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Dekker Centre’s first act of the season coming next week

Aug 26, 2016 | 10:23 AM

Performing arts season in North Battleford kicks off next week with a musical about four legendary musicians.

Million Dollar Quartet, set in 1956 during a historical recording session which brought together Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins, is close to selling out, according to Dekker Centre general manager Moe McGuinty.

“There’s only 30 tickets left for the show,” he said. “It’s going to be fun and people are going to be bouncing in the aisles because of the music.”

The show is put on by the Globe Theatre in Regina and is the third of their shows to come to the Dekker Centre. McGuinty said it’s great to bring a production by a Saskatchewan-based company to North Battleford. Two of members of the main cast are also Saskatchewan-born; Kevin Aichele as Johnny Cash and George Krissa as Elvis Presley.

The musical features a slew of hits by the four musicians, including “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Hound Dog,” “Great Balls of Fire” and “I Walk the Line.”

McGuinty said this season, which will feature 14 shows, is going to have a lot of upbeat acts. Some of these include Reveen the illusionist, a Grease sing-along and the Ennis Sisters, who performed a Christmas show last year which McGuinty said was some of the most fun the centre’s ever seen.

“It’s all very first-rate music and talent and there just seems to be a little bit happier bent to most of it this year than some other years,” he said.

The box office opened not even two weeks ago and McGuinty said tickets are already flying out the doors. He said the team at the Dekker Centre have been working diligently to bring top-notch entertainment to North Battleford and the community has started to really get into the arts scene.

McGuinty said people are slowly learning the level of talent on display. When the Dekker Centre first started, McGuinty said people would only come to shows in genres they knew they liked. Now, the community is getting more adventurous as people come to realize the world-class acts coming to perform won’t disappoint.

“People are understanding that they can come to a show featuring a genre of music they wouldn’t normally listen to and walk away absolutely thrilled,” McGuinty said.

Tickets for this season’s shows can be bought at the Dekker Centre box office or online. Million Dollar Quartet comes to North Battleford Aug. 31.

 

Sarah Rae is battlefordsNOW’s court and crime reporter. She can be reached at Sarah.Rae@jpbg.ca or tweet her @sarahjeanrae.