“Paris, New York, Trail, and UK!”
Yes, among those world-renowned cities is our own Trail, B.C., included in a one-day stopover for a must-see experience by Jean-François Alcoléa, a French performer flying into town from New York for a live show on Saturday.
The Trail arts council is bringing this all ages unique show — from France — to The Bailey Theatre on Saturday, Oct. 29, as part of Spooktacular celebrations.
Called “Right in the Eye,” the movie-and-concert event is promised to “wow” children and adults alike.
The day will feature three 20-minute shows at 11 a.m., noon and 1 p.m., each followed by the chance for audience members to go on stage to look at and try some of the instruments.
No tickets are required; however, seats are first come first serve.
After Alcoléa performs in Trail for Spooktacular, he’ll be jetting off to the United Kingdom.
About the show
The performance from “PASOA/Alcoléa & cie” features spooky, humorous, and mysterious short silent films by Georges Méliès (1861–1938), considered to be one of the inventors of cinematography.
The show is the creation of the talented French artist, musician, and composer Jean-François Alcoléa.
The films are accompanied by three live virtuoso musicians playing an extraordinary array of instruments, who breathe fresh life into these cinematographic gems and create an awe-inspiring multimedia show.
Alcoléa has been creating shows with images for more than 15 years. As a pianist, a composer, an improviser, and a stage designer, Alcoléa’s shows reflect his plural universes that combine music, sound effects, lighting, still images and moving pictures.
“This show is much more than a stage show: the musicians become actors; the action takes place on stage as well as in the image,” Alcoléa explains. “The music does not accompany the images, instead it forms a whole with the film.”
“Right in the Eye” has had over 600 performances in Europe alone and audiences rave that the show is a “feast for the eyes and for the ears” that “recaptures the sheer manic daftness of Meliès’ inventive genius.”
Charlie Chaplin said Georges Méliès was “the alchemist of light” and he was considered by the Lumière brothers as the “creator of cinematic spectacle.” A former magician, theatre owner and producer, the French illusionist and film director was an inventive pioneer and brilliant entertainer, whose films such as “A Trip to the Moon” (1902) and “The Impossible Voyage” (1904) were inspired by the universe of Jules Verne.
Méliès built the first movie studio in Europe; was the first to use storyboards and production and was a prolific inventor of special effects including multiple exposures, dissolves, time-lapse photography, and hand painted color. By the time his film making career ended, Méliès had created 531 films, with some of the most memorable images in the history of the cinema.
- with files from the Trail arts council
Presented by Trail and District Arts Council, in conjunction with the City of Trail’s Spooktacular, this show is supported by Teck Metal Operations, Consulat général de France à Vancouver/Consulate General of France in Vancouver, The Government of Canada and the City of Trail.