This Friday, local performers in Winnipeg will take the stage in Moonlight Express, a vaudeville-style show inspired by the now-defunct railway lines that once connected the city to the beaches of Lake Winnipeg. Filled with acting, comedy and original songs, Moonlight Express promises to be an entertaining night for both performers and viewers.
Terry Cooke and Dave Campbell, two performers in the show, explained that the production is based on Memories of the Moonlight Special and Grand Beach Train Era, a book by Barbara Lange. In her book, Lange recounts a bygone era when Manitobans could board an evening train — nicknamed the Moonlight Special — to spend a day at the beach or an evening dancing along the boardwalk.
“This musical is telling a story about the trains that used to run to Winnipeg Beach and Grand Beach and Victoria Beach […] That was [in the] 1920s, [and in] the very early 60s, they stopped running, and it was just a wonderful opportunity for people to leave the city on the weekend and go to beaches,” Cooke said.
“It’s basically a day in the life of the train ride to and from the beach. So, we start out in Winnipeg, we hop on the train, drive to the beach, get out, we go swimming, we go dancing, ride the rides, and then we come home,” said Campbell as he explained the show’s plot.
Unlike today, these locales were once bustling vacation spots, complete with resorts and a rollercoaster, receiving up to 40,000 visitors on long weekends in the 1920s. A quick online search reveals black-and-white photographs of packed beaches and long lineups outside dance pavilions.
Sadly, the Grand Beach dance pavilion burned down in 1950, and with the development of highways and automobiles, these train tracks were eventually torn up in 1963. Penelope (Penny) Buhr, a music teacher and another performer, remarked that because most of the cast have never been on the trains, thinking about how to portray the scenes required a lot of imagination. However, the group quickly came together to write musical numbers for the show.
“I’ve done composing and I wondered, how is this leader going to work with 20 adults?” said Buhr. “But it’s like a miracle. Like in a couple of weeks, two hours a week, the time just flew. There’s a song, there’s another song, there’s another song. So I was just only impressed that, wow, I’m part of something very unique.”
According to Frank Cullen, the founder of the American Vaudeville Museum, vaudeville is a variety show that originated in France and includes acts such as comedy, singing, dancing and acrobatics. In the U.S., vaudeville peaked between the 1880s and 1910s but largely faded by the 1930s with the rise of talking films.
Winnipeg has a rich vaudeville history. Moonlight Express director Grant Simpson, a professional vaudevillian, “ran shows in Whitehorse for over 40 years,” mentioned Campbell. Simpson moved to Winnipeg in 2018. In a blog post for the Manitoba Historical Society, he noted that early Canadian celebrities like Marjorie Guthrie and Gisele MacKenzie had roots in Winnipeg’s vaudeville scene. Even Charlie Chaplin once performed at one of the 40 vaudeville theatres that operated in the city at the time.
Vaudeville entertainers once earned a good living performing multiple shows a day, but the decline of the genre led to fewer opportunities. Despite this, Simpson has worked on several projects to keep vaudeville alive, including radio shows on CJNU FM and podcasts that celebrate its history and culture. Cooke said Winnipeg’s legacy as a vaudeville hub lives on in productions like Moonlight Express.
“[Simpson has] taught us a lot, too, you know, in preparation for the vaudeville shows, about vaudeville, about the performers like Jack Benny, who are a part of vaudeville, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Charlie Chaplin. “Winnipeg was a very big vaudeville centre with our Pantages Theatre and the Starland Theatre, they were all vaudeville places. And Grant helped us to realize more about vaudeville, and now we’re a part of it,” Cooke said.
Vaudeville is an art form that should be kept alive for its historical value, and in the case of Moonlight Express, the stories they tell shed light on what life was like in a previous era. When asked about why these shows are important, the actors also emphasized that community and joy make vaudeville a meaningful project.
Wayne Drury, another performer, recalled that he first met one of his castmates in a high school drama class in 1963. Cooke noted that since the show is part of a 55 plus program, it gives older performers a chance to continue pursuing their passions.
“I’d say that it has to be the community, and the spirit of the community is to be ready to laugh, be ready to smile and share the joy. It’s so joyful it makes me cry sometimes […] It’s like a vacation every week,” added Buhr.
Moonlight Express will be performed on March 21 at 7 p.m. at the Crescent Arts Centre on 525 Wardlaw Ave. Admission is by donation at the door.
