Skip to content

Follies add modern twist and improv to theatre

Cast presents Naughty Knickers Night on Sunday
62259traildailytimestdt-NaughtKnickersNight28-12-11
The cast of the Gold Fever Follies spice it up with their Naughty Knickers Night this Sunday at the Miner’s Hall in Rossland.

Checking their trousers at the door, the cast of the Gold Fever Follies are leaving the gold rush days of the 1890s to bring an avant-garde show to Rossland this Sunday.

Naughty Knickers Night offers a cabaret talent show followed by a spoof on this year’s 25th anniversary show – “The Race, the Voice and the Gentlewomen” – which chronicles Augustus Heinze’s creation of a small copper smelter in Trail, what later developed into Teck.

“I guess if there was a theme, the knickers would be it,” laughed Matthew Johnson, who is back for his second year with the Follies. “At some point or another in the night everybody probably will be in there underwear.”

Unlike the family-friendly show performed 83 times annually throughout the summer, this Sunday performance is choreographed and directed by the crew of musical theatre graduates.

Formerly called “Saucy Sunday Show,” this is the third year the Follies have brought a playful show to its adult viewers.

“This is an opportunity for us to show all the different styles of theatre that we have been trained in and also there has been big movement in the last couple of years for musical theatre for our generation and this is a chance for us to showcase the stuff that really appeals to our age group,” said actress Kate Eldridge.

The pop-style variety show at the beginning of the night features modern musical snippets – one that has the actors can canning in their underwear and another, where the women are getting “crunk” at a party.

“It’s geared more toward the adults as opposed to everyone as a whole,” said actor Harris Anderson, pointing to the poster that warns bring your children at your own risk. “It’s sort of put the kids to bed and come out and have a laugh.”

The audience will watch the cast “flail” in the second part of the show during their spoof on the “The Race, the Voice and the Gentlewomen.”

“I don’t know if it’s a spoiler to say that it will have an improvisational aspect so it’s going to be us bouncing things off each other spur of the moment and basically turning the Follies’ show on its ear,” said Anderson.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, with the curtains pulled at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are $10 in advance at Rossland Pro Hardware and the Miner’s Hall during show times or $12 at the door.

Beer and wine will be for sale.

Performances for “The Race, the Voice and the Gentlewomen” continue twice daily (3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.) Tuesday through Saturday.