by: Molly Marina Haupt
To Wikipedia, Vauderville is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill and was popular in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s.
To musical group Alyssandra & The Daymakers and 4^th street’s Art Theatre, a Long Beach Vauderville-Folk Spectacular is an awesome way to market a debut album release, highlight local talent and fill up all the seats in a large auditorium.

Thursday night was just that, as Alyssandra & The Daymakers invited poets, local bands, belly dancers and a live painter (among other artistic performers) to share the stage throughout the night to celebrate creativity and have a local blast from the past.

The band gave one performance and rewarded their debut album with every ticket purchased, but must be recognized for their selfless-spirit in inviting other local acts to share the stage and spread their talent.

There was folk/jazz/bluesy music, spoken word, aerobatics, performance acting, energizing belly-dancing and humorous poetry. Themes were romantic, edgy, political and ironic and the silent films clipped by Mondo Celluloid summed up the randomness of the event.

Lauren Coleman, of the group Pebaluna, performed a beautiful song and ukulele number. The rarely used instrument accompanied her soft folklore sound perfectly and her gratefulness to be included in the show radiated through her smile.

Lisa Narinian also hit the stage with a soft tone, tiny built, but big message. Her spoken word piece titled "The Good Life," was an ode to this lovely Earth, as she praised this land with her rhythmic prose and brought lovely images of nature to the audience beneath her.

The humor award certainly went out to Aaron Van Geem, as the CSULB actor, dressed as a sweet southern belle, monologued a confusing Falling Out Old Women by Daniil. Not quite sure if it was his bearded body in a dress or perfected southern drawl that created the most laughs, but either way the guy brought the giggles.

If you missed the big vauderville fest, you missed some classy tunes, sexy dances, lovely words, a few good laughs and the comeback of a genre of entertainment that hasn’t been seen since the 1930s. Maybe next time…