Outdoor blues, online Broadway shows, open-air theater, “Hidden History”: These merely scratch the surface of the arts and entertainment picture this weekend.
From Ghostlight Productions of Clallam County comes “Broadway in Your PJs,” an hour-long show filmed at Port Angeles’ Lincoln Theater — for streaming at home starting Saturday. Tickets are by donation to this showcase of local performers and Broadway hits including “Chicago,” “South Pacific,” “Sweeney Todd” and “Bright Star.”
The show will stay online through Sept. 4, with tickets at www.ghost lightwa.org.
“We have all desperately missed live theater,” said Ghostlight artistic director Mark Lorentzen, adding his HD camera crew strove to bring viewers onstage with them.
They planned all the shots, he said, “so you feel like you’re front row and center for the big production numbers,” like “Dancing Queen” from “Mamma Mia!”
The solos are “framed in intimate closeups so you hear, see and feel the emotion,” Lorentzen added.
Emotion will come as well from the guitar, harmonica and voice of bluesman John “Greyhound” Maxwell on Saturday in Coyle, the community at the tip of the Toandos Peninsula south of Quilcene.
In what will most likely be 2021’s last Concerts in the Woods show, Maxwell will play on the grass outside the Laurel B. Johnson Community Center, 923 Hazel Point Road, at 3 p.m. Saturday.
Admission is free with donations, lawn chairs and picnic blankets welcome; masks and social distancing are strongly advised. For directions and details, see coyleconcerts.com or phone 360-765-3449.
“I’m really glad [organizers] decided to do it outside,” Maxwell said of the concert.
The multi-instrumentalist, recipient of the Washington Blues Society’s Best Acoustic Blues Guitar award, plans two 45-minute sets of original music plus covers from the 1920s and ’30s.
Here’s a sampling of other activities. To make sure an event is still on, phone ahead or visit its website and social media pages.
• Olympic Cellars Winery hosts a classic rock concert by Long Live Rock, formerly Creme Tangerine, tonight at 6 p.m., and then the same band’s Good Day Sunshine Beatles tribute show Saturday at 6 p.m.
The cover charge for these outdoor shows is $17 via https://olympiccellars.com/summer-concert-series or $20 at the gate. The winery, 255410 U.S. Highway 101 east of Port Angeles, can be reached at 360-452-0160.
• The Port Townsend Record Show brings a multitude of LPs and CDs to the American Legion Hall, 209 Monroe St., Port Townsend, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free, and masks required.
• The Out Loud Story Slam brings live performances of true personal stories to the outdoor stage at the Sequim Library, 630 N. Sequim Ave.
Admission is free to the 7 p.m. event, which will also be livestreamed on the North Olympic Library System’s Facebook page. For details see NOLS.org.
• “Hidden History” tours in downtown Port Townsend are offered free by the Port Townsend Main Street Program and Key City Public Theatre every first and third Saturday of the month — including this Saturday — at 1 p.m.
Guests meet guide and actor Bry Kifolo at the Haller Fountain, Taylor and Washington streets. The 45-minute tour explores little-known elements of local history. For information, visit iLove PortTownsend.com.
• Shakespearean Renaissance Faire happens Saturday and Sunday outdoors at Olympic Theatre Arts, 414 N. Sequim Ave., Sequim.
Revelry starts at noon both days and continues until 5 p.m., with live performances at 1:30 p.m. along with sonnets, food, drink and games.
Tickets are $12 general, $10 for OTA members and $5 for students. Information awaits at olympic theatrearts.org and 360-683-7326.
• The Port Townsend Kiwanis Club’s 32nd annual Classic Car Show will be on Saturday at Memorial Field, 550 Washington St., Port Townsend. Gates will open at 9 a.m.; trophies come out at 3 p.m.
Tickets are $5 for adults, $2 for children 12 and younger and free for children younger than 5. Food, beverages and prize drawings are part of the show; information is found at ptkiwanis.org.
• Key City Public Theatre is hosting two outdoor shows in Port Townsend on Saturday: “Star Play” at Chetzemoka Park, Jackson and Blaine streets, and “Dears in Headlights,” a drive- and walk-in love letter to classic cinema at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, 4907 Landes St.
Both are from Seattle’s Dacha Theatre, where Port Townsend’s Emily Huntingford is an artistic producer. “Star Play” at 5:30 p.m. is a romp through the night sky — specifically the Milky Way — for all ages. “Dears in the Headlights” at 8 p.m. is a show performed inside a circle of people in their cars drive-in style, in camp chairs or on picnic blankets. The production has original music, vignettes from the movies, clowning and physical theater.
Tickets for either show are on a sliding scale starting at $25, while a pay-what-you-can option is available. For details, see dachatheatre.com/summer.
• The Northwest Herbal Fair arrives at the Lake Leland Amphitheatre outside Quilcene today through Sunday.
Workshops, an herbal marketplace, live music, dancing and a family-friendly scene await while information is found at nwherbalfair.com and on the fair’s Facebook page.
• The Sequim City Band will perform live — for the first time since March 2020 — at Sequim’s James Center for the Performing Arts at 3 p.m. Sunday.
The show, titled “Together Again,” will pay homage to the unusual circumstances of the past year and a half. To reach the James Center, enter the northern section of Carrie Blake Park from North Blake Avenue at the Fir Street intersection and follow the signs to the outdoor stage. For details, see www.sequimcityband.org.
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Jefferson County senior reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladaily news.com.
”Broadway in Your PJs,” a Ghostlight Productions show available for streaming, features the “Dancing Queen” number from “Mamma Mia!” with, from left, Angela Poynter, Cecie McClelland and Jennifer Saul. (Photo courtesy of Ghostlight Productions)
