An annual Sarnia tradition is set to hit the stage over three nights in the Great Lakes Secondary School’s Auditorium.
The Revue sees students from the high school putting on a production that will include dancing, music, and at its heart, comedy.
“It really takes after the style of Saturday Night Live and Second City,” says the show’s director April Brander. “The kids pull the material from scripts they found online and they put their own spin on it.
“We do rewrites, we change the jokes… some things they pull right from where they find it and it works for us — other things we take the idea and run with it,” she adds. “And of course, some kids step up and write something original which is awesome.”
The laughs from The Revue have been coming for over 100 years, and have journeyed from three different high schools. The Sarnia Collegiate Institute, SCITS, and now Great Lakes Secondary have all been part of the show’s legacy.
“I think that is a really cool legacy. It’s made me kind of think about The Revue as not so much being something for our students, but something for our community,” explains Brander.
The name of this year’s show is ‘Back for More in ‘24’ and fans of The Revue were quick to notice the similarity to the production’s theme from 30 years ago, ‘Back for More in ‘94’. That production marked Brander’s first time being involved as a student in the show she now directs.
“It’s been 30 years, we want more, we are back for more than that,” Brander laughs.
As for what fans can expect with the theme of back for more: “The MCs will always take that theme and run with it, so their opening bit will incorporate that idea and then we throw a few Easter Eggs in throughout the show.”
While Brander made her Revue debut in 1994, don’t expect the show’s director to relive her performance days.
“We have a really hard and fast rule about The Revue that there are absolutely no teachers performing or on stage. And we have held to that rule since the beginning; we are really strict about it,” she says. “It’s all students that you are going to see performing, playing the instruments, and dancing.”
More than 100 students will perform, play instruments, and do front-of-house and backstage duties — It takes a lot of work to keep this machine running — and Brander wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Getting to be a teacher advisor and watching these kids get that experience of feeling the energy you get from a crowd, and that first adrenaline rush because they’ve never done it before…I never get tired of seeing that experience through their eyes each year.”
IF YOU GO
WHAT: Revue 2024 – student variety show
WHEN: April 18, 19 and 20 at 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: Great Lakes Auditorium, 340 Murphy Rd.
TICKETS: $10. Advance purchase in person at Great Lakes Secondary School office, The Book Keeper or PETSlife (Corunna). Or $12 at the door (cash only)