This is the last week to catch New West Theatre's exciting production of Get Down, which runs at the Yates Theatre until Aug. 29.
The show has changed somewhat since opening. I didn’t catch the ABBA medley and I missed Jocelyn Haub’s deadpan humour and big voice, but there is a lot to love about this talented cast and crew, which has had a challenging month.
They get the audience to Get Down in the opening group number “Get Down On It,” and take off from there.
Individual performers, Andrea Gedrasik, Tom Delbello, Kelly Roberts, Erica Hunt, Kathy Zaborsky and Kyle Gruninger get to shine in solo spots as do the band members.
Guitarist Scott Mezei takes centre stage to solo on a couple of hot numbers including Van Halen’s “Jump” and is part of a triple Strat attack on BTO’s “Taking Care of Business” with Kelly Roberts and band mate Greg Paskuwski, for which each of the three solo and each sing a verse.
Mezei is also part of a beautiful version of the Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun.”
Kathy Zabosky showcases her vocals and piano' talents on a beautiful version of “Nothing Compares 2 U.”
Erica Hunt sings a downright sexy version of the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams Are Made of This.”
A cornerstone of the show is the cast’s arrangement of a pair of Queen songs, “Another One Bites the Dust” and a gospel influenced version of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which let Kyle Gruninger channel his inner Freddie Mercury. The rest of the cast , dressed in colourful choral robes sing backup and dance.
A highlight of the show is a late addition of the Arrogant Worms’s “Canada is Really Big,” featuring Kyle Gruninger, Kelly Roberts and Kathy Zaborsky dressed as Mounties.
Another late addition features Andrea Gedrasik belting out “ I Want to Dance With Somebody.”
New West always alike to get their audience involved right from Erica Hunt’s introduction where she asks if there are any people visiting from out of town. This time they welcome an audience member on stage to take part in a very funny comedy bit about a dating game featuring Kathy Zaborsky as the bachelorette and cast members Kyle Gruninger and Kelly Roberts lying to impress her.
There is a lot of very funny comedy throughout, though I missed Haub, especially in their news segment.
Get Down runs at the Yates theatre until Aug. 29 at 7:30 p.m. each night.
