Are you ready for another weekend of V&V?

....because it seems like our audiences are!

Check our these reviews:
Evanston Review
Chicago Free Press
Centerstage.net

And don't forget the nice writeup done by the new EvanstonNow website!

Congrats on a great first weekend everyone!!

The Reviews Are In!

And here's what the noted theater critics have to say about "Vaudeville & Vixens"!

"Filled with variety acts including cornball comedy bits including slapstick, wordplay and general clowning together with flirty ‘tease’ dances by the girls"

"a 90-minute variety show that is much more than mere titillation."

"funny and sexy"

"congenial nuttiness and plenty of bawdy humor"

"Vaudeville and Vixens" is a blast from the past

"In Piccolo Theatre’s show, careful attention was made to mounted a pure, 40’s style vaudeville/burlesque show."

"true to the stylings of Buster Keaton and Abbott and Costello"

"the energy of the cast and the tunes were quite fetching"

"The burlesque numbers did provide some creative re-imaginings of the form. Far from the spiritless gyrations you'd get at some place like the Admiral, these four ladies (Dori Scallet, Deborah Craft, Denita Linnertz and Vanessa Hughes, who also choreographed the show) provided an urban edginess and sense of power"

"Vaudeville and Vixens" is a high-spirited revue"

"If you have never seen a pure vaudeville/burlesque show, Piccolo’s “Vaudeville and Vixeens” comes close. Be warned, this is raw sexy humor."

Sounds like a hit to me!
Tickets are available by clicking here.

Can't stop laughing!

So, last night was our first cue-to-cue rehearsal. For those of you not in the theatre, that means we run the show, concentrating on getting light and sound cues correct...meaning this is not a rehearsal for the actors, but for the tech and designers.

You will be happy to know that we've had a habit of cracking ourselves up in rehearsals, and then on top of it we were getting a bit squirrley, as actors often do in tech rehearsals. (the "look at me! Look at me!" syndrome). Our director, the fearsome Gianni Bosco, finally laid down the law and told us that he would charge us for each time we laughed on stage....which of course made everyone try even harder to be funny and crack up the rest of the cast. Needless to say, this rehearsal technic was only effective as a way to raise $$ for Piccolo Theatre, NOT to keep us from laughing! It actually only got worse.

We add costumes tonight! Ready to look hot everyone???

1st Rehearsal on a Gorgeous Stage

We came up the theatre stairs yesterday and walked through the back-stage door to find ourselves on one heck of a lovely stage. Those of you who haven't been to a platformed Piccolo show before won't know this, but we have had some difficulties finding the right sound dampening capabilities for our space. This is nothing against the crews we've had before...let's face it we have a stone floor and a wooden platform. Resonance is our middle name.

This crew, however, put their good ole noggin's together and came up with a beauty of a solution. The stage is quiet and clean. It's a treat to perform on. Really. I love carpet padding!

So yesterday we tried our hands at rehearsing on it and aside from a scary spill that Kitty made (she's just fine, folks) and a few tricks that were pulled for the resulting safety concern, it went very well. Now, some of you are going to read this and think that we're going to change the show because of this, but let me just add the little caveat that until last night when Moxie and Zeke painted it, this was a bare massonite floor. The paint they've painstakingly applied will add some much desired grip. We'll be better than fine. We'll be PERFECT!

Thank you Moxie. Thank you Zeke. You're awesome!

The stage is up!

We put in a lot of hard work today, and the stage is up and ready for paint!  The curtains have been hung, the lights have gone up and the theatre is starting to look dead sexy.  We're almost ready for the gala opening!!! People are going to love the gala.

We've been at it for almost 11 hours today, faced broken drill bits, lugging huge platforms up a floor, jammed fingers, heads hit by boards (seriously, it was a circus), mulitple runs to Home Depot (our lovely sponsor), long strings of swearing, fingers pricked by needles, bugs while weeding the landscaping.  What a day!

We started to get punchy around 8:30 and decided that pizza would be a good idea Vinny's gal revived us with some beer, and the jokes have started to fly again.  

I can't WAIT to get on the stage tomorrow, to do a full run-through in our sultry little theatre, on our spanky little stage.

Holy Bad Words, Batman! We DID IT!

That's right, ladies and gentlemen, Lefty and I have successfully completed the Pamchenko...er...jive lift we've been working on! Now anyone who comes to see the show can witness the near-miss my head will make with the floor. Exciting isn't it? Can't picture it in your mind? Well, I guess you'll have to come and see it for yourself, right? Right?

So exhilirating when it works! Lefty, you kick tookus. Take a bow, man.

To see the inspiration for the lift check out this youtube video. The lift starts at 2:45. Sometimes reality TV DOES come in handy.

Vixen of the weekend goes to....

LeeAnn... out hot stage manager!
She was gorgeous and the epitome of bridal beauty. What a great time. Thanks for letting us be part of what was an amazing day.
All of our love~

Roxie

Wedding bells!

A big congratulations to our beatiful and wonderful stage manager on her marriage to the handsome and wonderful Javier Chavez!

It was a gorgeous Saturday for a wedding in South Bend, IN. Thanks for letting us share your day with you, Lee Ann! We're all so happy for you!

We did it!

Two times through all the dances, and they are looking fantastic! Ladies, we'll figure out that hip bit in our dance. We'll get it! The guys "poker game" is looking better and better. I'm sorry, I'm going to take a minute and mention how hot they look. Particularly thier arms at the very end section with the chairs. Anyone else out there an "arms" gal? Cause if not, I'll take them all for myself! (The guys and their arms. Not just the arms. That's bizarre. I can't believe you even thought of that.)

And ladies, the teases are ha-ha-hot! (Well, Trixie, your's is hot AND hilarious.)

Roxie, we hope you start feeling better soon!

Stumble through!

Well, it's been a good, long month of blisters, blood, tears, sore muscles and a lot of laughter, we are heading into our final all-dance rehearsal tonight. We're going to have a full-blown show, ladies and gentlemen! And it's going to knock some socks off! Just imagine it, a bunch of bare-footed people rolling in the aisles.....

So, guys and dolls, let's welcome the rest of the Vaudeville & Vixens cast to the blog! Let's get this banter started!

With a Twist

So, Lefty and I have been workin' on this lift for the jive and it just gets better and better every night. I wanna get it RIGHT though. I'm impatient to get it down and solid. I know it's gonna knock peoples' socks off to see it done, and I know we're gonna get there, but like I said, Trixie's an impatient little lady.

I'm pleased at least that we're trying the left every rehearsal without mats. It really is a difficult move and Lefty and I been workin' on it as much as we can without exhausting ourselves...we'll see if our hard work pays off soon.

Dancing Dolls

Are you ready???? This will be fun. Can't wait to see what evolves.
Love,
Roxie

M y Poor Little Moxie

So Moxie was doing a hot little number last night when there was a mishap with a cigarette holder. Needless to say after a lot of blood, sweat and tears.....literally everything was ok. Moxie is a strong, sexy trooper... she will forge ahead. Much love and liquid diet :)

Roxie

Close call!

Well, clearly SOMEONE needs some more practice dancing with a cigarette holder!

"The name is Danger. Moxie Danger."

Anyway, the pronosis is good. How does one explain to a doctor that it happened while learning a strip tease dance? Ak-ward! Damn its good to have close friends in the medical field.

No stitches are necessary and solid food should be back in my diet by Thursday. Until then, I'm enjoying pudding and sorbet and ibuprofen. Yum!

Thanks to Roxie, Josh and Lee Ann for handling the situation so calmly. You are rockstars!

Nice Job Dixie

I just want to say awesome job to Dixie and her saloon strip tease. My, my she is going to be smokin'. We had a lot of fun figuring her tease out, and have something very sexy!!! Have a great weekend ladies..... see you Sunday.

Oh- btw, the boogie music got figured out and hopefully we have the final draft by Sunday.

Love you all,

Roxie

Vaudeville audio clips

Good morning everyone! Moxie here, reporting from a chair, nursing blisters and sore muscles. How about that jive, huh? And it's more than my right leg today. Ahhhhh, I love the burn! How is yours doing, Trixie?

Anyway, procrastinating again. Found a site with audio clips of famous Vaudevillians doing some of thier most famous acts. The format of the website is reeeeallly hokey, but I think you'll enjoy the clips!

http://bestwebs.com/vaudeville/nindex.html

Even More Reason to be Proud

I am once again flattered by the dedication and excitement that the whole V&V gang is showing. This jive number isn't for the weak!!! There is a lot of energy and quick, "happy feet" :)
We are all saying-"i didn't realize I even had that muscle"! Yikes!
GREAT JOB to everyone..... I am really proud. Remember to soak in epsom salt, have someone give you a killer massage(with coconut oil... it helps regenerate tissue), drink LOTS of water and stock up on vitamins-especially vitamin B.
I love all my kittens... again great job guys!

Roxie

The Piccolinis can dance?

We had a conversation yesterday while taking a break from our Jive that is worth broadcasting to the world.

We had just gotten through a fast-paced section of choreography, and had been going on our third hour of rehearsal. We were getting tired, but there was nothing but smiles on everyone's faces, and everyone was ready to attack the next bit. Someone commented, (was it Kitty, Rocko, Vinny or Lucky?) that we were doing a darn good job. "Smokin'" may have aptly been one of the words used.

Then our fearless leader, Roxie, stepped up and said that while we have no intentions of becomming the next Hubbard Street Dance company, Vaudeville & Vixens is going to show our patrons that the Piccolinis can do more than stage a good laugh. (Although we're VERY good at that.) We can also get down! And make it look goooooooood.....

This is going to be fun.

This jive is jumpin'!

I thought the gams would hold up this time. I thought I was prepared. After tango and jive rehearsal yesterday I was feelin' pretty good and ready to keep dancing the night away (albeit in flats), but this morning my right leg for some reason is carrying the brunt of the work we did yesterday. I'll survive and rehearsal tonight will help loosen things up again.

I'm really excited about the jive. It's fast and fun and I'm hopin' Lefty and I can work in a lift. Even if we can't I'll enjoy the dance. Roxie really did it again this time. Fantastic!

Virtual Vaudeville

Hey guys and gals,

Just in case you needed something to aid you in yoru Friday procrastination, click your way over to www.virtualvaudeville.com

They recreate some Frank Bush acts (complete with a pop-up video style of explaining colloquialisms of the day). There is acces to scripts, song lyrics, Vaudeville history, and a fly-through tour of the Union Square Theatre in New York, which pre-dates our production, but was the most popular vaudeville theatre of its time.

Have fun!

PS you will need to download Adobe Shockwave Player to view the videos.

Roxie and her hot pockets

I am so proud of all of my Vixens. Everyone caught on really well last night and we have such an amazing amount of time to polish what we have. Remember to drink a lot of water and take care of you bodies-we need 'em hot for the show. Love you all.

Just a nugget...

Meow!

You kids sure are swell!

Photo credit

By the way, in case you couldn't tell, the picture I posted was of Rocco and I at last night's rehearsal.

Moxie has her say

Trixie is dead on! This cast of characters is going to make for one amazing (and hot!) show! Can you believe how quickly we all fell into a groove with each other? I am so dang excited about this rehearsal process.

As for the post-tango legs....they are just fine. Except for the amazing bruises the chairs left on my thighs. (Roxie was NOT lying!)

All I can say is that my spankies can hardly wait to get back on the dance floor on Sunday!!

Tango...the aftermath

We began work yesterday on the dances for V&V. Roxie put together a simple, but impressive-looking tango that took only an hour and a half for us all to learn but will take the rest of our rehearsal time to perfect. Brilliant. It's sexy, fun, sassy and little Trixie is feelin' the big hurt today. Holy Toledo!

Right now my muscles want nothing more than either my bed for a solid week or a nice jacuzzi...either of which can be paired with a handsome man without me raisin' a stink about it. If he's in uniform so much the better ;-)

The whole gang is great to work with. The guys are all real stand-up kind of gentlemen and the ladies are just a hoot! When we all get together it's hard to shut us up, but everyone works well in their pairings. This is gonna be fun.