In 1991, when the historic building had fallen into near complete disuse, the Palm Springs city fathers asked retired television producer Riff Markowitz to come up with an idea for its utilization. He conceived and created a classic Follies and then added one notable exception, **** the cast must have actually lived through the era which they were going to portray, hence the dancers are 54 - 83. The only reason the 54 year old was allowed to join, was that he can do lifts for the 1st time in their show.
And thus was born the Fabulous Palm Springs Follies, now in its second decade and still playing to packed houses. The Plaza Theatre wasn't dead, the grand ol' lady was merely dormant, awaiting her new life.
They advertise the Follies with a cast 1000 years old and collectively they are.
To make space, they put the mechanical equipment and air conditioners on the roof to create dressing rooms. They installed a pulley system to lift the 8' head dresses up from the basement ( the stairs are way too narrow) then lower them onto the dancers heads.
The inside of the theater looks just like it would have many years ago and has old movies playing on the big screen while you wait for the show to begin.
The costumes are breath taking. In the 2nd section, all the female dancers came out in full nude body suits with strategically designed beading to match the decorative head dresses and told their dancing history and ages, 54 - 83. We loved it.
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