Shows on Tenerife: ‘Alma’ – The New Carmen Mota Spectacular in Playa de Las Américas

People who think nightlife in Las Américas consists solely of dated tribute acts and bars full of pissed up young Brits would have their preconceptions turned completely upside down if they turned up at la Pirámide de Arona for the brand new Carmen Mota show ‘Alma’ which opens from the 5th May.

This heady fusion of flamenco, classical and contemporary Spanish dance is a world class spectacle in a Las Vegas type setting which is guaranteed to delight audiences and confound some expectations…and afterwards you can head to a tribute bar just to reassure yourself that Las Américas hasn’t completely lost its cheap and cheerful side.

Tickets: €43 (€30 residents) On Sale Here

Times: 7pm (Mon to Wed), 10pm (Thur), 9.30pm (Frid & Sat)

Thanks to islandmomma for the new times as at 3rd August 2010: " Hi. Those opening times are out of date. Maybe changed for the summer? Now is Mon and Wed 7.30, Tues, Fri and Sat 9.30 and I think Thurs @ 10. info on their site, but just rang them to confirm."

Events on Tenerife – The International Clownbaret Festival, Santa Cruz

Clowns… people either love ‘em, hate ‘em, or are scared witless by them which makes Santa Cruz the place to be, or to avoid like the plague next weekend when the streets are filled with these strange creatures as part of the international Clownbaret Festival; an open air showcase for contemporary clowns.

The festival kicks off on Thursday the 15th when there’s a screening of a Charlie Chaplin movie (not a good start) before packs of the painted face ones take to the streets (mainly Plaza del Principe and Plaza Isla de la de Madera) trying their utmost to make adults and children laugh, and no doubt scaring the beejesus out of some in the process.

Personal prejudices aside, it should be quite good and surrealistic fun in the capital during the festival. I might even go and see what’s going on, but if you see someone running through the capital’s streets waving their arms in the air and gurning and screaming, it might not be a clown, it might be me having rediscovered childhood phobias at the sight of too many grotesquely painted clown faces in the one place.

Dates: From 15th October to 18th October

Times: Street performances take place from 17.30 to 22.30 on Friday 16th; 11.00 to 22.30 on Saturday 17th and from 11.00 to 17.00 on Sunday 18th.

See here for full details

Events on Tenerife – XI Drag Queen Festival in Bajamar

Funny, I can’t say that I would have ever pictured Bajamar on Tenerife’s north coast as a likely venue for a drag queen festival, but there you go, I’ve still got an awful lot to learn about this island. Next I’ll be hearing that Taganana is the ‘swingers’ centre of Tenerife.

There’s a whole show planned with drag queens, singers, dancers, illusionists and DJs and it’s all free… unless you want a seat in which case it’ll cost you €2

Location: Open air swimming pools, Bajamar

Date: Friday 14th August

Time: 23.00

Mamma Mia The Musical in Tenerife – Hear I Go Again…

“One more look and I forget everything, w-o-o-o-oh,”

Goddammit I’ve been trying to get THAT tune out of my head ever since my sister sent me the DVD at Christmas and then I hear that Mamma Mia the Musical is coming to Tenerife and it’s a case of ‘Mamma Mia, Here I Go Again…”
And as the production won’t be here until December, I’ve got a whole 6 months to endure it going around my head every time I see a poster.

If you don’t know the story by now, then there’s no point me explaining it again as you clearly don’t have a computer, telly or radio and probably still communicate by silbo.

All you really need to know is that it’s great fun and will bring a smile to your face which will last for days (unless you’re a cynical old git)…oh and did I mention that it’s got some catchy tunes?

Location: Auditorio, Santa Cruz

Dates: 28th, 29th December (20.30), 30th December (18.00 & 21.30), 1st January (20.30) 2nd January (18.00 & 21.30), 3rd (18.00 & 21.30) and 4th January (20.30)

Tickets: €30, €40, €50

Book your place at the wedding of the year here

Events on Tenerife – Last Chance to see the Circus

There are a number of good ways to grab the attention when trying to advertise an event on Tenerife, but you'd be hard pressed to beat turning up a street to come face to face with a fully grown elephant.

There are only a few days left to go and see the best circus in Spain at Santa Cruz. A couple of elephants, a troupe of trapeze artists and some clowns that were actually funny reminded the people of Puerto de la Cruz this lunchtime that going to the circus is quite a magical thing to do.

Click Here for more details if you fancy time-travelling back to your childhood.

Fiestas on Tenerife – The Second International Agatha Christie Festival

Agatha Christie one week, Corpus Christi the next, spooky eh? The timing of the Second International Agatha Christie Festival in Puerto de la Cruz couldn’t be more timely coming as it does a couple of weeks after the ‘Queen of Crime’ posthumously entered the Guinness Book of Records for the world’s thickest book in which all Miss Marple stories are published in one volume.

The festival in Puerto might not break any records, but with screenings of adaptations of many of her books and theatre performances of The Tea Dance and The Man From the Sea (set in Puerto itself) in Spanish, German and English, crime fiction aficionados will have a job solving the mystery of how to catch as many of the shows as they can.

Location: Puerto de la Cruz

Dates: 5th to 14th June

Events: click on image below for full details, or visit www.agathachristie.es

Shows on Tenerife – Hansel & Gretel

If you think things are ‘Grimm’ for you, then think about the sweet and sour tale of poor Hansel & Gretel and their experiences with an evil stepmother, house made of sweets and cakes and a child eating witch.

If you can’t remember exactly what happened, now’s the chance to refresh your memory with the all singing and dancing version at the Civic Centre in Cabo Blanco.

The kid’s will love it.

Location: Civic Centre, Cabo Blanco

Date and Time: 24th May, 19.00

Entrance: Free

Events on Tenerife – It’s a Kind of Magic – 3rd Arona Magic Festival

“Look into my eyes, look into my eyes – you will go to the Magic Festival in Arona in June…”

Wait a mo, that’s hypnotism not magic.

It’s rabbits in hats, card tricks and women being sawn in half galore in Arona during June. An illusion of magicians are set to descend (or mysteriously appear) around Arona for municipality’s 3rd Magic Festival.

Tricksters on the streets of the south of Tenerife’s tourist resorts? Now there’s a novel concept.

Dates: 5th to 7th June

Location and Times: 5th June, 21.00, Civic Centre, Cabo Blanco: 6th June, 21.00, Cultural Centre, Los Cristianos: 7th June, 19.00, Ramblas de Las Galletas

Events on Tenerife – Gran Circo Mundial (The World Circus)

I know they’re not particularly fashionable these days, but there’s something magical about the idea of the old fashioned three ringed circus with ringmaster in top hat, lion tamers, acrobats and clowns whose bright make-up hides a tragic secret (okay I’ve just descended into a 50s melodramatic movie plot). If you’ve ever dreamed of running away to join the circus now’s your chance.

The Gran Circo Mundial is in Santa Cruz during May. Marvel at the ghostly white lions and Sumatran tigers, gasp at the nerves of steel displayed by the woman of ice in the ring of death, cower from the gigantic Russian bears, cheer the death defying leaps from the flying trapeze artists and laugh at the antics of those crazy clowns (okay, laughing at clowns…that may be asking too much).

It all sounds like good old fashioned fun.

Venue: Parque Marítimo César Manrique, Santa Cruz

Dates: 10th – 31st May

Times: Monday to Friday 17.30 & 20.15; Saturday 16.30 & 19.30; Sunday 11.30, 16.30 & 19.30

Tickets: From €12 to €35

Concerts on Tenerife – Tensamba

May is the month to go Brazilian on Tenerife; before you misunderstand I said ‘go’ Brazilian, not get a Brazilian; although with the temperatures heating up and more beach time beckoning it might not be a bad idea.

Santa Cruz, La Laguna, Puerto de la Cruz, La Orotava and El Sauzal are all set to sizzle to the hot sound of that samba beat when the Festival of Brazilian Music bumps up the temperature a couple of notches.

Artists, Dates & Venues:

Adriana Calconhotto – 3 rd May, Teatro Leal, La Laguna at 21.00
Hamilton de Holanda & Marcos Suzano – 9th May, Teatro Leal, La Laguna, 21.00
Paulinho Lêmos – 13th May, Casino de Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, 21.00
Noche Brasileña – 15th May, Balcón del Valle, La Orotava, 21.00
Maria Rita – 16th May, Auditorio de Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, 21.00
Alessandro Penezzi – 23rd May, Auditorio de El Sauzal, El Sauzal, 21.00
Batucada & Casuarina performance – 24th May, outside Casa Aduana, Puerto de la Cruz, 16.00
Fiestas Tensamba – 7th May, Txola, La Laguna, 22.00

Tickets: Through the Tensamba website

Disney on Ice in Tenerife

Remember that song, ‘Some Day My Prince Will Come”? Well that day is nearly here. Disney on Ice is back in La Laguna this month with a spectacular icebound production featuring Sleepy Beauty, Snow White and her seven vertically challenged friends as well as Disney stalwarts Mickey and Minnie and a host of others.

Venue: Pabellón Insular de Tenerife "Santiago Martín", Calle Mercedes, Los Majuelos, La Laguna

Dates and Times: Friday 17th April, 18:00; Saturday 18th April - 12:00,16:00 &19:30; Sunday 19th April, 12:00,16:00 & 19:30; Monday 20th April, 20:30; Tuesday 21st April, 20:30

Tickets: Adults €22-€4 ; children €18 -€40. On sale through El Corte Ingles www.elcorteingles.es

Fiestas on Tenerife – MUECA 2009

Don’t forget to join the arty party in Puerto de la Cruz this weekend. Thespians, acrobats, jugglers, clowns, dancers and people with painted faces boost the weekend strollers around and above Puerto’s old streets from Friday evening till lunchtime Sunday.

Personally I’m looking forward to seeing the ‘artistic hairdresser’ (although I suspect I’ve actually had a hair cut from them in the past), ‘the day of the ugly people’ (if that’s just someone with a big mirror, they’ll get lamped) and the high wire walk. But with twenty plus groups and artists turning the place into an open air wonderland it’s guaranteed to be all good, bizarre fun. Note: Don’t eat any psilocybin mushrooms before entering town.

Dates: from 18.00 on 27th March to 13.00 on 29th March

Full PDF Programme here

Shows on Tenerife – Circus Mother Africa

If you like your circus to have clowns with red noses and ringmasters in top hats, then this might not be your sort of circus. On the other hand, if energy, colour, sensuality and people contorting their bodies into impossible angles rings your bell, then this African assault on the senses is a must. Featuring some of the most innovative talents from our neighbouring continent, Circus Mother Africa has been a hit across Europe.

Venue: Teatro Guimerá, Santa Cruz

Dates: 21st March at 20.00, 22nd March at 19.00

Tickets: €15, €25 & €30

Concerts on Tenerife – A History of the 20th Century through Rock Music

Old and young rockers will be interested in this show which traces the story of rock through the 20th century. More than just a nostalgic trip through the last century, the show uses the music of each decade to illustrate changing styles and historic moments. A sort of sing-a-long history lesson with music from the 1950s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. Pretty much like your average bar in PDLA any night of the week.

Venue: Teatro Guimerá, Santa Cruz

Dates: 3rd to 6th March

Time: 19.00

Concerts in Tenerife - The Commitments

Whilst rumours of who’s performing on Tenerife are pretty much a monthly affair (Kool and the Gang's dates still aren’t listed on the Auditorio’s website, nor on their own and Tony Hadley is confirmed for the Auditorio Alfredo Krauss in Gran Canaria on 26th Feb, but not Tenerife), the world’s hardest working band, ‘The Commitments’ are a definite (unless they cancel of course).

So guys, if you have a special person in your life who is a bit ‘Hard To Handle’ and you want to ‘Treat Her Right’ but you’ve ‘Nowhere To Run’. Why not ‘Try A Little Tenderness’ and forget about taking her up the ‘Dark End Of The Street’ and head to the Auditorio de Tenerife instead.
You can be sure she’ll show her appreciation ‘In the Midnight Hour’

Enough already; I’m making even myself groan here.

Venue: Auditorio de Tenerife, Santa Cruz
Date: 3rdMay 2009
Time: 21.00

Tickets: €20

Buy Tickets Here

Hollywood Motor Show in Tenerife – Puerto de la Cruz (extended)

Is it my imagination or has the Puerto de la Cruz car pound not been as full of 'naughty' cars of late? And is it just a coincidence that the Hollywood Motor Show is still in town (where do they get all those cars to crush)?

If you haven't managed to catch the spectacle of monster trucks squashing fiat puntos as though they were made of cardboard, don't despair. The show's been such a success that they've added another two dates for this weekend (7th and 8th February).

Better avoid double parking in Puerto for another week then...just in case.

Plays on Tenerife – Cyrano

Lot’s of folk around El Sauzal will be singing to themselves “Roxanne, you don’t have to put on that dress tonight…” over the coming week.

Not because the Police have chosen a surprise venue on Tenerife, but because El Sauzal Auditorio is staging a performance of Cyrano, the classic tale about the man with the big nose and his secret love for the beautiful Roxane (okay slightly different spelling, but don't tell me you don't start humming that song when you hear that name).

Venue: El Sauzal Auditorio

Dates: 6th & 7th February

Tickets: €6

Fiestas on Tenerife – Mueca 2009, Puerto de la Cruz

Okay it might be a bit early, but it’s worth sticking the dates of Mueca 2009 in Puerto de la Cruz in your diary right now.

One of the more modern, bohemian and creative of the fiestas which you’re likely to find on Tenerife, the town becomes an open air theatre for three days in March when it’s not unusual to share the cobbled streets around the old town with robots, fairies, acrobats and all sorts of weird and wonderful sights…much as it will be in February during Carnaval then.

Dates: 27th, 28th & 29th March 2009
Venue: Streets around Plaza del Charco and the old town

Sesame Street comes to La Laguna / El Show de Barrio Sésamo en La Laguna

By now the novelty of the new toys from Tres Reyes must have worn off so why not take the little ones to a bright and bubbly stage show where they laugh, sing, dance and join in with all the antics whilst undergoing subliminal persuasion in the benefits of healthy eating, exercise, sleep and hygiene?
Come to think of it, I know a few adults who could benefit from that…

Super Coco en Acción El Show de Barrio Sésamo

Venue: Pabellón de los Deportes, La Laguna
Dates: 29th January 2009 to 1st February 2009
Time: Thurs 29: 18:00 h
Fri 30: 18:00 h
Saturday 31: 12:00 h, 16:30 h, 19:30 h
Sunday 1: 12:00 h, 16:30 h, 19:30 h
Price: Tickets €20, €25 and €35 available through the Sesame Street Live website

Hollywood Motor Show in Tenerife – Puerto de la Cruz

It’s good news and bad news time in Puerto de la Cruz. Having left a trail of destruction from Santa Cruz and along the south coast, the monster trucks head north to Puerto de la Cruz to carry on with the fun and mayhem throughout January. That’s the good news. The bad news for Puerto residents is that days after the free car park in the harbour has just been vacated by the funfair, the Hollywood Motor show is taking its place. So limited parking for another couple of weeks then. Still, it’s worth it to have this fantastic show in town.

Venue: Explanada del muelle (harbour car park)
Dates: 17th January – 1st February 2009
Time: 18.00 on 23rd and 30th January; 12.30 & 18.00 on 17th, 18th, 24th, 25th, 31st January and 1st February
Price: €15 adults (14 years and above); €10 children