Sean C. Morgan
Kicking off this year’s Sportsman’s Holiday festival Friday night will be a show that, for many will be a bit of a throw-back to the past: The Switcheroo Review.
The variety show is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Friday, July 10 in the high school auditorium, 1641 Long St. Local restaurants will set up outside the auditorium beginning at 5:30 p.m. to give patrons a chance to eat dinner before the show. Tickets are available at the Chamber of Commerce, Oregon Jamboree office, The New Era, Heritage Northwest and the Elks Lodge.
The Review, featuring a burlesque-style musical show, is patterned, in part, after the old Chips ‘n’ Splinters, which served as the precursor to Frontier Days in the 1950s and, later, Sportsman’s Holiday into the 1980s.
Members of the Sweet Home community will appear “like you’ve never seen them before,” said organizer Shirley Austin. “We’ve got guys performing as Cher, Barbra, Lady Gaga, Janis Joplin, Meghan Trainor, and gals doing Sinatra, Dino, Elvis, the Beatles, the Village People and more.”
Two Stooges and a Stoogess will emcee.
Among the performers are Scott and Wendi Melcher, Mike Hall, Robert Shamek and many more.
The event is a fund-raising event for the Sweet Home Auditorium Remodel Committee, a grassroots committee organized last year by Ron Sharrah and other members of the Elks Lodge and community, to replace the curtains and make other improvements to the High School auditorium.
Efforts to rejuvenate the time-worn auditorium are moving forward. A new front curtain and valance have been installed, Austin said. SHARC is about $10,000 short of finishing the curtain project, which includes additional on-stage curtains.
The committee has already repaired much of the deteriorating auditorium and stage, including painting. It is working on replacing the lighting and curtains and installing a permanent sound system.
The School District is planning to rewire the building, and the School Board has committed $25,000 to replacing the lighting system.
“I think the project is great,” said Wendi Melcher. “It’s great to watch how this many people will come together to support the community.”
Right now, the community is working together on this project, the artificial turf project at Husky Field, new Jamboree features and the Boys & Girls Club, she said. This project affects a lot of kids, Melcher said, including children in the band, choir and theater programs.
“These programs are just as important as anything else out there,” Melcher said.
“Scott and Wendi Melcher got me involved,” said Mike Hall, who will play a role in the Meghan Trainor number. “Wendi tricked m3 into it, but it’s for a good cause.”
Hall was in choir groups, musicals and plays, he said. He used the auditorium constantly while in high school.
“I have a lot of history on that stage,” he said. “Not every student is great at sports, but they have a lot of talent and performing arts is the thing that (lets them use it).”
For more information about the show or to help out, contact Austin at (541) 409-8957.
For more information about SHARC or to get involved, contact Sharrah at (541) 231-7303 or visit SHARC’s Facebook page.