Our Fabulous Variety Show's Wonderland Adventures
Our Fabulous Variety Show, an East End troupe of actors whose theatrical performances help raise money for nonprofits here, will present its 11th production, “Our Adventures in Wonderland,” at Guild Hall in East Hampton starting tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. and continuing with two programs on Saturday and three next weekend.
Inspired by the Lewis Carroll story, it features many styles of dance, including ballet, tap, contemporary, jazz, funk, and hip-hop, and several musical solos.
“It’s probably the most narrative we’ve ever had in a show,” said Kasia Klimiuk, who, along with Anita Boyer, founded the company in 2010. Both women, who live full time in Hampton Bays, are dancers and actresses.
The group’s first show was held in 2010 at the Southampton Cultural Center. “It was a one-off,” according to Ms. Klimiuk. “We did it to raise money for Crohn’s disease and colitis. Then we decided to do it again because it was very successful and we had a great time doing it. We only had seven or eight people in our first show. This one has about 35, not including crew.”
“The first show was really a cabaret,” Ms. Boyer said. “There was no real theme. It was just, here are our talented friends, watch them sing and dance and help raise money for a good cause. We still focus on donating what we can after each show to a different charitable organization in the community. Since then we’ve also started to grow the educational aspect of our group and the creative side, and we’ve moved toward creating more complete narratives.”
Last December they performed their own take on “A Christmas Carol” at Guild Hall. “We still had Scrooge and the ghosts and his life changing in the end. But for ‘Wonderland’ we went one step further and created our own original version of Wonderland and the story, and we tried to bring in some new, more modern themes,” Ms. Boyer said.
“Kasia and I are the ones who get each production started, but we do value the ‘our’ in Our Fabulous Variety Show. Once we’re in rehearsals we try to get everyone involved in molding it into what it eventually becomes.” The women hold auditions twice a year and will bring back “A Christmas Carol” in December.
In addition to the five performances of “Our Adventures in Wonderland,” the group will present “Wonderland After Hours,” featuring Danny Ximo, a Sag Harbor actor and female impersonator, on Sept. 26 at 9 p.m. “Danny has been in our shows since the beginning, but he wasn’t available for all the dates of ‘Wonderland.’ So to get him involved we gave him his own show,” Ms. Boyer said.
“It will be more like the shows we used to do, kind of a vaudeville-style variety or cabaret show. He’ll open it with his character DEOX, who is a combination of masculinity and femininity, then we’ll throw in some of our musical friends who will dance and sing.”
In addition to tomorrow’s show, performances will take place Saturday at 2 and 7:30 p.m., Friday, Sept. 25, at 7:30, Sept. 26 at 7:30, and Sept. 27 at 2. The performances will benefit HUGS, Inc., an organization on the East End that provides educational and recreational programs for middle and high school youth, and the O.F.V.S. performing arts scholarship fund. Tickets, which start at $20 and top out at $55, can be purchased at ourfabulousvarietyshow.org.