Drury Lane revue draws on vaudeville, European traditions

Burlington’s Drury Lane Theatre will host their 42nd annual production of Music Hall,  March 3-26.

Music Hall is a variety show featuring a medley of music, skits and comedy, drawing inspiration from around the world including vaudeville in New York City, cabaret in Paris, Berlin’s kabarett and London’s music hall. The show’s compilation style nods to eras ranging from 1890 to 1950 while also incorporating music from contemporary Broadway shows and movie musicals.

The 2023 production is directed by Danny Harvey, co-produced by Carol and Rick MacKenzie, choreographed by Lauren Shepherd and stage managed by Barb Osborne. Having been involved with Drury Lane since 1987, Rick MacKenzie compiled and curated this year’s version of the show, which features musical arrangements conceptualized alongside Music Director Donna Dunn-Albert.

The cast features Michael Belton as Mr. Chairman, Carrie Mines, Sheila Flis, Anne Kelly, May Farquhar, Melody Rasmussen, Margaret Moir and Jennifer Welosky as Misses, and Bill Everett, Don Montgomery, Greg Porter and Shane Brenton as Misters.

Harvey and MacKenzie say patrons can look forward to a “good time” and can expect themes of familiarity and nostalgia throughout, crossing generations with music from acts such as The Beatles and Barbra Streisand. The show is also family-friendly.

“It’s going to be quick, it’s going to be funny…It really is a comedic experience,” said Harvey. “It’s different kinds of comedy, it’s music you know…blended into medleys and presented in a different way. It really is to make you feel warm in your heart. It’s cup-filling.”

“It’s well-rounded, it’s good entertainment,” added MacKenzie.

Now in its 42nd year, Music Hall has significant roots in both the history of Burlington’s community and the inception of Drury Lane Theatre itself.

“Especially when we had a lot of British nationals in the community, it was very heavily weighted to music hall in London,” said MacKenzie. “This genre—we know of vaudeville, which is its cousin. But where else is it taking place?”

Upon doing his own research, MacKenzie came to incorporate themes from the different styles of variety shows throughout Europe, including that of Berlin, Paris, Glasgow and Warsaw, into recent productions of Music Hall.

“[The show] allows us to take a superficial look at those different venues,” said MacKenzie.

“We’re nodding to it,” agreed Harvey.

As for its significance to Drury Lane, Music Hall became the catalyst which was able to fund their performance space, which was once an old hockey arena.

The group originally performed at Oakville Centre, but costs became too high so they returned to their home base on New Street, which had initially only been a rehearsal space. 

“When we came back here, we said, 'We need something that will generate a lot of funding and help us offset costs for our mainstage shows at the time in Oakville,'” said MacKenzie. “Music Hall became a cash cow.”

Due to lower licensing royalties and its popularity among immigrants from the United Kingdom within the community, the success of Music Hall helped to fund the building additions and improvements to what is now Drury Lane Theatre.

“This thing caught fire and became so popular, it was selling out in December. If you didn’t get your tickets by December, you weren’t going to see it.”

Music Hall marks the second Drury Lane production for Stage Director Danny Harvey, the first being I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change in June 2022. Harvey, who has been directing at the community level for nearly 20 years, spoke to the collaborative approach to the show, where many of the cast members are veterans to the show and the theatre alike. 

“I am learning more every single day,” said Harvey. “It’s not just [that] there’s a style and a series of traditions, it is a way of life for the folks who have been doing it.”

“Some of them have been in this 25 years,” said MacKenzie of the long-standing returning cast members.

“There’s this wealth of knowledge that everybody is willing to share,” said Harvey. “My mantra is ‘the best idea in the room wins’. I very seldom, in this particular room, have the best idea.”

So, how does this year's show distinguish itself from previous productions?

Harvey says that it lends itself heavily to the theme MacKenzie has laid out, as well as his “depth of knowledge of the space, the players, the style, what’s funny about it, what the audience will expect.” 

Something new to the production this year are the musical arrangements, conceptualized and put together by MacKenzie and Music Director Donna Dunn-Albert.

“[Donna] built and sourced these really beautiful medleys that she’s assembled through some incredible expertise,” said Harvey. “She is a sorcerer. What she does is inhuman; it’s magical. It’s absolutely magical.”

“Just some changes to strong tradition, changing up things ever so slightly to make it a little fresher, but not losing the tradition,” said MacKenzie of the new aspects they’ve incorporated this year.

“It’s not as old-fashioned as folks might think it is,” said Harvey. “It evolves with the times in a meaningful way.”

Music Hall will have 12 performances with shows at 8 p.m. Friday-Sunday and 2 p.m. Sunday matinees March 3-26. Tickets are $34 and can be purchased through the Box Office at 905-637-3979 or [email protected]. Drury Lane Theatre is located at 2269 New Street.