A line of can-can dancers showing their bloomers to the audience. Two men stand on either side looking aghast.

Since 1987
Come join the

GOLD FEVER FOLLIES 

every summer
for some rip-roaring, high-kicking entertainment!

The Gold Fever Follies offers a new family-friendly musical comedy every summer with cancan dancing, original music and exciting characters based on Rossland’s gold rush days of the late 1890s.
Runs July & August, 3pm and 7:30pm shows Tues. thru Sat. (No matinee on June 29.)

The 2024 GOLD FEVER FOLLIES

present…

CASINO ROSSLAND

co written by Landon LaFond and Lucas Myers

The cast of Casino Rossland is standing in a line. Every cast member is in costume; the women are wearing can-can dresses while the men are in suits.

Every summer since 1987, the Rossland Gold Fever Follies has entertained audiences with an original musical, each loosely based on the historic events and people of Rossland’s early gold rush days. This year’s Casino Rossland, co-written by Landon LaFond and Lucas Myers, is based on actual events of 1902 during a time of great financial stress in Rossland. The city was almost bankrupt. To remedy this, the new mayor, John Stillwell Clute, re-hired a corrupt police chief named John Ingram whom he had just fired a year earlier. Together, the pair hatched a scheme to end the bankruptcy involving gambling—with questionable payoffs to city officials and newspapers.
Filled with real life personalities from Rossland’s past, including Clute, Ingram, Mrs. Allan, and Pastor Morgan, Casino Rossland tells the story of how the people of Rossland worked to overcome adversity while tensions in the city were high. Place your bets on who will come out on top, because things are about to get dicey.

(Show runs approx. 90 minutes. No intermission)

The 2023 GOLD FEVER FOLLIES

present…

TRAPPED AT THE MURPHY INN

an adaptation by LUCAS MYERS
based on an original script by Brian Turner

The full cast in costume

Murphy Inn is a bit off the beaten path, and that’s how the proprietor, Oliver Murphy, prefers it. But some of the new hires have gotten it into their heads that to keep pace with the rest of Rossland’s hospitality establishments, entertainment should be on offer. Coinciding with the inaugural performance is an unfortunate snow shovelling incident which renders all those inside trapped in the confines of the Murphy Inn with no way out. How will they handle the claustrophobic miner? How will they deal with a dwindling supply of victuals and secrets being revealed? More importantly, will they be able to put on the show that will put them on the map? Once again mixing in a dose of actual Rossland history with songs, dance and a shadow puppet show or two, Trapped at the Murphy Inn continues the Gold Fever Follies tradition of bringing history to life with a story that will delight and entertain.

(Show runs approx. 90 minutes. No intermission)

THE GOLD FEVER FOLLIES

ARE BACK AGAIN

FOR THE 2022 SEASON

with the show

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Book & Lyrics by Marnie Jacobsen

The 2022 cast, dressed in their costumes

This summer’s show, “WHAT’S IN A NAME?”, centers around Ross Thompson’s naming of Red Mountain Camp as a proper township. Also prominent in the storyline is the infamous serial-monogamous Mrs. Allan of the Allan Hotel. And of course, there is the love story…

(Show runs approx. 90 minutes. No intermission)

2022 Show Poster

Vocals! Dance! Instrumentals! Humour! You name it…this evening’s got it!
You won’t want to miss this evening of great entertainment! Get your tickets early!

Poster for the Variety Hour hosted by GFF

Thurs., June 16 at the Miners Hall 7:00pm
Advance Online Tickets $12 (email: GoldFeverFollies87@gmail.com)
Or pick up Advance Tickets at OUT OF THE CELLAR or THE COLANDER. (Cash only sales)
Tickets at the Door $15
(for more info ph. 250-231-5009)

The GOLD FEVER FOLLIES ARE BACK for the 2021 season!

2021 Cast

The Great Invention

Book & Music by Chris Coutts

As usual, we’ve had fun melding fact with fiction in writing THE GREAT INVENTION. What hints can we give you about its storyline? Well…the same hints we gave last year.
The miners are digging up gold, love and happiness, but when a dancehall girl invents a new contraption, it could put all three at risk.
Now let’s hope that COVID doesn’t get in the way again so that we can get back to entertaining you!

GOLD FEVER FOLLIES OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE 2020 SEASON

After much deliberation, and with heavy hearts, the Gold Fever Follies is officially announcing the cancelation of our 2020 summer production.

We have finally resigned ourselves to the reality that we can’t possibly perform our show throughout the summer and still keep all involved—from our board volunteers, to our cast members and their host families, to the audience in general—safe, healthy and COVID-19 free.

We have updated our website to introduce you to our 2020 cast whom you WOULD have had the pleasure of watching…had COVID-19 not hit the world so hard.

Join the cast of the Rossland
Gold Fever Follies
in its 34th Season

2019: The Big BOOM Theory

As usual, we’ve had fun melding fact and fiction with this summer’s show, The Big BOOM Theory, and, as you can guess, it has characters based on the popular TV series The Big Bang Theory. It follows the story of a young female metallurgist who travels to the Rossland area to get work at Consolidated Mining and Smelting —the predecessor of TECK. But as can be expected, she faces that glass ceiling that women are still confronted with today—and is refused work because she is a woman. Having run out of money, she is left with little options but to work in the Bodega Hotel as a dance hall girl. But she refuses to give up on the idea of working as the trained scientist that she is, and has to figure out a way to prove herself. How she goes about that will be revealed once you see the show!

2018: SKIS & SKATES

Skis and Skates Cast

Imagine no right to vote and rarely seen out of the home…where domestic duties dominated the world that women lived in! That was life for most women of the late 1800s and early 1900s. But not so for the pioneering women of Rossland and the Kootenays! In 1900, for a mere 50¢ each, women were invited to join a Women’s Hockey Club as a novelty sport in the Rossland Winter Carnival, a carnival that began two years earlier in 1898. Women’s history was about to undergo a dramatic change. At first, reports were mostly about the well-dressed women of the Rossland Hockey team. Soon, however, their determination and athletic abilities convinced the male-dominated society that they weren’t a mere novelty team, but a team to be taken seriously. The team went undefeated for 17 years, and was inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame in May of 2018.

Our story SKIS & SKATES is based on that early Rossland Women’s Hockey Team of 1900. While we’ve had fun melding much fiction with history, some of the details of our story are based on facts. Olaus and his feats on skis are all true; Lester and Dora Patricks were real people, and their accomplishments in the world of hockey are also all true. We’ve just manipulated timelines in order to include the Patricks into that first year of Women’s Hockey in the Kootenays.

But enough about that! Sit back and enjoy our little story of triumph—triumph on the slopes and ice, triumph of the will, and triumph of the heart.

Naughty Knickers Night 2018 Poster

Sunday, August 19th
Doors open at 7:00 pm
Show at 7:30 pm

Tickets must be purchased in advance at Goldrush Bookstore, Curiosity Clothing & Gifts, Revival Boutique, or The Colander Restaurant.

2017: The Red Mountain

In 1890, while in “unexplored” territory, high up in the Monashee Mountains, Joe Moris discovers red rocks in between patches of snow at the base of one particular mountain. With no supplies, Moris heads to Nelson in hopes to stock up, and waits for the summer before returning to this profitable location. While in Nelson, he meets Anna, a saloon girl, and the two quickly become smitten. But when the snow begins to melt. Moris puts his feelings aside and departs back to the red rocks. On his way up the mountain, he is met with freakish snowstorms and dangerous wildlife which keep him halted for weeks. Stuck in the area which is now the road from Trail to Rossland, Moris wonders— Should he have left his newfound love behind? Or will his discovery at “The Red Mountain” be worth it?

Saturday, August 5th

12:30 PM at the Miners Hall

5$ ticket special!

 

Sunday, August 20th
Doors open at 7:00 pm
Show at 7:30 pm

Tickets must be purchased in advanced at Red Pair, Miners Hall or The Colander.