Subverse Aphrodesia

Scranton, Pennsylvania of 100 years ago was an arguably more vibrant, thriving city than it is today. Although it earned the nickname The Electric City for boasting the first street car system in the U.S. built entirely for operation by electric power in 1886, Scranton at the turn of the century was equally electrifying for its cultural life. The railroad, anthracite coal and textile industries created considerable affluence. Scranton at the turn of the last century was a place where things were happening and a somewhat notorious stop on the vaudeville circuits though the ‘20s.

The city’s largely blue collar immigrant audience was ethnically diverse and hard to impress. "If you can play Scranton," it was said, "you can play anywhere." This celebrated quip inspired a song in Elizabeth Feller and Ed Simpson’s original chamber musical The Amazing Goldin which premiered in Dec. 2007 in the hands of the Electric Theatre Company, then known as The Northeast Theatre.

“The Amazing Goldin is a sweetly nostalgic piece (set in Scranton during the heyday of vaudeville) about a real magician who really did play Scranton's Poli Theatre once upon a time and an archetypical, reluctant breaker boy” I described in electric city at the time. Other characters included Goldin’s assistant, an unfunny comedian "tired of playing to the haircuts" and a third-rate chorus girl.

(Read more about Electric Theatre Company’s corner on the neovaudeville market in Scranton.)

Northeastern Pennsylvania has long shed its vaudeville era reputation for "tough crowds." These days audiences spring to their feet at curtain call every time they've had a good time. Despite this enthusiasm on the part of audiences, however, innovative mid-tier entertainment often misses our region altogether en route from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia to New York City. It’s as if The 570 is a Bermuda triangle on the maps carried by today’s alternative entertainers. Unless we want to take the two and a half hour trek to New York or Philly, our entertainment choices consist of household names or homegrown artists.

That being said, our homegrown artists are just as talented and savvy as those that grow abroad, even if some regional skeptics have been slow to embrace those who love NEPA enough to live here despite the economic odds.