Speaker 1: Good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome, welcome, welcome. It's
Speaker 1: time now for our community connection right here on K one,
Speaker 1: the one you trust in. Boy, we are going to
Speaker 1: Broadway and bartles William Style today. How are we doing,
Speaker 1: Miss Valerie doing well?
Speaker 2: Thank you? Thanks Tom for having me too.
Speaker 1: It's always a pleasure having you in here today. You're
Speaker 1: the director of Development and Programming of course here at
Speaker 1: the Center for Arts, Events and Community. That's our big
Speaker 1: name change.
Speaker 2: Well, we're still the Community Center. Yeah, and we've kind
Speaker 2: of always had that nickname of the Center or the BCC,
Speaker 2: so we use that interchangeably and it works. Yeah. We
Speaker 2: are the center of everything, everything fun and exciting, center of.
Speaker 1: The fun universe.
Speaker 2: That's right.
Speaker 1: Speaking of fun, we got a lot going on. We've
Speaker 1: got the summer Citizlings series, plus we got Broadway. We've
Speaker 1: got just a little bit of erasmut as for everybody,
Speaker 1: don't we.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're super excited. We've got just a wonderful lineup
Speaker 2: of Broadway and Bartlesfield shows this year. We've got four
Speaker 2: main stage shows and then we've got two add ons.
Speaker 2: This year, we heard the cry from the public that yes,
Speaker 2: they wanted some family programming that was, you know, very
Speaker 2: strategic to families, and maybe a show that wasn't two
Speaker 2: and a half to three hours long. So we've done
Speaker 2: some add ons and I'm happy to tell you about
Speaker 2: all of the shows.
Speaker 1: So let's start off with what's what's coming from Broadway
Speaker 1: right here to Bartlesville.
Speaker 2: So we're starting off. Our first Broadway show is going
Speaker 2: to be on Thursday, November the twentieth, and it's Cirk
Speaker 2: Dreams Holidays, which is kind of a feast for the eyes.
Speaker 2: It's the circus right on the main stage.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: So they're going to be acrobatics and aerials and all
Speaker 2: kinds of fun things. People jumping around, great costuming, holiday music.
Speaker 2: It'd just be a great way to a sh you're
Speaker 2: in the holiday season, right before Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1: Remember the lions or elephants we're talking about.
Speaker 2: We're talking about like the circus l a type thing.
Speaker 1: To make sure that folks didn't get the wrong idea, there.
Speaker 2: Will be no elephants, I don't think not this time.
Speaker 2: But it's really cool, Tom. I got to tell you
Speaker 2: we are doing what they call a tech, the tech
Speaker 2: for the show. So what happens is the we're the
Speaker 2: start of the national tour for Service Dreams Holidays. So
Speaker 2: they'll all roll into town. They'll come into Bartlesville, stay
Speaker 2: in our hotels, eat in our restaurants, shop at the
Speaker 2: local stores, and then they'll be putting up the show,
Speaker 2: as they say, right on our stage. So they'll be
Speaker 2: learning all their moves, focusing lights, working on the sound, choreography,
Speaker 2: all that good stuff. Yeah, but they'll they'll bring all
Speaker 2: their creative team and they'll all just be here working
Speaker 2: on our stage and kind of living in Bartlesville for
Speaker 2: a couple of weeks and then they put up a
Speaker 2: show on the twentieth of November and then off they go.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: So yeah, we're really excited about that one.
Speaker 1: Well, we have coming up next.
Speaker 2: So after that we jumped to the new year. We
Speaker 2: have the Choir of Man, which that's in January, and
Speaker 2: you all have seen that before, so it was it
Speaker 2: came through town a few years ago and it's such
Speaker 2: a great show. It's ninety minutes straight through just foot tapping.
Speaker 2: Think about like, I don't know, the ten tenors meets
Speaker 2: kind of a dueling piano type thing where they use
Speaker 2: kind of a stomp thing too, where they use everything
Speaker 2: on the stage that's set up like a bar as
Speaker 2: an instrument, and there's a lot of harmonies and a
Speaker 2: lot of a cappella and really fun.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's going to be on my bucket.
Speaker 2: Oh yes, and they're Irish, so it's.
Speaker 1: Like that makes a difference in my family.
Speaker 2: You know, they're doing a little bit of you know, oh,
Speaker 2: Danny Boy might be included in there. Don't quote me
Speaker 2: on that, but it's happened before, so yeah, I think
Speaker 2: it'll be a good one.
Speaker 1: Let's see Irish guys in the bar Danny Boy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it can happen.
Speaker 2: It's super fun. It's just a lot of fun. And
Speaker 2: they'll be singing songs off Broadway just you know, just
Speaker 2: great songs that people are going to recognize and want
Speaker 2: to sing along. So it's exciting.
Speaker 1: Don't mind the prey behind us, Yes, really, it happens here.
Speaker 2: All the bills and whistles happening.
Speaker 1: I see. You have one of my favorite productions of
Speaker 1: all time coming up in March, The music Man.
Speaker 2: The Music Man, Yes, that's going to be on March
Speaker 2: twenty third, and just your classic you know, Mary and
Speaker 2: the Library and You Got a Lover. It's going to
Speaker 2: be one of well, definitely our classic show. So and
Speaker 2: then we finish out the season kind of early again
Speaker 2: this season because the end of March we're bringing in
Speaker 2: the Tina Turner Musical and that one is incredible. So
Speaker 2: it's the Life Life of Tina Turner tribute show.
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's going to be a little bit of everything. Yeah,
Speaker 1: from the days to days where she's collecting Grammys like
Speaker 1: people collect, you know as Nate screen stamps, one of those. Wow,
Speaker 1: she had a career.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but there's more, there's more, Tom, Yes, I mentioned
Speaker 2: those add on shows. Yes, So what we're doing is
Speaker 2: we're flanking the season with an add on show, all right,
Speaker 2: And so on September the thirtieth, we've got blank Space,
Speaker 2: the unofficial Taylor Swift Tribute Show coming through and the
Speaker 2: gal that plays Taylor Swift, if you bumped into her
Speaker 2: in the grocery store, you might just think you met
Speaker 2: Taylor Swift. That it's it's uncanny there. The resemblance is uncanny,
Speaker 2: and so we're in for a great treat. She's out
Speaker 2: of Los Angeles, travels with the full band and backup singers,
Speaker 2: and it's just a really fun show with all all
Speaker 2: the era you know, the different songs of Taylor Swift eras.
Speaker 2: It's going to be a great way for families to
Speaker 2: get a Taylor Swift tribute experience, you know, without paying
Speaker 2: that high dollar for the.
Speaker 1: Ticket or traveling around the world to catch her. Right,
Speaker 1: this is coming up on Tuesday, September thirtieth, and I'd
Speaker 1: be anticipating to sellout crowd.
Speaker 2: I think we're going to get close. We we have
Speaker 2: priced those tickets to sell to families, so we have
Speaker 2: family bundles available, you know, for under ninety dollars for
Speaker 2: four seats, just so we want you can get the
Speaker 2: people in the door to experience what Broadway is all
Speaker 2: about and kind of get them hooked.
Speaker 1: Wow, it's a good way to do it. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: see we got something. Dinosaur World what's this? Dinosaur World Live.
Speaker 2: Dinosaur World Live is a wonderful theatrical experience for children
Speaker 2: and families. It is life size puppets that look you know,
Speaker 2: very very real. So and it's also shorter program so
Speaker 2: for those littles that can't sit still for three hours,
Speaker 2: or for the adults that can't sit still for three hours. Yeah,
Speaker 2: So it's it's a very fun show just it's interactive,
Speaker 2: so there's there'll be a lot to keep their attention
Speaker 2: during the show.
Speaker 1: That is really going to be cool. I I have
Speaker 1: yet to meet a youngster that didn't think dinosaurs are cool.
Speaker 2: Of that, I love them, and that one is also
Speaker 2: we also have family packs available for that good so
Speaker 2: it's just a lot of great programming family style we have.
Speaker 2: We actually have a season ticket that includes the four
Speaker 2: main stage shows, so Cirque, Choir of Man, Music Man,
Speaker 2: and Tina, and then we have a family kind of
Speaker 2: package that we've put together that includes Blank Space, Cirque,
Speaker 2: the Music Man, and then Dinosaur World, so it leaves
Speaker 2: out Choir of Man and Tina, which are geared a
Speaker 2: little bit more toward the adult. The adults.
Speaker 1: Well, god, you did your whole work, and my goodness,
Speaker 1: this looks like a winning lot. Wow.
Speaker 2: Our team's been working hard. We start working on Broadway
Speaker 2: at least at least a year before we even announced
Speaker 2: the series. So right now we're working on next season already,
Speaker 2: which I can't tell you about, so don't even ask.
Speaker 1: I won't. I'm trying to digest this. This is really good.
Speaker 1: I'm really looking forward to this season. It's going to
Speaker 1: be wonderful, Like you said, just a little bit of
Speaker 1: something for everyone, and a lot more heavier on family side.
Speaker 1: You have so many families that want to show their
Speaker 1: kids the experience of the Broadway entertainment and things like that.
Speaker 1: This is a great way to get a taste right
Speaker 1: here at your very own center in your hometown.
Speaker 2: Right You can be home in ten minutes after the show.
Speaker 1: You know something about this is one thing that kind
Speaker 1: of sold our family. When we came to Bartlesville six
Speaker 1: years ago. I didn't know exactly where I was going.
Speaker 1: I was on Adams Street trying to find Frank Phillips
Speaker 1: so I could come here and you know, talk to
Speaker 1: people and see about things. And I stopped at the
Speaker 1: on queue. I said, what's that. I said, Oh, well
Speaker 1: that's the Community Center. I said, oh really, what do
Speaker 1: they do there? I said, Broadway stuff and big shows
Speaker 1: and everything. Oh, it's really popular. They said Broadway shows
Speaker 1: in this town. Oh yeah, it happens all the time.
Speaker 1: And it was like, no sweat. Nobody was trying to
Speaker 1: sell me anything. They're just like, yeah, that's kind of
Speaker 1: what we do here. And I'm like going. I saw
Speaker 1: that in the Price Tower and I'm thinking myself, well,
Speaker 1: listening's out too bad. It sounds actually pretty darn good.
Speaker 2: Well I'm glad you brought that up, Tom, because a
Speaker 2: lot of people assume that the shows that are on
Speaker 2: the stages in the Broadway shows in the Broadway Series
Speaker 2: are local or regional acts. But these are national touring shows.
Speaker 2: They are so they're the cast, the same cast that
Speaker 2: you would see in Tulsa or Kansas City, or Dallas
Speaker 2: or Chicago. So what happens is the after the shows
Speaker 2: sit down in those larger cities where people are coming
Speaker 2: to the larger cities to fill the house every night,
Speaker 2: then they start going out on the road and they'll
Speaker 2: do full weeks or split weeks, and then eventually they
Speaker 2: cut it down to single nights. So you can imagine
Speaker 2: how the cast is. You know, they're very energetic, but
Speaker 2: they're in a different town every night, kind of like
Speaker 2: a band is on the.
Speaker 1: That makes it exciting too, because although you get there,
Speaker 1: you get a little bit of a walk through and everything, okay,
Speaker 1: that's where this is. Okay, there's the bathrooms. We're good,
Speaker 1: and the next thing you know, they're putting on that
Speaker 1: show and it's not the same old, same old. This
Speaker 1: is fresh. This is as exciting as a dynamic. This
Speaker 1: is new. I might have been doing these lines for
Speaker 1: ten years, but you know what, it's fresh tonight. And
Speaker 1: we're the beneficiaries of that because they're coming out there,
Speaker 1: you know, all filled with adrenaline, ready to perform just
Speaker 1: for you in a new place, in the new setting.
Speaker 2: They're always amazed. They walk in our stage and they
Speaker 2: you know, they hear Broadway or Bartlesville Community Center and
Speaker 2: they're like, oh, we're you know, we're going to be
Speaker 2: in a school hall kind of thing. And they walk
Speaker 2: in and see that Marie Foster performing Arts hall and
Speaker 2: they're just blown away by the acoustics, the way the
Speaker 2: you know, the building looks that the architecture have in
Speaker 2: the Price Tower right across the the green space from us.
Speaker 2: I mean, they're very thrilled.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, it is really something else. I think
Speaker 1: the first program that we saw it was actually CMT's
Speaker 1: Oklahoma when we moved here and the kids did it
Speaker 1: and we were looking around like this is We thought
Speaker 1: it was big on the outside, it's a huge. And
Speaker 1: they stopt that room over there for other things and wow,
Speaker 1: and then the sound We then later saw our Jersey
Speaker 1: Boys and the Million Dollar Quartet, the Beatles Group of Liverpool.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Liverpool Legends, and the sound.
Speaker 1: The acoustics are just absolutely awesome, you know.
Speaker 2: The world renowned, and we take great pride in that.
Speaker 2: Even you know, probably it's probably even fifteen years ago.
Speaker 2: We redid the acoustical drapes in the building. We went
Speaker 2: to great lengths. The Trust Authority did all their research
Speaker 2: by bringing in experts from around the country measuring the
Speaker 2: acoustical properties of the room before they took the old
Speaker 2: drapes down, making sure that the new fabric was the
Speaker 2: right caliber, and then they measured the afterwards and they
Speaker 2: were just like right there with the same quality. And
Speaker 2: I mean, it makes all the difference for a great
Speaker 2: stage like ours.
Speaker 1: One thing I've noticed too, is that there's a little
Speaker 1: bit of a change in the sound system used to be.
Speaker 1: If you went to something like this, I'll compare it
Speaker 1: to the Phillips Center at the University of Florida. You'd
Speaker 1: see these big speakers just hanging off the ceiling and
Speaker 1: off the wall, and you're going to get crushed by
Speaker 1: one if you had anything the signs of a trummor
Speaker 1: well we've got you. How do you make so much
Speaker 1: sound with so much less you don't have all that
Speaker 1: bulky stuff.
Speaker 2: Around there definitely a question for our tech director, Bill Sheverton.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, sounds awesome.
Speaker 2: But yes, technology is just amazing. I mean, you know
Speaker 2: our lighting texts and Bill and his crew they're walking
Speaker 2: around with an iPad now instead of a big light board,
Speaker 2: you know, and just monitoring sound and lights from their iPad.
Speaker 2: And the equipment is getting smaller too, so those those
Speaker 2: big you know, the big speakers you were talking about,
Speaker 2: are now smaller but better quality. It's just unbelievable how
Speaker 2: quickly that changes all for.
Speaker 1: The good too. And this is really awesome. So how
Speaker 1: can we find out online what's coming up and then
Speaker 1: just by saying, oh that looks good, punch a button
Speaker 1: on our keyboard and buy tickets.
Speaker 2: Yes, so you can go to Bartlesville Center dot com
Speaker 2: and in the top right corner there's a button that
Speaker 2: says tickets. Huh it's that easy.
Speaker 1: Well, you've been an idiot like me can do it.
Speaker 2: That's super easy. So you can do that online. And
Speaker 2: I know we have not lost touch with the public
Speaker 2: and just our patrons in Bartlesville. You can actually pick
Speaker 2: up the phone and call nine one eight three three
Speaker 2: seven arts and get a live person on the phone
Speaker 2: between nine am and five pm and we'll help you
Speaker 2: with all your ticket needs just on the phone.
Speaker 1: And you know something, there's a good segment of the
Speaker 1: population who just likes hearing a friendly voice on the
Speaker 1: other end, and you've got a lot of friendly voices
Speaker 1: where you guys are.
Speaker 2: Our team is awesome. Yeah, I lead, You're awesome, and
Speaker 2: we're ready to sell you tickets or book a room
Speaker 2: for you if you have an event coming up that
Speaker 2: you just don't want to get your house cleaned, or
Speaker 2: you don't have quite enough space. We've got three or
Speaker 2: three to four very versatile rooms for every need you
Speaker 2: can imagine.
Speaker 1: So val, thanks for coming in.
Speaker 2: Absolutely pleasure to be here. Yes it is alrighty, Well
Speaker 2: back soon.
Speaker 1: All right, we'll see you there at the center. Folks,
Speaker 1: you've been watching and listening to our community connection. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening to one on one with a professional A
Speaker 1: paid presentation at fourteen hundred K one