S.S. Sicamous, Artistic & Managing Director, Glen Cairns is very excited to announce that this year’s annual summer musical comedy will be John Gray’s rollicking, rocking & rolling, gospel and country flavoured truck stop musical and salute to life on the Canadian road, 18 WHEELS.Written and composed by the creator of the Canadian classics BILLY BISHOP GOES TO WAR and ROCK AND ROLL, 18 WHEELS is a celebration of the dream of every man or woman who ever started out small, working for someone else, while dreaming about one day “owning their own rig”. The show is staged as a country and western concert in which the singers act out vignettes of life on Canada’s highways and byways. With a trio of live musicians to back them up, our cast this year includes professional performers Steve Maddock and Danielle St. Pierre as well as two young Pentictonites who are about to launch successful musical theatre careers, Natalie Tape and Victor Hunter. The band is led by Michael Musclow on guitar with Keith Martens on keyboards and Brett Martens on bass and percussion. This delightful musial comedy, with its blend of rock, gospel and country is suitable for the whole family – especially those who can’t stand Broadway “show tunes”.
Penticton audiences will remember Maddock and St. Pierre from last summer’s production of The S.S. Sicamous Follies. Both performers are well known around the province, Maddock for his performances at Royal City Musical Theatre and Theatre Under The Stars, and St. Pierre for her recording and club singing career, as well as for her many appearances on stages in the lower mainland. Natalie Tape is a graduate of Summerland Secondary School, where she played Roxy Hart in their production of Chicago. Natalie has just completed her first year of theatre studies at The University of Victoria and in September will be travelling to Los Angeles to study at the prestigious American Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. Victor Hunter is a graduate of Princess Margaret High School who has recently completed his Musical Theatre Degree at Capilano University in Vancouver. This is Victor’s sixth summer onboard the Sicamous where he has, in recent years, twice starred in The Sicamous Follies. “Teaching and mentoring young, emerging artists has been a longstanding tradition at The Sicamous, and I’m very pleased to have been able to engage Victor and Natalie in the cast as well as young, Penticton based musicians, Keith, Brett and Michael in the band. We’ve got 5 more students engaged in everything from arts administration, artwork and publicity to ship maintenance this year. It’s really shaping up to be a remarkable summer on the Ship,” says Cairns.
18 WHEELS also ushers in a number of other changes to the summer musical line up at The Sicamous. Cairns, the ship’s Artistic and Managing Director, will slip out of his role as the comedic Newfie bottle picker, Bob McGuillicuddy, and into the director’s chair. Cairns is a highly experienced director, having staged shows at professional theatres across Canada. Local audiences may remember his high spirited, Skaha Pavillion productions of Taming Of The Shrew and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, both of which starred the late Sharon Amos.
According to Cairns, “we had 5 really successful years with The Sicamous Follies, so we decided decided to leave it on a high note and try something new. This isn’t the first time we have produced a “book” musical – our very first production, The Song Of The Sicamous, was truly delightful. It ran for two summers and, like The Follies, had settled into a very comfortable groove, but change is really the essence of live performance and as artists and as a production company it’s important for us to stretch, to grow and engage our audiences with new forms and new ideas.
Another big change at The Sicamous this summer is the creation of an intimate 150 seat outdoor ampitheatre with bleacher seating as well as room for audience members to bring their own blankets or lawn chairs. The stage is located on the small, private beach on the north side of the ship, with audience seating located on the grass. Audience members will be looking over the stage with a view across the lake to the clay cliffs and the Naramata Bench. Says, Cairns, “it’s an absolutely spectacular setting for theatre under the stars. If it’s rainy, windy or cold we’ve designed the show in such a way that it can be moved indoors to the ship’s ballroom in about 30 minutes. As anybody who has ever been to The Follies will tell you, there are nights, particularly in July and early August, when it’s like a sauna inside the ship. It isn’t pleasant for the audience or the performers, so moving outside into those perfect, cool Okanagan summer nights should be a very pleasant change for everyone. The new site is also handicap accessible, and our elderly patrons won’t have to worry so much about negotiating the stairs. The box office and handicap accessible washroom are on the Cargo deck of the ship with additional washrooms on the upper levels, so if you enter the site through the main entrance ramps of The Sicamous, you can tour the museum, use the facilities and then make your way outside to pick your seat or do that in any other order you choose.”
“Our annual summer musical has become a central, and very important part of our annual fundraising efforts,” says Cairns. We receive about 25% of our annual operating funding from the City of Penticton and another 25% from The Federal Government in the form of summer student employment grants. The Province of B.C. contributes about 6% of our annual funding, and The Restoration Society earns the remaining 34% through memberships, donations from individuals, our Jazz concert series, facility rentals and box office receipts for the summer musical. So, when people come out to enjoy themselves at a concert or a show at the ship, every penny they spend on a ticket is being reinvested in the restoration, maintenance and operation of these historic vessels, The S.S. Sicamous and her sister ship The S.S. Naramata as well as CN Tug #6 and The Okanagan Stern Saloon.
18 WHEELS runs from July 8 through August 22. Showtimes are Tuesdays thru Saturdays at 8 pm with Sunday matinees at 2 pm. Half Price Previews July 8 & 9. Opening night Saturday, July 10. Two-For-One Tuesdays for the month of July only.
Regular Admission is $20. Seniors (over 65) & Students are $16. Children & Youth (under 18) are $10. Tickets for a Family of Four (2 Adults with 2 Children) is $50 and $5 per extra child. S.S. Sicamous Restoration Society Members receive 25% off admission prices all summer long.
Early Bird Special – book your seats for any night, any show all summer long prior to July 3 and receive our Early Bird Special 25% off. For Reservations or for more information, please call our box office at 250 492 0405 or drop by the ship during business hours Tuesdays thru Saturdays between 10 am and 6 pm.
Contact: Glen Cairns
Artistic & Managing Director
S.S. Sicamous Restoration Society
1099 Lakeshore Dr. W.Penticton, B.C. V2A 1B7
Tel: 250 492 0403