"Forget your troubles, C'mon Get Happy!" 

 This Summer, spend an evening of fun-filled villainy “booing” the villain and “cheering” the hero! Bring the whole family and create a vacation memory that will last a lifetime. Appropriate for everyone from ages 4 to 104, A Magical Melodrama at The Golden Garter Theatre will make you to “laugh ‘til your cheeks hurt.” Stevenson Washington’s newest old theatre will take you back in time to the edge of the wild frontier, 1908, the year Stevenson was incorporated as a city, and let you experience the most popular entertainment of the time; the melodrama – with a twenty-first century spin on it of course!       

The “melodrama” is a live comedy stage play where good always triumphs, true love is always mutual and evil is always vanquished (politely, of course!). What makes melodrama such fun theater is the improvised participation of you, the audience. As a melodrama audience, you get to “boo” the villain, “cheer” the hero and “sigh” at the beautiful ingénue. Actors will even step away from the action to speak “asides” to you and for once, you’ll be encouraged to talk back! You won’t see any “quiet” signs at our theater, because every one of our patrons is encouraged to become a participant. Go ahead, offer advice to our actors, warn them of impending doom, and even express your feelings! PLUS, unlike anywhere else, our melodrama has a magic-theme, so not only will your funny bone be tickled, your eyes will “pop” out of their sockets at the amazing and mystifying effects! You won’t believe what you’re witnessing only a few short feet away. An evening at The Golden Garter will take your breath away! (Don’t worry, all confiscated breaths will be returned prior to anyone returning home).       

During our “Magical Melodrama,” and the following comedy variety show called an “Olio,” you’ll experience the live escapades of The Great Gorge Variety Arts Players (That’s “GGVAP” for short). The GGVAP are our professional group of thespians who will tickle your funny bone, touch your heart and turn your evening into a historically-hysterical experience!      

On performance evenings, our pre-show begins with an age-old tradition called the “Sing-Along,” so start warming up your voice now. Our handsome and trustworthy MC will lead you in recreating the songs popular at the turn of last century (Beware: Anyone caught not singing will be made to sweep the theatre floors after the show). During your first hour, our GGVAP will sink you neck deep into our comedy drama, “A Magical Melodrama – Or – Is a Dead Magician an Abra-cadeavor?” Then, in order to give your sides a rest from laughing for a spell, you’ll enjoy a short intermission where you can enjoy the best popcorn in the Pacific Northwest! And you can even wet your whistle with some old fashioned Sasparilla: A drink that will make your baby beautiful and even put hair on your chest!       Following the intermission, you’ll return for our classic forty-five minute “Olio,” when the GGVAP return to the stage for a hilarious live vaudeville-style variety show. You’ll witness sensational songs, veracious ventriloquism, marvelous magic, calamitous comedy, delightful dance and humor so clean you can grill a ham-bone on it! And grill you will, because the best news of all is that you, the audience, once again becomes the star of the show! More than one unsuspecting attendee will be asked up on the stage and everyone present will witness the birth of Stevenson’s newest star…You! Since every show depends so heavily on audience participation, every show becomes different because every audience is different. So, we hope you’ll come back and give us the honor of your presence and participation time and time again. We can’t do The Golden Garter without you…and performing for an empty theater is no fun whatsoever…so we hope to see you again and again!      

CLEAN, FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT

Our parents wouldn’t have it any other way! At The Golden Garter, we pick up after ourselves, say grace before meals and tip our hats to ladies! We don’t put up with any of that cursin’, cussin’ or spittin’! You can trust we’re a “class” act, gentile and refined too. So, don’t come alone (unless you have no choice). Bring the whole family! Kids, teens, parents and grandparents all LOVE the zany antics of “A Magical Melodrama.”       

So, don’t delay, get your tickets today. A Magical Melodrama at The Golden Garter has been known to sell-out entire seasons (just don’t ask “when?”), so don’t be left in the dust, don’t end up high and dry, don’t miss the “Show” Boat, and “don’t wait ‘til the sun shines, Nellie”!, write or call to reserve your seats in our historically-hysterical evening of comedy immediately (that means right now, today! Why are you still reading this? Stop and pick up the phone…that’s what it’s there for! You won’t be sorry you did. There, now don’t you feel better?) The Golden Garter will become the highlight of your vacation, I guarantee it, or my name isn’t Phineas T. Pendergast! (Come to think of it, my name isn’t Phineas T. Pendergast! But come anyway, you know you want to! That’s Phineas T. on the right).      

The Golden Garter Theatre and Magical Melodrama’s “100^th Anniversary” 2008 season begins Friday night, May 23^rd and plays off and on throughout the whole summer (it’s hard to get consistent help these days), ending with our famous closing night show and party on Saturday night, September 20^th (see exact dates that aren’t sold out on our “Schedule” page). All you have to do is buy your tickets and show up! (But warm up your funny bone before you come – we don’t want you to strain anything!) We’ll do our job by making sure you leave the evening looking younger, feeling lighter, lifting your IQ and even going home in a more stylish & valuable horse and buggy! (not really).

For more information, visit us online at www.GoldenGarter.com

“I laughed ‘til my cheeks hurt!” – Sue Coats, Battle Ground, WA (notice Sue didn’t tell us which cheeks!)