LAZER VAUDEVILLE'S REVIEWS

Juggling magic

and history

Lazer Vaudeville gives an old

form a new look

By Kevin Farley

Spotlight Correspondent
The Portsmouth Herald

SPOTLIGHT MARCH 31, 1996

If you were one of the hundreds of people turned away from Lazer Vaudeville's shows at The Music Hall during First Night Portsmouth 1996, your chance for redemption has come. The group is bringing its stunning combination of high-tech laser magic, and the traditional vaudeville arts of juggling, acrobatics, zany comedy and audience participation back to The Music Hall for one show at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 31.

Carter Brown, the group's founder, is excited about bringing an expanded version of the New Year's show back to Portsmouth. "Portsmouth is our kind of town," he said in a recent interview, "an active downtown with a restored vaudeville house. And the audiences on New Year's Eve were absolutely fantastic." The Music Hall itself is also an attraction to Brown and his cast mates: "Vaudeville comes back to the vaudeville house. There's a certain magic knowing the old vaudevillians performed there; I can almost feel their ghosts watching the show."

Weekend Section - Portsmouth Herald !

The show fulfills Brown's dream of "diving into history to pull an art form out of the grave." His background includes stints with the Ringling Brothers and Carden International Circuses and the Monte Carlo Festival du Cirque, as well as solo tours of South America, Canada and Japan. He brings a strong sense of history to his work, tracking down old films of his heroes and speaking with reverence of his encounters with such juggling legends as Kit Summers and Homer Stack.

Since forming Lazer Vaudeville in 1987, Brown has been committed to energizing his art with new technologies and original methods of presentation. "When I started the show, I was fed up with the lack of creativity in circus acts and vaudeville in general," he says. "I really wanted to see it combined with the lighting effects and technology of the 90's."

The result is a show which encompasses everything from traditional juggling with such diverse objects as plungers, machetes and running chainsaws, to a masterful demonstration of the lost art of hoop rolling. The troupe creates pinwheel illusions and percussive sounds with South American bolas, bounces balls off airborne drums in a mesmerizing ensemble piece, kicks up a luminescent rope-spinning display, and uses flying black light sticks in a piece called "Geospheres."

These death-defying feats are mingled with such silliness as a chef named Julia Childish teaching plate spinning to a young audience member, and various tricks involving more conventional fixtures like straitjackets, pie tossing, acrobatics and slapstick. They are all performed with a decidedly surreal bent, and presided over by the master of ceremonies-a seven-foot tall, fluorescent, fire-breathing dragon named Alfonzo. "Kids are used to video and film, so they really respond to this," Brown says. "Part of our mission is to introduce young audiences to the art of live performance."

"Portsmouth is our kind of town - an active downtown with a restored vaudeville house. And the audiences on New Year's Eve were absolutely fantastic."

- Carter Brown

The Centerfold of the Weekend Section !

Brown comes from a theatrical family. Raised in New York City by his set-designer father and actress/dancer mother, he began performing at the age of eight. During a stint as director of the University of Vermont's mime troupe, The Silent Company, he picked up the basics of juggling and moved on to Ringling's Clown College.

It was during his road days with the circus that he found his niche as the premier revivalist of hoop juggling, a dying art which features the rolling and manipulation of antique bicycle rims. "The rims are hard to find these days," Brown says, "and this act is rarely performed because of the space it requires.

During his time with Carden International Circus, Brown became interested in the use of technology to enhance the presentation of his art. He eventually developed innovations in sound and lighting, which were successful enough to encourage him to pursue the vision behind Lazer Vaudeville.

In addition to the mainstream juggling tradition, Brown's influences include "movement art" innovators, ranging from Mummenschanz and the Famous People Players, to recent MacArthur "genius grant" winner Michael Moschen and The Flying Karamazov Brothers. "We're taking it a step further into the realm of high-tech," he says, "pulling a lot of elements in." Brown's partners in his endeavor bring the same rich diversity of skills and background to the group.

The Second Page of a "Centerfold" !

Cindy Marvell, also a native New Yorker, is the first woman to win the International Juggling Association's Championship. At age 15, she became the youngest student ever admitted to SUNY Purchase's Antic Arts Academy, and moved on to San Francisco's Pickle Family Circus, and eventually worked solo in the Far East. She brings her background in dance to the mix, adding elements of modern choreography to the group's routines. "The technical level we perform at is very high," she says, "but we try to explore the frontiers of the art in a way that still appeals to kids and enthralls adults."

Jeff Taub, an acrobat and comedian, is also a graduate of Ringling Clown College. The Louisiana native studied theatre from a young age and, after his stint on the road with the circus, pursued his interest in theatrical design at the Dell'Arte School of Physical Theatre in Blue Lake, California. His background in mask making and design brings an additional dimension to Lazer Vaudeville, and he works constantly to develop innovations in props and costumes for the show.

Besides presenting over 150 theatre shows a year, Lazer Vaudeville offers an Arts-in-Education Outreach program designed to bring live performances to schools. "We teach kids about the history of vaudeville in America," Taub says. "Most of them can't imagine life before TV or movies, when vaudeville was the staple of popular entertainment."

Lazer Vaudeville's base of operations is Brown's 100-year-old house in Ocala, Fla., which has been renovated to include office and rehearsal space. Here the group creates and develops its material and runs the complex business of booking and travel arrangements, as well as designing and building the equipment and props essential for the show. But in spite of the logistical and technical demands, the group stays focused on its goal of presenting its ideas in human terms.

"Many people are drawn to the show because of the lasers and black light effects," says Marvell, "but, especially for the kids, it's still the human touch that counts."

The first 15 minutes of Lazer Vaudeville's show are in black light, so late-comers cannot be admitted during this part. Attendees are asked to allow themselves time to be seated before the show begins at 3 PM.

Lazer Vaudeville will perform at The Music Hall, 28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth, on Sunday, March 31 at 3 PM. Tickets are $8.50 in advance, $10 at the door, and are available at the box office, 436-2400 or through Ticket-master, 626-5000.

SPOTLIGHT MARCH 31, 1996

REVIEWS

THEATRE

Lasers, juggling, jokes and the 'awe' scale

By Jeffrey Borak
The Berkshire Eagle

BERKSHIRES WEEK / September 24, 1993

Lazer Vaudeville is making its third appearance in as many years this weekend at the Berkshire Public Theatre. But Carter Brown, the show's creator and artistic director, vows that this year's edition will be unlike any that area audiences have seen.

For one thing, his former partner, Mark Faje, is now doing stand-up routines in Chicago comedy clubs. So Brown is bringing with him two new performers: Randy Johnson, a Chicago native and longtime friend who has performed with the Windy City Circus and the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus; and Holyoke native Jennifer Plante, who has performed at Universal Studios in California, Sea World of Florida, and the Chinese Golden Dragon Acrobats of Taiwan.

Brown also is bringing with him an entirely new show that begins with an inventive black light adventure involving a music conductor, a dragon, geospheres and an errant baton and that ends with a chain saw-juggling routine.

Bolas and bongos

In between, there will be a three-person club-passing act; a ninja routine done in black light and strobe; a double straitjacket escape involving a member of the audience; an act involving South American bolas and bongos, black light, strobe and regular lighting; hoop and black light rope spinning, a laser cannon and adagio acrobatics.

We have new lasers, more colors, more patterns, different programs," Brown said by telephone from his headquarters in Ocala, FL. He is using the Berkshire Public Theatre engagement-performances are Friday at 8, Saturday at 2 and 8, and Sunday afternoon at 2-to launch Lazer Vaudeville's 1993-94 tour, which will take him and his partners and their high-tech equipment to more than 50 cities across the county and Bermuda between now and mid-April.

To keep Lazer Vaudeville going, Brown said, 'it takes three pounds of high-test coffee a week. We don't say "That's my cup of coffee." We say "That's my pot of coffee."'

Traveling troupe

"We do about 35,000 miles a year," Brown said, noting that last year Lazer Vaudeville make its first foray into South America. Born in Florida but raised in New York, where he moved with his family when he was 2, he studied gymnastics, mime, dance and comedy and began performing when he was 8. At the age of 12, he and his family moved from Manhattan to Vermont. At the University of Vermont, where he had a double major in theater and art, Brown directed the university's mime troupe, The Silent Company.

After college, he went to the Ringling Bros. Clown College and them spent two years performing with the Ringling Bros. circus. He directed an international touring circus for a while, did stand-up comedy in Chicago, and developed his bicycle rim juggling act. In 1987, he started Lazer Vaudeville in Chicago. Brown moved back to Florida a year and a half ago. To keep Lazer Vaudeville going, Brown said with a laugh, "it takes three pounds of high-test coffee a week. "We don't say 'That's my cup of coffee.' We say 'That's my pot of coffee.' Brown's decision to start Lazer Vaudeville stems from his interest in an old entertainment form-vaudeville-whose heyday has long past. "It's a high-tech way of introducing young audiences especially to an entertainment form they otherwise might not know," Brown said. He and his small company used to travel in a motor home. "We now travel in a 16-foot box truck and stay in hotels," he said. "When you're in a hotel, people can phone you. You also don't have to worry about pipes freezing in the winter or running out of heat."

I think the best stuff we do is with the kids. They are so awestruck…They are also our toughest audience.

Brown does much of his own booking, although an agent helps out. He believes strongly in promotion. He produces 500 copies a year of a promotional video that is sent out to presenters and prospective presenters and as advertising to local television stations. "The first booking is the hardest," the 33-year-old Brown said. "Once people see the show, they're more willing to ask us back."

The show was particularly popular with South American audiences. "We had to eliminate much of the verbal comedy because of the language barrier," he said, "but they really went nuts for the black light and the music. They loved us."

In addition to the performances at the BPT, Lazer Vaudeville has been presenting a slide-show/lecture-demonstration at several area schools this week. "I think the best stuff we do is with the kids," Brown said. "They're so awestruck. They are also our toughest audience. We get a tougher comparison from them on the 'awe' scale."

Brown says the most challenging aspect of running Lazer Vaudeville is "forcing yourself away from the art to make the business side work." "You constantly have to balance what you have to do to keep the books balanced with what you have to do to keep yourself artistically satisfied." After five years of creating acts and traveling, Brown is not quite ready to quit. "I see myself kicking down the road another 17 years, maybe," he said. "Then, I can see myself maybe just putting the shows together, sending them out on the road, sitting back and drinking decaf instead of high-test."

BERKSHIRES WEEK / September 24, 1993

Boston Sunday Globe

SUNDAY, MARCH 24, 1996

P U L S E

*******

Lazer Vaudeville

zaps Music Hall

back to its roots

This is Lazer Vaudeville, where the physical skill, comedy and magic of an old-time roadshow combine with the speed, light and color of a video game.

A monster, a dragon, a wizard and three humans make up this touring troupe, which rolls into the Music Hall in Portsmouth next Sunday for a fantastical family show.

"The Music Hall was built to be a live entertainment/vaudeville house - and we're bringing that history back in a whole new way," said Cindy Marvell, one of the humans in the troupe, on the phone from the Midwest.

Old-fashioned skills from juggling to rope twirling play out under blacklights, lasers and special effects yielding such visual delights as a 7-foot tall emcee named Alfonso the Dragon, a glow-in-the-dark cowboy and a saw-the-monster-in-half trick performed with a laser beam instead of a saw.

The Boston Sunday Globe, So What ?

Could any kid resist this?

Lazer Vaudeville pulled in standing-room-only crowds at The Music Hall on First Night, and this return engagement will be the only chance to catch the Florida-based troupe in the area in the near future.

Fans of old vaudeville should appreciate the updated juggling maneuvers in this show - with machetes and running chainsaws - as well as Carter Brown's lost art of "hoop rolling" with 10 old wooden bicycle rims.

Physical comedy fans will also enjoy Jeff Taub, who intercepts clubs from Brown and Marvell at precarious angles and keeps his acrobatics going throughout the show.

Tickets are $8.50 in advance, $10 at the door. The show starts at 3 p.m.

MARK DAGOSTINO

The Sun Chronicle

Attleboro - North Attleboro, MA * Thursday, March 21, 1996

Weekender

Vaudeville goes HIGH - TECH

Show dwells in past, future… and education

BY DON WILDING

SUN CHRONICLE STAFF

FOXBORO

Carter Brown was one of those kids who had to run away and join the circus.

But, as many of those soon find out, the circus isn't all that it's cracked up to be. The low pay, the weird hours, the rather unpleasant fragrances provided by the elephants and other animals just kind of got to him after a while.

There's got to be a better way to put this in the theater," recalled Brown, who also studied theater and art at the University of Vermont.

In 1987, Brown did just that-taking the acts of the circus and blending them with vaudeville and modern technology. What he came up with was "Lazer Vaudeville." It's been all over the county and to Chili, Hong Kong and Singapore, and will be at the Orpheum Theatre Friday and Saturday night.

"I had to reach back beyond the grave and bring back some of the old vaudevillians," said Brown, 35. "We combine it with modern black lights, lasers, strobes, lots of fog…"

The show, which has performed for thousands of people, features three entertainers of the vaudeville era, which was what entertainment showcased in theatres before the radio and TV eras. The show also features a fire-breathing dragon and a wizard who performs magic tricks with laser beams.

In addition to Brown, a one-time circus clown for Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus and whose feats include his unique bicycle hoop rolling act and rope spinning cowboy, the cast includes physical comedian and mask maker Jeff Taub.

AT A GLANCE

WHAT: Lazer Vaudeville

WHERE: Orpheum Theatre, Foxboro common, Foxboro

WHEN: Friday and Saturday nights, 7:30 p.m.

HOW MUCH: $12.50 adults, $7.50 students and seniors

INFORMATION: 543-2787, 1-800-810-2728

Brown is heavily influenced by former vaudeville hoop juggler Ray Wilbert, while Taub, another one-time circus clown, brings a heavy Laurel and Hardy / Abbot and Costello / Three Stooges influence to the show.

Also on board is international juggling champion Cindy Marvell. Of Marvell, Brown says, "She won't admit it, but she's the best female juggler on the planet." Marvell is heavily influenced by Trixie LaRue, one of the top female jugglers during the vaudeville era.

More Front Page Color Spreads, Boooooring. Not.

The show tends to marvel audiences of all ages. In South Dakota, a three-year-old boy was crying upon leaving the theater. Not because he was scared, but because he "didn't want it to be over." Teens and college students are also big fans, according to Brown. "It's really trippy stuff," he says. "It's like the 60's without the side effects."

While the entourage entertains many a fan at theaters, Lazer Vaudeville also brings its expertise into school classrooms around the country. This past week, they visited Thatcher Middle School in Attleboro and were scheduled to perform at Mansfield's Robinson School and Foxboro's Sage School today. They also stopped at schools in Walpole, Sharon and Canton.

The performers teach the students about vaudeville and how it evolved into present-day entertainment, focusing on how the great comedians (Burns and Allen, the Marx Brothers, etc.) went from vaudeville to radio and then television. Marvell talks about juggling and the perseverance that's needed to become great at anything. The methods of how laser technology and black lights work are also covered.

"We're really giving an educational perspective on the technology as well as the history," Brown says. "As live performing artists, we feel it's our duty to do this. We feel in our hearts that this is ultimately important. They don't cover a lot of this in the schools."

The Royal Gazette

Vol. 75 No. 35 BERMUDA, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1994 55 CENTS

High-tech vaudeville a treat for the kids

Lazer Vaudeville - City Hall - February 9-12

As the title of this show suggests, we have now reached that phase in our all-embracing Festival which is billed as "family entertainment:" a moment to catch the breath in the midst of so much culture - and to give the kids a night out.

That a show of juggling, acrobatics, magic tricks, blacklight rope spinning and brilliant laser beams spinning shapes fantastical still manages to cast its spell in this age of television and computerized visual wonders, is a triumphant vindication of live theatre. This was immediately apparent from the reaction of the many children in the audience, who were soon swept up into the spirit of the thing, laughing at the slap-stick comedy, gazing wide-eyed at all the special effects and loudly applauding juggling feats that were genuinely spectacular.

BERMUDA FESTIVAL

Lazer Vaudeville was founded by American Carter Brown in 1987. He is a highly accomplished juggler, and apparently the only bicycle rim juggler in the world. With his two supporting performers, there was also an exciting display of rope spinning and, with the assistance of a hapless volunteer from the audience, an anxiety-filled juggling sequence where gleaming machete knives replaced the usual plastic clubs.

The show began with a short display of laser light which transformed a darkened and fog-filled City Hall into a world of sci-fi geometric and searchlight patterns. What with the music and sound effects, it was a bit like being in the middle of the London blitz, but this soon gave way to the gentler world of blacklight wizards who floated crystal balls. Then we were finally introduced to the "host" of the show, a seven-foot fluorescent, fire-snorting and occasionally dancing dragon who periodically wandered on and off for a spell onstage, but was nowhere to be seen at evening's end.

Bermuda, February 1994 !

This, presumable because all three members of this valiant little group were required for an impressive session of three-part juggling in blacklight. Randy Johnson and Jennifer Plante are competent performers who brought some wacky humor to a mimed acrobatic sketch on sexual harassment in the office to the tune of "Nine to Five." They also provided the dance element of the program with an effectively lit pas de deux that seemed reminiscent of the apache dance, so popular in the golden era of American vaudeville.

Both Brown and Johnson have extensive circus backgrounds (Carter was with the famous Ringling Brothers) and although Jennifer Plante is primarily an acrobatic dancer show also has extensive training in magical illusions.

HOME

SEE THE SHOW LIVE - The Tour Schedule !

BRING US TO YOUR THEATRE - Everything you need to know about bringing us to your theatre. Reviews, Publicity Materials, Letters of Recommendation, Biographies, Program Copy, Art-In-Education, even our Tech. Rider

THE FULL 2 HOUR PERFORMANCE - Graphics from all parts of the show, and descriptions too !

THE ARTS-IN-EDUCATION PRESENTATION - You guessed it, graphics and descriptions.