial Drive.
Unfold + Give
Dress up and crack open a fine Champagne for some world-class contemporary dance. Ballet BC’s dazzling mixed program, which marked its first return to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in a year and a half, is offered online through to midnight on New Year’s Eve, by donation. The mix of short works suit every dance taste, from the edgy, neonlit After We Glow by Vancouver’s Company 605 to artistic director Medhi Walerski’s serene GARDEN.
All Together Now
Remember what live concerts were like? Us neither. And that’s why this expressionistic documentary about much loved indie troubador Dan Mangan’s homecoming 2019 show at the Vogue Theatre is such a thrill. Streamed on his groundbreaking Side Door platform until New Year’s Day, it’s a beautiful look at musical connection while fifth-wave pandemic restrictions keep us apart.
Sing We Now of Christmas
Saxophonist Julia Nolan and mezzo-soprano Taryn Plater join the Vancouver Welsh Men’s Choir for this online concert professionally recorded at Shaughnessy Heights United Church, which includes a short program by Magee Secondary School Choirs, streaming on demand to January 1.
EMV’s Festive Cantatas: Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with Pacific Baroque Orchestra
This year, EMV’s Festive Cantatas feature some of the most popular Christmas music of 18th-century Germany by Johann Kuhnau and J.S. Bach. For this performance of Cantatas IV and V from the Christmas Oratorio, five Canadian soloists of international renown join the musicians of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra, under the direction of Alexander Weimann. An online recording of the concert is available on EMV’s YouTube channel to January 22 for viewing for free or by donation.
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
Digital performances continue for the 2021/22 season with the new VSO Online series, featuring 10 full-length performances livestreamed direct from the Orpheum Theatre. Now available are “A New World”, the October 16 season-opening opening concert; Latin Nights; Romeo & Juliet; and A VSO Pops Christmas with Dee Daniels. Among the upcoming shows are Carnival of OUR Animals and Mozart, Bach & Bartok. (A full-series subscription is $140.)
Pacific Baroque Orchestra
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