Gold Fever Follies 2016: Come Early, Seating Will be Limited
By Rossland Telegraph
The Gold Fever Follies will be an attraction again this summer of 2016, even though the MIners Uniion Hall is not available as a venue while renovations are under way. The new location will have limited seating, so come to a show during July when attendance has historically been a bit lighter.
The show will go on at the old Bank of Montreal building, now the Rossland Gallery. Only about 60 seats will fit there.
Follies President and local resident Lisa Henderson says, “it’s a perfect choice for a venue as our script this year (LOVE and BUSINESS by Casey Gray) is about the race between the banks to see who would be first to open their doors. There was quite the competition between the British Bank of North America and the Bank of Montreal. Plus, the space itself is truly beautiful with its high tinned ceilings, the crown molding, and big windows.”
Speaking about the limited seating, Lisa added, “We want to encourage people to come see the show early, in July, so they don’t risk being turned away at the door because of the tiny size of the house. And our shows are just as good at the beginning of the season as they are at the end. The young people we hire as actors are very professional. It’s what most of them are studying post-secondary. So they are on top of their work by opening — always.”
Details:
New Venue! Old Bank of Montreal building at the corner of Columbia Avenue and Washington in downtown Rossland (where the Rossland Art Gallery is currently housed.)
Opening date: Tuesday, June 28 @ 7:30pm
Grand Opening: Wednesday, July 6 (this is the show where we give special thanks to our various sponsors…and offer cake and beverages to our audience members after the show during a “Meet the Cast” social.
Closing date: Saturday, August 27 @ 7:30 pm
Two Shows daily Tuesday through Saturday 3:00 pm and 7:30 pm.
Admission: $13 for General Admission
$10 for Seniors (65+)
$8 for Children 12 yrs and under
Audience members may recognize some familiar faces among the cast. Henderson said, “We have three past locals returning to our stage:
• Jill Amantea of Rossland (she is returning to us for a fourth year on stage…although she has actually worked for us for the past 5 seasons in that she choreographed all our dances for last year’s show before she headed off to spend a year dancing on the Disney Cruise Line.)
• Ty Wright (returning for his fourth season – he played our fire chief in last season’s show)
• Casey Gray of Castlegar (he has performed in three other Follies shows, and is returning for his fourth season after a 2 year hiatus while he finished his degree in anthropology and archaeology at Simon Fraser. He is also our script writer…and has written some of the lyrics and music for the show as well.
“We also have a fourth local who has been hired. He is brand spanking new…a Rossland youth still at school down at Crowe — Marco Santano. He will be wetting his feet on our Follies stage as our “extra”.
“We also have a couple of other familiar faces from past seasons who will be returning to Rossland and the Follies stage: Vaughn Naylor who played Lou Gagnon in the 2014 show of OFF THE RAILS! and Kirsti Hack who played the guitar picking saloon girl from last summer’s show of SUMMER IS COMING! — and 3 completely new faces.
“And of course, RJ Peters is back to direct our show, with John Han in hand to help with working out the harmonies for our voices on stage.”
So don’t miss out: plan ahead, go to a Follies show early in the summer, and remember the new venue for this season — while the Miners Hall is wrapped in scaffolding in preparation for, hopefully, the next hundred years or more.
