By Alex Wayne
GUYANESE are certainly in for a pleasant Christmas treat since the USA based, ‘Laramade Musical Theatre’ will be staging one of its signature featurea at the Pegasus Hotel in Georgetown.

The event dubbed ‘Joie de Vivre’ is an initiative made possible through a joint collaboration between the US based Theatre Company and the Pegaus Hotel, and will be staged as a dinner theatre production.
The event is slated for Friday, December 18, 2015, and will also feature performances by our own Classique Dance Company, Kenrick Cheeks Dancing Delights, with television personality Basil Bradshaw as the evening’s emcee.
They of course will be joined on stage by members of the Laramade Musical Theatre, so patrons are guaranteed a show of a lifetime.
In a recent interview with overseas-based Artistic Director Oral Welshman, this publication was informed that the event will feature a twenty member local cast who will join forces with members from the theatre company to bring the show to Guyana’s shores.

He said that the inclusion of Guyanese on the show is to allow a platform where local talent can be showcased in the various arts, and also for the visiting cast to embrace and become acquainted with Guyanese culture.
He added that another objective of the show is to raise the bar of theatre in Guyana, which will be tackled by the fusion of both local and foreign artists on the same stage. He added that the New York based, professionally managed, musical theatre company, with over twenty five years of performing experience in reputed dance companies, will indeed put on a show that will be talked about for years after its conclusion.
Laramade Musical Theatre is comprised of ten members whose focus is in musical theatre, the Big Band era and Caribbean folklore. Their most recent performances have been in honor of the Barbados Independence Celebration at the Wyngate Theater in New York, and the Jimi Hollaway Jazz Production at The Terrace on the Park location, in New York.
The event to be staged at the Pegasus is a Broadway style production comprising dynamic acts of acting, singing and dancing in the Jazz and Classical Indian dance idioms. The purpose of staging this production is twofold, since the theatre company has a strong purpose of giving back to the society that has nurtured them, and this production will be showcasing the myriad talents of Guyanese ethnic diversity.
Both the Guyana Pegasus and the Guyana Cancer Society have endorsed this project, and folks at Pegasus believe that the launch of this production at their venue would enhance the hotel’s entertainment profile for the Christmas season. The Cancer Society, on the other hand, sees Laramade as a company that is consistent with its institutional image. Furthermore, this publication was informed that part of the proceeds from the event will be donated to the Cancer Society here.