The production was called The Show Must Go On, and there could not have been a more aptly titled work to open the long anticipated Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre at the new SFU Woodward's.

Director of Cultural Development and Planning Michael Boucher told audiences for the opening of last night's PuSh International Performing Arts Festival that he and others were still installing seats hours before the first show.

Considering how smoothly the night went, it's hard to believe that the Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre had only got its official permit to open on January 15.

It's even harder to believe that we are getting this shiny, stylish new venue, with its industrial zigzags of catwalks and intimate, steep rows of seats, in the middle of a funding crisis for the arts.

PuSh festival head Norman Armour opened the show with an impassioned plea for people to hound our provincial government over the coming crucial weeks to try to effect a turnaround in their planned cuts.

Armour, who graduated from the SFU school of contemporary arts 24 years ago, was awed by the facility's state-of-the-art new venue: "When I graduated, I can't even imagine this could even have been a dream."

The Show Must Go On, Jerome Bel's witty, deadpan ode to dance, pop music, and the need to commune, had the opening-night crowd laughing, singing, and even busting a move, in the aisles.

Next on the roster for the theatre is Robert Lepage's much anticipated The Blue Dragon (opening February 4), whose multimedia exploration of China should be stunning in the space.