ATOMIC VAUDEVILLE
Where: Victoria Event Centre, 1415 Broad St., and The Roxy Theatre, 2657 Quadra St.
When: Oct. 26-Nov. 4
Tickets:
Thrills-and-chills season is upon us, which means another edition of the Vaudeville Series cabaret is due.
Atomic Vaudeville is unveiling the 86th edition of the series tonight, with Reach Out and Touch Someone on deck for the first of four nights of vignettes at the Victoria Event Centre. The Bats—its: Halloween Never Dies kicks off the series’ second four-night stand on Nov. 1 at The Roxy Theatre.
The two productions offer a mix of music, improv, comedy, theatre, and dance — all core tenets of the Atomic Vaudeville brand. Reach Out and Touch Someone features everything from clown surgeons and bilingual aliens to dance battles and a live Latin soap opera, while rock musical The Bats—its finds a ’90s punk band enslaved at a Halloween party that never ends.
The cabaret series has been operating twice annually with a full cast since 2004, and never disappoints; this year, more than 20 performers are pegged to participate. The Bats—its is a relatively new standalone production that remains “in-progress,” company co-founder Britt Small said in an interview.
The workshop production, with songs by Victoria musician Hank Pine, has grown considerably over the past year. Atomic Vaudeville brought on Baroness Von Sketch Show writer Becky Johnson, who has helped shape the story arc of the latest edition. “It’s kind of like a work in progress,” Small said of The Bats—its. The long-term hope is to partner with another company that would allow Atomic Vaudeville to take the production across the country, she added.
“We’re looking at the musical as something that could become a Halloween cult classic.”
It is not unlike how 2008’s Ride the Cyclone came into being — and Small would know. She was an integral part of the original Atomic Vaudeville production, which is the most successful musical to originate from Victoria. Ride the Cyclone was eventually picked up by Broadway producers for a U.S. tour, winning a Dora Mavor Moore Award along the way.
Small sees a similar future for The Bats—its, should everything fall into place.
“It’s really a chance for people to see it in its initial phase, which is how we developed Ride the Cyclone,” she said. “We did quite a few Victoria performances of different versions of it as it continued to develop. Musicals take long time to get right.”
Small, who is directing The Bats—its, said the creative team behind the musical see The Rocky Horror Picture Show as its aesthetic kin. “Part of what makes The Rocky Horror Picture Show so popular is audience participation, which we’ve included in The Bats—its. There’s a few interesting parallels, be it the absurdity of it or having the audience sing along.”
Reach Out and Touch Someone is set to run Oct. 26-29 at the Victoria Event Centre, 1415 Broad St. The Bats—its: Halloween Never Dies is scheduled for Nov. 1-4 at The Roxy Theatre.
