This year's Florence Follies took the audience back in time on an amusing trip through vaudeville and 1940s and '50s popular entertainment.

The production started off with a skit performed by the Florentinies, a informal group of local kids ranging in age from three to about ten.  The Florentinies acted out a cute children's book that was apparently popular back in the 1950s, as per Follies 2010's overall theme.  The kids' performance was reminiscent of a grade school recital, you had the kids who would forget what they were supposed to do next, the kids who really enjoyed the spotlight, and all the other ones in between.  The Florentinies ended their performance with a little musical number that corresponded with their skit, and a few of everyone's favorite corny knock-knock jokes told in the cute and funny way that only small children can pull off.

The rest of the performance was made by the regular Florentine Players and would alternate between skits and musical numbers.  The musical numbers were all performed quite well, and I especially liked their rendition of "When You're Good to Mama" from Chicago; the singer actually came out onto the floor and got a little friendly with the male audience members.  I've got to say, she did an excellent job keeping in character,  because I know I would have started cracking up at some of the embarrassed reactions she got.

The skits the players had lined up were great, especially their rendition of the classic "Vitameatavegamin" episode from "I Love Lucy."  Lots of props to the actress who portrayed Lucy; she did a fantastic job!  Some of the other skits they had lined up were a detective film noir parody (where the characters stopped and had mental voice-overs every so often), a Twilight Zone tribute, a new take on Alfred Hitchcock, and a crazy dance and joke number dubbed "Cocktail Party," where all the cast members danced around in some of the silliest possible ways and paused every once in a while to deliver funny and witty one-liners.  They also had an old fashioned magic act, though I can't really say how it looked from the audience, considering I was the one they brought up on stage as a volunteer.

Overall it was a great and entertaining show, and I definitely look forward to checking out their upcoming murder mystery performance this October!