Anyone claiming to have seen vaudeville in its prime has celebrated at least 100 birthdays, although Ed Sullivan offered America a taste of vaudeville from 1948 to 1971 with elements of his Sunday night TV show.
Nearly a decade into the 21st century, the restless creative energy that relentlessly emanates from the Cirque du Soleil headquarters in Montreal has turned its focus on vaudeville. Staged in a conventional proscenium theater rather than a tent or Las Vegas casino, the show, "Banana Shpeel," is a gutsy gamble.
Can Cirque successfully meld its signature arty circus style with an entertainment genre that faded from the mainstream when Calvin Coolidge was president, and if it can, will critics and audiences care? Answers to these questions began to emerge in the Windy City last week, where "Banana Shpeel" had its world premiere at the historic Chicago Theatre.
Yes, Cirque du Soleil and vaudeville are an entertaining match. "Banana Shpeel" gives baggy pants comedy and the variety show format a 21st century spin with Cirque's high gloss visual esthetic. Costumes, lighting and savvy theatricality reflect the French Canadian company's lofty standards.
The jury is out on how the public will respond. Reviews printed in Chicago's major newspapers and online postings from people who have seen "Banana Shpeel" have been critical because ... well, the show is vaudeville.
Even though Cirque has been very explicit in divulging its intentions with the concept, critics and theatergoers alike appear to expect the same old same old. They seem surprised when they don't get it. Go figure.
The big test of acceptance for "Banana Shpeel" begins in February when the production moves to New York, where it is booked for a stay of at least three months.
"Banana Shpeel" is a mix of music and dance with broad physical comedy and a few circus acts. In the Cirque style, those acts fold graceful elements of dance into traditional juggling, body balancing and feats of strength. The show is organized around the thinnest of plots.
A cartoonish impresario named Marty Schmelky is holding auditions for a new vaudeville production. The oversized, cigar chomping character repeatedly pops up throughout "Banana Shpeel," and he is frankly its weakest link. Schmelky could permanently disappear without anyone noticing.
An emphasis on dance features full ensemble numbers and gives Cirque's peerless costume department an energetically kinetic showcase. Jared Grimes' choreography is Broadway in style with a heavy lean towards tap.
Adult sibling tappers Josette and Joseph Wiggan supply the rocket fuel with their explosive exuberance. An eight-piece onstage band provides accompaniment. A couple of big voiced vocalists let loose on some of the numbers.
Clowning has always been an essential ingredient in Cirque shows, and that tradition easily transfers to a vaudeville format. Two emcees serve as hipper versions of baggy pants comics, and three other comedians, taken from the Cirque du Soleil mold of physical humor, consistently reappear through the performance.
Frenchman Patrick de Valette, a hairy human toothpick with a bulging Adam's apple, is among the ugliest human beings on the planet. Brazilian Caudio Carneiro is a master of the slyly raised eyebrow and the loony gap-toothed grin. Canadian Gordon White begins with superb basic mime skills and builds vivid characters.
Good material, some of it borrowed from old vaudeville routines, serves the comics well.
On the circus side, Kelsey Wiens and Jeff Retzlaff personify the Cirque du Soliel signature style with their stunning gymnastic act, spiced with whimsy and choreographed to music. Dima Shine gives an entirely new meaning to pole dancing with his acrobatic, anti-gravitational hand balancing. Juggling with her hands isn't enough for Vanessa Alvarez, who uses all four of her limbs to keep rotating circular mats flying.
David Shiner, whose credits include a clowning career in Europe, acting on Broadway and in films, and creating "Kooza" for Cirque, is the writer and director of "Banana Shpeel." The show runs through Jan. 3 at the Chicago Theatre, 175 N. State St.
Bah, Humbug: Much closer to home, In Tandem Theatre Company is also embracing a stage style from the past, with hilarious results. "Scrooge in Rouge" is one of a zillion contemporary holiday shows that riff off of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," and it just might be the best.
The piece is set in an English music hall, where a theater company is set to open a musical version of "Carol." When food poisoning fells all but three members of the large cast, the trio of healthy performers step up to play all of the roles. A wonderful kind of controlled chaos ensues.
"Scrooge in Rouge" is smart, clever and naughty. In the music hall tradition, the show is peppered with quick verbal and sight gags.
Puns and double entendres are shamelessly delivered. The Dickens Christmas classic is really just an excuse for 80 minutes of English music hall shtick, done very well.
The show, which is receiving numerous productions around the country this year, was written by a group of New Orleans theater artists. In Tandem's cast of Marcella Kearns, Chris Flieller and Matt Daniels nails the style with absolute precision.
Cross dressing is an integral part of the comedy here. Daniels is quite fetching as an eyelash-batting female in multiple roles, and Kearns gets to be gruff as a woman playing Ebenezer Scrooge. She is quite wonderful in everything she does, including making her eyes bulge.
Flieller is a superb music hall master of ceremonies when he stays true to his gender, and switches to the distaff side with comic ease. Director Jane Flieller perfectly captured the tone and timing needed to make the silliness soar.
Special kudos go to Kathy Smith for designing a boxcar full of appropriately frilly and outrageous costumes. David Bonofiglio provides keyboard accompaniment.
"Scrooge in Rouge" continues through Jan. 3.
Lots of holiday shows attempt to be an effective antidote for treacly holiday sentimentality. This one scores a bulls eye.
Damien has been around so long, he was at Summerfest the night George Carlin was arrested for speaking the seven dirty words you can't say on TV. He was also at the Uptown Theatre the night Bruce Springsteen's first Milwaukee concert was interrupted for three hours by a bomb scare. Damien was reviewing the concert for the Milwaukee Journal. He wrote for the Journal and Journal Sentinel for 37 years, the last 29 as theater critic.
During those years, Damien served two terms on the board of the American Theatre Critics Association, a term on the board of the association's foundation, and he studied the Latinization of American culture in a University of Southern California fellowship program. Damien also hosted his own arts radio program, "Milwaukee Presents with Damien Jaques," on WHAD for eight years.
Travel, books and, not surprisingly, theater top the list of Damien's interests. A news junkie, he is particularly plugged into politics and international affairs, but he also closely follows the Brewers, Packers and Marquette baskeball. Damien lives downtown, within easy walking distance of most of the theaters he attends.
