53 things to do in Metro Vancouver on Friday, April 28

Looking for something to do on Friday? The Straight’s got you covered. Here are 53 events happening in or around Vancouver on Friday, April 28.

 

CONCERTS

Brooklyn-based Norwegian indie-rock singer-songwriter Sondre Lerche plays the Biltmore.

The Rogue Folk Club presents Vancouver vintage-jazz ensemble the Company B Jazz Big Band at St. James Hall.

Australian rock band the Dune Rats plays the Rickshaw, touring in support of latest album The Kids Will Know It's Bullshit.

Local garage-string band Circus in Flames plays Falconette's East Side Grill.

Coastal Jazz presents James Danderfer’s East-West Quintet, featuring Quincy Davis and Neil Swainson, at Frankie's Jazz.

Toronto world-fusion ensemble Bret Higgins' Atlas Revolt plays the WISE Hall, with guests Dálava and Tyson Naylor Trio.

Backstage Extravaganza features music by the Bop Apocalypse, Mike Machado Trio, the Unknown Soldiers, and Dameian the Lion at the Backstage Lounge.

 

BENEFITS

Vancouver celebrities model European designer fashions provided by Vetrina Moda and Quorum Men’s Fashion Emporium at C|Prime Modern Italian Steak & Wine, with proceeds to the Pacific Autism Family Network.

 

ET CETERA

The Squidling Brothers Circus Sideshow presents performances at the Rio Theatre by Jelly Boy the Clown, Matterz Squidling, Fibi Eyewalker, Makenzie Molotov, Damien Kenny, Burns the Dragon, Little Miss Risk, the Mighty Quinn, and Bloody Betty.

 

FOOD AND DRINK

The Wine for Waves evening of wining and dining at the Four Seasons Hotel brings together some of B.C.’s top wineries and sustainable seafood restaurants, with proceeds to the Vancouver Aquarium’s Ocean Wise program.

 

FORUMS

Artists Alex Grey and Allyson Grey present an illustrated discussion on their personal creative paths, along with music from guest Phaeleh, at the Vogue Theatre.

Walk through the forest of Stanley Park with an experienced guide of Coast Salish descent and learn about the traditional and present-day indigenous relationships with local flora and fauna.

 

TAKE ACTION

Mobilization Against War and Occupation presents an antiwar rally and petition drive in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery.

 

COMEDY

Canadian comedian Eddie Della Siepe performs the second of three nights of standup at Yuk Yuk's Comedy Club.

Vancouver-based comedian Dino Archie performs the second of three nights of standup at the Comedy Mix.

Giggles and Gags at the PAL Theatre features original sketch comedy with a few musical twists on Vancouver’s pop culture.

Evening of standup and improv comedy at Little Mountain Gallery featuring Alain Williams, Brett Nikolic, and Mark Nesbitt.

Comedy by Mike Masilotti, Joe Kelley, Willie Simon, Levi Manis, Claire Webber, Michael Evans, Robbie Schroeder, and headliner Nigel Larson at Goldies Pizza.

Instant Theatre presents an improvised late-night TV talk show at Havana Theatre.

 

ARTS ETCETERA

Buy paintings, drawings, books, pottery, prints, and sculptures by Langara Fine Arts students at the Langara Art Sale.

 

DANCE

Heather Laura Gray's multimedia project The Tunnel at Studio 16 sees dancers move through a staged consciousness, immersed in the evolving light show as they struggle through turbulent thoughts.

 

MUSIC

Opening day of the Vancouver Opera Festival, a celebration of opera featuring new productions of Otello, Dead Man Walking, and The Marriage of Figaro, plus performances by Paul Wong, Ute Lemper, and Tanya Tagaq, at various Vancouver venues.

Clarinetist James Campbell is featured in a program of music by Bernstein, Gershwin, and Copland at West Van's Kay Meek Centre.

Tomás Cotik performs a diverse program of music by Piazzolla, Bach, and Telemann in the living room of a UBC home.

The two-day One Voice women's a cappella competition at Surrey's Chandos Pattison Auditorium features singers from B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories, Yukon Territory, and Nunavut.

 

THEATRE

Mom's the Word Collective presents Mom's the Word 3: Next 1/2 Empty at the Granville Island Stage.

Canadian clown duo Mump and Smoot is confronted by a myriad of nightmarish obstacles at the York Theatre. Recommended for ages 14+.

Fighting Chance Productions presents Parade, the story of a man who is put on trial for the murder of an employee. Held at the Norman Rothstein Theatre.

Catch the second night of Patrick Barlow's The 39 Steps, which is based on the book by John Buchan. Held at the Kay Meek Centre.

SMP Dramatics presents Canadian playwright Norm Foster’s The Great Kooshog Lake Hollis McCauley Fishing Derby at the Theatre at Hendry Hall.

Metro Theatre presents Straight and Narrow, a comedy that explores what happens when a cozy relationship is threatened by personal crisis.

Pi Theatre presents Long Division, Peter Dickinson's play about seven characters inextricably linked by tragic events, at the Orpheum Annex.

Stone's Throw Productions presents The Shape of a Girl, Joan MacLeod's play about bullying and violence between young girls, at Pacific Theatre.

World premiere at Red Gate Review Stage of John MacLachlan Gray's Dispatches Without Borders, about five characters on the frontline of humanitarian fieldwork.

Opening night at Performance Works of Robin Hood: Prince of Tease, an original burlesque-style musical-theatre production inspired by the classic folk-tale figure of Robin Hood.

 

GALLERIES

Susan Point: Spindle Whorl at the Vancouver Art Gallery surveys Point’s entire career through more than a hundred artworks that take the spindle whorl as their starting point.

Pacific Crossings at the Vancouver Art Gallery features works from well-known Hong Kong artists created after their relocation to Vancouver throughout the 1960-90s.

Retainers of Anarchy at the Vancouver Art Gallery features new work from Howie Tsui that considers wuxia as a narrative tool for dissidence and resistance.

 

MUSEUMS

Cindy Mochizuki's  multimedia installation Rock, Paper, Scissors at the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre invites audiences to experience an immersive trilogy of short stories.

Amazonia: The Rights of Nature at at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC features Amazonian basketry, textiles, carvings, feather works, and ceramics both of everyday and of ceremonial use, representing indigenous, Maroon, and white settler communities.

The Lost Fleet at the Vancouver Maritime Museum investigates the unjust 1941 seizure of 1,200 Japanese-Canadian fishing vessels following the bombing of Pearl Harbour through a collection of historic photographs, models of Japanese-Canadian-built fishing boats, fishermen’s tools, and replica documents.

 

ATTRACTIONS

Edgewater Casino offers 24-hour gaming, over 60 table games, a poker room, a high-limit section, 500 slot machines, restaurants and lounges, and live entertainment, including concerts and televised UFC events.

The Capilano Suspension Bridge features seven suspended footbridges offering views 110 feet above the forest floor.

At the Bloedel Conservatory you can take in more than 200 free-flying exotic birds and 500 exotic plants and flowers.

The Vancouver Aquarium features almost 800 animal species in galleries ranging from Canada's Arctic to the Amazon rainforest.

Grouse Mountain resort features a Skyride to the peak with views of Vancouver and the Pacific Ocean, as well as skiing and snowboarding, snowshoeing, ice skating, and mountain ziplines.

Soar from coast-to-coast across the Canadian landscape with a 25-minute ride featuring effects such as wind and scents at FlyOver Canada.

The 22-hectare VanDusen Botanical Garden features over 255,000 plants from around the world, a restaurant, a garden shop, and a horticulture library. 

Lighthouse Park features 10 kilometres of hiking trails, picnic areas, guided walks provided by the Lighthouse Park Preservation Society, and the historical 1912 Point Atkinson Lighthouse.

 

MOVIES

Screening at Vancity Theatre of Afterimage, the last feature of the late, great director Andrzej Wajda. In Polish with English subtitles.

Screening at the Cinematheque of director Bruno Dumont's long-form police-procedural comedy P’tit Quinquin. In French with English subtitles.

Screening at Vancity Theatre of director Danièle Thompson's Cezanne et moi, about the relationship between French impressionist Paul Cezanne and the realist novelist Emile Zola.

Late-night screening at the Rio Theatre of the 2008 comedy Step Brothers, starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly.

 

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