It’s the week before Halloween and if that’s not your cup of pumpkin spice latte, we’ve got options that skip the thrills and chills in favor of musical theater, classical performances, and the kickoff of snow play season.
If, however, you can’t get enough of the spooky stuff, head to this post for our complete Halloween round up: Portland Area Halloween Events.
Snowvana Portland
Does the change in the air bring on dreams of hitting the slopes? This is the fall event for fans of winter sports as it offers a huge gear sale and swap (25,000 square feet), info from the best ski resorts, lift ticket deals, live music, and for the first time, an International Freeski Film Festival. There’s also a Kids Zone, guest speakers and plenty of snow sport vendors.
1-8 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 24-26, Portland Expo Center, 2060 N. Marine Drive; admission starts at $18.50, ages 12 and younger free; snowvana.com/portland.
“York The Explorer”
This groundbreaking folk opera follows the life of the enslaved Black man who accompanied Lewis and Clark on the Corps of Discovery expedition to the west. The opera is based on historical accounts and includes a score that blends folk, classical, jazz, hip-hop and reggae. It also honors the indigenous nations who were displaced by the expansion of the United States, acknowledging the complex legacy of westward exploration. The book and music were composed by producer Aaron Nigel Smith, with lyrics co-written by Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist Renee Mitchell.
7:30 p.m. Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24-25, Patricia Reser Center for the Arts, 12625 S.W. Crescent St., Beaverton; tickets $20-$35; thereser.org/event/york.
“Carmen”
NW Dance Project brings back its acclaimed production of “Carmen,” a reimagined version of the classic opera that earned recognition as “Coolest Collaboration” from Dance Magazine when it first premiered in 2017. The production features costumes by Portland’s own “Project Runway” winner Michelle Lesniak and set design by Spanish artist Luis Crespo. Former Resident Choreographer Ihsan Rustem returns to remount the dance, with original cast members Andrea Parson and Franco Nieto in leading roles. The program will also include a world premiere by British choreographer Caroline Finn.
7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Oct. 24-25, Newmark Theatre, 1111 S.W. Broadway; $35-$74, nwdanceproject.org.
— Grant Butler The Oregonian/Oregonlive.com
“The Boys from Syracuse “
The Lost Treasures Collection, a series of rarely performed musical theater works, is back for its sixteenth season at Lakewood Theatre Company. The play features music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart and is based on William Shakespeare’s play “The Comedy of Errors.”
7 p.m. Friday, 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24-25, Side Door Stage, 368 S. State St., Lake Oswego; tickets $30; lakewood-center.org.
Portland QDoc Film Festival
This film festival celebrates LGBTQ+ documentaries and their makers with three days of independent films hosted this year by Cinema 21. According to the promotors, QDoc is the only festival in the U.S. devoted exclusively to Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) documentaries. Opening night features “Boy George & Culture Club (a west coast premiere). Check the website for a complete slate of films.
Film showings 7 p.m. Friday, and beginning at noon Saturday-Sunday, Oct. 24-26, Cinema 21, 616 N.W. 21st Ave.; tickets are free for those 23 and younger or 75 and older, GA tickets $12; qdocfilmfest.org
Ikebana International Chrysanthemum Show
Ikebana International’s Portland chapter celebrates the chrysanthemum in this special, two-day exhibition at Portland Japanese Garden. Fans of the flower festival may note it’s being held later in the fall for 2025. You can still expect local ikebana artists from various schools, or styles, creating arrangements featuring chrysanthemums. The flower has been cultivated in Japan since it was first introduced in China in the eighth century.
10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25-26, Portland Japanese Garden, 611 S.W. Kingston Ave.; show is free with garden admission $15.95-$21.95; japanesegarden.org.
The Joy Cinema Scare-A-Thon
Halloween is just around the corner! And if you want a classic way to get in the spirit (Get it? Spirit?), head to Tigard’s Joy Cinema to watch five monstrous monster hits including “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken,” “The Blob” and “Trog.”
1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25, Joy Cinema, 11959 S.W. Pacific Highway (99W), Tigard; day pass is $35. Tickets to individual films at regular price $7-$9; thejoycinema.com/joy-cinema-scare-a-thon.
“Jewish Eyes and Words on Berlin”
The Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education hosts a talk by photographer Jason Langer and playwright Andrea Stolowitz that confronts the intergenerational imprint of the Holocaust and the ways art can bear witness, heal, and inspire. This is the culminating program for a current exhibition, “Berlin: A Jewish Ode to the Metropolis.” Langer’s moody, cinematic images of Berlin anchor the exhibit. Stolowitz contributes thoughts on memory, place, and artistic reckoning.
2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25, at the museum, 724 N.W. Davis St., admission $10; ojmche.org/events.
Portland Saturday Market Halloween event
Celebrate the Halloween season and maybe get a headstart on your holiday shopping at this Saturday Market event. Meet the mascot from the Portland Pickles, enjoy live music, trick-or-treat with participating vendors, make a craft from recycled materials, and support local artists.
10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25, Portland Saturday Market under the west end of the Burnside Bridge at Tom McCall Waterfront Park; free; facebook.com/PortlandSaturdayMarket.
Lebanese flutist Wissam Boustany
This Lebanese/English flutist, conductor and instructor joins with pianist Yoko Greeney for a concert and meet-the-artist reception (following the performance). The program includes Carl Reinecke’s “Sonata ‘Undine,” Boustany’s own “Broken Child,” and Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Sonata No 1 in D minor Op 75.”
3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 26, Cedar Hills United Church of Christ, 11695 S.W. Park Way; tickets $20; gpfs.org/Fall-Guest-Artist.
“Shucked”— Broadway in Portland
So packed with corny jokes and groaner puns, this hilarious homage to American agrarianism may cause ear-reversible damage to your funny bone. Here are just a couple picked from the show’s bushels of bad one-liners:
“I think that if you take the picture on your driver’s license drunk, you look normal when they pull you over.”
“Remember when we were kids and made sandcastles with grandma … until grandpa hid the urn?”
Kernels of plots from “The Music Man” and “Oklahoma!” have been cobb-led together into a modern farm fairytale with a whole lot of heart. The country-fried score by Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally features an a-maize-ly fast-rapped ode to the Midwest’s most versatile vegetable. The feisty first-act showstopper “Independently Owned” will have audiences standing higher than Kansas cornstalks in August.
Opens 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 28 and continues various times and dates through Nov. 2, Keller Auditorium, 222 S.W. Clay St.; tickets starting at $56.40; portland.broadway.com.
— Lee Williams Special to The Oregonian/Oregonlive.com
– If you have events you’d like to see highlighted at OregonLive.com or in the weekly printed A&E section of The Oregonian, please email submissions to [email protected] at least three weeks prior to the start of your event. Digital images or links to videos are helpful.
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