New West Theatre knows how to pull off an ’80s inspired party for people.
They put on another superb production of singing, dancing and lots of jokes in their production of Party On, which runs until Sept. 1.
Unfortunately Ian Yuri Gardner had to leave the cast due to personal reasons, but they brought back New West veteran Grahame Renyk, who stepped in with aplomb for a variety of sketches and his show stopping version of Cher’s “I Believe,” in which he dressed up like Cher while the rest of the guys donned sunglasses and danced behind him.
As usual, the entire cast all got to strut their stuff in the show.
Eric Hunt beautifully belted out “Higher” to end the show as well as Stevie Nicks’ “Edge of 17.’
Devon Brayne and Jerrim Rushka's Bare Naked ladies medley was well done.
There were a lot of inspirational moments,' Devon Brayne’s version of Australian comedian Tim Minchin’s song “If I Didn’t Have You” was a hit as, again, Jay Whitehead and Grahame Renyk danced and sang back-up.
Jay Whitehead was the ham of this show, making everybody laugh in his lemonade stand / 50-50 draw promo sketch and dancing with balloons much to the chagrin of Jocelyn Haub and Ksenia Thurgood as they sang ’80s hit “99 Red Balloons.”
The show had a lot of ’80s moments, like the cringeable Rick Astley medley. Not a knock on the cast, but I heard enough of him in the ’80s however the cast did a creditable job of it.
At the beginning of the show, the entire cast did a great job taking turns singing Phil Collins’ ’80s hits.
Musical director Paul Walker stepped from behind the drum kit to play a beautiful sax solo during one of them as Devon Brayne quietly took over the drums for a number.
The ladies took turns singing verses of Katrina and the Waves’ “Walking on Sunshine. Ksenia Thurgood stood out in this one. She especially stood out on a sexy version
of Natalie Imbruglia’s ’90s hit “Torn.”
Jocelyn Haub also sang some beautiful numbers including Sheryl Crow’s “All I Wanna Do.”
The comedy is always what draws me to the New West shows and there was plenty of it.
Grahame Renyk and Erica Hunt did a hilarious sketch of a French Canadian couple choosing Olympic events to attend.
Erica Hunt and Ksenia Thurgood did another great sketch based on the Lethbridge Herald’s Roasts and Toasts, introducing Thurgood, the newcomer to the quirks and complaints of lethbians.
There were a lot of groaners — jokes about viagra and a sunburn and one liners about the Bible saying a guy was required to make coffee didn’t go over well and Jocelyn Haub and Jay Whitehead’s news segment, chock full of groaners as always, actually drew a rousing cheer when they announced their last joke.
I laughed throughout though, especially during the Grahame Renyk hosted Alberta Summer games Lethbridge events sketch, which reflected the spirit of Monty Python.
One great moment of singing came from Mwansa Mwansa who sang a beautifully heart wrenching version of “I Will Always Love You,” which Dolly Parton Write and which Whitney Houston made famous.
