New West rocking the Eighties

By Alexandra Noad - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on August 7, 2024.

Herald photo by Alexandra Noad Cast members of New West Theatre's production of Totally 80's preview their version of "Whip It" by new wave band Devo. New West's show runs today and through Aug. 24 at the Yates Memorial Theatre.

The neon colours, big hair and even bigger hits are making their return in New West Theatre’s production of “Totally 80’s” which is set to open today and run to Aug. 24 at the Yates Centre.

Kelly Reay, artistic director of New West Theatre, says this is the first full production in the 80’s.

“There’s a lot of untouched material by new theater. We’ve done a lot of eighties numbers through the years, but we’ve never done a show that’s explicitly of the era. So we started with some nice new fertile ground that we hadn’t had the privilege of presenting yet,” said Reay.

The actors have been rehearsing for the last three weeks and while it has been an intense process actor Scott Carpenter says the cast is having so much fun bringing this production together.

“The rehearsals, they’re quite intense. We have a lot of songs, a lot of comedy, a lot of choreography to learn, in a very short amount of time. But man, do we have a lot of fun doing it together,” said Carpenter.

Carpenter added how the cast is very excited to perform what they have worked on for the last few weeks.

“These are probably my best friends and I get to be up on the stage with them and just have fun in rehearsals. But now the real fun starts with opening and now we get to hear if people like it,” said Carpenter.

The production will include music from 1980’s superstars such as Prince, Whitney Houston. Billy Joel and many more.

Alinafe Lupwayi, another actor starring in the production, says there will be something for everyone to enjoy.

“There’s obviously so many different avenues you can go down when you talk about the Eighties. But I feel like Kelly’s direction was amazing and we have these up tempo fun music that people will really love,” said Lupwayi.

Music isn’t the only thing people can look forward to in this production. Audiences can also enjoy the vibrant colours the 1980s are remembered for.

Totally 80’s is recommended for audiences of all ages. Tickets can be purchased at the New West Theatre box office, the VisitLethbridge.com arena or online at visitlethbridgearena.ca