Onstage spotlight: "Hoopla Train"

Opens this weekend: Think of "Hoopla Train" as an old-fashioned vaudeville-style show that has toured the provinces and is now homing in on the big city. After hitting historic ballrooms in rural Minnesota starting in 2015, the production plays three Twin Cities venues starting this weekend. "Hoopla Train" offers a rootin' tootin' mix of live music by the specialty Chmielewski Funtime Band and Yard Master Yip and his Polkastra. The performers dance polkas, waltzes and foxtrots. They also perform comedic sketches and display deft feats. Lawrence Welk would be proud. Celebrated theater wit Jim Lichtscheidl, fresh from a headlining role on London's West End, wrote the show with the cast and also performs (far right in photo). Other performers include, from left, Luverne Seifert, Andrea Wallenberg, Darcey Engen, Eriq Nelson, Kimberly Richardson (front center) and Elise Langer. The show is produced under the aegis of Sod House Theater, a company founded by Seifert and Engen to bring professional work to audiences across Minnesota. (7:30 p.m. Thu.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. through Oct. 1, Minneapolis Eagles #34, 2507 E. 25th St., Mpls.; Oct. 5-8 at Rushford Hall, 2223 Central Av. NE., Mpls.; and Oct. 12-15 at Czech & Slovak Sokol, 383 W. Michigan St., St. Paul. $20. 612-414-2032 or sodhousetheater.org.)