EDMONTON -- The Bonnie Doon Centre is mixing drive-in movies with opera as a way to lift spirits during the ongoing pandemic.
“We’ve gone through so much in the past month and I think right now everyone needs a little bit of happiness, a little bit of entertainment in their life and it’s our way of bringing that joy,” said Nivedita Kunjur with the Bonnie Doon Centre.
On Friday viewers were treated to ‘A Night at the Opera’ along with tenor Boris Derow and musician Spencer Kryzanowski as the preshow entertainment.
“It’s an opportunity to present something a little bit-off key, not off-key I hope, a little bit wacky,” said Allen Jacobson, who is co-producing the event along with the Mercury Opera.
“I think we’ll see more multi-disciplinary arts coming together, more collaborations and more collective expressions of art, it’s just the way it has to be.”
Saturday evening has the ‘Phantom of the Opera’ on the playbill alongside the jazz ensemble ‘The Dungeon Quartet.’
Kunjur said that there is another, similar, event in the works for September that would feature French music.
“Just because we can’t do a whole bunch of things doesn’t mean life has to stop, we just have to invent new ways to entertain ourselves.”
The show costs $35 per vehicle, the gates open at 7 p.m. with the preshow beginning at 8:30 p.m. and the movie at 9 p.m.
The show is being limited to around 107 vehicles because of provincial health guidelines. Tickets are available on the Mercury Opera website.
