Regent goes back to its roots
By Les Masterson / Staff Writer / Arlington Advocate

Thursday, October 12, 2006

The Regent Theatre is turning back the clock 90 years next weekend.
        Created as a vaudeville house in 1916, the Medford Street theater will return to its roots for Voltaic Vaudeville.
        "There is real variety in the show - not just in the really distinct and different kinds of acts, but much of it reflects the history and kind of show and the rapid pace," said Leland Stein, the Regent's marketing and booking manager. "This is modern vaudeville."
        Ninety years ago, the Regent opened as Arlington's first purpose-built cinema, according to local historian Richard A. Duffy.
        "The auditorium in the old town hall had been showing movies for a while as the Arlington Theatre, and motion pictures were also displayed in the hall in Swan's Block, but the set up was nothing like the Regent, which was state-of-the-art," said Duffy.
        At the time of its opening, the Regent tapped into the active vaudeville movement.
        "Vaudeville was a normal part of the movie-going experience, because the silent films shown in the early days ran shorter than 'talkie' features. In keeping with its overall conservative demeanor, the vaudeville acts would have been what we might refer to today as 'G-rated,'" said Duffy.
        Duffy recalled that years after the death of vaudeville, it returned to the Regent as a revival as recent as the 1950s. After nearly a half-century since vaudeville's last visit, it returns to the Regent with dancers, plate spinners, burlesque, musicians, comedians and other quirky acts.
        The Regent's Box Office Manager Heather Kuhn, who planned the show, said performers from as far away as Germany will grace the Regent's stage next weekend. The shows will be hosted by Evan O'Television, who is well known in the Boston theater scene.
        "The host is actually going to be written up in a new encyclopedia of vaudeville," said Stein of O'Television's reputation. "The encyclopedia goes from the heyday of vaudeville to present day."
        O'Television said a vaudeville revival has been bubbling for many years in Boston. Unlike the old vaudeville circuit, which included the Regent, now those who are interested in the art form have to book shows with standup comedians, rock and roll acts and at art exhibits.
        The new vaudeville scene is made up of people who are on the fringe of their genre, he said.
        "I think the interesting thing in the revival is that different artists have an affinity for material that has a fresh take on the old forms," he said. "I think it's disingenuous to call it a movement because all the independent performers are finding our voices individually. Once you've done that hard work creating a style and building an audience, if you find like-minded individuals, then you kind of bond with them."
        O'Television is a comedian/humorist whose act harkens back to the comedy duos of Burns and Allen and Laurel and Hardy, though with plenty of the psychological psychosis of Bob Newhart and Woody Allen.
        "My instinct is often to draw from the old pairings and the old mix," he said.
        In preparation for his hosting gig, O'Television has been researching vaudeville's past. He hopes to transfer the things he learns into his act so attendees get a sense of an old vaudeville host.
        O'Television said vaudeville was an art form that was organically American.
        "We're further and further away from the last real live theatrical form that was everywhere in America," said O'Sullivan about vaudeville. "It was radio before radio, it was TV before TV, it was mass media before mass media."
        When planning the show, Kuhn researched vaudeville and searched for acts that would both be examples of old-time vaudeville and ones that would entertain a wide audience.
        "The humor that new vaudevillians use is that of silent movie humor," said Kuhn. "A lot of it is a physical comedy and stage antics."
        The five shows next weekend are broken into two sections: the three evenings show are gearing toward young adults and adults, while the two afternoon shows are for the whole family. Kuhn said the difference is that the evening shows will include burlesque (though she is quick to point out there is no full stripping involved).
        Stein said Voltaic Vaudeville is a quick-paced show that is a tribute to the Regent's past.
        "They are quick and short. If you don't like something, wait a minute and the next one will be on," said Stein.
     The shows will be on Thursday, Oct. 19, Friday, Oct. 20 and Saturday, Oct. 21 at 8 p.m., and two family shows on Saturday, Oct. 21 and Sunday, Oct. 22 at 2 p.m. Tickets range from $10 to $20 and can be purchased by calling the Regent at 781-646-4849 or online at www.regenttheatre.com.