Naughty Knickers Night Ain't No Oklahoma
By Almeda Glenn Miller
Let me just say that I am the proud mother of a thespian and watching her dressed in some kind of Beyoncé garb, bumping and grinding on the stage with another thespian challenges my prudish Victorian hangover.
John Han, musical director/stage manager/bump and grinder of the Gold Fever Follies meekly apologizes for the naughty number they were doing on stage when I turn to him and tell him that if he’s going to perform those risky gyrations with my daughter he better do it with conviction! And conviction is what the cast of Gold Fever Follies Naughty Knickers Night performance this Sunday, August 10th @ 7:30 p.m. is all about.
It was either Werner Herzog or Roger Ebert who said, in reference to producing important art, “do not avert your eyes.” So I don’t. But when that sweet Jill Amantea, the one who barely spoke a word until she was sixteen, smiles seductively at the audience, I’m taken aback by her sultry moves (it’s always the quiet ones). When my own daughter, Sharmila Miller, rolls her hips in what I assume is some kind of pole dancing move and that fresh-faced Vaughn Naylor does a crotch grab, say nothing of Corey Snidal’s hip swivels, Naughty Knickers Night promises to be anything but dancing a corn jig in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma (Though, I do think Ty Wright would make an excellent Curly, and Ingrid Moore a convincing Laurey – but I digress). Okay, I’m not going to be that annoying audience member who keeps whispering, “wait ‘til you see this next number!” but…“wait ‘til you see Amy King ’s next number!”
Admittedly, I’m going for the parent-most-often-to-attend-performances and my husband can’t shake an earworm of the song 8-Hour Workday but watching these actors make meaning of the roles, experiment, collaborate, negotiate, and perform what is now something around 50 performances has been a lesson in how to run a country. Their talent combined with their intelligence and compassion for each other is a testament to the fine art of theatre and how it teaches us to be human – and a little naughty.
So, if this were an open letter to Terry Miller, the father of one of the cast members, I’d say, “buck up buddy and check out your daughter’s gams. She’s a knockout! Oh, and please avert your eyes when you see me flirting with that handsome young man playing Wally Johnson.”
It’s all harmless good fun. So 1) if you haven’t seen this year’s regular Gold Fever Follies show – go, and 2) come to the cabaret old chum on Sunday Night for a bit of burlesque.
Tickets are only sold in advance at Café Books West, Colander, and Colander Express or at the Miners’ Hall during showtimes at 3 and 7:30 p.m. everyday this week. Bring cash for the bar. All proceeds go to the performers!
Almeda Glenn Miller was a performing artist for 10 years before arriving in Rossland circa 1987 when her husband took mercy on her and let her stay.
