Vaud-Villities Productions, Inc. is the longest running variety show in the country, a place where family become performers and friends become family, and we are all volunteer performers with a passion for entertaining.
We actively seek to include individuals with diverse talents and a variety of perspectives; not limiting acceptance to certain people. We are welcoming and friendly to our members, our patrons, our vendors and our partners.
We support our organization by displaying our energy, enthusiasm, and encouragement in our willingness to work with one another with loyalty and dedication.
We work together, as visionary problem solvers, collaborators, and clear communicators. We demonstrate flexibility and effective organizational skills to educate and produce quality performances.
We treat others, their actions, and ideas with understanding, kindness, and compassion. We accept responsibility for our personal interaction with others and for our given role in the organization.
We accept and live our core values with personal responsibility, honesty and trust.
27 singers from Lowell Riley’s First Community Church, Tri-Village Men’s Glee Club, pulled together a show, recruited a few other acts and some dancers willing to form a chorus line, and reserved the stage of Upper Arlington High School. Realizing that he couldn’t accompany all of the acts, Lowell invited Bob Murphy to play piano with him. The audience was so enthusiastic that the encores ran past midnight.
With the success of the first endeavor, Lowell enlarged the chorus, recruited more performers and added the church’s Cloister Choir of high school girls the following year. An orchestra comprised of local musicians volunteered their services and the twin pianos moved onstage where the next 49 years they continued to be one of the most popular act.
Name changed to Vaude-Villities. The cast was over 200 strong and local newspapers lauded the show as one of the great community activities that involved whole families.
A women’s glee club was added with many Cloister Choir alumnae as members.
As both the cast and audience continued to grow, three performances at the school could not nearly meet the demand for tickets. In a giant leap of faith, the production staff opted to try for a fourth performance at Veterans Memorial Auditorium. It sold out.
Name changed to Vaud-Villities and the 20th anniversary production, “Suddenly It’s Broadway” with a cast of 300 moved all of its productions to Veterans Memorial. With tickets priced at $2-$3, the biggest challenge was selling enough tickets to cover increased costs.
By means of a giant turntable at center stage, the set pieces were intricately designed to serve as several different scenes and end up as a background for the women’s glee club to the set for the twin pianos of Riley and Murphy.
Mayor Tom Moody declared April 9-15 “Vaud-Villities Week” in recognition of the significant contribution to the cultural scene and the performing arts of Central Ohio.
We settled into a new warehouse location on State Street, downtown and received 501c3 non-profit status as a charitable organization.
Lowell Riley lays down his baton for the final time having shared Vaud-Villities with more than 4,000 singers and dancers and performing over 1,300 musical arrangements that he had written.
The last “hoorah” at Veterans Memorial as the building was later torn down for the construction of the new National Veterans Memorial and Museum.
For one year, Vaud-Villities returned to Upper Arlington High School for a transitional year to perform its annual spring variety show.
Our second performance in our new home, the Northland Performing Arts Center, and a holiday performance is added.
Vaud-Villities celebrates its 75th anniversary with a large spring show, holiday show and youth show camp.
Vaud-Villities secures Ohio Dominican University as its new performance “home” after over a decade at NPAC and hosted its 80th Anniversary Spring Show Fundraiser at the historic Valley Dale Ballroom in Columbus.
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