What do you get when you mix the age-old art of vaudeville, a slide
of cheeky subversiveness and the passions of street performers ranging
from juggling to fire manipulators and burlesque? In Milwaukee, it’s
a recipe for a fun night of entertainment with Dead Man’s Carnival,
a modern-day vaudeville troupe headed by "Gypsy Geoff"
Marsh.
"When I first arrived in Milwaukee, I was looking to do solo
shows," says Marsh, a performer-of-many-trades with the troupe
that came to the city from California, and that has literally
performed around the world. "One of the first things I did was
sneak into Summerfest to perform … eventually they caught on to
that."
He ultimately met up with a core of four other performers who go
professionally by their "nomes de vaudeville" — Sir
Pinkerton, Lady Ambrosia, Zero the Clown and Kronk KaPow! — to form
the basis of the troupe. They’re regularly joined by other
performers, both local and travelling, such as Erik Bang!!!
"We’re always looking for new performers to join us,"
says Gypsy Geoff. "Dead Man’s Carnival provides entertainment
that you just can’t see on television. You have to experience it
live."
 |
|
Lady
Ambrosia
|
Attending a performance — think a circus for the decidedly over
21 crowd — is rarely a passive experience. Many members of the
audience arrive in costume to get in on the act as well.
"The costumes we see are just crazy," says Gypsy Geoff.
"A lot of mad scientists, zombies, even Easter bunnies."
Since forming three years ago, Dead Man’s Carnival has primarily
played the bar scene, and geographically throughout southeastern
Wisconsin.
"We do shows with about 26 to 30 individual performers
involved about every other month," says Gypsy Geoff. "We’re
gaining a lot of momentum in terms of people finding out about us
right now."
But he quickly points out that the troupe has not forgotten its
roots.
"Vaudeville started in about 1890 and while it never really
died, it went a little dormant for quite a long time," he says.
"Now, there’s at least five top troupes traveling the United
States and at least 12 in Europe. It’s something that people are
really rediscovering and enjoying. What’s really neat for us is that
some of the performing spaces here in Milwaukee that we’re now
performing in — the Oriental, the Miramar — hosted vaudeville
shows decades ago."
While he’s certainly talking about the audience, it’s clear
that the many performers also are embracing the art with a new
interest and a sense of fun.
"We don’t want to be famous," he says. "We want to
be infamous."
| Dead Man’s Carnival will be
performing a New Year’s Eve show at the Miramar Theatre on
Oakland Avenue in Milwaukee. For more information, log on to www.deadmanscarnival.com |
Gypsy Geoff
|
 |
 |
Kronk KaPow!
|
