On July 30 in Alliance Theater, the old Gonzo Rising crew returns, bringing you performance art, clowning, magic and opera like you’ve never seen it before! The show will be simulcast to a livestream, so you can watch in your own home, from anywhere in the world!
Check us out at the Great Salt Lake Fringe Fest! Stay tuned for more!
In short, it’s a return to vaudeville, a type of stage show that was popular 100 years ago. Modern talent struts and frets on the stage. Vaudeville Revival is distinct from New Vaudeville, which was a movement that sort of petered out in the 90s.
Vaudeville Revival includes a lot of burlesque, comedy, music, and a particular appreciation for “weirdo” acts, acts in the style of The Great Gonzo. Weird stuff, leaving the audience whether or not to laugh. Past weirdo acts from the Gonzo Rising series of shows include some dissipated clowns, gender-bending poetry, ballet-dancing dinosaurs, alien opera. You know, the good stuff.
And Vaudeville Revival also stands as a force against the homogenization of stage variety shows. Newcomers, LGBT performers, performers of all races, cultures and body types are welcome!
And vaudeville, of course, always has this benefit for theater-goers: if you don’t like the current act, wait 10 minutes and something totally different will appear!
Here in Salt Lake City (and virtually), look forward to some Vaudeville Revival out of the Alliance Theater, with some old Gonzo stars, puppets, edgy burlesquers, improv comics, clowns, and possibly a real, old-school revivalist.
The calendar on the News Page is less than half of what I’m up to! Shows, both virtual and hybrid, haunted house action, magic, production! Through all this, it’s important sometimes to step back and check in with our priorities and guiding principles. And inasmuch as we sometimes find ourselves in a leadership position, this is an important reminder.
“Leaders” can be defined fairly broadly, and includes teachers, producers, community organizers, anyone with a team: more of you than you think!
Scix Maddix 