Cavalcade of human curiosities
Courtesy of Bryce Graves, Hellzapoppin
Bryce "The Govna" Graves not only performs as the ringleader of the Hellzapoppin show but is the creator, producer and director. "It's insane! No joke, I work from the moment I get up until I crash late at night," Graves said. Handling all of the day-to-day operations, Graves builds props, repairs the RVs and trailers, drives on occasion and helps with load-in, setup and tear down of sets.
Willow Lauren co-produces the Hellzapoppin show and performs, doing aerial art, fire eating and other "death-defying" stunts.
Short E. Dangerously, "the half man," is a big personality in a small 3'3" frame.
Auzzy Blood will perform his signature trick Wednesday night, driving a giant corkscrew through his face. Blood formerly performed with Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas.
POST FALLS—In the mood for a different experience? ”A cavalcade of human curiosities” might be arriving just in time.
The Hellzapoppin Circus Sideshow Revue will be stopping for one night only Wednesday while on its nationwide “Face Your Fears” tour.
Bryce “The Govna’” Graves, 48, created the show in 2008. By 2009, they were touring full-time.
Graves is the producer and director. While donning the quintessential top hat of the ringleader, he performs stunts throughout the two-hour performance. His character is “that of a sinister southern revivalist preacher” with a “gritty” voice featuring a slight Texas drawl.
Graves’ grandparents were vaudevillians. He studied the entertainment industry since he was a small boy being raised in Garland, Texas, with his three siblings.
“Hellzapoppin” has nothing to do with religion, Graves said.
“I get that question a lot, but the definition of it is ‘anything that can happen probably will’ and is another word for 'chaos,'” Graves said.
Originally a popular Broadway musical in the '30s and '40s, it later became a movie starring Shemp Howard of The Three Stooges, Ole Oleson and Chip Johnson. It closed down during the Great Depression and World War II, Graves said.
When looking for “the perfect name” for the show, Graves recalled the movie that he’d seen dozens of times as a child and found that no one owned the name.
“I immediately took out the trademark and website, and the rest is history,” he said during a Press interview Monday.
They are “slowly moving in the direction of fully re-creating the original musical,” Graves said. When not touring, Graves returns home to Old Town, Dixie County “in the middle of nowhere Florida.”
Featuring a broad spectrum of unique performers, acts include stunt work, aerial artistry, magic, loud rock music and plenty of strobe lights.
Willow Lauren co-produces the show and performs. An aerial artist, illusionist and stunt woman, Lauren performs fire-eating, eats and regurgitates razor-blades (hey, we warned you this was no ordinary show) and assists during other performers' stunts. One act features Lauren fearlessly standing while Graves throws “razor sharp” knives that land around her body.
Auzzy Blood joined Hellzapoppin from Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas, and performs sword swallowing, eye socket weight-lifting and the signature stunt where he drives a giant corkscrew right through his face - with no blood and no pain.
Short E. Dangerously is a big character in a small 3’3” frame and has hands where his feet would be. Dangerously performs stunts like walking on broken shards of glass and fire with his bare hands.
Having toured New Zealand, Brazil, Venezuela, Europe, Australia, Canada and the U.S., his work is so well known that he's featured in the Ripley’s Believe It or Not museums by way of a wax replica. He's also in the 2017 and 2020 Ripley’s books.
The cast also includes Derek “The Hurricane” Cockrum, who is considered one of the world’s best Yo-Yo artists, and award-winning magician and illusionist Reed Masterson.
Giving up to 200 performances yearly, it truly is a life on the road. Traveling in RVs equipped with bunk beds, kitchens and full bathrooms, the troupe generally hits a different city every night.
“We load into our venues at 2 p.m. daily. It takes a few hours to set the show up and then we all eat dinner, shower and get into costume,” Graves said. “Immediately after the show, we break everything down and load the trailers. We are on the road traveling to the next city by 1 a.m. nightly and sleep on the overnight drive.
“This lifestyle is definitely not for everyone - it takes a special brand of person to do what we do."
Fourteen-hour days are typical as they travel with two drivers and two stage crew members.
Graves works with around 30 performers total and rotates them, featuring five or six on each tour. They perform in small theaters, music venues and sometimes nightclubs. Their very first performance was the opening act for musician Marylin Manson in Sweden.
Graves has a long history of working with entertainers after managing rock bands, TV personalities and circus performers for 13 years prior to creating Hellzapoppin.
“We’ve traveled all over the world with some of the biggest bands,” Graves said. “We’ve performed well over 2,000 shows and work with the world’s very best performers.”
Wednesday’s show is designed for audience members 18 and older but Graves said they “love it when the kids come too.”
“The kids are the best crowd to perform for,” Graves said. “When we perform all age shows we tone it down a little, especially the language,” Graves said. “The show can be extreme for some.”
Wednesday's show starts at 7 p.m. at Cruiser’s Bar and Grille, 6105 W. Seltice Way in Post Falls. General admission is $20; reserved seating is $30. Doors open at 7 p.m.
Tickets can be purchased at hellzapoppin.com.