The Panorama Extravaganza Vaudeville Troupe is a fictionalized version of what would have been known as a “small time” traveling show, most of which performed in tents. As vaudeville flourished from the early 1880’s until the early 1930’s, I’ve taken liberties with the time frame, stretching it to 1935. The advent of talking pictures in 1926, the rise of broadcast radio, and the economizing of entertainment necessitated by the Great Depression all contributed to the down- fall of the once wildly popular vaudeville theater. Fritzi Bright is very loosely based on the vaudeville dancer Ruth St. Denis, who was famous for her Orient-inspired dances and for being a pioneer of modern dance. In 1915, she and her husband Ted Shawn formed the Denishawn School of Dance; their most famous pupil was Martha Graham.
