Vaudeville
My company's corporate picnic was incredible! I had such a great time.
Everyone recieved invitations with old Vaudeville black and whites on the cover. Inside was all the party details of location, date and time. I recognized the address as the Orpheum theater. I didn't know what to expect, but I was excited about attending.
The theater itself is amazing and is in beautiful condition. There was so much history there, you could feel it. The theater isn't used year round and is rented out for parties, like ours, during the off season. The attendants were dressed in Victoran style usher uniforms. Instead of the usual theater munchies of popcorn, cand and peanuts, there were, finger sandwiches, mini-quiches, mozzarella sticks and even a small salad bar set up next to the concession stand. There was fruit juice and root beer for everyone to drink and wine and beer for the adults.
The main theater was stunningly beautiful. A ventriliquist was performing on stage and most of the kids were sitting in the front few rows, completely fascinated. It was such an amazing building I wanted to explore before the main show started.
I climbed the stairs first to the balcony and found a other guests had the same idea. They were talking and watching the people below. I visited with them for a while, then went up to the projector room, but it was locked. When I was coming back down to the balcony I heard them call everyone down to the main theater.
The organizing committee had a surprise for all the guests. For the main event they needed volunteers who would get a chance to to participate in the Vaudeville show. I was amazed by the number of hands that shot up. The committee only picked eleven out of the fifty hands raised, but they still needed one more female for the show. I decided it might be fun and raised my hand.
There were costumes and make-up for all of the performers. Three of the other women and I were given gorgeous can can costumes to wear. I was just glad I didn't have any lines.
A professional dance instructor helped us learn and practice our brief routine. I was a little nervous, but the instructor said no one would care if I messed up, it was all for fun.
Our CEO came out on stage wearing a Victorian frock coat, brocade vest and a top hat. He was the Emcee for the show. I nearly fainted when our act was announced first. The dance instructor stood just off stage giving reminders as we danced to a lively piano number. All of us were pretty shy in the beginning, but when the audience started clapping time to them music everyone really started geting into it. We all were looking good by the end of the routine .
It wasn't until we had taken a bow and left the stage that I realized how fortunate we were in being the first on stage--now we could enjoy the rest of the show. Most of the other volunteers got to be assistants for the other professional Vaudeville performers. A few of them got to perform a scene from a Vaudevillian comedy. They were hilarious. A videographer taped the entire show and the other guests took lots of photos. Everyone received a copy of the videotape in their mail box.
I had such an amazing time. I can't wait until next year's picnic!
