BWW Reviews: 2013 FULTON FOLLIES Brings Back the Variety Show for a Cause

What's over 160 years old, had people rolling on the floor laughing when they weren't applauding madly, and grossed over $100,000 in an evening? No, Donald Trump is younger than that, so it must have been the Fulton Follies. A fundraising effort for the venerable theatre combining dinners, a theatre-related auction, and a variety show, the successful venture on May 5, the fourth of its kind, kept the crowd entertained from beginning to end.

The beginning, especially for those who came only for the show, was the auction, run by Keller Auctioneers of Lancaster, which featured such delights as a walk-on appearance in YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN next season, a trip to the National Alliance for Musical Theatre's Festival of New Musicals, and the little-girl dream event of tea with Mary Poppins as well as the right to sit in on auditions both at the Fulton and in New York. Many of the packages auctioned, especially tea with Mary Poppins, were so popular that multiples of the packages had to be offered to anxious bidders. Additional fundraising was taken up at the end of the auction to provide funding for the three all-student productions of MARY POPPINS that the Fulton will be providing in January, 2014; the theatre's managing director, AaRon Young, estimating that it will cost the theatre one thousand dollars a student to produce the shows, which will be attended by Disney executives.

Following the auction and Mary Poppins solicitation, the variety show began, a presentation that reminds one that many of the great, beautiful "opera house" theatres of the 1800s had fine careers later as vaudeville houses. Emceed by local theatre veteran Randall Frizado, the Follies commenced with John Pizzi, a comic and magician featured on "America's Got Talent" as well as various other shows, performing coin tricks with a member of the audience. Pizzi returned later to perform a ventriloquist routine, also involving an audience member, but for all of his skills, it was the area talent that people came to see, and who received the lion's share of the applause for the evening.

Local entertainer Rob Brock began the local talent with a performance of "I Am What I Am" from LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, while Dr. Wendell Funk entertained at the piano with an audience-pleasing arrangement of music from LES MISERABLES. While both were greatly appreciated by the crowd, however, they were eclipsed by thirteen-year old musical sensation Sebastian Janoski's performance of "Over the Rainbow", accompanying himself on the 12-string guitar. Although his performance concentrated more on style than on substance, Janoski's voice is still fine and is in a surprisingly low range for his age.

Janoski's performance was one of the evening's show-stoppers, but it was followed immediately by one of the others. Fulton Artistic Director Marc Robin, a former stage dancer - who hadn't danced for a dozen years - came back as a dancer, after extensive re-training, to perform the Mr. Mistoffelees solo from CATS that he had previously choreographed for one of his productions of the show. It was, indeed, difficult for the audience to believe that Robin hadn't danced for years until he determined to do the piece for the Follies.

However, the show-stopping was hardly done, as Robin's tour-de-force was followed by a solo performance by Managing Director AaRon Young of what was possibly the funniest event of the evening, his singing of his "coming-out song," "I Am A Mormon," succeeded in bringing down the house.

Elliot Sterenfeld brought old-fashioned cool back to the show, and the audience, with a jazz vocal of Gershwin's "Our Love Is Here To Stay," while DREAMGIRLS cast member Steve Calzaretta brought country to the stage with his performance of Phil Vassar's "Last Day Of My Life". Following them, Mark Stuart and Jaime Verazin of Mark Stuart Dance Theatre, performed, in a taste of what may be expected when Stuart and company come to the Fulton in September.

In the highly anticipated "What will Marc Robin and AaRon Young do this year?" category, the winner was... a Tracey Ullman sketch with Young as choreographer Zach (shades of A CHORUS LINE) and Robin as dancer Cassie, complete with blonde Cassie wig from A CHORUS LINE, working on what might be the worst dance routine seen on the Fulton stage in many years. Although it's not foreseen that Robin will choreograph any shows soon using such steps as "the barbecue tongs" or "the doggie wiggle", the audience appreciated the barely-controlled lunacy of the moment.

The Follies closed with the cast of DREAMGIRLS on stage, performing with Young and Robin, followed by a post-show reception with the performers from the Follies and a throng of happy auction bidders settling on their families' teas with Mary Poppins and the other auction packages, bringing this year's fundraiser to a successful conclusion - and leaving open all of the possibilities for the fifth Follies' "What will Marc and Aaron do this year?" sweepstakes.

Photo Credit: Fulton Theatre