Halloween fun and live classical music lead weekend’s offerings in Olympia
Creepy, campy Halloween fun
Halloween is on the way, and so is the Olympia Film Society’s All Freakin’ Night. The horror-movie marathon, beloved by film aficionados, happens Saturday, Oct. 18, and unlike in years past, it starts at the relatively reasonable hour of 10 p.m. This year’s marathon, curated by filmmaker and Crypticon moderator Jake Gallo, includes nearly seven hours of “unhinged thrills (and) bleary-eyed deliriousness,” according to the film society’s website. Among the films being screened is “Popcorn,” a 1991 flick about a horror-movie marathon that goes wrong when it attracts the attention of a murderous psychopath. Other intriguing titles include “The Original Home Security Ghoul” and “Cruel Jaws” (about, yes, sharks). Doors open at 9 p.m. Saturday for the marathon at the Capitol Theater, 206 Fifth Ave. SE, Olympia. Tickets are $23.25 general admission, $18.25 for film-society members.
Classical combo
The weekend offers season-opening concerts from both the Olympia Symphony Orchestra and chamber series Emerald City Music.
• Emerald City is celebrating its 10th anniversary Saturday, Oct. 18, with “Musical Milestones: The Loeffler Project,” which features the Northwest premiere of a recently discovered octet composed in 1897 by Charles Martin Loeffler. Clarinetist Graeme Steele Johnson reconstructed the piece and will be among the musicians performing it. Also on the program, focusing on pieces from the turn of the 20th century, are works by Camille Saint-Saëns, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Claude Debussy. The concert is at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Minnaert Center for the Arts at the Olympia campus of South Puget Sound Community College. Tickets are $45-$55 for adults, $16 for students 18 and older and $14 for those younger than 18.
• The Olympia Symphony Orchestra describes “Ignite,” happening Sunday, Oct. 19, as “a musical thrill ride that celebrates rhythm, movement and storytelling.” The program features celebrated flautist Demarre McGill, the Seattle Symphony Orchestra’s principal flute player, who’ll play Carlos Simon’s 2021 Movements for Flute and Orchestra. Also on the program: Arturo Márquez’s Danzón No. 2, colloquially referred to as the second national anthem of Mexico, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade.” The concert begins at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts, 512 Washington St. SE, Olympia. Tickets are $14-$66.
‘God’ takes on Halloween
Mike Delamont’s “God Is a Scottish Drag Queen” shows — for which the Canadian comedian dons a floral power suit — are becoming a regular part of the Olympia entertainment scene. Last here in December, Delamont returns on Friday, Oct. 17, with his “Halloween Spooktacular.” The deity will weigh in on everything from pumpkin spice lattes to demonic possession in the show, happening at 7:30 p.m. Friday at The Washington Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are $35-$69.
Freelance writer Molly Gilmore is far too easily spooked to see All Freakin’ Night, but she enjoys writing and talking about it. She talks with DJ Michael Stein about what’s happening around town on KGY-FM’s “Oly in a Can,” on the air at 2 p.m. Fridays.