Stage Door News
Stage Door News
St. Catharines, you are about to get the party you deserve. After a decade and more of hype about the potential impact of the new arts buildings in the downtown, concrete evidence of that promise is being realized. A group of phenomenally talented locals here are putting on a totally original kind of show that absolutely cannot be missed.
The event in question is the Niagara Artists Centre’s Voix de Ville, a three-day “extravagonzo” variety show at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre. Curated and choreographed entirely by local artists and denizens, the event will be a smorgasbord of wild talent from here and abroad. It is all wrapped together in a weirdly visionary stage designed by one of Canada’s leading artists, Shary Boyle.
None other than comedian Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall fame will host the main event. The decadent stage behind him will be filled with dancers, acrobats, wearable arts, intricate sets, and Canada’s best instrumental Canadian rock band, Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet.
Growing out of the wildly-popular STRUTT Wearable Art Show, an annual event orchestrated by the Niagara Artists Centre (NAC), Voix de Ville pulls on a wider range of styles and influences than its predecessor.
The name echoes “vaudeville,” those song-and-dance variety shows of bygone years. In fact, at some murky point, vaudeville took its name from a broken telephone word for “Voix de Ville.” The original French phrase means ‘voice of the city.’ These events are renowned for bringing a wide variety of talents and artistic types to the stage, as if the complex, strangeness of the city had been condensed down to a single evening. Luckily, St. Catharines has talent.
As NAC’s Minister of Energy, Minds and Resources, Stephen Remus notes, “It’s an honest-to-God vaudeville show, so we’re throwing everything we can at the people in the seats. Comedy, dance, rock ‘n’ roll, acrobatics, every bit of it aimed to entertain.”
Remus notes the widespread support for the event from the community. “We have boatloads of volunteers and artists throwing in to make it happen and over a dozen progressively-minded local businesses behind us. It’s a raggle-taggle crew, to be certain, but that’s when we know it’s working. All we’re asking of everyone else is to be in the room to see what St. Catharines can put together. We’ve got our bet down that you’ll be slack-jawed with amazement. It’s all top drawer WTFery and you owe it to yourself to get some.”
There has never been anything like this in St. Catharines. Deanna Jones, the Artistic Director of Suitcase in Point Theatre Company, is serving as the Stage Director of Voix de Ville. She told me, “Voix de Ville offers something brand new – with an outrageous set and lighting design. I’m pretty confident that anyone who has been to the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre before will see it used in a whole new way. A rock n roll, no corner left unturned, party-turned-fiasco. Beautifully thought-out and crazy.” It is a true collaboration of numerous local visual artists, actors, aerialists, roller girls, the acclaimed hip hop dance troupe Bboyizm and more.
The Niagara Artists Centre, Suitcase in Point, and the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre join forces for the first time to make for a very special spectacle. But this will not be the last time. Voix de Ville is “a new tradition in the making,” Jones adds. “This is after all, our Voix de Ville.”
Niagara Artists Centre presents
VOIX DE VILLE EXTRAVAGONZO | The evolution of STRUTT
In partnership with the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre
Friday 18 November at 7PM | Saturday 19 November at 7PM + 9:30PM
Partridge Hall / Algoma Central Lobby / Robertson Theatre
For more information about the party of the year, visit VoixDeVille.ca
After the show, it’s the after parties!
$20 after-party tickets are going quickly. Friday night's Robertson Hall after-party features the DJ/VJ duo TEAM WOLF (AKA DJ Tanner and DJ Stiles) and Saturday night The Sadies join us to close out the extravagonzo!
From Gregory Betts for www.niagarathisweek.com.
2016-11-11
St. Catharines: The Niagara Arts Centre's Voix de Ville takes over FirstOntario Centre November 18-19