Prepare for another season of great entertainment!
Kicking Horse Culture’s Live Kicks program begins again this Saturday with “Hey Viola! – The Soundtrack of a Life,” created by Krystle Dos Santos and Tracey Power.
This is a musical exploration of Canadian Civil Rights heroine Viola Desmond, and it could not be more relevant in the current era of civil rights, Black Lives Matter, and women’s rights movements.
This Western Canada tour to the Golden Civic Centre follows performance runs at the Stratford Festival and Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown. It’s a Thanksgiving treat!
Born in 1914 in Halifax and recently honoured on the Canadian $10 bill, Viola Desmond is mainly known as the black woman who refused to leave the whites-only section of a Nova Scotia cinema in 1946 and ended up getting arrested.
As it turned out, Ms. Desmond was a successful, self-made black businesswoman and early feminist who had the confidence to protest a racist law. Her actions helped start the modern civil rights movement in Canada.
Vancouver songstress and actor Krystle Dos Santos, with the support of musicians Chris Davis, Steven Charles and Mary Ancheta, brings the life of Viola Desmond to the stage using the dynamic and inspirational music that filled the home of this trailblazer of the civil rights movement.
Featuring hot jazz, gospel, and traditional spirituals, this eye-opening new cabaret-style musical brings bold new energy to the life and times of a remarkable woman.
Nearly 80 years later, at a time when the social protests of Black Lives Matter and the Me Too movement continue to roil and flare, her powerful story has been transformed into a piece of timely and moving cabaret musical theatre.
Hey Viola! is a valuable history lesson and an in-depth character study.
It is also a marvellously effective musical revue that uses the songs that most inspired Viola to help tell her story. From Mississippi Goddam and A Change is Gonna Come to This Train to I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to be Free, the soundtrack is powerful and evocative—and comes very much alive thanks to the electrifying performance by Dos Santos, an award-winning soul and R&B singer who has been compared with icons such as Sharon Jones and Charles Bradley.
Summer Kicks regulars will remember that Krystal and her band tore up our stage and got everyone up and dancing in the summer of 2022
Live Kicks Tickets are on sale at the Art Gallery of Golden, or call 250-344-6186.
Member’s early bird 50 tickets are $15, regular advance $20 and Students $5.
Tickets at the door are $25, or pay what you can.
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