Sitting in the audience for the Snowdown Follies every year, one can’t help but feel a little jealous of the people brave enough to take the stage in an attempt to make a theater full of people laugh.
And this year’s show is no exception.
The Follies, now in its 41st year, hosted a friends and family performance Thursday night in the Durango Arts Center. It was an enthusiastic crowd, becoming even rowdier as the evening wore on.
So without further ado, and without giving anything away for those lucky enough to have tickets to either the live show at the DAC or the simulcasts at Animas City Theatre, here are some parts of the evening that stuck out to us and made us laugh almost until we cried.
Every year, for as long as at least we can remember, the Follies was split into two casts: A and B. This was when the show was held in two venues: The Henry Strater Theatre and DAC. At intermission, the two casts would switch venues and perform the second half of the show. When the Hank closed in 2021, the Follies moved exclusively to DAC. The tradition of two casts lives on, however. Now, after intermission, the Follies switches up emcees for the second half of the show.
The emcees are the ones tasked with moving the whole operation along, all while launching joke after joke into the crowd. This year’s duties went to Weird Barbie and Pat Sajak (Erin White Sinberg and Christopher Calagias) in the first half, and two kids (Wesley Ruggles and Andy Rude) about to enter middle school in the second. The two sets each brought their own storylines to the show and left us with plenty of stuff to think about: Let’s just say, as an editor, this reporter will be forever hypervigilant when spelling “Paris,” courtesy of Weird Barbie and Pat Sajak during their wheel-spinning. And the boys, who traveled via “Choose Your Own Adventure” gave us the quote of the show when talking about shopping downtown. (Listen for it.)
The acts in the first half covered a lot of comedic ground: Love was on the mind in a few, including finding a mate using an unusual bit of help; “The Dating Game” (Rachel Frederico, Mindi Kondrat, Dawn Kast and Cheri Overstreet), which featured Queen Frostine who is looking for love. Another quote to keep an ear out for comes during “Durango-Opoly” (Chelsea Steck, Laurel Knipling, Stacey Mock and Megan Roberts-King) and has to do with one of our neighbors to the south.
After Ruggles and Rude kicked off Act Two, eight more skits followed, including one that may send anyone who laughs straight downstairs to where it’s really, really hot and flames lick at your feet ... for all eternity! Roc Simmons (a 36-year Follies vet) gave us a “Cabin Fever Reliever” and Sarah Vader and Chad Hare showed us they can sing, along with a few other acts featuring locals who can hit the right notes.
And a shoutout to the chorus line (Clara Burnett, Autumn Rymerson, Samantha Purdy, Merri Maddox, Chelsea Steck, Valarie Milner, Tess Anderson and Megan Roberts-King) – they help set the tone for the night, and were great this year.
Of note about this year’s cast: In the show’s program next to performers’ names is the number of years the person has been an actor in the Follies. Usually, what stands out the most is the people who are longtime Follies actors – 25, 26, 29, 36(!) years. What stands out this year is the number of people who are fairly new (five years or fewer) to the show. If this crop of newbies sticks around as long as the old-timers, it looks like the Follies will be in good hands for a long time.
Oh, and Weird Barbie: I want those boots!
katie@durangoherald.com