June 21, 2024 • 16 mins
The cast of Array, Pigeon Forge’s premiere variety spectacular, chats with Victoria Henley of Backstage Pass about the makings of a successful theatrical production, their favorite behind the scenes moments, and their mission to utilize their show platform for a greater cause.
Be sure to follow @arrayvarietyshow online and on all major social media platforms for exclusive content you won’t find elsewhere!
Be sure to follow @arrayvarietyshow online and on all major social media platforms for exclusive content you won’t find elsewhere!
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(00:00):
Now this is the FCB Podcast Network. This is Fedaccas Pass for Henley.
(00:25):
Hi, everyone, and welcome intoanother episode of Backstage Pass. It's Victoria
Henley here at the Beautiful Mountain ofEntertainment Theater in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
I am so excited to be backhere with some of the casts of Array
Variety Show. So we've got someincredible cast members with us. We're gonna
start off with Ellie, who isthe dance captain. Ellie, how are
you? Hi'm good? Thanks,Thank you so much for being here.
(00:46):
So big fan of the show,and you do an incredible job with all
of the numbers. Walk me througha little bit. What is choreographing these
very complicated routines? What does thatlook like for you? Well, so
I don't choreograph, but we actuallybring in two really incredible choreographers who live
in this area. One of themis Amanda Russell and the other is Amberlynd
Seago who's actually also one of ourperformers. And we rehearsed for about three
(01:11):
weeks, so they choreographed the entireshow. We learned it in two weeks
and then we were cleaning and makingsure everything looked really nice for that last
week, but we learned a fulltwo hour show in about two weeks.
That's incredible. I can't even wrapmy head around that. Like, Okay,
so, how long have you beenwith the theater. What has has
(01:32):
been your experience so far? Yeah? I started here last year in March
with our inaugural season. I wasone of the first cast members in our
main season, and then I didChristmas and now I'm back here again for
the second season. So I've beenworking here for over a year, almost
a year and a half now,and it's been really nice to be on
the ground floor of something new andexciting and bringing a unique show to Pigeon
(01:56):
Forge has been really incredible to bea part of. Absolutely. I mean
it's just from the audience perspective,it's such an incredible thing that you guys
do and that you bring to life. Now I'm in a past. We're
going to get back to Ellie hereDeronte who is forgive me if I get
this wrong. You're the vocal captain, yes, correct, Okay, Well,
you do an incredible job with allof these vocalists. I mean,
what is that like, what isthe dynamic of working with so many different
(02:17):
people. Oh, it's very interesting. I'll say that we have a good
time together and like learning the musictogether. Got Hugh that picks. We
get together and we pick all thesongs for the show and then sitting we
sit down for a couple hours eachnight during rehearsals for about three weeks and
we all learn the music, whichtakes a lot of time and a lot
(02:38):
of them have to go through andfigure out who's singing what song and figure
out what part each parerson we willbe singing. It's a long process,
but we managed to come together anddo it pretty well. So you think
of Pigeon Forge as being more ofa country music talent. You come here,
you're gonna see some comedy, you'regonna hear country. But in this
show, I mean you have everything. There's a beautiful song that you singing
(03:00):
Hebrew and we're actually going to talka little bit more about that. We
have, you know, religious music, we have country music. We have
I think you guys do what didn'tyou do? A song by Rihanna Umbrella?
Yeah music? Oh yes, andI love it. So tell me
a little bit about what does itlook like when you're curating the lineup of
music. There's truly something for everybody. How does your brain work when you're
(03:23):
orchestrating all of that. One ofthe first things we try to think about
is making sure we find songs thatnot only people have heard and those songs
that have been popular, but Ialso try to pick songs that people may
not necessarily know as well, sothat we can introduce them to something new
for sure. For sure, what'sjust exceptional? And I mean when I
tell people about the show, there'ssomething for everybody. I mean, you're
(03:43):
gonna find something. Whether my nineyear old grandma loves it, my mom
loves it, I love it,and it's truly an eclectic mix. So
I'm going to pass this over tomister Jase Here. Jacena, I'm gonna
tell you, I've been a fanof your work since Country Tonight and you've
been the youth performer of this areafor a long time. You're the youngest
cast member of the show. Howold are you ten? You're ten?
Okay, So how long have youbeen doing this? About five years?
(04:08):
Five years? Oh my gosh,that's crazy. I mean, no big
deal, right, So what isit like, I mean, or how
do you find a balance, ifyou find a balance between just being a
kid. Most kids do regular kidsstuff and here you are entertaining you know,
thousands of people, probably millions ofpeople at this point. What is
that like? I think it's justfun to be myself to do what I
(04:28):
like to do. Yeah, it'sjust really fun. And music is what
you like to do. Yeah,that's awesome. What's your favorite number in
the whole show that you do that? I do little bitty pretty, little
bitty. Okay, that's cool.What who sing? I'm not little bitty?
Who sings that song? Little bittypretty one? It's it's a little
bitty pretty one? And why dofoo's following love? I love that?
(04:54):
And so you work with your We'rehearing from from Hugh here, and Hugh
is kind of the guy that overseesall of this. What what's like working
with dad now? Film? II want you to be honest with me.
What's it like? Is it doyou always listen to what Dad has
to say to you? Guys?But oh, give us the inside scoop
on what that's like. It's funto have a parental backstage. He is
(05:16):
a little diplomatic. He's giving methe politician answer, Well, I work
with my mom, and I'm thefirst to tell you we work well together,
but sometimes you kind of you buttheads a little bit. But that's
great that you work with your dadand you just do an awesome job on
stage. So, Hugh, I'mgonna pass this over to you. You're
just doing an incredible job with thistheater, with the show, and not
only are you putting together something thatbrings people joy, but you're touching lives.
(05:40):
Now. When I came into thetheater, you were I'm just gonna
kind of put you on the spot. You were talking to this kind of
biker guy in the in the lobby, and he seemed very emotional and very
touched. Tell us about that particularstory and maybe some other stories of people
that have been touched on a spirituallevel by what you do. You know,
he came, he came to theshow two weeks ago and uh,
(06:01):
in what he heard something in thesong that we were You mentioned the song
in Hebrew and we singing Hebrew,and he heard something in that Hebrew,
in in playing English that we didn'tsing, but he heard it. And
while we were singing in Hebrew,he heard a voice clear as day say
come to the altar and uh,and so he just wanted he came by.
(06:23):
He just came by just now toask me if that was something that
was in that song or if heactually heard it from God. So,
uh, yeah, we and wehear stories like that all the time.
You know. I talked to alady the other day and uh, and
she was crying and she was sotouched by the show and she's going through
chemotherapy and she's just having issues withcancer. She said, from the moment
(06:45):
the curtain opened and I saw you, and I saw your shirt, and
I have a shirt on and thisthis shirt says everything will be okay,
she said. From that very firstshirt, she said, the show was
just everything I needed. And uh, and I feel like we do change
people's lives. I feel like wetouch people's lives more than we know because
we do this every day. Thisis something, this is our job and
(07:05):
we do it every day. Eventhough it's our job, It's not just
a job. You know. Thistheater was started with a mission, and
we feel like this is our purposein life, is to change people's lives
and just to share our hearts withpeople who may never step foot in the
church may never hear the things theyneed to hear, but they need to
(07:27):
hear from our heart and the truththat a relationship with God is real and
not just something you go to churchto listen to. And it's something that
we feel like we were meant toshare with people. I've prayed with people
in the lobby who've come up tome and say, can you pray for
me about this? We have aprayer request option on our website where people
(07:50):
can actually, you know, putin their prayer request and we pray for.
My wife and I do devotions andwe sit at our table and we
pray for those people. So,yeah, I feel like we're doing and
I don't want to I don't wantto take credit, and I don't want
to sound like I'm trying to talkabout how great of a thing we've done.
All we've done is be willing vessels. God has opened every door.
(08:13):
God has put people in our paththat are amazing at what they do.
So we're surrounded by great people.And we certainly can't take all the credit
as far as putting the show together, as far as any of this,
you know, we can't take it. It's it's the power of God and
the talents and abilities of everybody thatwe're surrounded with. Well, you know,
(08:35):
I think to quote P. T. Barnum, and I'm sure I'm
paraphrasing, but he said, thenoblest art is that of making others happy.
And that is what you've done withthe show. I mean, you're
making people happy, You're touching lives, and these performers you brought together too.
I remember I was here the closingshow last year and there was not
a dry eye in the house.And I'm not talking about the audience.
(08:56):
I'm talking about the performers. Allthe performers. It was I don't think
one performer was like not crying,you know, and I've never seen that
for a lot of people, andI know many entertainers. For them it's
a job. And I could tellthat this was more than just a job
for them. And you've created thatatmosphere and that is that is such a
beautiful thing. We're gonna come backto you, Hugh. We're gonna hear
from Hugh of how to book ticketsfor this amazing show because there's so much
(09:18):
coming up. They have the IllusinationShow, Holiday shows, so several different
things that you'll have the opportunity tosee Ellie, I'm gonna bring this back
over you, over to you fora moment. Now. You dance in
so many incredible numbers throughout the show, kind of walk for all of the
fans out there of different types andstyles of dance. What can we expect
to see dance wise in the show. You'll see just about everything. Our
(09:41):
open number is hip hop. Wealso do clogging, We do tap dance.
We do a really beautiful lyrical numberin our gospel section during when you
believe. The Hebrew number that wewere talking about, we actually have prayer
flags and it's a lyrical number,but it has a bit more of a
spirit full element to it. There'ssome Latin style dancing as well, so
(10:03):
we really touch on all forms ofdance as well. So not only are
we a variety show in music andcontent, but a variety of dance styles
and different genres as well. Sure, absolutely, and Durante, I have
to to ask you, because youyou oversee the vocal elements of the show,
what's your favorite vocal number? Whatis the acapella? Lember? We
(10:26):
do phantom? That one I actuallyapproached to you the other night after I
because I love the Phantom of theOpera. It's my favorite and I've never
heard it performed quite like that.You have it. You know, the
beat goes really hard to it.It's just really incredible to walk us through.
Was that Pentatonics? Where where doesthat come from? No? The
version that we do, oh mygoodness, who is It's not? No,
(10:54):
it's not who is? It putme on the spot. It's just
a really great but completely different versionsyou get when you go to Ecstacy Phantom
of the Opera. It's just somethingI ran across. I found it just
kind of searching for music and Iran across it and I'm like, oh
my gosh, this is it.We've got to do this. Yeah,
and we're finding that we really liketo do numbers that are very different.
(11:16):
We'll take a version of a songand flip it and do it in a
different style as opposed to the originalstyle, just so people get get to
hear the same song but in adifferent form, and it's something fresh and
unexpected as well. So I haveto ask. I'm just going to leave
this open. The costumes of thisshow are exquisite, and there was a
void in this town you know,you go to a lot of shows and
I'm not knocking them. I lovethe shows here in town, but you
(11:37):
see overalls and straw hats because it'scountry, and then you come here,
I love fashion and I'm just blownaway by the quick changes the wardrobe.
They even have quick change artists thatyou can expect to see. But who
does the costumes for the show?You do? The costumes? Really wow?
And do you so? How doesthat work? Do you make them
by handy? The dazzle? Wedo do a mixture of things. We
have a team of ladies that wehire that come in at the top of
(11:58):
each season and we sit down andwe talk through the show and figure out
what each look should look like dependingon the song and depending on the movement
that's going to be happening. Andthen we have a huge warehouse full of
costumes there. We go through andwe try to pull things that we have
in there. We try to takesome things and maybe add rhyme stone to
them, as different fabrics to them, new zippers so they don't of course,
(12:24):
you know, just making sure thateach look is different. We try
to make sure there's a change forevery song. That doesn't always happen,
but we try to make sure thatthere's something different so that you know,
the audience's eyes are kind of wildwith the looks from each song. The
song. Yeah, it's such avisceral show and like every to me,
every element of it. The vocalsare there, the dancing is there,
(12:45):
the fashion, it's just it's areally dazzling show. So, Jase,
I know you're you're double. You'reso impressive. You're double. What are
you doing homework? Are we doingalgebra? I can't sell it? So
he's doing his arithmetic? Look atyou. Okay, I was homeschool too,
I know how that was. I'dbe at my fashion shows doing the
stuff. So, uh, Jace, what what is your I mean,
you're only ten. What does thefuture look like for you? Have you?
What's your do you have a fewyears from now? What do you
(13:07):
see yourself doing this? I'm sure, Uh, I've never really thought that
far. You're just you're just enjoyingthe moment, right Okay, Okay,
So I've got to ask you what'syour favorite thing to do when you're not
doing this? Because I've only seenyou when you're performing, and you're great
at it. What's a normal kidthing you do, play with my dog
(13:28):
shit at home, playing games.Nice? Nice, Okay, So yeah,
I gotta gotta keep that balance inwell again, if you're looking for,
you know, a show that hasit all youth performers, Jase does
an amazing job with that, Hugh. We're going to kind of end on
what do you want people to knowabout this show that sets it apart from
the rest, and how do weget connected with you on all the social
(13:50):
platforms. Our big our big thingis that when we created a show,
we wanted to create something that youcouldn't just go down the street and see
as well. Uh and you touchedon it earlier. There was a show
in town a few years back.It was an amazing variety show and they
had a lot of different things.When they closed down, it left a
huge hole in this town, andwe always thought, that's the kind of
(14:11):
show we want to put in thetown if we ever get this opportunity.
Once we did, we weren't tryingto replace that show. We weren't trying
to be you know, Opry twopoint zero, but we did want to
fill that hole that they left,and to the best of our ability,
we wanted to improve upon that.So I think with the specialty acts that
we have, the variety that comesin the juggler comedian, our magician,
(14:37):
our gaucho acts, our quick changeartists, our aerial artists, and all
of these different acts, these aresomething that you know you're not just going
to go anywhere and see. Sothat's what we went and in the top
of it all, we wanted towrap out all up in a giant,
big celebration of life, just soeverybody left feeling really good and knowing that
they had a great time in solid, top quality entertainment. To see that,
(15:01):
you can go to a Ray Varietyshow online and it'll tell you everything
you need to do. You caneven buy tickets there. You can call
our box office. I think that'seight six five two four five four three
eight six. It's two four fivefor fun if that makes it easier for
you. But yeah, those arethose are the ways to get Ahold Ofvious
and we'd be glad to help youout. We have a combo package because
(15:22):
we do have a magic show inthe afternoons. It's called Illusination. It's
a great show, incredible magic show, and it's one of the best magic
show I've ever seen for kids,so it's for whole families, but kids
absolutely love it. So that's weoffer a combo deal where you get thirty
three percent off of the show whenyou book both of them. So nice,
(15:43):
go online, call us or juststop by on the parkway. Absolutely
and you will be so glad thatyou did a ray. We'll post all
of the web links, all ofthe social media handles, and of course
illusination make sure you check out thatincredible show as well here at the Mountain
of Entertainment Theater in the beautiful SmokyMountains. Thank you all so much for
joining us today. It's been sogreat pleasure. Thank you. It's good
(16:07):
to see you guys, both ofyou. Always so good to see you.
Yes, my my mom Lynn,as all of you know, she
is here. You can hear hertaking pictures in the back. Well.
Thank you as always for joining uson backstage pass. We'll see you next
time. This has been a presentationof the FCB podcast Network, where Real
(16:34):
Talk Lives. Visit us online atFcbpodcasts dot com.
Now this is the FCB Podcast Network. This is Fedaccas Pass for Henley.
(00:25):
Hi, everyone, and welcome intoanother episode of Backstage Pass. It's Victoria
Henley here at the Beautiful Mountain ofEntertainment Theater in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
I am so excited to be backhere with some of the casts of Array
Variety Show. So we've got someincredible cast members with us. We're gonna
start off with Ellie, who isthe dance captain. Ellie, how are
you? Hi'm good? Thanks,Thank you so much for being here.
(00:46):
So big fan of the show,and you do an incredible job with all
of the numbers. Walk me througha little bit. What is choreographing these
very complicated routines? What does thatlook like for you? Well, so
I don't choreograph, but we actuallybring in two really incredible choreographers who live
in this area. One of themis Amanda Russell and the other is Amberlynd
Seago who's actually also one of ourperformers. And we rehearsed for about three
(01:11):
weeks, so they choreographed the entireshow. We learned it in two weeks
and then we were cleaning and makingsure everything looked really nice for that last
week, but we learned a fulltwo hour show in about two weeks.
That's incredible. I can't even wrapmy head around that. Like, Okay,
so, how long have you beenwith the theater. What has has
(01:32):
been your experience so far? Yeah? I started here last year in March
with our inaugural season. I wasone of the first cast members in our
main season, and then I didChristmas and now I'm back here again for
the second season. So I've beenworking here for over a year, almost
a year and a half now,and it's been really nice to be on
the ground floor of something new andexciting and bringing a unique show to Pigeon
(01:56):
Forge has been really incredible to bea part of. Absolutely. I mean
it's just from the audience perspective,it's such an incredible thing that you guys
do and that you bring to life. Now I'm in a past. We're
going to get back to Ellie hereDeronte who is forgive me if I get
this wrong. You're the vocal captain, yes, correct, Okay, Well,
you do an incredible job with allof these vocalists. I mean,
what is that like, what isthe dynamic of working with so many different
(02:17):
people. Oh, it's very interesting. I'll say that we have a good
time together and like learning the musictogether. Got Hugh that picks. We
get together and we pick all thesongs for the show and then sitting we
sit down for a couple hours eachnight during rehearsals for about three weeks and
we all learn the music, whichtakes a lot of time and a lot
(02:38):
of them have to go through andfigure out who's singing what song and figure
out what part each parerson we willbe singing. It's a long process,
but we managed to come together anddo it pretty well. So you think
of Pigeon Forge as being more ofa country music talent. You come here,
you're gonna see some comedy, you'regonna hear country. But in this
show, I mean you have everything. There's a beautiful song that you singing
(03:00):
Hebrew and we're actually going to talka little bit more about that. We
have, you know, religious music, we have country music. We have
I think you guys do what didn'tyou do? A song by Rihanna Umbrella?
Yeah music? Oh yes, andI love it. So tell me
a little bit about what does itlook like when you're curating the lineup of
music. There's truly something for everybody. How does your brain work when you're
(03:23):
orchestrating all of that. One ofthe first things we try to think about
is making sure we find songs thatnot only people have heard and those songs
that have been popular, but Ialso try to pick songs that people may
not necessarily know as well, sothat we can introduce them to something new
for sure. For sure, what'sjust exceptional? And I mean when I
tell people about the show, there'ssomething for everybody. I mean, you're
(03:43):
gonna find something. Whether my nineyear old grandma loves it, my mom
loves it, I love it,and it's truly an eclectic mix. So
I'm going to pass this over tomister Jase Here. Jacena, I'm gonna
tell you, I've been a fanof your work since Country Tonight and you've
been the youth performer of this areafor a long time. You're the youngest
cast member of the show. Howold are you ten? You're ten?
Okay, So how long have youbeen doing this? About five years?
(04:08):
Five years? Oh my gosh,that's crazy. I mean, no big
deal, right, So what isit like, I mean, or how
do you find a balance, ifyou find a balance between just being a
kid. Most kids do regular kidsstuff and here you are entertaining you know,
thousands of people, probably millions ofpeople at this point. What is
that like? I think it's justfun to be myself to do what I
(04:28):
like to do. Yeah, it'sjust really fun. And music is what
you like to do. Yeah,that's awesome. What's your favorite number in
the whole show that you do that? I do little bitty pretty, little
bitty. Okay, that's cool.What who sing? I'm not little bitty?
Who sings that song? Little bittypretty one? It's it's a little
bitty pretty one? And why dofoo's following love? I love that?
(04:54):
And so you work with your We'rehearing from from Hugh here, and Hugh
is kind of the guy that overseesall of this. What what's like working
with dad now? Film? II want you to be honest with me.
What's it like? Is it doyou always listen to what Dad has
to say to you? Guys?But oh, give us the inside scoop
on what that's like. It's funto have a parental backstage. He is
(05:16):
a little diplomatic. He's giving methe politician answer, Well, I work
with my mom, and I'm thefirst to tell you we work well together,
but sometimes you kind of you buttheads a little bit. But that's
great that you work with your dadand you just do an awesome job on
stage. So, Hugh, I'mgonna pass this over to you. You're
just doing an incredible job with thistheater, with the show, and not
only are you putting together something thatbrings people joy, but you're touching lives.
(05:40):
Now. When I came into thetheater, you were I'm just gonna
kind of put you on the spot. You were talking to this kind of
biker guy in the in the lobby, and he seemed very emotional and very
touched. Tell us about that particularstory and maybe some other stories of people
that have been touched on a spirituallevel by what you do. You know,
he came, he came to theshow two weeks ago and uh,
(06:01):
in what he heard something in thesong that we were You mentioned the song
in Hebrew and we singing Hebrew,and he heard something in that Hebrew,
in in playing English that we didn'tsing, but he heard it. And
while we were singing in Hebrew,he heard a voice clear as day say
come to the altar and uh,and so he just wanted he came by.
(06:23):
He just came by just now toask me if that was something that
was in that song or if heactually heard it from God. So,
uh, yeah, we and wehear stories like that all the time.
You know. I talked to alady the other day and uh, and
she was crying and she was sotouched by the show and she's going through
chemotherapy and she's just having issues withcancer. She said, from the moment
(06:45):
the curtain opened and I saw you, and I saw your shirt, and
I have a shirt on and thisthis shirt says everything will be okay,
she said. From that very firstshirt, she said, the show was
just everything I needed. And uh, and I feel like we do change
people's lives. I feel like wetouch people's lives more than we know because
we do this every day. Thisis something, this is our job and
(07:05):
we do it every day. Eventhough it's our job, It's not just
a job. You know. Thistheater was started with a mission, and
we feel like this is our purposein life, is to change people's lives
and just to share our hearts withpeople who may never step foot in the
church may never hear the things theyneed to hear, but they need to
(07:27):
hear from our heart and the truththat a relationship with God is real and
not just something you go to churchto listen to. And it's something that
we feel like we were meant toshare with people. I've prayed with people
in the lobby who've come up tome and say, can you pray for
me about this? We have aprayer request option on our website where people
(07:50):
can actually, you know, putin their prayer request and we pray for.
My wife and I do devotions andwe sit at our table and we
pray for those people. So,yeah, I feel like we're doing and
I don't want to I don't wantto take credit, and I don't want
to sound like I'm trying to talkabout how great of a thing we've done.
All we've done is be willing vessels. God has opened every door.
(08:13):
God has put people in our paththat are amazing at what they do.
So we're surrounded by great people.And we certainly can't take all the credit
as far as putting the show together, as far as any of this,
you know, we can't take it. It's it's the power of God and
the talents and abilities of everybody thatwe're surrounded with. Well, you know,
(08:35):
I think to quote P. T. Barnum, and I'm sure I'm
paraphrasing, but he said, thenoblest art is that of making others happy.
And that is what you've done withthe show. I mean, you're
making people happy, You're touching lives, and these performers you brought together too.
I remember I was here the closingshow last year and there was not
a dry eye in the house.And I'm not talking about the audience.
(08:56):
I'm talking about the performers. Allthe performers. It was I don't think
one performer was like not crying,you know, and I've never seen that
for a lot of people, andI know many entertainers. For them it's
a job. And I could tellthat this was more than just a job
for them. And you've created thatatmosphere and that is that is such a
beautiful thing. We're gonna come backto you, Hugh. We're gonna hear
from Hugh of how to book ticketsfor this amazing show because there's so much
(09:18):
coming up. They have the IllusinationShow, Holiday shows, so several different
things that you'll have the opportunity tosee Ellie, I'm gonna bring this back
over you, over to you fora moment. Now. You dance in
so many incredible numbers throughout the show, kind of walk for all of the
fans out there of different types andstyles of dance. What can we expect
to see dance wise in the show. You'll see just about everything. Our
(09:41):
open number is hip hop. Wealso do clogging, We do tap dance.
We do a really beautiful lyrical numberin our gospel section during when you
believe. The Hebrew number that wewere talking about, we actually have prayer
flags and it's a lyrical number,but it has a bit more of a
spirit full element to it. There'ssome Latin style dancing as well, so
(10:03):
we really touch on all forms ofdance as well. So not only are
we a variety show in music andcontent, but a variety of dance styles
and different genres as well. Sure, absolutely, and Durante, I have
to to ask you, because youyou oversee the vocal elements of the show,
what's your favorite vocal number? Whatis the acapella? Lember? We
(10:26):
do phantom? That one I actuallyapproached to you the other night after I
because I love the Phantom of theOpera. It's my favorite and I've never
heard it performed quite like that.You have it. You know, the
beat goes really hard to it.It's just really incredible to walk us through.
Was that Pentatonics? Where where doesthat come from? No? The
version that we do, oh mygoodness, who is It's not? No,
(10:54):
it's not who is? It putme on the spot. It's just
a really great but completely different versionsyou get when you go to Ecstacy Phantom
of the Opera. It's just somethingI ran across. I found it just
kind of searching for music and Iran across it and I'm like, oh
my gosh, this is it.We've got to do this. Yeah,
and we're finding that we really liketo do numbers that are very different.
(11:16):
We'll take a version of a songand flip it and do it in a
different style as opposed to the originalstyle, just so people get get to
hear the same song but in adifferent form, and it's something fresh and
unexpected as well. So I haveto ask. I'm just going to leave
this open. The costumes of thisshow are exquisite, and there was a
void in this town you know,you go to a lot of shows and
I'm not knocking them. I lovethe shows here in town, but you
(11:37):
see overalls and straw hats because it'scountry, and then you come here,
I love fashion and I'm just blownaway by the quick changes the wardrobe.
They even have quick change artists thatyou can expect to see. But who
does the costumes for the show?You do? The costumes? Really wow?
And do you so? How doesthat work? Do you make them
by handy? The dazzle? Wedo do a mixture of things. We
have a team of ladies that wehire that come in at the top of
(11:58):
each season and we sit down andwe talk through the show and figure out
what each look should look like dependingon the song and depending on the movement
that's going to be happening. Andthen we have a huge warehouse full of
costumes there. We go through andwe try to pull things that we have
in there. We try to takesome things and maybe add rhyme stone to
them, as different fabrics to them, new zippers so they don't of course,
(12:24):
you know, just making sure thateach look is different. We try
to make sure there's a change forevery song. That doesn't always happen,
but we try to make sure thatthere's something different so that you know,
the audience's eyes are kind of wildwith the looks from each song. The
song. Yeah, it's such avisceral show and like every to me,
every element of it. The vocalsare there, the dancing is there,
(12:45):
the fashion, it's just it's areally dazzling show. So, Jase,
I know you're you're double. You'reso impressive. You're double. What are
you doing homework? Are we doingalgebra? I can't sell it? So
he's doing his arithmetic? Look atyou. Okay, I was homeschool too,
I know how that was. I'dbe at my fashion shows doing the
stuff. So, uh, Jace, what what is your I mean,
you're only ten. What does thefuture look like for you? Have you?
What's your do you have a fewyears from now? What do you
(13:07):
see yourself doing this? I'm sure, Uh, I've never really thought that
far. You're just you're just enjoyingthe moment, right Okay, Okay,
So I've got to ask you what'syour favorite thing to do when you're not
doing this? Because I've only seenyou when you're performing, and you're great
at it. What's a normal kidthing you do, play with my dog
(13:28):
shit at home, playing games.Nice? Nice, Okay, So yeah,
I gotta gotta keep that balance inwell again, if you're looking for,
you know, a show that hasit all youth performers, Jase does
an amazing job with that, Hugh. We're going to kind of end on
what do you want people to knowabout this show that sets it apart from
the rest, and how do weget connected with you on all the social
(13:50):
platforms. Our big our big thingis that when we created a show,
we wanted to create something that youcouldn't just go down the street and see
as well. Uh and you touchedon it earlier. There was a show
in town a few years back.It was an amazing variety show and they
had a lot of different things.When they closed down, it left a
huge hole in this town, andwe always thought, that's the kind of
(14:11):
show we want to put in thetown if we ever get this opportunity.
Once we did, we weren't tryingto replace that show. We weren't trying
to be you know, Opry twopoint zero, but we did want to
fill that hole that they left,and to the best of our ability,
we wanted to improve upon that.So I think with the specialty acts that
we have, the variety that comesin the juggler comedian, our magician,
(14:37):
our gaucho acts, our quick changeartists, our aerial artists, and all
of these different acts, these aresomething that you know you're not just going
to go anywhere and see. Sothat's what we went and in the top
of it all, we wanted towrap out all up in a giant,
big celebration of life, just soeverybody left feeling really good and knowing that
they had a great time in solid, top quality entertainment. To see that,
(15:01):
you can go to a Ray Varietyshow online and it'll tell you everything
you need to do. You caneven buy tickets there. You can call
our box office. I think that'seight six five two four five four three
eight six. It's two four fivefor fun if that makes it easier for
you. But yeah, those arethose are the ways to get Ahold Ofvious
and we'd be glad to help youout. We have a combo package because
(15:22):
we do have a magic show inthe afternoons. It's called Illusination. It's
a great show, incredible magic show, and it's one of the best magic
show I've ever seen for kids,so it's for whole families, but kids
absolutely love it. So that's weoffer a combo deal where you get thirty
three percent off of the show whenyou book both of them. So nice,
(15:43):
go online, call us or juststop by on the parkway. Absolutely
and you will be so glad thatyou did a ray. We'll post all
of the web links, all ofthe social media handles, and of course
illusination make sure you check out thatincredible show as well here at the Mountain
of Entertainment Theater in the beautiful SmokyMountains. Thank you all so much for
joining us today. It's been sogreat pleasure. Thank you. It's good
(16:07):
to see you guys, both ofyou. Always so good to see you.
Yes, my my mom Lynn,as all of you know, she
is here. You can hear hertaking pictures in the back. Well.
Thank you as always for joining uson backstage pass. We'll see you next
time. This has been a presentationof the FCB podcast Network, where Real
(16:34):
Talk Lives. Visit us online atFcbpodcasts dot com.
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