DELAND, Fla. – A bunch of performers and entertainers are about to hit the stage for a one-night-only show.
- Athens Theatre in DeLand put together stage show that will debut online
- The show was filmed in segments over three days
- The show includes 29 performers and is likened to a television variety show
And, this might be the first time that you don't have to get dressed up to "go" to the theater.
"Virtually Yours: A Night With The Athens Theatre" is a concert event debuting this Saturday online. It features powerhouse vocalists. And the format is kind of like watching the Tony Awards.
“We have a host that carries the show all the way through – top to bottom," Joey Maxwell said. "A full-length, highly-produced television variety show.”
Maxwell owns The Studio Creative Group. Creating projects like this—starring 29 performers and nearly 1 hour and 40 minutes long—usually takes a staff of at least 24 to film. This time, he's bringing in three, "in order to keep the count down, to keep the gear down.”
Craig Uppercue is Athens Theatre's artistic director. The taping just wrapped, lasting for thre days while entertainers performed with “rules” they've never had to follow, until now.
"If they were quarantined together already, we allowed them to film together," Uppercue said. "So we had a lot of husband/wife couples, a lot of brother/sister couples. Then we took about 10-15 minutes between each act, cleaned, and sanitized. We never had more than seven people in the building all at one time."
The Athens Theatre has been closed for more than five weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic
“Virtually Yours: A Night With the Athens Theatre” is this Saturday, April 25, 2020 at 7:30 p.m. or any time after that for the following 24 hours. Virtual passes are $15.