50th birthday bash lights up the Grandstand
Three-ring circus of entertainment unfolds at annual Stampede stage show
The 2018 edition of the Stampede Grandstand Show is a 50th anniversary bash celebrating the birth of The Young Canadians as the centrepiece of this annual outdoor extravaganza.
It’s the best of all possible birthday parties because it showcases The Young Canadians in the most positive of possible lights. They ’re the stars of this show.
Creative producer Dave Pierce and director/choreographer Brian Foley have created several amazing production numbers showing just how talented and tireless these young singers and dancers really are.
For the opening number, costume designer Victoria Krawchuk and head of wardrobe Tara Gerritsen have raided the costume cupboards to pay tribute to past shows. The way the dancers mingle and weave, the whole production number becomes a dazzling kaleidoscope of movement and colour.
In subsequent production numbers, the costumes were beautifully co-ordinated, especially for the final number.
In the past, the Grandstand Show reserved its fireworks to complete the final number. Not so anymore. Pierce and Foley added fireworks to each of the big production numbers, carrying the spectacle from thestagetothesky.
Other highlights of the opening number are the aerial drummers attached to wires that carry them from behind and above the mas- sive stage and bring them to the front so they’re drumming right over top of the audience.
It really is a case of not being able to watch everything in what is essentially a three-ring circus, so the images on the Jumbotron screens are a bonus courtesy of Brie Robertson and Ed Robertson’s live video feeds.
Musical director Scott Henderson and his live orchestra keep the show brisk and energetic.
This year’s host is Rachel Avery, granddaughter of Grandstand Show creator Randy Avery and daughter of Bill Avery, who took over when his father retired, making the show a family affair for more than four decades.
Rachel got her start as an entertainer in The Young Canadians and her vocals with Tim Tamashiro show the results of the training she gained here in Calgary.
Avery leads junior members of The Young Canadians in a production number that’s right out of Toy Story or The Nutcracker, filled with fantasy and childhood enthusiasm.
Tamashiro helps Avery with her hosting duties and then joins Pierce in a musical tribute to Gord Downie, The Tragically Hip’s lead singer who died last year.
One of the impressive aspects of the Young Canadians numbers is that they’re staged to help feature some of the guest stars, such as roller skaters Alina Leiva and Yunier Morales, who perform a breathtaking routine on a ministage. Their show is truly impressive, producing collective and dis- believing gasps from the audience.
Other Grandstand acts included a comic, an illusionist and a 1960s and ’70s pop singer.
Illusionist Darcy Oake had the audience in the palm of his hands as he disappeared before their eyes and then escaped a fiery bear trap.
Standup comic Drew Lynch, won over the crows with his gentle, often self-effacing humour.
Ronn Lucas is no stranger to the Grandstand Show, having delighted audiences six previous times — especially with his sidekick Buffalo Billy — but this time Lucas locked Billy in a chest and used a member of the audience as his new dummy in what proved to be a major crowd-pleaser.
Montreal pop singer Andy Kim was just 22 in 1968 when he released his mega international hit Sugar, Sugar. It took no coaxing from Kim to get the audience to sing along with him.
Just before the big finale, the screens at the back of the stage featured former Young Canadians in videos made for this special tribute.
In true showmanship fashion, Pierce and Foley make the closing number pure spectacle, including an impressive fireworks display.