An Evening With Friends Coming THIS FRIDAY at the May Pavilion

Marion Palace Theatre Executive Director Kirk Detwiler and Kristi Wink talk about the upcoming cabaret show "An Evening With Friends". Plus they talk about the upcoming shows coming in September and October.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Joining me now on the Mary andNow podcast is executive director Kirk debt Wiler
from The Marry Palace Theater. Kirk, Hello, Eric Moseley. How are
we doing? I am have neverbeen better. Well, that's that's great,
and it could be the caffeine talking. Yes, exactly, I'm feeling
you there on the caffeine. ThePalace has had a lot of things going

(00:20):
on. We're going to talk aboutsome of the stuff coming up, but
I just want to touch on thesummer. You guys had a really good
summer, two great shows. Wehad a great summer because I mean,
we're a nonprofit, so, likeour end goal is if we break even
on a show, we're ecstatic becausewe pay the bills with memberships and sponsorships

(00:43):
and stuff. But if we cansell enough tickets to pay for the show,
that's a good thing. Yeah,and we did so far, we're
about in a thousand. So Yeah, And I think everybody knew that that
Beauty and the Beast was going tobe very successful. That was a no
brainer. Yeah, but then Nextto Normal really kind of went above expectations.
Everybody loved it. Yeah, itwas an incredible production. It was

(01:07):
something as we've talked about on interviewsbefore. Dustin Rawlins literally for eleven years
put it up and literally last yearlast season. Really, the only reason
I didn't consider it is because hecouldn't do it when I wanted him to
do it. Because him and hiswife Jamie are the two of the busiest
people. Yes, actually they're numbertwo and three. Christi wink I think

(01:29):
is the busiest person I know.But it's like, because he's so involved
with harding show choir and musicals andstuff, there was just a very limited
amount of time. That's why wedid it in the middle of August,
because that's the only time he coulddo it, and we you know,
usually June and August at the Palaceis kind of the dark time we do
movies, but we don't do anythingbig because people are on vacation, people

(01:52):
are at the beach, people areputting bay for the weekend. And so
we really took a chance doing acontroversial and doing it at a time that's
particularly slow at the theater. Soand we hit it out of the ballpark
when I'm ecstatic. Yeah, thatwas really good. The whole summer was

(02:12):
very good. A lot of nicethings going on, but let's move now
into the fall. No, Iwant to keep talking about the past.
Yeah, well, we all liketo relive the past. But you guys
have a lot of nice stuff comingup, fun programs and shows coming up.
And we have Christy Cook with usas well. That well it's Christy

(02:34):
wink, but I know where it'sChristy Cook. Thanks for having us here.
And uh, she's a part ofone of the productions that's coming up.
Yes we are this Friday night.We are co hosting. Yes we
are an Evening with Friends. Yeah, now this were you part of the
original Evening with Friends like you andSarah Grody? Right? Or are you
and Johnny Steiner? Well, actually, way back when Claire started it and

(02:59):
it was the main stage there thiswoman, I don't know if she's always
in the building, my mother,I took it all back. She is
the busiest person I know. Yeah, so she did it. I'm years
and years ago. We did iton the Palace stage and it was much
like what we're doing now, avariety show and hugely successful, a really
great opportunity for all the local talentto come together and just kind of celebrate

(03:20):
each other, and a fundraiser aswell. So yeah, that's the key
that it's it's a palace fundraiser.We're not doing a book show, so
we don't have to pay royalties.We you know, normally we pay our
musicians and our technicians for shows.But everybody's donating their time, so it's
it's just a fundraiser for the palace. So kind of explain what because it's

(03:42):
listed as a cabaret, you kindof explain what people should expect when they
come. What's the show kind ofset up? Love, it's more of
like a cabaret variety show because we'vegot probably like twelve or fifteen, so
many there's so many people in theshow, and it's it's it's mostly songs,
but you know, there's some ballads, there's some comedy songs and uh,
and we're gonna do some fundraising eventsin the middle of the show.

(04:04):
I got some auctions we're gonna auctionoff, you know, blocks of tickets
we're gonna auction off, show sponsorship, we're gonna auction off you know,
things like that. A marquee membership, I mean a marquee membership for the
Palace. The minimum price is onethousand dollars and I'm going to like start
at like fifty bucks, and ifsomebody buys a Marquee membership for two hundred

(04:25):
bucks, that's money in our coffers. And they get a pretty much a
real good deal on a Marquee membershipand really good seats for the whole season.
Oh, I didn't know you weredoing that. I'm barely interested.
Oh to choose your seat. We'llhave your husbands. She'll yeah, she'll
be up there running the auction andbidding at the same time. You know
she'll be up there. But surethat we should discuss these conflicts of interests

(04:46):
over the airways. I'm not eligible. Oh, but the big thing is
we Marcy d Witt I met herat Rotary. She's a local travel agent.
She's actually from Delaware. She justlast year moved to Marion. But
she's she kind of, you know, hopped on my bendwagon because she knew
I was a past cruise director.So we had a lot of mutual people

(05:08):
that we knew and shared stories alot. And she's a great lady.
But she got together with Viking RiverCruises and they are donating to the Palace
Theater as a fundraiser. An eightday river cruise in Europe, which is
good this year all the way tothe end of twenty twenty four. So
we are raffling it off at theevening with Friends. We've already sold I

(05:28):
think about one hundred and eighty tickets, so I mean the odds are really
good. So your last chance toget tickets for this raffle, which will
be the big grand prize of thatevening, will be at evening with Friends.
And how much are those tickets?Twenty dollars for one ticket and you
can get three for fifty awesome.And then if you're going to the show,
how much are the tickets for that? That is twenty eight dollars nice,

(05:50):
well worth it. When you wereasking about the structure of the show,
I think what's so fun about forthe performers. When Kirk reached out
to everybody and said anybody want tocome and joined this cast, they jumped
at it. They really did,because it's a chance for these people to
kind of highlight their talent and whatthey want to sing instead of a book
show. Sometimes there's this song thatthey've had in their their little vault forever.

(06:13):
Oh I want to do this song. I've always wanted to do this
and I've never had the opportunity.So they get to really kind of highlight
what they love them, like ouropening number. Like our opening number,
I'm thinking the song that I've alwayswanted to appropriate, but it's okay,
it's usually two women singing, butit's like, I love the song.
It's actually from Chicago and it's ait's a one of the songs that did
not make the movie, so likepeople may not know the song, but

(06:35):
anyway, that's our big opening number. I guess the dream was that I
always wanted to sing with Kirk.That's what it is. And we have
a great band led by Kathy Hilloutstanding. We're trying. They're they're going
back and forth about what to callthemselves because they're this particular combo has never
like performed together before. So I'mlike, okay, you gotta come up
with the name, so we'll gotaway to opening night. It's either they're

(06:57):
going to be Kathy's clowns, okay, or Kathy and the Frenemies. Okay.
I like, as it goes withevening with friends, there you go
that I mean, you kind ofalmost think they like each other and yet
don't well, it's just kind ofyou know snark. Yeah, no,
I like it. And who aresome of the cast members? Just repe
well, I have a list.Nice Lynnette Buris, who is a veteran

(07:21):
at the Palace Theater. I firstmet Lynette in nineteen ninety seven. We
did South Pacific together. Mattie Shank, Sarah Grody, Morgan Schwartz, Kane
Anderson, Ryan Ratliffe is coming intotown for the show, Jamie and Dustin
Rawlins, Steve Dewebber, Julia Vanderhoff, Tanner Brady and Sadie Wink three people

(07:45):
that I'm unfamiliar with, and BruceCudd. I think I got everybody from
rehearsal last night and my husband saidhow to go? And I said,
boy, I have some really talentedfriends, and he said, isn't that
kind of the point of the wholeshow. I'm like, I'm like,
okay, yeah, I mecasm,but yeah. Just hearing that cast list,
I'm thinking of all the shows thatthese people have done together, well
separately sometimes but in the Palace alone, the performances that they've been a part

(08:11):
of and had leads or had youknow, supporting roles. You're right for
the price of the ticket. You'regetting way more than what that would even
be. You know, normally it'sgoing to be a roller coaster, yes,
and that's what you want. Youwant an emotional roller coaster of high
highs, but not low lows,right high highs and then even higher highs.

(08:31):
That's what we want. And they'vechosen a really nice variety of music
because nobody wants to sit and listento two hours of ballads, which is
every everybody likes to sing a balladbecause it showcases them. But everybody's doing
a couple of numbers each and reallynice variety from different Broadway shows, up
tempo, some real funny numbers.So it's it's really going to be a
great evening of entertainment. That soundsamazing. So that's coming up this weekend.

(08:56):
But we also have some more stuffcoming up here short well, we
got you know, we have somany things to plug. This is a
busy September and October. I saidit the show last week. I said,
we have four shows over the nextthree weeks, starting with Evening of
Friends September twenty two, seven thirtyin the May Pavilion. The following weekend,
we actually have two shows. We'vegot the tribute band of Foreigner and

(09:18):
Journey. They're called Foreigner's Journey starringRudy Cardanis. That's easy to remember if
you're American Idol fan. He wasa finalist a few years ago. I've
only seen him on YouTube, buthe's fantastic. That'll be September twenty ninth,
September thirtieth. We have We've beendoing two annual concerts with the Central
Ohio Symphony. So they are sendingan ensemble on Saturday, the thirtieth of

(09:41):
September, sponsored by Alan Ingrid Mayand it's called Mozart in the May and
then the following weekend. Another reasonwe have Christy wink Care you talk about
that is Finding Nemo, Finding NemoJunior, DIXI Dixie's Disney's Finding Nemo Junior.
It's another thing. It's in ourcontract that we have to say dis

(10:01):
Disney's exactly Disney here. These areall things I don't know. Yeah,
So Finding Nemo. Disney's Finding Nemoopens Junior October six, seven and eight.
So this is our annual junior musical. We have eighty two children in
the show. They are doing sucha great job, and I'm trying to
remember how many I've done. Thismight be my twelfth, and I have

(10:22):
to tell you that it's actually trulyis one of my favorite. And I
think because the writing of these juniormusicals just keeps getting better and better.
The teams behind them are just brilliant, and it's just really getting a little
bit easier to cast and direct.And every kid is really highlighted in this
show. I think there are fortyfive speaking roles, which is so nice

(10:43):
for those kids who are dedicating theirtime to the palace and showing up for
these rehearsals every day that they geta little highlight here and there throughout the
show, and I think they're havinga great time. Then music so catchy,
and again I have Jamie Rawlins asvocal director, and some amazing costumes.
We found some crazy Well that's thething about it. This is the

(11:03):
Ohio debut of this show. Imean, this show is a movie,
and but we are literally it wasmonths and months ago because I keep tabs.
You know, there's licensing agencies,so you got to get the rights
to the shows, and there's oneand it kept saying coming soon. Disney's
finding Nemo Junior and I'm like,Christie, we gotta jump on this.
Yeah. Literally the day it wentup for grabs, I applied for it.

(11:28):
And then the great thing too,she was talking about costumes because this
shows it's a new show with newcharacters. There are no costumes. We
have a costume shop in Columbus thatis creating costumes for our show. Wow.
But the thing is, I meanthen then they can reuse them.
So they're only renting them to us. It's like they put up all the
money to create them and then wejust so it's a win win. And
my daughter was for years a partof the junior musicals. So I've watched

(11:52):
all of these productions happen and italways astounds me how many talented kids come
out, Because each year, whenyou see the older ones move on,
You're like, man, are wegoing to have some of these other kids?
Are we losing too many? Andevery year there's someone new that steps
out. So much truth to that, Yeah, sure right. I do
a shed a tier when somebody agesout and I worry and I think,

(12:15):
oh, I don't know if I'mgoing to have the talent to do it,
And they walk through that door.Every year. I've never been disappointed,
and we come up with these justsell and then they graduate to the
adult dolts. That's right, Soit's kind of a grooming. It's so
funny. It's like I watched thechorus of you know, or not even
the chorus. But you know,I've been doing theater here since nineteen seventy

(12:35):
seven. I was gone for along time, but I did show us
in the two thousand and two thousandand ten if it worked in my schedule.
But these people that are kids,you know, are now are like
my house managers or they're the leadsin the show, you know. So
it's it's great from my perspective aswell to see them grow into their own
And that's a good point that,you know, these kids don't always just

(12:56):
go on to being performers at thePalace. I think of someone like Emily
Yazik, who was in the kidsmusicals. Now she's directing kids plays and
adult plays at the Palace. There'sso many of them that moved up through
and found their things and their nichethat they really enjoy. Well, you're
looking at two of them right here. Absolutely like the second phase started there

(13:18):
too. That building is truly asecond family and they all feel that and
they love it and they want togive back, and I think that's the
biggest reward. It's it's amazing andyou don't want to miss those musicals.
The kids musicals are always enjoyable.They're fun, and it's a great family
night out. It is and I'vealways said too, I see the young
mothers with the siblings waiting to pickup their child, who and maybe even

(13:41):
a two year old I would say, could sit through the show. It's
a one hour. We always addan intermission so we can sell some concessions
and we have a gift shop.Yes, so they're sitting for maybe twenty
five thirty minutes and we don't careabout the noise and the audience. It's
not that kind of show. Andthen they can jump up unto the restroom,
get some popcorns, sit back down. It's a really great first theater

(14:03):
experience for a child. And yeah, we really want them to come out
in droves because this is a funshow. Lots of great We do projections
now instead of backdrops, so visuallyit's very stimulating. Lots of colors and
the costumes and the comedy with Dori. Dori's just a huge so she's half
as funny as the movie. It'llbe a fabulous set. Oh, I

(14:26):
mean, it just sounds like somuch fun. So lots of things going
on at the Palace obviously this weekendand evening with friends. You don't want
to miss that, Kirk. Wherecan people go to get tickets? Well,
you can get tickets online. MarionPalace dot org just does let you
know. If you buy it online, there's a five dollars per ticket charge.
That's like our number one complaint,but it's very easy if you want

(14:48):
to avoid that charge. Just pickup the phone during business hours. We'll
take your credit card information over thephone and it'll be at will call.
Or you can even reserve the ticketsand then for them when you get to
the show. The box office openMonday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday nine
to five, and then we alwaysopen one hour before the show, so
if they don't have tickets the dayof the show, they can come as

(15:11):
long as they get there before theshow begins. And we have a big
theater so it rarely sells out.Yeah, so you know, chances are
good if you don't have tickets youcan get one at the door, yeah,
but when there's a show at themay like this weekend, you do
want to be aware that that couldfill up a lot quicker, so you
may want to get those ahead oftime. But at this at this speaking,

(15:33):
we have plenty of tickets, okay. I think a lot of people
are waiting for the last minute.So that's that is typical, and that's
okay. We want people to showup. Well, Kirk Christy, thanks
for coming in this morning and goodluck with your show this weekend. Thank you us