Performing With Pickleville On Tour
Have you ever heard of the legendary outlaw El Juandito? Those of you who have have probably visited Bear Lake, where El Juandito has spent many a summer entertaining audiences at the lakeside theatre, Pickleville Playhouse. Once, a few years ago, we were fortunate enough to visit there as a family. It was an experience I will never forget, because the atmosphere was so different than any other I had ever experienced. The talent was phenomenal, the stage was intimate, and the air was fragrant with the fun-filled scent of popcorn and summer.
This year, my actor hubby had the opportunity to co-star in a show with Pickleville On Tour. Ben spent most of March and April traveling back and forth to Logan, Utah to rehearse for the show, which opened the last week of April. It was a fast and quick rehearsal schedule. If you ever wonder what it’s like to be married to an actor, imagine this. We’ve just finished putting dinner on the table and I send someone to go tell Daddy that dinner is ready. He quickly finishes his day job, grabs his show binder, and comes to the table for dinner. After a prayer and a bit of catching up, he hands me the binder and asks if we can run through the entire show. So that’s the rest of our evening- in between bites, we’re laughing and chatting about the fun lines and running the ones he misses over and over until they’re solid.
The next day he leaves midday for Logan, and the kids and I continue on our week’s work. We don’t sit and pine over him being gone. We have way too much to do ourselves. We have a FULL four days of active school lessons with more than ten subjects to cover (language arts, math, science, history, literature, art, music history, foreign language, habits, poetry, memorization, geography). That’s not including day five, where we take time to spend outdoors, visit with friends, go on field trips, cultivate hobbies, engage in sports, and catch up on anything else we’ve missed during the week. As much as we miss him, we know that dividing and conquering is our phase of life right now.
As the show drew nearer, I was able to head up to Logan with Ben, and attend a rehearsal and meet the cast and crew. What a fun bunch of people! I am so grateful that we were able to meet them all. I can’t tell you how sweet it is to associate with other creatives- our fellow dreamers of dreams! The ones who have taken the road less traveled, and found the sweetness, and the difficulties, in it. Friends such as these, who understand the struggles but keep moving forward onto success, are inspiring. I wish to surround myself with them.
When the show finally opened, we were able to support Ben and cheer for him at every show. We loved watching him play Sheriff Griff Miller. By the sixth show my kiddos had every line memorized. No joke. They could quote the entire show by heart, and did to the neighbor kids the entire week after the show closed. Pandy still pretends to be the pirate Clara. Every show they’d laugh and laugh even though they knew the lines- or so they thought. This particular show used a lot of improv, which only seemed to get sillier with each performance. The director of the show, TJ Davis, even invited our kiddos to be part of one of the scenes! What a hoot! If you get a chance to ask the kiddos about it, be prepared for a reenactment of some kind.
Fast forward to now. Pickleville On Tour is back with a Christmas musical written and directed by the same super talented and incredibly funny TJ Davis who wrote, directed, and starred in The Legend of El Diablo. “I Believe in Christmas: A North Pole Musical” is playing in Salt Lake City, UT (December 8-9), Logan, UT (December 21-23), and Idaho Falls, ID (December 16) this upcoming Christmas season! In fact, opening night is THIS Friday, December 8. We have tickets to Saturday night’s performance (December 9 at 7:30), for anyone who would like to join us. I would love to see you there!
I love these people and their company. I can’t think of a better way to truly laugh and play this holiday season. Those of you still on the fence- check out their amazing trailer! If you decide to join us in SLC this weekend, shoot us a text and we’ll tell you where our tickets are so we can sit close to you. Those attending in Logan, also shoot us a text- we might be able to catch up there too. Love you all!
You can get tickets here: https://www.picklevilleontour.com/i-believe-in-christmas-pickleville-on-tour
