The Myrtle Sisters, who performed at the Port Hardy Civic Centre on Dec. 7 for the North Island Concert Society series, was part musical presentation, part clowning around and part Cirque Du Soleil… but mostly clowning around.
Their program was inspired by the tradition of Vaudeville, a form of light entertainment that began in France at the end of the 19th century and was popular in the United States and Canada from 1890 to the 1930s. A vaudeville performance was a series of unrelated acts that can include singers, dancers, magicians, acrobats, comedians, jugglers, ventriloquists, clowns, male or female impersonators, trained animals and even sometimes strip tease. Vaudeville later evolved into the variety show in modern times, examples of which include the Ed Sullivan Show and the Muppet Show.
The first half of the performance was focused on the Myrtle sisters as a trio, playing guitar, trombone, trumpet and that most serious instrument of all: the kazoo. They were dressed in bowler hats, old mini-skirt waitress uniforms over frilly bloomers that were occasionally flashed to the audience. They have strong voices and excellent harmonies—which could have stood on their own in a show—but was combined with “sibling rivalry” between the sisters and slap stick antics. Their songs were mostly circa the 1920s era type, songs representing a simpler, rose-tinted outlook on life.
The first act also was a combination of elements from the historical vaudeville with an acrobatic flip that was remarkably done. There was even a form of strip tease as their uniforms got stripped off in a scuffle that left them with their bloomers showing in their full glory. There was an amazingly well-coordinated slow motion “fight” (including some acrobatics) between the sisters which led to their supposed “breakup.” One of the “sisters,” “Edna,” came out on stage bemoaning the breakup, crying and producing a spray of tears shooting several feet past the stage (mechanically aided, of course). She then went into the audience, offering an umbrella to a couple of audience members. She then cried her shooting tears onto them as the auditorium filled with nervous roaring laughter.
I think the part I enjoyed the most, was with “Auntie Gloria” (a bonafide middle-aged serial monogamist) doing a stand-up routine offering questionable relationship advice. The routine then led to bringing up a married couple onto the stage for a “free counselling session” that was partly prepared, partly improvisation. Just the mention of the idea of an on-stage counselling session was enough to make the audience howl. Much of the humour was derived from putting a couple on the spot regarding their personal relationship. The audience volunteers got so “into” the performance that they nearly stole the show.
Also included in the itinerary was clumsy magician called “The Great Lambrusco,” with a sexually ambiguous costume and a constant over-exaggerated expression, who performed some magic tricks with comedic accents. One trick Lambrusco performed was with linking rings, getting them caught on his belt and causing him to lose his pants in the process.
Also included in the show was “Larry the stagehand,” (a woman in coveralls with a fake paper beard), giving a rednecks’ philosophic spiel about life, an autocorrect karaoke session, and a country music crooning session with a silhouette of a howling coyote.
Even though the jokes pertain to contemporary times, this program was a kind of time travel back to the spirit of old-time vaudeville, a time when we knew so much less about the world than we know now, before World War I and World War II made our collective psyche more jaded. It celebrates an innocently optimistic outlook on life and the joy of laughing mindlessly at silliness. There is not much sophistication behind the humour; it doesn’t go deep. Its intent is more relief than enlightenment. It was a night of juvenile escapism, which, after the pandemic, inflation, the war in Ukraine and the re-election of Donald Trump, may have been just what the doctor ordered.
Debra Lynn has a BFA in art and design from the University of Alberta and an MA in art education from Concordia University in Montreal. She lives in Port Alice.