Vivacious Vaudeville
Q Theatre Loft, 305 Queen St, Auckland
14/02/2013 - 16/02/2013
Production Details
AUCKLAND’S MOST FUN AND FRIVOLOUS NIGHT OF ENTERTAINMENT!
Vaudeville (noun): A type of entertainment popular chiefly in the US in the early 20th century, featuring a mixture of specialty acts such as burlesque, comedy, dance, acting, circus and live music!
Vivacious Vaudeville – A Fringe Special! is a fast and frivolous 60 minute show that has been especially created for the Auckland Fringe Festival! Come and immerse yourselves in the festivities as our vaudevillians take you on a fabulous journey full of theatrics, fun and frivolity all in the style of a vaudeville cabaret!
Lilly Loca’s Vaudeville Cabaret is New Zealand’s leading show in the vaudeville revival in New Zealand, as has been showcased in such publications as the New Zealand Geographic. All of our last five outstanding shows have had rave reviews from audience members and critics alike; but don’t take their word for it, come and enjoy it for yourselves!
PLUS we also have three amazing Vivacious Vaudeville Prize Packs to be won (one each night of the show) to ticket holders! Patty Haag will be coming around before the show and issuing raffle tickets (so make sure you arrive on time!). Then the prize winner will be drawn midway through each show!
Vivacious Vaudeville – A Fringe Special! – Video!
“There is a charming honesty in Lilly Loca’s Vaudeville; her shows do not attempt to be complex, or to startle the audience with the unexpected. You can simply rock up, secure in the expectation of being dazzled and highly entertained. Frivolous Frivolity delivers everything her fans have come to expect from Lilly, a line-up of incredible performers served up in bite-sized yet appetising portions in a cheerfully risque atmosphere.”
– Jesse Quaid reviewing ‘Frivolous Frivolity’ on Theatreview.org.nz
“…The Va-Va-Voom Burlesque delivers all the fun and enjoyment for which Lilly Loca is renowned.”
– Jesse Quaid reviewing ‘The Va-Va-Voom Burlesque Show” on Theatreview.org.nz
“What a pleasant surprise! Not that I was expecting a bad show or anything, just that I didn’t know what I should expect. I would hardly say it is fortuitous, as I am now aware that Lilly Loca knows how to put together an evening of fun and surprising entertainment in an atmosphere that has been shaped with a keen eye for detail. This is indeed Vaudeville as it was intended, a vareity show of quirky performances from circus to strip tease to magic. She has an amazing stash of talented artists tucked under that frilly dress of hers, and I’m pleased to hear she’s putting it on again later this year.”
– Carrie Rae, Assistant Director of the Tempo Dance Festival (www.dancestuff.co.nz)
“I’m being blinded by the light reflecting off the nipple tassles”. Admittedly not a phrase you hear very often, but so very apt for a night of madcap, saucy entertainment. For two far-too-short hours, we were transported through an array of hip-swaying, belly-clutching, gasp-inducing entertainment. A blend of sexy sultriness mixed with a dollop of cheekiness, the Wunderbar Spectacular celebrated the wonderful kookiness of Vaudeville cabaret.”
– Sarah Idle, Reviewing The Wunderbar Spectacular on Gather and Hunt
“Cheerfully risqué, The Wunderbar Spectacular stays comfortably within the humorous side of erotic, providing a constantly entertaining variety that easily holds the attention.”
– Jesse Quaid, Reviewing ‘The Wunderbar Spectacular’ on Theatreview
The Vaudevillians in Vivacious Vaudeville – A Fringe Special! are:
Willow Noir – The Current Miss Burlesque New Zealand – She’ll make you hot under the collar!
Looney Rouge – Serving sumptuous servings of sexy swing!
Ken Samson as ‘Romano Zucchini’: In your face and in your pants interactive comedy!
Lilly Loca – MC and Theatrical Vaudevillian – Putting the Va-Va-Voom into Vaudeville!
Patty Haag – The Hideously Fabulous Stage Kitten!
The Speitatet – Swinging, Grooving, Spontaneous Jazz Trio!
90 mins
Rough round the edges but a good time had
Review by Nik Smythe 15th Feb 2013
As we convene in the dark, spacious Q loft, 50s rock ‘n roll house music on the PA and an as yet unmanned band rig upstage left, there’s an appropriate sense of anticipation and curiosity.
Then the (‘The Speitatet’ (the band) enters to strike up an infectious Mamba style groove; police sirens blare and searchlights race around the stage as the cast frantically scuttle hither and yon, taking turns pausing in the spotlight to be introduced by an unfortunately barely decipherable American voiceover.
I confess I’m a tad apprehensive at this point about just what we’re about to be subjected to, but before too long my fears are assuaged and the ample Valentine’s night crowd is cheering and laughing away like a bought one.
Compere Lilly Loca sets the scene with a fairly generic opening monologue, encouraging us to be vocally responsive to the ensuing shenanigans. Her accomplice, the alarmingly trashy drag queen Patty Haag, is a fitting mascot and overdressed stage manager, carrying the props and set pieces on and off the stage for each act.
To further lubricate the audience, just short of literally, sleazy would-be Casanova in tux and tails Romano Zucchini enters to amuse us with his risqué style of prestidigitation. The crowd’s warm, if a tad unsettled, reaction to his determinedly lowbrow humour is testament to the notion that it’s all in the timing.
Next, saucy redhead Looney Rouge, in a foxy housewife’s apron, joins the band to sing her original number ‘Eggs for Breakfast’, a slinky jazz blues number sizzling with double entendre. Her strong vocal aptitude and alluring demeanour is a breakfast recipe for success.
Emcee Ms Loca MC then makes way for Southern American redneck bogan drag king Jethro, about as juxtapositional as a character could be in a Burlesque revue.
‘He’ in turn introduces the sultry Willow Noir, performing the rhinestone-stippled saucy nun striptease routine that won her present title of Miss Burlesque New Zealand. Her costume and her smile are fabulously naughty, but the low quality of the soundtrack and abrupt conclusion detract somewhat from the sensual clout one would expect from a championship-winning act.
For a mid-show interlude, Jethro and Miss Haag draw the winning raffle ticket for an impressive sponsors’ prize package worth $500(!), before self-proclaimed Italian Stallion Romano returns to outdo his previous bad jokes and outrageous conjuring antics, with the assistance of a particularly sporting lass from the audience.
The remainder of the generous hour plays out in similar style and taste, making for an all-round successful evening of uplifting entertainment, if a little rough around the edges.
See also: TheatreScenes review
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