No weekend plans? Consider these live performances in Olympia
They’re the ‘Piano Men’
Those who love Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel (who, by the way, is playing in Seattle in May) and/or Elton John can get a taste of all of these greats and more at “The Greatest Piano Men” happening Saturday, March 9. The concert is part of The Washington Center for the Performing Arts’ Center Stage Awards and Gala (for which tickets start at $200), but for $36-$69, you can get tickets just for the “Piano” show, which also pays homage to Little Richard, Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis and Liberace. The concert starts at 8 p.m. Saturday at the center, 512 Washington St. SE, Olympia. Another Saturday night musical option is Emerald City Music’s double-quartet concert, when the Calidore Quartet and the Abeo Quartet will team up to play Felix Mendelssohn’s String Octet. Also on the program are works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Dmitri Shostakovich. The concert is at 7:30 p.m. at the Minnaert Center for the Arts at South Puget Sound Community College, 2011 Mottman Road SW, Olympia. Tickets are $10-$40.
Of love and literature
Olympia Little Theatre is exploring a different kind of love story in the classic play “84 Charing Cross Road,” adapted from the book by Helene Hanff. The book and play concern the platonic yet passionate relationship between a struggling New York writer, Helene (Deye Ozburn), and the owner of an antiquarian bookstore in London, Frank (Jeff Caughie). The play, directed by Kendra Malm, opens at 7:25 p.m. Friday, March 8, at the theater, 1925 Miller Ave. NE, Olympia. Other performances are at 7:25 p.m. Saturday, March 9, plus March 15-16 and 22-23; and 1:55 p.m. Sundays, March 10 and 17. Tickets are $12-$16.
Dancers move to music of trees
Trees, it turns out, can sing, with help from a device that translates their electrical signals into music notes. You can hear their music and watch dancers move to it at “Dancing to the Music of the Forest” on Friday, March 8, in Olympia. The event, a fundraiser for Thurston Friends of Trees, includes film, live dance, an opportunity to join the dance and a question-and-answer session with dancers and Friends of Trees volunteers, including Julie Ratner of Olympia, who has spent years collecting recordings of plants ranging from old-growth trees to tiny seedings. The performance begins at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the old Performing Arts Center at Capital High School, 2707 Conger Ave. NW, Olympia. Tickets are available on a sliding scale online and at the door.
Freelance writer Molly Gilmore — who has heard many, many references to Little Richard’s “Good Golly Miss Molly” — talks with DJ Kevin the Brit about what’s happening around town on KGY-FM’s “Oly in a Can,” airing at 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Fridays.
