New West Theatre is taking audiences back to the ’50s, today until July 23
 Their new production, “Twist and Shout” is a pretty solid overview of  the 1950s’  and early ’60s pop landscape.

 So there is plenty of ’50s pop, poodle skirts, preppies, guys in poodle skirts and beehives, a greaser, the band dressed as soda jerks behind a massive ’50s diner set,  and like all of New West’s musical revues, lots of singing and dancing.

 There is also plenty of comedy, from the deliberately terrible groaners to some truly inspirational moments.

 The set is a thing of beauty with vinyl records hanging from the ceiling, a ’50s style jukebox (with CDs), and that beautifully rendered diner set complete with a “Diner” sign flashing different colours.

 The show features familiar faces like the always hilarious Erica Hunt and Scott Carpenter, Joceyn Haub and some talented newcomers like  Mwansa Mwansa (who has a beautiful voice but needs to have more power) and Andrew Legg (who channels the spirit of Chris Farley). Devon Brayne shows himself to be a man of many talents as does Keiffer Davies. Vocal director  Alison Lynch also shines.

 The show starts with the group performing “Let’s Go To the Hop,” which made me smile as I can’t get Dash Rip Rock’s parody of that song called “Let’s Go Smoke Some Pot” out of my head. They showed off beautiful vocal harmonies throughout. With all of the new faces, they creatively introduced everyone to the tune of “The Nicest Kids in town,”  which gave the show a ’50s/ ’60s variety show feel, mixed with “Up With People.”

There is a fine line between suffering for your art and being as crazy as a rat in a tin outhouse. I enjoy being an extra in movies. I caught the bug years ago on the set of “Legends of the Fall.”

I’m one of the guys getting shot in the brief First World War battle scene  which was shot just outside of Calgary in the summer of 1993— I remember it going all night and it raining non-stop. Good times.

I also have been in a couple other movies since. In a nutshell, being an extra includes doing a lot of standing around and waiting punctuated by brief moments of adrenaline pumping, stomach churning action, braced by complete and utter exhaustion as fake blood mingles with mosquito bites and real blood from assorted rocks, branches and brambles.

Especially on the set of the Medic, a locally produced alien invasion/ zombie attack film being shot by over the summer by local film makers Rambunxious Entertainment.

They are the same group who brought you popular short film “High School Brawl,” and their first full length action/ comedy “Hoodoo Voodoo,” which was released back in October.
 So if you see blood stains and scraps of skin while wandering about the Cottonwood Park Nature Reserve west of Lethbridge, or in and around the city, fear not, it is just the remnants of “the Medic.”

“It’s like a suicide mission to save the world,” described writer/ producer Kevin Johnson who also plays the title character. The whole film is shot through a helmet camera he wears to tell the story of this rag tag bag of Canadian commandos through his eyes as they try to destroy “the node,” which broadcasts a radio signal that controls the infected — hapless victims infected by aliens who are trying to destroy humanity.

 They are shooting the film in and around Lethbridge as well as a few out of town locations as far away as Cardston and Vulcan, and in the case of the weekend’s scene, deep in the middle of the west side coulee through rocks, trees and brambles and down an immense, heart-stopping cliff (in the case of an extra like me who is pretty out of shape.) A variety of extras were transformed from pre-teens, parents, students and everybody in between into vicious alien zombies sporting a variety of vivid flesh wounds, bullet holes backbones sticking out, infected back skin, disemboweled bellies and even tentacles.

New West Theatre is going to have a blast from the past this summer as they go back to the ’50s with their latest production ‘Twist and Shout’ which runs June 29-July 23.
New West went all out for their ’50s theme this year, building a replica of a ’50s diner on stage for the band to play behind.
“And the band will be dressed up as soda jerks,” said general manager Jeremy Mason.
“ The shows all have a very familiar framework, but we like to do something new every year to keep it fresh,” he said.

“I think the most important thing is for us to put on a high quality show each year,” he said.

“And everybody from that generation will remember these songs. And even if you’re not, you will recognize them,” he said. He is excited about seeing the new cast perform.

 “Just because some of your familiar faces won’t be here this year, it doesn’t mean you won’t see them again,” he continued. Familiar faces like Scott Carpenter, Jocelyn Haub and Erica Hunt are returning, but some of the familiar faces like Kathy Zaborsky and Mark Nivet wanted to stay in Vancouver and Toronto respectively to work on other projects.