REVIEW: Oldies Jukebox delights with talent and nostalgia

This is the 25th annual instalment of Theatre Ancaster’s concert series, featuring hits from the 1940s, 50s, and 60s.

Theatre Ancaster is in the mid-run of its latest show, Oldies Jukebox, which runs until May 3 and promises “a trip back to the early days of rock ‘n’ roll.” While the other productions in its mainstage series have been theatrical in nature, including West Side Story, The Vagina Monologues, and Monty Python’s Spamalot, this show is solely composed of music. It would be incorrect to even call it a variety show, as there is no central host or through-line of commentary. It’s a bright, vibrant concert of joyful, nostalgic, memorable music from the 1950s and ’60s (with a few songs from the ’40s added in for good measure).

This season marks the 25th annual instalment of Theatre Ancaster’s concert series, which began with a group of local singers performing doowop harmonies at the Ancaster High School auditorium in 2002. The show’s playbill says songs from that first setlist are well represented in the concert this year.

The concert begins, so satisfyingly, with “Let’s Twist Again” by Chubby Checker, while the second half starts with a wonderful mashup from Bill Haley & The Comets. Over two acts, audiences are treated to hit after hit from iconic musical talents, including Fats Domino, Ritchie Valens, Connie Francis, The Platters, The Supremes, The Chiffons, Dion, Little Eva, The Shirelles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, and Buddy Holly. 

Theatre Ancaster promises and delivers on a professional-level concert experience of music from fast-paced favourites to sentimental ballads that inspire, as I saw first-hand, many memories from those who remember when those songs first came out.

I was accompanied by my baby boomer-era father who has always loved music and dancing (very enthusiastically to the beat of his own drum). He chatted with a lady next to us during intermission about the memories the music evoked. I’m a Gen Xer who was familiar with most of the songs because my parents used to play CHUM FM’s Sunday Oldies show on the radio most weekends during brunch. My mind flashes now as it did during the show with a vision from my vantage point in the apartment where I grew up at our round, yellow dining table. My dad and I have both been stamped by this music and, luckily, it remains an easy point of agreement between us. 

Led by a creative team composed of Stacey Bishop, Angela Broadley, and Colin Lapsley, Oldies Jukebox features a further cast of performers including Jim Broadley, Alanna Ferguson, Chantal Fernandez, Adam French, Ellie Miller, Matt Miller, Erin Bree Pierce, and Robyn Russell. While I recalled Russell from her role in this season’s production of The Vagina Monologues and revelled in her warm and soulful vocals, there are no “weak links” in this ensemble. I was delighted at the inclusion of an old favourite, “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” (Andrews Sisters), performed by Ellie Miller with Erin Bree Pierce and Angela Broadley. I was captivated by the female-led “Only You” (The Platters) with Chantal Fernandez along with Colin Lapsley, Jim Broadley, Adam French and Matt Miller. I was transported by “Unchained Melody” (The Righteous Brothers), one of my late mother’s favourites, performed by Matt Lapsley. And that was just picking a very few examples from Act One. It’s a true fool’s errand to pick and choose from these performances. One after another, the songs were full of joy, energy, and soul-reviving goodness. Take the above songs as just a few glorious “sneak peeks.”

Oldies Jukebox’s terrific and tireless band is led by bandleader Colin Lapsley on piano with Dave Simpson on drums, Chris Wheeler on guitar, Matt Brash on bass, horn section leader Julian Brindley on trumpet, Glenn Byford on sax, and Josh Bird on trombone. Here too, it’s impossible to name a stand-out. Brash is spectacular on bass, but so, too, are the members of the horn section and every other band member keeping the wonderful music coming. I wondered aloud how long it might be before drummer Simpson’s arms stopped vibrating from his efforts during the show.

The work of costume designer Stacey Bishop and her collaborator Becki Lawrence-England must be commended. Song after song was met with costume change after costume change, and they were attractive, colourful, period-appropriate, and coordinated among the performers. I can’t even imagine the amount of work that went into the costuming and the logistics of costume changes. I am amazed.

The set design led by Colin Lapsley was simple and spare except for the wonderful background projections/video which displayed song information, original performer black and white reels, and snippets of the current show in progress using the centre label of a revolving vinyl record as its frame. And bravo to the sound and lighting operators and all those led by stage manager Jim Hemrica, without whom nothing would have been heard, seen, and truly enjoyed.

If you need a detox from the daily horrors of life in the mid-2020s or need an entertainment option that will find favour across the generational divide, Theatre Ancaster has your solution in Oldies Jukebox.

NEED TO KNOW

Oldies Jukebox
Continues April 26 & May 3, 2 p.m. and May 1 & 2, 7:30 p.m.
Ancaster Memorial Arts Centre
357 Wilson St. E., Ancaster
Click here for box office and more information
Content warning: This production uses haze and flashing lights.