Stage Review: ‘Pete the Penguin’ Is Vintage Entertainment

By J.E. Ballantyne Jr.

YOUNGSTOWN – The curtain went up Friday night at Youngstown State University’s Ford Theater for the world premiere of “Pete the Penguin’s Vintage Variety Show.”

Written and directed by YSU theater professor Adam Day Howard, the show is billed as “A Musical Comedy Extravaganza – A Riotous Romp of Amusement.” Every word of that is true.

This was one of the most fun evenings of theater that I have had in quite some time. The plot centers around a group of actors attempting to perform a vaudeville script. In doing so, however, they discover that much of the script can’t be done as written. It’s old and very outdated – as the audience sees when one character opens the script and blows its accumulated dust all over another.

Somewhat reminiscent of the recent play, “The Play That Goes Wrong,” the troupe of actors are met with numerous and sundry mishaps as they attempt to improv their way through the show.

The show MC, played by Cyrus Dzikowski, is your typical vaudeville MC; fast talking with corny one-liner jokes thrown in to keep the audience’s attention. Dzikowski is the perfect leader of the frenzied ensemble as he keeps the show moving and has the necessary energy for the zingers. His rapport with fellow cast members helps to seal the cohesiveness of the production into a very believable vaudeville show. His ventriloquism act is a highlight of the evening.

Aiding him is the character known only as Comic Relief. Magnificently handling those duties is Lauren Ladd. She is really the grease that lubricates the entire production. Her timing, physical humor, choreography and facial expressions make it very hard to take your eyes off of her for even one second – if you do you might miss a great comedy bit. Her feel for vaudeville comedy is first rate.

Ladd hits the mark early with a great rendition of the old vaudeville classic song, “Yes, We Have No Bananas.” From there she just gets better. She reminded me very much of the 1950s film actress Betty Garrett. She looked like her and had that same boundless energy.

Ben Podnar as Leading Man, brings another dimension into the production. His rousing rendition of “Hello Ma Baby,” along with the help of a young audience member, is again, vintage vaudeville along with all the schtick that endeared that form of entertainment to the audiences of the ’20s and ’30s.

A very clever character addition is Alexa the Dramaturg, played by Samantha Cox. Alexa is simply a human form of the virtual assistant technology. Complete with monotone delivery and rapid fire speech, Alexa rattles off complete descriptions of a myriad of topics. Including local references and pertinent dates (the JFK assassination – 61 years ago to the day on Friday) makes Alexa a fun part of the show. You never know when she will chime in with some little known tidbit.

But Cox also gets to break away from the confines of Alexa a bit in musical numbers like “Ragtime Cowboy Joe,” and the “Charleston.”

The show within the show stage manager, Ilse Zijlstra, isn’t as much part of the main comedy vein as she is a transitional piece in the show. She quite ably helps to blend from comedy routines into the next bit that comes up; or doesn’t, when the troupe is left hanging with a missing participant.

KJ Hudson as June East, provides the “star” power in Act II as the Mae West-like character in drag. It was amazing how many people in the opening night audience had no idea who Mae West was. Hudson provided a fun and provocative June with some appropriate zingers along with a great rendition of “I Don’t Care.”

And of course, Sherriff Pete (Nick/Vixen Atwood) makes several appearances as he hunts down the Varmint that needs to be apprehended.

Along with several surprises, the entire cast works well to bring vaudeville to life for many in the audience who may have never even heard the word. Granted some of vaudeville may have been corny and stupid, but all of it was fun – as was this production.

Adam Day Howard has written a great script and has crafted a tremendous show. His feel for the subject matter was perfect and the length of the show is just right at just under an hour and a half.

Costumes by Katherine Garlick were perfectly designed to fit the vaudevillian era plus adding splashes of color. Set design by Todd Dicken was simple and effective reminiscent of what you would find in an old vaudeville house. Guest choreographer LeeAnn Johnson’s choreography gave life and zip to an already energetic show and was the style for the era.

This is one of those shows that you want to see a second time. It moves so fast and is so full of comedy bits, it is hard to catch everything the first time. Plus incorporating audience participation adds an additional level. Kudos to all involved for a very entertaining and fun evening traveling back to the days of vaudeville.

“Pete the Penguin’s Vintage Variety Show” will continue Nov. 23 at 7:30 p.m.; Nov. 24 at 2 p.m.

Pictured at top: Ilsa Zijlstra, Pete the Penguin and Cyrus Dzikowski in “Pete the Penguin’s Vintage Variety Show: A Musical Comedy Extravaganza.”

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.