Are you ready to be transported back in time to the wild fun of Vaudeville? The Langley Centennial Museum is pleased to welcome its newest exhibit Voices of the Town: Vaudeville in Canada travelling from the Peterborough Museum & Archives. This visually stunning, bilingual exhibition explores the remarkable story of Vaudeville through the lens of the Roy Studio.
In an era before television and radio (1870s to 1920s), Vaudeville was the most popular form of entertainment in North America. It featured fast–paced variety sketches, comedy routines, songs, dance, acrobats, amazing feats and unbelievable stunts, on stages across the country. A visit to one of the opulent Vaudeville theatres was almost as exciting as the performances themselves.
Voices of the Town recreates the ambience of an evening at the theatre, complete with a stage, reproduction ticket booth and kinetoscope (early film viewing machine). Photographs from the Ballsillie Collection of Roy Studio Images and the authentic costume of “Oklahoma Jack” (a sharp-shooting Vaudevillian who performed with Buffalo Bill Cody) are sure to make this exhibition a memorable and entertaining experience for everyone. The exhibit also includes a stage with costumes for children to recreate their own Vaudeville-style act!
Come discover what entertainment was like before television! Don’t miss out on this exhibit or the Vaudeville Variety Show on Saturday, February 23 at the Fort Langley Community Hall.
For more information, contact the museum at 604.532.3536 and langleymuseum.org or Curator Jane Lemke at jlemke@tol.ca.
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