Fandango finale
Chapala’s first Festival de Música Tradicional Mexicana comes to a close with the Fandango spectacle set for Saturday, March 26.
The happening starts with a musical parade heading out of the Centro Cultural Antigua Presidencia (former town hall), 7 p.m., continuing on to the western leg of waterfront Malecón. The program begins with a show by sketching out the history of the rebozo (shawl) and traditional music from different parts of the country. That will be the build up to a full-blown song and dance party with audience participation. Admission is free of charge.
Blue Jay Slim
El Bar-Co in Ajijic will host Blue Jay on Sunday, March 26, beginning 4:30 p.m. Reserve your table at 766-0452.
Naked Stage
In the Naked Stage reader’s theater production of “Broadway Bound,” written by Neil Simon, once again we meet up with the Jerome family with whom we laughed and cried with a few years ago in Simon’s “Brighton Beach Memoirs.” It is now about ten years later and the brothers are grown and trying to establish careers as comedy writers. The show runs Friday, April 1 to Sunday, April 3 at the new theater location at Hidalgo 261 in Riberas del Pilar, across from the Catholic Church and in front of the Baptist Church.
The Dog House bar and box office open at 3 p.m. and the show begins 4 p.m. Reservations recommended: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Bass and Piano Recital
A recital of music for double bass and piano will take place Tuesday, March 29, 6 p.m., at the Centro Cultural González Gallo (former Chapala railway station at Avenida Gonzalez Gallo 1500). The program features compositions by Hans Fryba, Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf, Lars Erik Larsson and Giovanni Bottesini, performed by Joshua Chávez Márquez and Arnoldo Valladares Ortiz on bass with piano accompaniment by Rodrigo Martin Leal. Admission will cost 50 pesos.
Colonial Era Tunes
The Pan de Jarabe sextet will appear at the Centro Cultural González Gallo on Thursday, March 31, 7 p.m. The troupe is dedicated to the research, preservation and performance of baroque instrumental and vocal music of Mexico’s Colonial era. The entrance fee for the concert is set at 50 pesos.
Bravo! Theatre
“Visiting Mr. Green” is next up at The Bravo! Theatre. Starring Roger Larson and Ken Yakiwchuk, this show is directed by Jayme Littlejohn.
“Visiting Mr. Green” is one of those “odd-couple” pieces in which two dissimilar characters are brought together, bicker entertainingly, and then discover that they have a stronger bond than they realized. Mr. Green is an 80-something Jewish man who lives alone. His beloved wife of 59 years has recently died, he isn’t eating properly and is at a dangerously low ebb. His visitor is Ross Gardiner, an American Express executive who almost ran over the old man. He is convicted of reckless driving, and his community service is to visit his near-victim weekly.
Shows run at The Bravo! Theatre (Rio Bravo 10) Friday, April 8 through Sunday, April 10 and Thursday, April 14 through Sunday, April 17. All shows are at 7:30 p.m., except the two Sundays at 4 p.m. Tickets, at 200 pesos, are available at Diane Pearl, Mia’s Boutique or by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..">.
Piano Recitals
The Centro Cultural Gonzalez Gallo continues its musical program with four piano recitals each Thursday at 7 p.m. in April.
April 7: Andrea Castañeda presents a program of Beethoven’s Sonata No. 9, a Chopin piece from the romantic period, one from Zacatecas composer Manuel Ponce, a bit of impressionism from Debussy and, with accompaniment from violin and violoncello, a rendition of Beethoven’s Trio Op. 1, No. 1.
April 14: Pianists S. Morales and Antonio Quiroz present first as soloists and then as a duo.
April 21: Pablo Haro Legaspi interprets music by Robert Schumann, Rachmaninoff and Chopin.
April 28: Juan Pablo Garcìa performs music by Bach, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Prokofiev and Mexican composer Manuel Ponce.
Viva bus trips
Throughout April, Viva la Musica continues to offer bus trips to Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra concerts at the Teatro Degollado in Guadalajara. Tickets are 350 pesos, (450 for non-members), available at the Lake Chapala Society (LCS) box office Thursdays and Fridays 10 a.m.- noon. Buses depart from the Carretera, just east of Farmacia Guadalajara in Ajijic.
Thursday, April 7: “Jalisco Talents” – Schubert, Symphony No. 8, Ponce, Mexican ballad with piano soloist Santiago Lomelin; conductor Jose Kamuel Zepeda. Bus departs at 4 p.m. with a stop at a fine restaurant – concert starts at 8 p.m.
Sunday, April 17: “The Art of Mendelsohn” – Mendelsohn, Violin Concerto with violin soloist Leticia Moreno; and Symphony No. 5. Bus departs at 10:30 a.m. – concert starts 12:30 p.m.
Thursday, April 21: Liszt and Mozart – featuring Guadalajara tenor Cesar Delgado singing Mozart arias and Liszt Faust Symphony – Marco Parisotto, conductor. Bus departs 4 p.m. for a restaurant – concert starts 8.30 p.m. Delgado received a scholarship from Viva la Musica in 2014. He graduated from the Mannes College in New York in 2015 and is now winning international awards.
For more information about Viva bus trips, call Rosemary, (376) 766-1801.
LLT Playhouse series
As part of the National Theatre Live/LLT Playhouse Series, Lakeside Little Theatre presents “Hamlet,” Saturday, April 16, 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 17, 3 p.m.
“One of the most visually and atmospherically stunning productions I’ve ever seen of anything, ever,” enthused Time Out of the classic work by William Shakespeare.
“Benedict Cumberbatch is a blazing five-star Hamlet,” noted the Daily Telegraph.
“This is a Hamlet for a world on the edge: a warning from history, and a plea for new ideas from a new generation,” said Variety.
Academy Award nominee Cumberbatch takes on the title role in Shakespeare’s great tragedy. As a country arms itself for war, a family tears itself apart. Forced to avenge his father’s death but paralyzed by the task ahead, Hamlet rages against the impossibility of his predicament, threatening both his sanity and the security of the state.
Reserved seat tickets for each performance are 200 pesos each. Choose and reserve your seat at the time you purchase and pick up your tickets at the LLT box office on a first-come, first-served basis. LLT box office hours are every Wednesday and Thursday: 10 a.m. to noon and one hour before curtain.