Theatre Collingwood's first production of 2008 is designed to take you back in time.

The Hen and Chickens Vaudeville is set in Collingwood in 1908 and is a sample of what residents in town would watch at the former Collingwood Grand Opera House.

The show, which was created by Theatre Collingwood artistic director Steven Thomas, will feature singing and dancing numbers as well comedy routines.

In the show, Collingwood is celebrating its 50th birthday.

Thomas said the show is not the history of Collingwood but is in celebration of the town's sesquicentennial.

"While this vaudeville is historical in its scope, it's not a history.  It's a theatrical salute to the comedy, song and dance performed a hundred years ago, which is every bit as entertaining today," Thomas said.

Thomas said the show is based on Charles and Sandford Lindsay, who were the promoters at the Collingwood Opera House.

"It was a joyful challenge to research and discover many interesting, famous cultural figures who hailed from Collingwood, such as Norah Mary Holland, known in the late 1800s as Canada's finest female dancer; Jessica Alexandra Hodgson, who used the stage name Gail Collard, when she was performing in the front lines of the Ziegfeld Follies and the Radio City Musical Hall Rockettes," Thomas said.

The show stars Jason Allin as Jim Gerald, Mark Allan as Frank Gorman, Brad Borbridge as Bill Ryan, Meaghan Hope as Con Conrad, Lorena Mackenzie as Gail Collard, Jay Wilson as Sandford Lindsay and Naomi Zara as Essie Gennings.

"They can expect a little bit of everything," said Hope, who doubles as the music director for the show. "All kinds of music."

The show opens on Wed., July 2 and will have 10 evening performances between July 2 and 12. There will be a matinee performance on July 3 at 2 p.m.

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