Speaker 1: 0:00

My guest today is Michael Querio. Michael is the Executive Artistic Director for the Rocky Mountain Repertory Theater. He has one busy month coming up in December with three shows we talk about the One man, Christmas Carol, the Home for the Holidays and the New Year's Eve Special. They all promise to be amazing shows. So please sit back and enjoy my interview with Michael. Good morning, Michael. How are you today?

Speaker 3: 0:44

Good morning, gaylene, nice to see you.

Speaker 1: 0:46

Well, we survived the Thanksgiving weekend and now we're all about the holidays.

Speaker 3: 0:52

And we're right into it. It's happening.

Speaker 1: 0:54

It's happening. You've got three fantastic shows this month, which I don't even know how you're doing it, but you are, yeah, this is what we train for it.

Speaker 3: 1:07

But you are, yeah, this is what we train for. I guess it's been that way my whole life. I've always been a musician and a performing artist and this is what you train for the holiday season we're ready for it and we're ready to bring joy. We're ready to bring joy to everyone.

Speaker 1: 1:19

Oh, my word. Well, the first one you've got going on is this weekend, the 7th and the 8th of December, the one-man Christmas Carol. Yeah, this is.

Speaker 3: 1:28

Josh Pillman. Josh is a well-known actor with our company. He's a tour de force in real life and he developed this version of the well-known story, the Christmas Carol Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol. He developed this one-man show approach to it and last year he asked us if he could bring it to the theater and we said yes, absolutely, and he loved doing it. Audiences love seeing it and we're thrilled to bring it back. So this is the second year in a row that we're bringing back Josh Kelman's one-man A Christmas Carol.

Speaker 1: 2:04

I can't wait, yes, and so are there tickets still available.

Speaker 3: 2:09

There are, yes, there'll be two performances it's this coming Saturday night and then on Sunday. And, yeah, tickets available for both, they're all on our website.

Speaker 1: 2:19

Okay, and then we go into Home for the Holidays, which honestly I love that. I told you I already have my ticket. It's one of those things that just gets you in the holiday spirit.

Speaker 3: 2:32

And for us too, for the performers and the staff and crew, it's the same thing. You know we've been doing these Home for the Holidays for 16 years now, and when we started these home for the holidays for 16 years now, and when we started I keep calling it it's Rocky Mount Rep's holiday greeting card to our community. We put this together and put it on and keep the ticket prices low so people can bring the family, and it's exactly how we intended to get the holiday season started, to put us in the holiday spirit, and to do that for the Grand County, grand Lake community and people who come to Grand Lake from all over, because it's such a beautiful place to be in the middle of December.

Speaker 1: 3:15

Oh it is, and you walk into the theater and it's just like winter magic all on stage.

Speaker 3: 3:22

We have some great designers and they absolutely love making the stage look fantastic, and it does.

Speaker 1: 3:30

It looks great, it's great. Now you. Usually there's four people that perform in that.

Speaker 3: 3:34

We have five alumni performers with our theater and pianists, so there'll be six people on stage and then a couple of the directors, myself, and we'll join in for a little bit of the fun.

Speaker 1: 3:47

That's great. Can you give us any of the songs that may be that they'll be?

Speaker 3: 3:50

singing. Well, it's just going to. It's going to be beautiful.

Speaker 1: 3:54

OK, it's going to be a secret. You have to come and wait and see, and it is different every year, which I really enjoy. So that's coming up. People need to get their tickets because those will go fast.

Speaker 3: 4:05

Yeah, so that's coming up. People need to get their tickets because those will go fast, Yep, and again, that's a Saturday night and a Sunday matinee. Saturday night the tickets always go a little quicker. And then Sunday there's, you know it's a little easier to get tickets, but they're still out there. They're selling pretty well.

Speaker 1: 4:18

Okay, and what's the price? I forgot to ask you what's the price for the Christmas Carol, and then what's the price for the Christmas Carol, and then what's the price for Home for the Holidays.

Speaker 3: 4:25

The Christmas Carol is a little bit lower. The starting price is $20. And then for Home, for the Holidays, the lowest price is $25. And then most of the seats are in that. We call them the value price. And then there's premium seats that are a little bit more, and then the orchestra, the front and center that are a little bit more.

Speaker 1: 4:45

Perfect. Okay, then we Grand daddy of them all, the New Year's Eve.

Speaker 3: 4:51

You know this will be our 10th time that we're doing New Year's Eve at the theater. So that's we. You know that was the second thing we added to December. We always bring back one or two of you know kind of our headline alumni people who, have you know, have really gone on to something big. And we're thrilled this year that we're bringing back Abby Mueller, who was with our company in the early 2000s and I think she did four or five seasons with us, and Mary Nye Bennett she was Mary Nye when she was with us and again she started with us in the early 2000s and they are full adult superstar performers and Abby has really enjoyed some recent fame.

Speaker 3: 5:41

I don't know if you've heard of the Broadway show Six. Yes, she was one of the original queens in that show and she's on the Broadway cast recording. She has played Carole King in Beautiful on Broadway. She's had just a fantastic career and now we've got them back together. They were best friends when they first met in, I think, 2001 with our theater and they are thrilled to be performing together and I get to play piano for them. So I can't wait to bring everybody back together.

Speaker 1: 6:12

Oh, how exciting. That's gonna be a fun one too. What are the tickets prices for that?

Speaker 3: 6:18

And when does it start? Tickets are a little bit more for that, and but it's a fantastic evening. The lobby opens the show. Just look at the website. Cause right the second, I can't remember what time, it's okay.

Speaker 1: 6:32

I'll put it down in the show notes.

Speaker 3: 6:34

Yeah, and then it gets out in time so you can have one more cup of cocoa with schnapps in it or one more glass of champagne in our lobby, and then in time to go down to Grand Lake and see the fireworks.

Speaker 1: 6:47

Oh my gosh, that's fantastic. I just got my flyer in the mail that you'll be announcing 2025, january 1st. So I know you always give a little. You give a few hints at the Home for the Holiday.

Speaker 3: 6:59

I do because you know I cannot reveal it any earlier.

Speaker 1: 7:03

I know.

Speaker 3: 7:04

If you're around Grand Lake while we're rehearsing the Home for the Holidays, we're always out with the video camera shooting video footage for the announcement film that we put out on January 1st. So, you watch where the film crew is going around Grand Lake. We're always out. Last year I was wearing thigh-high red boots on the lakefront at Point Park filming scenes for this announcement video.

Speaker 1: 7:37

Okay, so we just need to be, we just need to observe where the film crew is. And Grand Lake Okay, good hint.

Speaker 3: 7:46

If you're on our web, if you're on our mailing list, you will get, or if you're on our social medias, we'll have the announcement out first thing on January 1st. It'll be on Facebook and Instagram and we send an email blast to everyone on our email mailing list.

Speaker 1: 8:02

Okay, well, I know I'll be interviewing you again about the shows, because it's always just fun to learn about how you pick them and what they're going to be. I'm excited.

Speaker 3: 8:12

I'll tell you we have a great season planned and there's going to be one blockbuster show. I don't know if you remember, but a couple of years ago we were the first theater to have the rights to perform Beautiful. A year before that, we were the first theater to have the rights to perform Jersey Boys. Last year we were the first theater to have the rights to perform Come From Away, and this year we're doing it again. We will be the first regional theater to have the rights to perform.

Speaker 1: 8:41

Okay, well, we will learn soon enough. In a month, well, a little less than a month now. But, michael, where can people get more information about the Repertory Theater?

Speaker 3: 8:52

Our website is chock full of information. That's RockyMountainRepcom. You can learn about the shows that we have coming up soon. That's where information about our youth theater program is. That's where all the information. If you want to audition for us in February, you can find audition information there, jobs that we have available, it's all there.

Speaker 1: 9:15

Okay, well, michael, I know you've got to get ready for all of these productions that are coming up and, like I said, I just I can't encourage people enough to go see. See if they can. All three, it's just, you guys do a fabulous job.

Speaker 3: 9:30

We're trying to make it a winter destination. We know it's a no-brainer for those of us who know about Grand Lake and you go in the summer and it's just as beautiful in December.

Speaker 1: 9:42

It is. It's like walking into a Hallmark movie. Really it is.

Speaker 3: 9:46

So we're there all the weekends. Come and see us.

Speaker 1: 9:49

Okay, michael, thank you so much for your time and I look forward to seeing you in the theater.

Speaker 3: 9:54

Excellent. Thank you so much, Ganeen.