New West Theatre has a trimmed down cast and energy to spare as they rock the rodeo this month at the Yates Theatre.

The nine member cast performs one of their typically entertaining  variety show ranging from spine tinglingly beautiful to campy upbeat dance numbers, superb vocal harmonies and a lot of quirky comedy.
 The show  opens with an upbeat dance version of Alabama’s “Mountain Music,”  which gives the whole cast a chance to shine.

There are many highlights of the show, not the least of which is Ife Abiola — a new face to New West, though not new to Lethbridge’s drama and music community. He adds a lot of soul to traditional country music.

He was not only a highlight as the straight man in a couple of sketches but added a lot of soul to Conway Twitty as well as  did a credible job of Paul Brandt’s “Alberta Bound.”

He also sings  a pretty mean Toby Keith, singing a superb version of “How Do You Like Me Now.”
Abiola has been seen in the University of Lethbridge’s production of ‘Hair,’ among other things.
Jessica Ens and Jocelyn Haub  sang a beautifully sassy version of Terri Clark’s ‘Girls Lie Too.’ Haub’s solo performance of Taylor Swift’s ‘White Horse,’ was a highlight as well. She was backed only by guitarists Kelly Roberts and Scott Mezei.

 Haub also played well off of Grahame Renyk, who was an affable and personable host  during the farm themed news portion of the show.

 In honour of the Eagles,  a highlight of the first half of the show is a  superb medley of Eagles’ more country hits including ‘Peaceful Easy Feeling,’ and ‘Take It Easy,’ which is spearheaded by  New West veteran Scott Carpenter, who changes  the lyrics to reflect the four women in the cast, dancing and singing backup vocals. Carpenter was hilariously as always, he was having some fun laughing maniacally while rigging the 50 50 draw much to the crowd’s amusement.

New West Theatre has gone country for their latest production,  ‘Rockin’ the Rodeo,’ which  runs July 2-24.
“We did a country show a few years ago. This one came about due to audience interest,” artistic director Hanson said adding New West Theatre receives a lot of audience feedback and does their best to accommodate their requests.

“We had requests to do another country music show, so we thought it would be great to do something to appeal to hard core country music fans,” he continued adding the music runs from Buck Owens to Taylor Swift.

“We wanted to keep it accessible to mainstream audiences. We’re fortunate country music is at the roots of a lot of pop and rock  music today. There’s lots of crossover. Like the Eagles, who have one of  the top selling album of all time, had country roots.”

Like most New West shows, comedy is  a big part of the production.
“Comedy and country music have always coexisted on shows like Hee Haw and the Grand Old Opry,” Hanson observed adding both  relate to ordinary people and ordinary experiences.
“So there should be lots of laughter. I think the audience will really enjoy themselves.”
 Performer Fred Hillyer is glad to be back with New West  after taking a break for a couple years. He is especially looking forward to the comedic aspect of the show.

“I always look forward to the comedy and I helped write some of it. Plus we have some of the original comedy veterans working together in the sketches. Kelly Roberts is there and he’s definitely one of the funniest people   I know. And Erica (Hunt) is  always great and Scott (Carpenter) is always funny,” he continued adding the cast is what he missed the most about being away from New West.

If you want to have some fun with  one of the oldest amateur theatre groups in Canada,  then get involved with the Playgoers of Lethbridge’s February production of Oscar Wilde’s hilarious comedy ‘The Importance of Being Earnest.’
Auditions for the production take place June 28-29 at the Bowman Arts Centre at 7 p.m. each evening.
Playgoers are looking for five male and four female actors in an age range from the 20's to 60's
They are also looking for anyone interested in becoming part of the crew (set painting, set construction, costuming, make-up, stage hand, props, etc)
The Importance  of Being Earnest is a witty outlook on the Victorian upper class, exposing a world of shallow indifference to true love. Young Jack and his good friend Algernon find themselves in a ridiculous situation after their fiancées learn they are coincidentally engaged to the same man. A glorious rendition of mistaken identity, Wilde's play is sure to get people of all ages and social class grinning, if not realizing themselves the importance of being earnest.
Everyone is welcome to attend the auditions.