Columbia Basin Allied Arts season begins this week

MOSES LAKE - Season tickets are still on sale for the 35th season of the Columbia Basin Allied Arts performances. The season kicks off this Thursday with the visit of the Glenn Miller Orchestra.

The Miller band and its sound are among the best-known acts from the Big Band era of the 1930s and 1940s. They will take the stage at 7 p.m.

All performances are at 7 p.m. at the Wallenstein Theater on the Big Bend Community College campus, 6989 College Parkway NE, Moses Lake.

"This promises to be our very best season ever," according to a press release issued by the council.

The Young Artists Group of the Seattle Opera will be in town Oct. 28 to present "King for a Day," the second work by the legendary composer Guiseppe Verdi.

The King of Poland must hide from his enemies, and his solution is to trade places with an obscure knight named Belfiore. There are a lot of opportunities available to a king that aren't there for a knight, especially with the opposite sex, and Belfiore proposes to take advantage of them. It's a comic opera, so things don't go well, but because it's a comic opera, things end happily. It's an Italian opera with English translation.

John Steinbeck's classic novella-play of the 1930s, "Of Mice and Men," will be performed Nov. 10. The play follows the tragic fate of George and Lennie, two friends working the fields of California's Central Valley during the early 1930s. Their only wish is a little land, an acre or two, and the play tells the story of why their dream will never come true.

Violinist Geoffrey Castle brings his "Celtic Christmas Celebration" to town Dec. 1. This will be his first performance in Moses Lake. Castle will appear with the Gothard Sisters and may have surprise musical guests; in the past those guests have included members of rock and jazz bands.

The first "Green Turtle" performance of the year will be Feb. 8; the Green Turtle series is designed for children and teens.

The Feb. 8 performance is "Never Forgotten," the story of Dinga and Musafa, a father and son on the west coast of Africa. One day Musafa disappears, kidnapped by slave traders. His frantic father calls on the four mother elements (earth, fire, air and water) to return his son. It doesn't happen quite that way, but Wind returns from its journeys with news that Musafa is still alive and using the skills his father taught him in a New World.

The second in the Green Turtle series, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie," will be March 8. It's a musical revue that features eight separate stories, including the title story, Amazing Grace, Dorrequita and Coyote, Imogene's Antlers, Martha Speaks, Master Man, Owen, and Math Curse.

Gypsy Soul performs in concert March 16. Husband and wife Roman Morykit and Cilette Swann play a mix of folk and pop; they have sold more than 120,000 CDs through their label, Off the Beaten Track.

The last performance of the year introduces a new category, "Emerging Talent." Local performers will be featured in "Visions," contemporary dance from the Columbia Dance Association.

Season tickets for are $118 for members, $125 for non-members and include admission to everything that's not a Green Turtle or Emerging Talent presentation. Tickets to individual performances are $30 for reserved seating, $25 general seating and $10 for students.

Each Green Turtle performance is $5 per person, and Emerging Talent events are $10 per person.

Tickets can be purchased at the BBCC bookstore, Moses Lake Hallmark store or The Bookery in Ephrata. People who want to become members or want more information can contact Executive Director Pat Daugherty, at 509-793-2059.