Edmonton Journal. -Michael Hingston

Calgary's James Jordan grabs your attention not just the moment his

show begins, but before you're even in your seat. His stomping rendition

of Randy Newman's Short People, which greets audience members as

they enter the theatre, leaves no set of ears unperked. From there, it only

gets better.

Billed as a variety and comedy show, Vaudevillian is a fast-paced

firecracker that includes card tricks, balloon animals, a how-to magic

tutorial with a twist, and a sequence in which Jordan basically slams his

hands, blindfolded, onto a bunch of live mousetraps.

The X factor is Jordan himself, a moustachioed goofball reminiscent of

Paul F. Tompkins. His background as a street performer is fully evident:

hardly a second in his show goes by without a trick, song, stage banter, or

some combination of all three. Kids and adults alike will be under his spell

with no chance to catch their breath.

Most surprising, and successful, of all is a segment where Jordan takes

things down a gear to tell a heartfelt story about his mentor in vaudeville,

a Calgary performer who recently died and left Jordan his special multi-

compartment table in his will. The ensuing trick is dumb, and it's

supposed to be. But through it, we see how a vaudevillian is born.

-Michael Hingston