wordplay: Billy Schear
image: Jonathan Shoup
pictured: Takka

      For those who have never been, Lannie’s Clocktower is far more than a phallic timepiece. In the basement, where one might expect to find a room littered with spare sprockets and ornate clock arms, instead there is a room, one filled with wonder and excitement…as well as moderately overpriced cocktails.

      With a tiny budget and less than four weeks to show time, Producer Kevin Larson and Director Candi Workman (with costume support from Tiffany Smyth) managed to stage an all out extravaganza, while maintaining the sensibilities of old world vaudeville.

      The performance on April 3 centered around a young female artist (Melinda Smart) who falls asleep while painting, dreaming about things she's painted, and then wakes up.  Apparently, the first act was supposed to represent the lighter side of her subconscious mind and the second half delved into her darker side, the fears and the anxieties associated with being an artist. This all become known to me, as I read and reread the program.

      To be fair, this was the first time I’ve seen live vaudeville and only the second time I had a clown bring me Guinness without making me cry. I found the plot as described above to be lost somewhere betwixt the contortionist (Tara Page), the stilt walkers (Shanime & Nate), the magician (Chad Allen) and the belly dancer (Takka), however, each and every one of the performers did a superb job in displaying their craft in front of a crowd of enthusiastic patrons.

      Audio glitches be damned! If this creative team puts on a show again, count me in attendance, and if any or all of these talented vaudeville hopefuls makes another public appearance, I would gladly make the scene. It is always, and I repeat always a delight to watch a living feather duster (George Peele) pull a grown woman out of a suitcase…guess you had to be there.  

NationalPerformersAlliance.org 

KevinLarsonPresents.com