Peter McGennis’s rock opera homage to the historic amusement park has a red carpet opening at the North Park Friday, Sept. 13.

Local filmmaker Peter McGennis spent his childhood summers at Crystal Beach and always wanted to make a movie set in the storied park that operated for a century (1888-1989) on Ontario’s Lake Erie shore. That movie opens Friday, 35 years after Crystal Beach was shuttered.

In an interview with The Buffalo Hive, McGennis explained that in 2015 he wrote a song about Crystal Beach called “Sunshine Dream” and shared it some close friends from his youth at the park. He was inspired to write more and, in the end, created 32 songs. A rock opera began to take shape in 2017, but COVID, cast health concerns and other factors delayed the production, which took six years to complete; post-production finished only weeks ago.

The final cut will see a red carpet premiere at 7 p.m. Friday Sept. 13, at the North Park Theater, where it runs until Sept. 19.

McGennis described the plot as “an annual pitstop at an antique shop uncovers the charm of legendary amusement park Crystal Beach and its mysterious matriarch.” The movie stars Josephine Hogan, Vincent O’Neill, Peter McGennis and Laughing Sal.

“Laff in the Dark” was filmed at regional, vintage amusement parks Seabreeze (Rochester), Sylvan Beach (Syracuse), Waldameer (Erie) and nearby Fantasy Island (Grand Island), some of which had acquired rides from Crystal Beach. The movie includes actual Crystal Beach equipment, including the dolly track and the rickshaw cars from the iconic “Laff in the Dark” ride. 

The soundtrack is available on vinyl and features three members of the Tedeschi Trucks Band as well as saxophone legend Pee Wee Ellis from the James Brown Band.

“Laff in the Dark” has a running time of 1 hour, 36 minutes and features brief nudity. It is not rated.

More information and tickets to the red carpet premiere and other shows made be found here.

Frank Housh is Managing Editor of The Buffalo Hive.