Nonstop laughter, mayhem promised with Fredonia family series event

Sometimes all you need for a good laugh are the right two people and Rockefeller Arts Center at the State University of New York at Fredonia will present the perfect pair with the opening event in this season's Kaleidoscope Family Series.

"Mr. Crites & Woodhead: Sons of Vaudeville & Masters of Mayhem" offers laughter with performances at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 4 in Marvel Theatre on the Fredonia campus.

Mr. Crites provides the skills, while the bumbling Woodhead offers up the musical accompaniment and tomfoolery throughout the show. Together, the duo offers up an eclectic mix of character driven vaudeville and circus, with an added pinch of zaniness.

"This is by far the funniest and most entertaining act we've had in a long time," said Rockefeller Director Jefferson Westwood.

Tickets are available 24/7 online at fredonia.edu/tickets, by phone at 716-673-3501 or in person at the Campus Ticket Office in the Williams Center. The hours for phone and in-person sales are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday or Friday.

Through the alchemy of their partnership, Mr. Crites and Woodhead create a comic combustion of spontaneity and inventiveness reminiscent of uninhibited kids at play. Rare and original, their plot emphasizes character over narrative, and the key to their comedic chemistry plays heavily on their physicality, stitched with a thread of the earliest cultural fabric of Americana known as vaudeville.

Mr. Crites is a circus performer with a playful masculinity along with well crafted, through-the-roof skills, and has performed with Cirque du Soleil, toured with Paul McCartney (Euro/Russia), stilt-danced with Jennifer Lopez (American Music Awards), and appeared on Celebrity Circus and Dancing with the Stars.

Woodhead has been a frequent player on the European variete circuit as well as multiple international tours of theaters, festivals, and TV shows, including the CCTV Comedy Festival in Beijing and Europe's prestigious hit-TV show "Le Plus Grande Cabaret du Monde" in Paris. He's starred in four family videos, and played principal and supportive roles in numerous feature films.

The Kaleidoscope Family Series is sponsored by the OBSERVER and The Post-Journal as part of the 2023-24 Lake Shore Savings Season.