WCT ready to welcome in-person audience for first show of season

Western Canada Theatre is welcoming guests for the first time this season with Chelsea Hotel: The Songs of Leonard Cohen.

From Dec. 2 to Dec. 11, residents can catch the musical story featuring Leonard Cohan classics including Hallelujah and Closing Time at the Sagebrush Theatre.

For many in Kamloops this will be the first live theatre performance since the pandemic and the performers in the show said it good to be back on stage.

“It's sort of like, the pandemic took away part of our identity. … I mean, there's other ways of being a person, but this kind of thing feels more like home,” Jack Garton, who plays The Bellhop in the show, told Castanet Kamloops.

Michelle Bouey another performer in the show said the pandemic has been hard for a lot of artists and being back in the theatre rehearsing gave her a bit of normalcy.

“I was really excited to have a job because, you know, it's been a hard time for a lot of people during the pandemic,” Bouey said.

“So this has been really nice to kind of get back to performing but also getting back to meeting new artists, which I felt like used to be such a constant.”

Chelsea Hotel: The Songs of Leonard Cohen features six performers playing 17 different instruments.

Bouey said she’s excited for Kamloops to see the musical and hopes it can bring some excitement in the continued time of uncertainty.

“I hope they just feel the joy of being in the space again and hearing you know, beautiful, sexy, cool stories told by this kind of iconic,” Bouey said.

Tickets for the show can be purchased online here.