May 12, 2025 • 17 mins
Marion Palace Theatre Executive Director, Kirk Detweiler, joined the podcast to announce the 2025-2026 Season Schedule!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Do you know what I mean? Studio today is Kirk
dat Wiler, the executive director of the Marion Palace Theater.
Kirk Hawai, you, my friend, I have.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I don't think I've ever been better.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Well, that's that's great right here.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Right now, talking to Paul James, I've.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Made that's got to make your day. I mean to
make sure it makes my day, There's no question. I'll
tell you what does make me excited when I look
at the twenty twenty five twenty twenty six season schedule
for the Marion Palace Theater and I know you guys
are releasing this today, and let's talk a little bit
about the schedule because this is amazing. Let's get started
(00:33):
with the palace productions scheduled for the next year at
the Marion Palace, Well.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
We are again doing We're doing six. We're doing six
in house productions. I am just so lucky. I got
great artistic teams. Claire Cook, Christi Wink, Jamie Rollins. We've
actually got two new, brand new directors this year. I've
never directed anything at the Palace. Julia vander Hoff, who
I went to high school with, and Elizabeth Moore. Oh wow,
(00:59):
Elizabeth Moore's directing our Murder Mystery, and I met her
in two thousand and six.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
School.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I think she said she was twenty one. Okay, but
we played opposite each other in the music Man from
the Palace Stage. But we've been good buddies. Yeah, we
danced together at the Woman's Home thing, which is a
different story.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Yeah, that is a totally different story. Well, let's talk
about the shows that you guys have coming up with
the Palace Productions. Obviously, the first one will be the
Summer Music.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Summer Musical, and this year we're doing Annie and Claire
Cook is directing, Christy Wink is choreographing, Jamie Rollins will
be the vocal director, Rick Baird the conductor, and the orchestra. No,
we decided, you know, July's got to be it's got
to be a family show. We've been doing Disney the
last couple of years, but we've you know, it's because
(01:49):
we started doing an August show, which is a little
more adult oriented. So we decided the July slot is
definitely going to be a family show. So we're very
happy to do Annie. So that'll be in the second
two weekends of July. So we're very excited about that.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
And then you turn around a month later and you've
got another show that's very unique. Talk that's this one.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Yes, now I never have seen this, but George Shram
has been talking about this show for years. I when
I was in New York and I did a couple
of shows that Don't Tell Mama. Right across the street,
they had a show called Tony and Tina's Wedding. And
what they did was they rented a big church, had
a wedding. It's all a play, but they're in the
actual church. And then they they take and and the
(02:30):
people that bought tickets, are you know, yes, at the
church at the wedding, yes, they have to decide are
you groom or bride? You know, and everything, and then
they would take people across the street to Mama Leone's
and they would have the reception there and it's all
kind of half improv half scripted, but hilarious. It's great.
And so what we're gonna do is we're gonna do
the wedding in the in the theater that all dulled
(02:53):
up as a wedding is a lot of people have
been married in the theater. And then we're gonna and
then we take everybody next door to the May Pavilion
for the reception. Julia Vanderhoff is directing, and I've asked
the Shovel City improv all to try out for this
because there's a lot of improv involved, sure, and they're
experts at that, so that's going to be great fun.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Oh that's fine. The auditions for that are going to
be on June the twenty second, So we'll tell you
more about that when we get closer to it. But
what a neat show coming up in August. Talk about
a few more of the Palace Palace. Well, then we have.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Our October junior musical. We're going to do Beatle Juice Junior.
It's a brand new version. Beetlejuice was made into a
Broadway musical and then they kind of, you know, cut
it down and cut out the dirty stuff, right sure,
and make it a kid friendly. So we're going to
do Beatle Juice Junior. Christy Wink will be directing that
and that'll be in October. And of course we've got
(03:43):
Christmas at the Palace, right that is a Palace tradition.
This year's title is Memories, so again Claire Cook is
writing and directing that. So always always a great, great show,
just a lot of local talent. One year we had
three hundred and fifty people, Oh my god on stage.
Can you imagine the curtain call?
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Yeah, yeah, you can't. You can't breathe, you can't move,
you can't anything. But also in there, you've got another
Junior Palace production in February called Bringing Down the House.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Bring Down the House, and Morgan Shorts is going to
direct that. That plays about a group of kids who
are trying to save a theater that's about to be demolished. Okay,
you know, it's kind of like an old Judy Garland movie.
Let's put on a show and save the theater. So
it's just super cute. So that'll be in February, bringing
Down the House.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
And then in April in twenty twenty six, you're doing
a palace murder mystery. This is really unique called Holy
Mother of Bingo.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Yeah no, yeah, And Elizabeth Moore, yeah, she's directing that.
As I said, yeah, we decided we want to do
a murder mystery, and Elizabeth has been submitting plays and
it's like we haven't chosen them just because they didn't
fit the theme of the year. But finally she said, why
don't you just pick a play and I'll direct it.
So and then we started talking, why don't we do
a murder mystery? She's always wanted to do one, right,
(05:02):
So we found this one is called Holy Mother Bingo.
What happens the may Pavilion is going to turn into
a bingo hall like a church recreation room, and five
five bingo players mysteriously die during bingo? Was it food,
poisoning or murder? I love that it's going to be
and it's a hoot.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
How fun is that the script?
Speaker 2 (05:24):
I laughed at just reading the script.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Oh, it sounds fantastic. So that's a great lineup of
Palace productions, and not all of them, but just a
few of them. How about we get into the touring
artists a little bit that are coming next season. The
Texas Tenors Get Going started on Saturday, September twentieth on
the mainstage.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Yeah. No, every year, you know, at the shows, I'm
always in the lobby. I always have people come up
to me and say, you know, you really need to
get blah blah blah. At least three or four people
in the last couple of years have said we saw
the Texas Tenors and blah blah. So I you know,
my radar was up and I checked them out. They
were on America's Got Talent a couple of years ago.
I ended up being in the top four at the end.
(06:03):
And they're just three guys from Texas. They do country,
they do gospel, they do pop, and they're just amazing.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I mean they've actually, uh I think they've won some
Grammys and they had a PBS special.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Oh wow.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yeah, so you can YouTube them. But Texas Tenors. Yeah,
and we get them right before they do like a
they do a residency in Branson, Missouri, like starting like
literally the week after that. We that we get them,
so we had to squeeze him in early in the season.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
That's pretty cool. Yeah, and then look forward to that,
we've we've got a local celebrity coming back to do
a show in October in evening with Carly August.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
August. They know. I met Carly two thousand and seven
when we did The Wizard of Oz. She played Dorothy,
she was fourteen years old. I played Uncle Henry. So
that's when I got to know her and I just thought, God,
she's really good for young and now she's playing Alphaba
on the national tour. Kid but I talked to her.
(07:02):
She's going to take a couple of weeks off, come
home and do a show for us.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
They're gonna call it. Isn't she from here?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
That is her idea, Yeah, she is.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
I love that, so that is her idea. So that'll
be fun. Carly. I was part of some shows with Carly, fun, fun, fun,
She's a good time. Neil McCoy coming on Friday, November
twenty first.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
He's a mancon Neil McCoy, And it's funny how we
got Neil McCoy. My new administrative assistant, Faith Queen a
Faith Bumgardner was her maiden name. Her mom used to
work with Neil McCoy.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Yeah, so when we're.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Putting together season, I let my I let my team
have some input. And she's like, you know, my mom
knows Neil McCoy. And I'm like, well, you know, I
don't really follow country music. I know Garth Brooks, Shanaiah Twain,
you know VINCEK, I know Amy Grant, you know, I
know ones if they cross over to pop, but if
they're just pure country, I'm not into country but so
(07:56):
I'd never heard of him, and that he was huge
in the nineties.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Great show, very popular in the state of Ohio. And
we'll be that'll be a big show.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
And the thing about him in his contract, you know,
we could not charge what we wanted to charge. He goes.
My fans won't pay that. You have to, he goes,
I'll sell out if you. So if you look at
the season prices his show, even though he's a kind
of an expensive act, his his prices are lower and
that's in his contract. Yeah, because he's for the people show.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
He does a great show.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
And he's got a huge fan base.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Oh absolutely, especially in Ohio. They travel to see him
around this state, which is kind of fun. The sounds
of the season with the Central Ohio Symphony on Sunday,
December fourteenth, that will be fun.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah, that'll be with the Central Ohio Symphony. Now we've
been had the last three years. We have a deal
with the Alme doctor Alme and Ingrid his wife. They've
been sponsoring small shows in the pavilion with ensembles from
the Central Illio Symphony, but every year the full Symphony
they do a big holiday show down in Delaware and
so we talked to the executive director Ben Coy, and
I said, you want to bring it to the Palace.
(09:01):
Is we're always looking for a secondary Christmas show. We
do Christmas at the Palace always the first weekend, but
you know, a couple weeks later, a week later, we
like to have another show. So that's what we have
this this year. Sound of the Season.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
That's cool. We'll start twenty twenty six on a touring artist,
Don Jovie the Ultimate Tribute to the music of bon
Jovi on Saturday, January tenth. Should be fun.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Well, you know the tribute bands there are Bread and Butter. Yeah,
because you know I can't afford bon Jovi, so I
got them for less than half the price.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
So you got Don and his buddies.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Yeah, and they did their great show.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
I've had a friend that saw him last year and said,
we had a wonderful time.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Yeap, they're great. I mean, as what I'll do is,
I'll you know, last year the Pink Floyd tribute went
over so well. You know we had the Journey guy
the year before that, Right, you did Journey and Foreigner together,
and I thought, you know, classic rock, there's a niche
in marrying for that and attend.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
The payoff show was fantastic. In March, the Buffet show
was fast Jimmy Buffett.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Yeah, so it's like I wanted to capitalize on that genre.
You know what, Let's do you know some big eighty
nineties and we have later in the season led Zeppelin tribute.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Yeah for sticks and I saw you also have a
sitting here looking at it Stevie Mack, the Fleetwood Mac.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
And they do Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks all in
one show.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Oh, that's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
You know Stevie Nicks is the only one of the Well,
I can't say that for sure. Yeah, to Share, I
don't know Stevie. She is the first woman to be
in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, first
with her Ben and then it's a solo act. I
have a feeling Share is now in it twice too
with Sonny and Share right, and then I think she
got in last year.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Well, the Share tribute act you guys had was fantastic.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Oh, she was fabulous.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
That was such a great show. Loved every minute of that.
So tell me about some of the other things you have.
Apostle Jones soulful, fearless, unforgettable. Tell me about the.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Apostle Jones Mark Neville r Financial manner my last September.
Every year they have a conference. They always changed. It
was Intoledo last year's oapn Ohio Artists Presenters something whatever
the end says. But they have what they call highlights.
They have like you know, band will come on and
(11:18):
do fifteen minutes.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
The kind of showcase.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Yeah, showcase, that's the word I was thinking, I get it.
And Apostle Jones they do all original music, at least
in their showcase. They did, but they were great. They
just were energy. Mikey Silas is the lead singer. They've
been voted like the last two years best band in
Cleveland by the local music scene people. They just blew
me away. Another one that blew me away at the
(11:41):
OAPN is Niki d and the Sisters of Thunder. They
are we're gonna have them kind of tucked between the
Martin Luther King Breakfast and Black History Month, right and
we were partnering with the Piece and Freedom Committee of
Marion for that. Nikki D January twenty fourth, we're putting
her in the pavilion, but we're hoping that if we
(12:01):
get more than two hundred and fifty tickets sold, we'll
move to the Big Theater.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Yeah, yeah, I get that.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
So we're looking forward to that as well.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
You still are reaching way back into old music and
doing some really cool feature shows. I see the Winter
Dance Party, which is a tribute to the Big Bopper
Buddy Holly and Richie Valens. Yeah, that sounds famous.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Winter Dance Party. What it does is recreates the last
concert before they all unfortunately passed away in an airplane crash,
and their tour was called the Winter Dance Party. But
that is produced by the same company and the same
lead guys who do One Night in Memphis, right, so
they alternate that show and they did a great They've
been here twice for us one Night in Memphis. But
(12:43):
the guy that plays Jerry Lee Lewis plays Buddy Holly, Okay,
and it's yeah, one of the guys. But yeah, it's
gonna be great. Yeah. I love that.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
That sounds like a lot of fun. So you've got
quite a lineup. What are some of the things that
I have missed that you want to highlight that are
going to happen in the twenty five to twenty six.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
We got a show called Sinatra and streisand Okay, and
that will be an ape in March of twenty twenty six. Yes,
it's they called the Concert That Never Was. You know,
Frank Sinatra and Barbara Striyce end never performed together or
never toured together, never had a concert together. So this
is they call it the Concert That Never Was. Again.
But we talked about the share tribute last year. The
(13:22):
lady who plays Barbara Strice nd I don't know how
she does it. She does her makeup. She's got the voice,
but she does her makeup that she looks like Barbara
streisand you have to look twice Barbara Streissan like forty
years ago. And so I'm excited about that that show
as well. Of course, we've got our usual Shovel City improv.
(13:42):
We always have them because they're part of the family
at the Palace Theater. But we always been doing a
fundraiser called Evening with Friends. It's usually in the fall
or August or September, but because we had so many
things happening early in the season, we put it May second,
or yeah, May second, twenty twenty six. Next year an
(14:04):
evening with friends. So the cast is you have to
be decided, but it'll be all the local people that
sing and do great things at the Palace.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
I love that. So yeah, I mean what a lineup.
I mean, you want to talk about busy.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
We are businesses.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
This is packed full of really good entertainment. And I
think you're touching every age group. And another one we're
going to hit on that'll help even with some younger
folks is Uprising, which is a high school high schoolers
that play classic rock. I've seen them twice. They're amazing.
You probably know a lot of their parents and families,
the kids that are in this.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
She grew up at the Palace and the kids shows
for years and her dad is the golf car guy.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Yeah, Okay.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
You seem very excited about the schedule that you have
for the next year.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Very excited and very exhausted.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Yeah, it takes a lot. People probably don't know. I mean,
you're you're already working on the following season.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Yeah, I mean I already. Yeah, got a framework really
in the fall, in like September October, I really start to,
you know, talking to the agents.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Right because you've got to be a year year and
a half ahead on some.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Of Yeah, no, iea. And that's why it takes so long.
The last people that we signed are always the big names,
right because you know, we wanted Stephen Curtis Chapman was
one guy. We wanted him from May of twenty twenty six,
and his people are like, he doesn't book that far ahead.
It's like, he doesn't know if he's going to be
(15:36):
touring in twenty twenty. They won't commit. That's why we
got Neil McCoy and Jeremy Camp in the fall, because
that's not so far in the future. But yeah, as.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
You're staying within a six month or seven month out.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Yeah, and so they yeah, and they like to if
I'm like the first act that they book in the area,
they'll go reach out to other theaters in the area
and try to you know, books that they're making a trip,
not just for one show, but a little circuit.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
So today we are announcing the season lineup. How do
the ticket sales go? I know that we start with members, correct.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Yeah, we start with members and level market members can
already buy, and then it goes to the lower levels
general public. I don't know the date, but it's towards
the end of May, right, Okay, however, the tickets are
on sale for everybody for the summer musical, okay, just
because it's right around the corner.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Right, So you can get your Summery Musical tickets now
and depending on your level of membership or just one
to general buy, that's going to be happening right around
Memorial Day or a little bit after that. So check
out the website Marianpalace dot org to get details on
the entire deal. Now, this podcast that you're listening to,
make sure that you share this out. Tell you, tell
your friends. If you know somebody that's interested in a show,
(16:48):
make sure they get contact with this. And we're not
just talking about people that live here in mary in Ohio.
We're talking about people that we'll travel to come to
see some of these amazing shows and enjoy the restaurants
that we have here, the hotels that you have here,
the amenities that go on in Marion. I mean, you
are a key part of tourism in Marrying, Ohio.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Kirk, Wow, I.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Know that's a big shoulder, right, Get you got a
shoulder all.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
That don't suddenly felt well?
Speaker 1 (17:11):
It's true, It's true. People want to come see these shows,
and people want to come see the Palace produced shows,
especially when you've got something like Annie coming on here
in July.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
And for relatively small talent. The amount of local talent
that we have is amazing, it really is.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
And you if you just have to experience a Palace
sater and everything about it, so check this out. Head
over to the Marionpalace dot org website, get your details,
get ready to purchase your tickets for the ninety seventh
season of the Marion Palace Sater that would be for
twenty five and twenty six. Kirk, Thank you so much,
my friend, Thank you very much,
Do you know what I mean? Studio today is Kirk
dat Wiler, the executive director of the Marion Palace Theater.
Kirk Hawai, you, my friend, I have.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I don't think I've ever been better.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Well, that's that's great right here.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Right now, talking to Paul James, I've.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Made that's got to make your day. I mean to
make sure it makes my day, There's no question. I'll
tell you what does make me excited when I look
at the twenty twenty five twenty twenty six season schedule
for the Marion Palace Theater and I know you guys
are releasing this today, and let's talk a little bit
about the schedule because this is amazing. Let's get started
(00:33):
with the palace productions scheduled for the next year at
the Marion Palace, Well.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
We are again doing We're doing six. We're doing six
in house productions. I am just so lucky. I got
great artistic teams. Claire Cook, Christi Wink, Jamie Rollins. We've
actually got two new, brand new directors this year. I've
never directed anything at the Palace. Julia vander Hoff, who
I went to high school with, and Elizabeth Moore. Oh wow,
(00:59):
Elizabeth Moore's directing our Murder Mystery, and I met her
in two thousand and six.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
School.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I think she said she was twenty one. Okay, but
we played opposite each other in the music Man from
the Palace Stage. But we've been good buddies. Yeah, we
danced together at the Woman's Home thing, which is a
different story.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Yeah, that is a totally different story. Well, let's talk
about the shows that you guys have coming up with
the Palace Productions. Obviously, the first one will be the
Summer Music.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Summer Musical, and this year we're doing Annie and Claire
Cook is directing, Christy Wink is choreographing, Jamie Rollins will
be the vocal director, Rick Baird the conductor, and the orchestra. No,
we decided, you know, July's got to be it's got
to be a family show. We've been doing Disney the
last couple of years, but we've you know, it's because
(01:49):
we started doing an August show, which is a little
more adult oriented. So we decided the July slot is
definitely going to be a family show. So we're very
happy to do Annie. So that'll be in the second
two weekends of July. So we're very excited about that.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
And then you turn around a month later and you've
got another show that's very unique. Talk that's this one.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Yes, now I never have seen this, but George Shram
has been talking about this show for years. I when
I was in New York and I did a couple
of shows that Don't Tell Mama. Right across the street,
they had a show called Tony and Tina's Wedding. And
what they did was they rented a big church, had
a wedding. It's all a play, but they're in the
actual church. And then they they take and and the
(02:30):
people that bought tickets, are you know, yes, at the
church at the wedding, yes, they have to decide are
you groom or bride? You know, and everything, and then
they would take people across the street to Mama Leone's
and they would have the reception there and it's all
kind of half improv half scripted, but hilarious. It's great.
And so what we're gonna do is we're gonna do
the wedding in the in the theater that all dulled
(02:53):
up as a wedding is a lot of people have
been married in the theater. And then we're gonna and
then we take everybody next door to the May Pavilion
for the reception. Julia Vanderhoff is directing, and I've asked
the Shovel City improv all to try out for this
because there's a lot of improv involved, sure, and they're
experts at that, so that's going to be great fun.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Oh that's fine. The auditions for that are going to
be on June the twenty second, So we'll tell you
more about that when we get closer to it. But
what a neat show coming up in August. Talk about
a few more of the Palace Palace. Well, then we have.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Our October junior musical. We're going to do Beatle Juice Junior.
It's a brand new version. Beetlejuice was made into a
Broadway musical and then they kind of, you know, cut
it down and cut out the dirty stuff, right sure,
and make it a kid friendly. So we're going to
do Beatle Juice Junior. Christy Wink will be directing that
and that'll be in October. And of course we've got
(03:43):
Christmas at the Palace, right that is a Palace tradition.
This year's title is Memories, so again Claire Cook is
writing and directing that. So always always a great, great show,
just a lot of local talent. One year we had
three hundred and fifty people, Oh my god on stage.
Can you imagine the curtain call?
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Yeah, yeah, you can't. You can't breathe, you can't move,
you can't anything. But also in there, you've got another
Junior Palace production in February called Bringing Down the House.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Bring Down the House, and Morgan Shorts is going to
direct that. That plays about a group of kids who
are trying to save a theater that's about to be demolished. Okay,
you know, it's kind of like an old Judy Garland movie.
Let's put on a show and save the theater. So
it's just super cute. So that'll be in February, bringing
Down the House.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
And then in April in twenty twenty six, you're doing
a palace murder mystery. This is really unique called Holy
Mother of Bingo.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Yeah no, yeah, And Elizabeth Moore, yeah, she's directing that.
As I said, yeah, we decided we want to do
a murder mystery, and Elizabeth has been submitting plays and
it's like we haven't chosen them just because they didn't
fit the theme of the year. But finally she said, why
don't you just pick a play and I'll direct it.
So and then we started talking, why don't we do
a murder mystery? She's always wanted to do one, right,
(05:02):
So we found this one is called Holy Mother Bingo.
What happens the may Pavilion is going to turn into
a bingo hall like a church recreation room, and five
five bingo players mysteriously die during bingo? Was it food,
poisoning or murder? I love that it's going to be
and it's a hoot.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
How fun is that the script?
Speaker 2 (05:24):
I laughed at just reading the script.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Oh, it sounds fantastic. So that's a great lineup of
Palace productions, and not all of them, but just a
few of them. How about we get into the touring
artists a little bit that are coming next season. The
Texas Tenors Get Going started on Saturday, September twentieth on
the mainstage.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Yeah. No, every year, you know, at the shows, I'm
always in the lobby. I always have people come up
to me and say, you know, you really need to
get blah blah blah. At least three or four people
in the last couple of years have said we saw
the Texas Tenors and blah blah. So I you know,
my radar was up and I checked them out. They
were on America's Got Talent a couple of years ago.
I ended up being in the top four at the end.
(06:03):
And they're just three guys from Texas. They do country,
they do gospel, they do pop, and they're just amazing.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I mean they've actually, uh I think they've won some
Grammys and they had a PBS special.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Oh wow.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yeah, so you can YouTube them. But Texas Tenors. Yeah,
and we get them right before they do like a
they do a residency in Branson, Missouri, like starting like
literally the week after that. We that we get them,
so we had to squeeze him in early in the season.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
That's pretty cool. Yeah, and then look forward to that,
we've we've got a local celebrity coming back to do
a show in October in evening with Carly August.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
August. They know. I met Carly two thousand and seven
when we did The Wizard of Oz. She played Dorothy,
she was fourteen years old. I played Uncle Henry. So
that's when I got to know her and I just thought, God,
she's really good for young and now she's playing Alphaba
on the national tour. Kid but I talked to her.
(07:02):
She's going to take a couple of weeks off, come
home and do a show for us.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
They're gonna call it. Isn't she from here?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
That is her idea, Yeah, she is.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
I love that, so that is her idea. So that'll
be fun. Carly. I was part of some shows with Carly, fun, fun, fun,
She's a good time. Neil McCoy coming on Friday, November
twenty first.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
He's a mancon Neil McCoy, And it's funny how we
got Neil McCoy. My new administrative assistant, Faith Queen a
Faith Bumgardner was her maiden name. Her mom used to
work with Neil McCoy.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Yeah, so when we're.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Putting together season, I let my I let my team
have some input. And she's like, you know, my mom
knows Neil McCoy. And I'm like, well, you know, I
don't really follow country music. I know Garth Brooks, Shanaiah Twain,
you know VINCEK, I know Amy Grant, you know, I
know ones if they cross over to pop, but if
they're just pure country, I'm not into country but so
(07:56):
I'd never heard of him, and that he was huge
in the nineties.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Great show, very popular in the state of Ohio. And
we'll be that'll be a big show.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
And the thing about him in his contract, you know,
we could not charge what we wanted to charge. He goes.
My fans won't pay that. You have to, he goes,
I'll sell out if you. So if you look at
the season prices his show, even though he's a kind
of an expensive act, his his prices are lower and
that's in his contract. Yeah, because he's for the people show.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
He does a great show.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
And he's got a huge fan base.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Oh absolutely, especially in Ohio. They travel to see him
around this state, which is kind of fun. The sounds
of the season with the Central Ohio Symphony on Sunday,
December fourteenth, that will be fun.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah, that'll be with the Central Ohio Symphony. Now we've
been had the last three years. We have a deal
with the Alme doctor Alme and Ingrid his wife. They've
been sponsoring small shows in the pavilion with ensembles from
the Central Illio Symphony, but every year the full Symphony
they do a big holiday show down in Delaware and
so we talked to the executive director Ben Coy, and
I said, you want to bring it to the Palace.
(09:01):
Is we're always looking for a secondary Christmas show. We
do Christmas at the Palace always the first weekend, but
you know, a couple weeks later, a week later, we
like to have another show. So that's what we have
this this year. Sound of the Season.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
That's cool. We'll start twenty twenty six on a touring artist,
Don Jovie the Ultimate Tribute to the music of bon
Jovi on Saturday, January tenth. Should be fun.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Well, you know the tribute bands there are Bread and Butter. Yeah,
because you know I can't afford bon Jovi, so I
got them for less than half the price.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
So you got Don and his buddies.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Yeah, and they did their great show.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
I've had a friend that saw him last year and said,
we had a wonderful time.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Yeap, they're great. I mean, as what I'll do is,
I'll you know, last year the Pink Floyd tribute went
over so well. You know we had the Journey guy
the year before that, Right, you did Journey and Foreigner together,
and I thought, you know, classic rock, there's a niche
in marrying for that and attend.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
The payoff show was fantastic. In March, the Buffet show
was fast Jimmy Buffett.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Yeah, so it's like I wanted to capitalize on that genre.
You know what, Let's do you know some big eighty
nineties and we have later in the season led Zeppelin tribute.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Yeah for sticks and I saw you also have a
sitting here looking at it Stevie Mack, the Fleetwood Mac.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
And they do Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks all in
one show.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Oh, that's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
You know Stevie Nicks is the only one of the Well,
I can't say that for sure. Yeah, to Share, I
don't know Stevie. She is the first woman to be
in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, first
with her Ben and then it's a solo act. I
have a feeling Share is now in it twice too
with Sonny and Share right, and then I think she
got in last year.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Well, the Share tribute act you guys had was fantastic.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Oh, she was fabulous.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
That was such a great show. Loved every minute of that.
So tell me about some of the other things you have.
Apostle Jones soulful, fearless, unforgettable. Tell me about the.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Apostle Jones Mark Neville r Financial manner my last September.
Every year they have a conference. They always changed. It
was Intoledo last year's oapn Ohio Artists Presenters something whatever
the end says. But they have what they call highlights.
They have like you know, band will come on and
(11:18):
do fifteen minutes.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
The kind of showcase.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Yeah, showcase, that's the word I was thinking, I get it.
And Apostle Jones they do all original music, at least
in their showcase. They did, but they were great. They
just were energy. Mikey Silas is the lead singer. They've
been voted like the last two years best band in
Cleveland by the local music scene people. They just blew
me away. Another one that blew me away at the
(11:41):
OAPN is Niki d and the Sisters of Thunder. They
are we're gonna have them kind of tucked between the
Martin Luther King Breakfast and Black History Month, right and
we were partnering with the Piece and Freedom Committee of
Marion for that. Nikki D January twenty fourth, we're putting
her in the pavilion, but we're hoping that if we
(12:01):
get more than two hundred and fifty tickets sold, we'll
move to the Big Theater.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Yeah, yeah, I get that.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
So we're looking forward to that as well.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
You still are reaching way back into old music and
doing some really cool feature shows. I see the Winter
Dance Party, which is a tribute to the Big Bopper
Buddy Holly and Richie Valens. Yeah, that sounds famous.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Winter Dance Party. What it does is recreates the last
concert before they all unfortunately passed away in an airplane crash,
and their tour was called the Winter Dance Party. But
that is produced by the same company and the same
lead guys who do One Night in Memphis, right, so
they alternate that show and they did a great They've
been here twice for us one Night in Memphis. But
(12:43):
the guy that plays Jerry Lee Lewis plays Buddy Holly, Okay,
and it's yeah, one of the guys. But yeah, it's
gonna be great. Yeah. I love that.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
That sounds like a lot of fun. So you've got
quite a lineup. What are some of the things that
I have missed that you want to highlight that are
going to happen in the twenty five to twenty six.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
We got a show called Sinatra and streisand Okay, and
that will be an ape in March of twenty twenty six. Yes,
it's they called the Concert That Never Was. You know,
Frank Sinatra and Barbara Striyce end never performed together or
never toured together, never had a concert together. So this
is they call it the Concert That Never Was. Again.
But we talked about the share tribute last year. The
(13:22):
lady who plays Barbara Strice nd I don't know how
she does it. She does her makeup. She's got the voice,
but she does her makeup that she looks like Barbara
streisand you have to look twice Barbara Streissan like forty
years ago. And so I'm excited about that that show
as well. Of course, we've got our usual Shovel City improv.
(13:42):
We always have them because they're part of the family
at the Palace Theater. But we always been doing a
fundraiser called Evening with Friends. It's usually in the fall
or August or September, but because we had so many
things happening early in the season, we put it May second,
or yeah, May second, twenty twenty six. Next year an
(14:04):
evening with friends. So the cast is you have to
be decided, but it'll be all the local people that
sing and do great things at the Palace.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
I love that. So yeah, I mean what a lineup.
I mean, you want to talk about busy.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
We are businesses.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
This is packed full of really good entertainment. And I
think you're touching every age group. And another one we're
going to hit on that'll help even with some younger
folks is Uprising, which is a high school high schoolers
that play classic rock. I've seen them twice. They're amazing.
You probably know a lot of their parents and families,
the kids that are in this.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
She grew up at the Palace and the kids shows
for years and her dad is the golf car guy.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Yeah, Okay.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
You seem very excited about the schedule that you have
for the next year.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Very excited and very exhausted.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Yeah, it takes a lot. People probably don't know. I mean,
you're you're already working on the following season.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Yeah, I mean I already. Yeah, got a framework really
in the fall, in like September October, I really start to,
you know, talking to the agents.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Right because you've got to be a year year and
a half ahead on some.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Of Yeah, no, iea. And that's why it takes so long.
The last people that we signed are always the big names,
right because you know, we wanted Stephen Curtis Chapman was
one guy. We wanted him from May of twenty twenty six,
and his people are like, he doesn't book that far ahead.
It's like, he doesn't know if he's going to be
(15:36):
touring in twenty twenty. They won't commit. That's why we
got Neil McCoy and Jeremy Camp in the fall, because
that's not so far in the future. But yeah, as.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
You're staying within a six month or seven month out.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Yeah, and so they yeah, and they like to if
I'm like the first act that they book in the area,
they'll go reach out to other theaters in the area
and try to you know, books that they're making a trip,
not just for one show, but a little circuit.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
So today we are announcing the season lineup. How do
the ticket sales go? I know that we start with members, correct.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Yeah, we start with members and level market members can
already buy, and then it goes to the lower levels
general public. I don't know the date, but it's towards
the end of May, right, Okay, however, the tickets are
on sale for everybody for the summer musical, okay, just
because it's right around the corner.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Right, So you can get your Summery Musical tickets now
and depending on your level of membership or just one
to general buy, that's going to be happening right around
Memorial Day or a little bit after that. So check
out the website Marianpalace dot org to get details on
the entire deal. Now, this podcast that you're listening to,
make sure that you share this out. Tell you, tell
your friends. If you know somebody that's interested in a show,
(16:48):
make sure they get contact with this. And we're not
just talking about people that live here in mary in Ohio.
We're talking about people that we'll travel to come to
see some of these amazing shows and enjoy the restaurants
that we have here, the hotels that you have here,
the amenities that go on in Marion. I mean, you
are a key part of tourism in Marrying, Ohio.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Kirk, Wow, I.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Know that's a big shoulder, right, Get you got a
shoulder all.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
That don't suddenly felt well?
Speaker 1 (17:11):
It's true, It's true. People want to come see these shows,
and people want to come see the Palace produced shows,
especially when you've got something like Annie coming on here
in July.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
And for relatively small talent. The amount of local talent
that we have is amazing, it really is.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
And you if you just have to experience a Palace
sater and everything about it, so check this out. Head
over to the Marionpalace dot org website, get your details,
get ready to purchase your tickets for the ninety seventh
season of the Marion Palace Sater that would be for
twenty five and twenty six. Kirk, Thank you so much,
my friend, Thank you very much,
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