When you visit the Sechelt Seniors Activity Centre these days, you might overhear chuckles, thumps and lively piano music coming from the stage area. You are hearing a local version of vintage entertainment - the grand tradition of vaudeville.
The Funtastics 2012 show is under rehearsal, a variety show presented by a group of amateur performers over the age of 55 who love what they are doing and are gearing up for a mid-April presentation.
It's bigger than before. Last year, the Funtastics fielded 14 would-be vaudevillians in its first season. This year, 24 have turned out, and according to all reports, they are having way too much fun.
Their director, Susie Francis, has vaudeville in her blood and she can rattle off a brief history of the art form starting in the 1860s when the minstrel shows performed upbeat, fun music.
The Funtastics show moves through the ages of vaudeville, offering songs, dances and silly jokes from each era. For example, one scene of bathing beauties is set at the turn of the 20th century - from 1900 to 1920. Women were daring when they showed an ankle, much less were seen on the beach in full-length costumes. The sketch gives an opportunity for six men to ham it up while singing I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside.
That same era ushered in the dawn of modern dance with a performance from the renowned Isadora Duncan (actually, Linda McTurk) in a knock-out costume.
Music for the show comes from the fingertips of pianist Miss Berni G.
"I think I was born to be in vaudeville," she laughs. "It's zany, it's nuts, and it's musical."
Along with drummer Al Burns, she provides the musical direction on such classics as Beautiful Dreamer by Stephen Foster.
Throughout the show, comedian Tony Fraser gives the laughs. He's a busker from England with the style of comedy peculiar to the Brits. Music hall, a British version of the same type of entertainment, has gone the way of vaudeville in North America, laments Francis. The last vaudeville theatre closed in New York in 1932. It is kept alive by amateur groups such as the Funtastics. Francis has assembled and directs a similar group in Cloverdale, The Versatiles, and they packed the hall during the annual Cloverdale Rodeo during three shows. Songs and silliness can still draw a crowd.
You will recognize some familiar faces in The Funtastics: Ed White and Ed Smith ("two Eds are better than one") will perform, and Gloria Fyles, seen kicking up her heels in last year's show, will be singing, along with several other lovely voices. Priscilla Hendricks is producer and the production is receiving encouragement from their venue, the Activity Centre.
The Funtastics show will play April 13 to 15. Though it is a month away, tickets are already on sale at Laedeli in Gibsons, Strait Music in Sechelt and at the Activity Centre in Sechelt where it will be performed. All ages will enjoy it.
