The Citizen, 1989-10-25, Page 26THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1989. PAGE 27.
Entertainment ‘Romaniacs’ whoop it up
at Blyth Memorial Hall
Ensemble weaves music, stories
“The Robert Minden Ensemble”
weaves together music, stories and
laughter in a show that charms
people of all ages. The Ensemble is
appearing at Blyth Memorial Hall
on Saturday, November 4 at 2 p.m.
the first show of the Children’s
Festival of Entertainment.
The stories, based on personal
narratives, ancient tales and
dreams are orchestrated with the
sounds of unusual acoustic instru
ments: saws, spoons, bottles, bells,
crystal glass, conch shells, hoses,
drones and waterphones.
Based in Vancouver the Ensem
ble is the only touring group of its
kind. Robert Minden, storyteller,
music maker and renowned musi
cal saw player, has crafted a
background in classical music,
theatre and teaching into an inno
vative approach to performing.
Several dance companies have
choreographed Minden’s music in
cluding Vancouver’s Mountain
Dance and Pacific Motion Com
pany. He has been recorded by
rock groups and featured in New
Music programs on radio and
television. Recently he worked with
jazz musician Freddie Stone, on the
album “In Season” a unique
collaboration of waterphone and
flugelhom. Minden has toured with
Green Thumb Theatre fot Young
People in founding member of the
Vancouver Storytelling Circle and
is the only musical saw player to
have performed with the Berkeley
Symphony Orchestra.
The Robert Minden Ensemble,
born from spontaneous evenings of
laughter and music is a unique
collaboration of family and friends.
The Ensemble of Robert Minden,
storyteller, together with daugh
ters Andrea Minden (Flute), Dewi
Minden (trumpet) and friends,
Carla Hallett (French horn) and
Nancy Walker (designer) draw
upon the tradition of chamber
music to create a new storytelling
theatre, a chamber music for the
nineties. Delighted audiences are
inspired by the ingenious use of
everyday things as instruments and
are amazed by the extraordinary
music of the saw, the haunting
sound of the waterphone, and the
humorous bottle orchestra.
The story recounts the adventure
of a boy compelled by a powerful
dream to talk to the great whales.
His encounter with a curious
musician playing music on a car
penter’s hand saw is the beginning
of a musical journey filled with
possibility and discovery. Finally
the boy attains the chance to
communicate with the whales in a
way he never imagined before.
The music is an original score
composed and performed by the
Robert Minden Ensemble. The
audience does not hear synthesiz
ers or electronically generated
sounds. What they hear is an odd
assortment of ordinary things
transformed into musical instru
ments.
Series tickets are still available
for the Children’s Series which
include Glenn Bennett on Satur
day, November 18 at 2 p.m.
Bennett, one of Canada’s hottest
children’s entertainers, combines
creative energy, a unique sense of
humour and a way of looking at
things from a kid’s eye view to
make a wonderful afternoon of
entertainment. The final offering of
the series is the Kaleidoscope Story
Theatre on Saturday, December 2,
1989 at 2 p.m. This theatre group
direct from Vancouver offers a
fun-filled evening of stories taken
primarily from fables, folktales,
fairy tales and legends. Series
tickets are $12.00 (3 shows) and
Single tickets are available at $6.00
each. Call the hot line (519)
523-9300 or 523-9225 for more
information and to order tickets.
Festival to take ‘Perils’ on tour
Blyth Festival has announced
that an Ontario tour is being
organized for Fall, 1990 from
September 18 to November of Dan
Needles’ hit comedy, “The Perils
of Persephone”.
“Over 13,400 people saw our
performance of the play at Blyth’s
Memorial Hall this summer, aver
aging more than 97 per cent
capacity,” says General Manager
Joel Harris.
Since 1980, Blyth Festival has
toured some of its most popular
plays to towns and cities as far
afield as Kapuskasing, Picton,
Petrolia, Toronto, Sault Ste. Marie,
Guelph, and St. Catherines. The
tours have grown steadily over the
years taking these productions not
only around Ontario but across
Canada as well. The “Mail Order
Endless hours of practice required
Continued from page 20
depths of life,” said Mrs. Stalen-
hoef, “you can only reflect life to
others if you have experienced it
yourself and as you get older you
portray that deepness of spiritual
background and experience.”
Another part of improving the
voice is the endless hours of
practice and dedication. “Improv
ing your voice is a constant battle
and it is a very lonely job,” said
Mrs. Stalenhoef. “You are con
stantly working on your inner self
and there are not a whole lot of
people that can understand what
I’m occupied with.”
One man who did understand
was Walter Stalenhoef, a farmer
and a great lover of classical music
who met Renee at one of her
performances. He became her hus
band and this turn of events led to
the dramatic decision to imigrate to
Canada - a decision that meant
Mrs. Stalenhoef would have to
leave the Dutch opera. But it was
never an agonizing decision for
her. “I realized that farming in
Europe was very limited and that in
Canada we could have a way better
life with less input.”
Mrs. Stalenhoef chuckles as she
envisions from an outside perspec
tive the joining of an opera singer
to a farmer but she says “we had a
genuine interest in each other’s
careers.” She added that her
relationship with Walter was com
pletely natural and was one of the
miracles of her life.
As well, Mrs. Stalenhoef found
that after years of performing and
living a single life, she was ready
for a change in her personal life. “I
think it’s refreshing to make major
changes in your life,” she said.
So that’s how a famous opera
singer from Holland made her
way as a farmer’s wife to Canada to
the little village of Auburn. She
says that she has never been
homesick for Holland or longed to
go back to the old days, and she
finds intimate joy with her husband
and two daughters, Pauline and
Florence.
Now, Mrs. Stalenhoef is kept
busy practicing for the concert
series. She says she is very happy
with her instrument (her voice),
even though she has to really work
on it. “I think I am truly able to
move and touch people when I
sing,” she said “and that is the
greatest challenge. My greatest
achievement is to move people,
that is what an artist is supposed to
do.” It is this bounteous passion
for music and an inborn talent that
caught Paul Coates’ eye and will
undoubtedly thrill audiences in
Stratford.
GIRLS NIGHT OUT!
Join us in song or.....
just listen
4-part Harmony
Barber Shop Style Singing
BRUSSELS UNITED
CHURCH
TUES., NOV. 7&14
8P.M. NOCHARGE
Bonnie Gropp 887-6353
Sue Wilson 887-6072
MAPLETONE CHORUS
Bride” by Robert Clinton is cur
rently on the road reaching 22
communities, with a tour of Alberta
and British Columbia organized
from March 4, to April 29.
“Perils of Persephone” is the
third play of writer Dan Needles
who also penned “Letter from
Wingfield Farm” a one-man play
produced in 1984 and “Wingfield’s
Progress” a sequel which opened
in 1987. “Perils” introduces the
Currie family who live a couple of
miles south of the Wingfields’
farm, where Walt Wingfield spun
his tales in the earlier hit plays.
Walt does not, however appear in
this play, nor does actor Rod
Beattie who has given more than
400 performances of “Letter from
Wingfield Farm” across Canada.
Blyth’s production of “Perils of
Persephone” featured the talents
of actors, Jerry Franken, Patricia
Vanstone, Greg Ellwand, Diana
Belshaw, Ann Baggley, Garrison
Chrisjohn, and Reed Needles (bro
ther of the author). Also excerpts
from “Perils” will be aired on CBC
Radio’s Morningside in Spring of
1990.
The Rolling Stones song, ‘Paint
It Black’ doesn’t usually conjure up
visions of dancing Cossack’s shout
ing “Hoy!”. But “The Romani
acs” create their own version of
this tune plus much, much more
with their energetic and fun-filled
style of music.
Critics label their music, “ethno
fusion from the ethno-fringe” but
audiences flock to see them at Folk
Festivals and request their music
repeatedly on radio stations across
Canada. The Romaniacs invade the
stage of the Blyth Memorial Hall on
November 12, at 8:00 p.m. as part
of the Festival of Entertainment
Series.
These wacky comedians and
musicians describe their beginn
ings as follows. “As legend would
have it, the four young brothers
were in a daily line-up outside the
government shoe store at East
Bucharest Mall when Mama Ro-
maniac mysteriously ran off into
the sunset. The lads were then
“tragically separated” and dis
patched to far flung parts of the
world, but they kept hopes alive
that they would some day be
reunited and eat communal cabb-
Bordertown Cafe
at Grand Theatre
The Grand Theatre kicks off its
exciting 1989/90 season with “Bor
dertown Cafe” by Kelly Rebar.
This appealing Canadian play ex
plores family ties and national
identities through the difficult
choice one young man faces.
Opening October 27, Bordertown
Cafe stars Lewis Gordon, Eric
Woolfe, Karen Woolridge and Jan
et Wright. Bordertown Cafe is
directed by Martha Henry and
designed by Phillip Silver.
Jimmy is seventeen years old, a
good hockey player, about to start
grade 12 - and he has a problem.
His American father has invited
him to move to Wyoming and his
Canadian mother can’t bring her
self to say the words that would
keep him home. His grandfather, a
Canadian, isn’t much help - he
refuses to make Jimmy’s decision
for him.
age rolls. One day, brother Steffy
Levine Romaniac played a heavy
metal album backwards and a
message told him to go to Climax,
Saskatchewan. There he was happ
ily returned with his brothers at a
Romaniac Wedding, and after the
tears of joy dried, they did the
only natural thing and formed a
family band: The Romaniacs.”
The story of The Romaniacs is an
invention, but the recent success of
the Vancouver band is very real.
They are one of the most requested
bands on CBC Radio. They have
appeared on MUCHMUSIC, MTV,
Midday, CTV and the Journal
Diary (CBC-TV). The Romaniacs
tour Ontario this Fall with their
entertaining show of comedy and
music. They will also appear at
Victoria Jubilee Hall in Walkeron
on November 15.
The Romaniac brothers are an
accessible, entertaining mix of
gypsy soul, Hot Club Quintet
style fire, swing, pop music and red
hot rhythm. It is a musical-visual
production rarely experienced and
behind all the yuks (there are
many) is a dedicated group of
players who present international
quality music with style and class.
The Romaniacs appear for one
night only at Blyth Memorial Hall
on Sunday, November 12 at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $13 each and you can
reserve your tickets by calling the
Blyth Festival Box Office at (519)
523-9300/9225. Order now and let
these talented musicians give you a
hilarious whirlwind guided musical
tour of the world.
PIZZA PIZZA PIZZA
THURS., FRI., SAT.
5P.M.-12A.M.
BLYTH INN
EAT IN OR TAKE OUT
523-9381
ALEX AND JEAN
NETHERY
Dance to be held In
their honour given by
their children on
Friday, November 3, 1989 at
9p.m.
at the Brussels, Morris and
Grey Community Centre
Best Wishes Only Please!
8 ltgeumtheatke
c
£ Sunday to Thursday-One show each evening at 8p.i
JSUSPENSEFUL, SEDUCTIVE
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I SeaofLqve
ax ADULT
•» ACCOMMMIMENT
- ■■ ——J —J ■ ■ wJ —
| Phone 357-1630 for 24 hour movie information
Playing from Friday to Thursday, October 27 to November 2
Showtimes: Friday and Saturday at 7 and 9p.m.
Sunday to Thursday - One show each evening at 8 p. m.
And Wildiy Erotic. ”
- IVter Travers, KOIJ.ING STONE MAGAZINE
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