Esther’s Follies owner Shannon Sedwick estimates more than 1,000 cast members have graced the Follies stage in the past 38 years.[/caption]
Shannon Sedwick remains the one constant out of 1,000-plus cast members to grace the Esther’s Follies stage since 1977.
The musical comedy troupe’s owner and co-founder turns 65 in April but rarely misses a show at her Historic Sixth Street venue. She may be best known for endlessly pulling items out of her dress while performing as famed singer Patsy Cline—one of the longest-running Esther’s Follies bits—but Sedwick’s contributions extend beyond the stage.
On April 1, 1977, Sedwick and her husband, Michael Shelton, held the first show at Esther’s Pool, an old pool hall they named after actress Esther Williams.
Magician Ray Anderson has performed at Esther’s Follies for 15 years.[/caption]
“We named it after her because she had a lot of splashy numbers in her movies,” Sedwick said.
A back alleyway entrance to the site gave patrons the feeling of walking into an adult playscape, Sedwick said. Esther’s shows were held at the present-day location of Flamingo’s Cantina on Sixth Street until 1983 when a fire burned down the previous structure.
Sedwick and her husband quickly moved Esther’s across the street to the Ritz Theatre where Alamo Drafthouse Cinema now resides. The venue at the time hosted famous musical acts as well as Sedwick’s musical comedy troupe. But the theater setting was not ideal, she said, forcing another move in 1987.
“It was a big old draft movie house that couldn’t really allow us to do what we wanted to do, which was topical comedy,” Sedwick said. “It just seemed lost in the vastness of that hall.”
Shows were next held at 501 E. Sixth St., where Coyote Ugly now operates, until 1990 when Sedwick purchased the existing Esther’s Follies home down the block at 525 E. Sixth St.
“And it’s been the best incarnation of Follies ever,” Sedwick said.
The windows facing onto Historic Sixth Street were not new to the existing location. In fact, the idea was borrowed from two former Esther’s Follies locations. The windows—and the Sixth Street patrons they reveal—have become characters during the show, Sedwick said, and they come in particularly handy during the improv portion of magician Ray Anderson’s show.
“[Anderson] uses the street constantly, and the audience loves being in on the joke—and the people on the street tend to be hams and add to it,” she said. “They give their little parts, occasionally flashing us, sometimes just being crazy. It is Sixth Street, after all.”
But most of the Esther’s Follies material is not improvised, Sedwick said, and writing jokes is harder now than the early days of Esther’s Follies.
“Audiences are so much more comedy-savvy. In ’77, you could do just about anything and you would be considered brilliant,” Sedwick said. “You have to come up with ideas immediately, but you also have to put your own twist on it that makes it uniquely yours—and it has to be something they haven’t already seen on ‘The Daily Show’ or ‘Saturday Night Live.’”
The audience is also changing at Esther’s Follies, with up to half of patrons now tourists, she said.
“Our reputation has gone into different parts of the world, and everybody now knows about us,” Sedwick said.
Keeping relevant 38 years later
Esther’s Follies co-founder Shannon Sedwick said she takes pride in her show’s comedic takes on national politics as well as local and state political landscapes.
“We’ve become known for the Texas viewpoint of the national news,” said Sedwick, noting that Esther’s Follies pokes fun at all political affiliations—even if the show has an admittedly liberal bend. “The [Bill] Clinton administration was the gift that kept on giving, but so was George W. Bush. So we had rich material from both sides of the aisle.”
Political humor may be fair game in Texas, but jokes about religion and social issues do not go over as well, Sedwick admits.
“We have become a mainstream show,” she said. “We don’t do anything too out on the edge that’s going to alienate somebody, but we do take it to a bit of an edge.”
Magician Ray Anderson has performed at Esther’s Follies for 15 years.[/caption]
“We named it after her because she had a lot of splashy numbers in her movies,” Sedwick said.
A back alleyway entrance to the site gave patrons the feeling of walking into an adult playscape, Sedwick said. Esther’s shows were held at the present-day location of Flamingo’s Cantina on Sixth Street until 1983 when a fire burned down the previous structure.
Sedwick and her husband quickly moved Esther’s across the street to the Ritz Theatre where Alamo Drafthouse Cinema now resides. The venue at the time hosted famous musical acts as well as Sedwick’s musical comedy troupe. But the theater setting was not ideal, she said, forcing another move in 1987.
“It was a big old draft movie house that couldn’t really allow us to do what we wanted to do, which was topical comedy,” Sedwick said. “It just seemed lost in the vastness of that hall.”
Shows were next held at 501 E. Sixth St., where Coyote Ugly now operates, until 1990 when Sedwick purchased the existing Esther’s Follies home down the block at 525 E. Sixth St.
“And it’s been the best incarnation of Follies ever,” Sedwick said.
The windows facing onto Historic Sixth Street were not new to the existing location. In fact, the idea was borrowed from two former Esther’s Follies locations. The windows—and the Sixth Street patrons they reveal—have become characters during the show, Sedwick said, and they come in particularly handy during the improv portion of magician Ray Anderson’s show.
“[Anderson] uses the street constantly, and the audience loves being in on the joke—and the people on the street tend to be hams and add to it,” she said. “They give their little parts, occasionally flashing us, sometimes just being crazy. It is Sixth Street, after all.”
But most of the Esther’s Follies material is not improvised, Sedwick said, and writing jokes is harder now than the early days of Esther’s Follies.
“Audiences are so much more comedy-savvy. In ’77, you could do just about anything and you would be considered brilliant,” Sedwick said. “You have to come up with ideas immediately, but you also have to put your own twist on it that makes it uniquely yours—and it has to be something they haven’t already seen on ‘The Daily Show’ or ‘Saturday Night Live.’”
The audience is also changing at Esther’s Follies, with up to half of patrons now tourists, she said.
“Our reputation has gone into different parts of the world, and everybody now knows about us,” Sedwick said.
