ESTEVAN - The Orpheum Theatre in Estevan has always been a Mecca for all kinds of entertainment.
On top of the top-notch movie list, the downtown cornerstone always had many surprises for the community when it comes to a great night out.
Their latest announcement had many people excited and lining up in front of the closed doors on a snowy Saturday morning to ensure they could be a part of the next show, which is the biggest event for the theatre so far.
Last Thursday the Orpheum announced that acclaimed Scottish-Canadian country music singer Johnny Reid will be coming to Estevan.
An Intimate Evening with Johnny Reid will happen on March 20 as part of the Love Someone national tour. The concert will be on Sunday, March 20 at 8 p.m. Doors will open an hour earlier.
Jocelyn Dougherty, who co-owns the theatre alongside her husband Allan Dougherty, said in an interview with the Mercury that this concert is her dream come true.
"I'm a huge personal fan. And when I saw that he was in Regina and Moose Jaw and Saskatoon, and they're all sold out, and I'm like, 'Oh, no, I never even heard about him coming.' So I was disappointed. But never did I dream that I'd be able to work something out to get him to come to our theatre," Jocelyn shared. "And now I get butterflies in my stomach when I think about it."
"It's definitely the biggest concert we've ever put on, and there's a lot of a lot of work behind the scenes."
She explained that this concert will bring the biggest-name performer so far for the theatre, and the organization is also bigger and more complicated. It hasn't been that long since they started working on arranging the concert for Estevan, but a lot of work went into it over the past weeks.
Over an illustrious career spanning more than two decades, the Juno Award-winning singer-songwriter has captured the hearts of fans and audiences around the world. The critically acclaimed singer is widely known for his lyrical honesty and musical ability, as demonstrated by an extensive catalogue of hit songs, album sales totaling over 1.5 million units in Canada, countless awards and multiple sold-out national arena tours.
He last performed in Estevan in 2016 at Affinity Place.
However, this tour is different and promises a new unique experience to fans.
"From what I've read he's always wanted to do a whole cross-country tour and try to go to a bit smaller venues. And this is just perfect. He called it an Intimate Evening with Johnny Reid, so it won't be his full big band that he usually travels with," Jocelyn explained.
The concert has been made possible in part through funding by the Government of Canada.
And while this concert is big news, the Orpheum also has many other things to offer the community on regular basis.
Movies are their main attraction, but the venue itself is open for private bookings as well. Jocelyn said they are having a private concert by Snake Oil on Feb. 26, and they also see people coming in for all kinds of events throughout the year.
"We've done birthday parties, Christmas parties, not so many school parties (lately) because they haven't been allowed to (due to COVID-related restrictions). We've had bachelor parties, and we have two weddings booked so far for this year," Jocelyn said.
She added that the weddings are movie-themed and Orpheum holds a special place for at least one couple, as they had their first date at the theatre. But this won't be their first experience with weddings, as they've hosted quite a few over the years.
Now that the COVID-19 related restrictions are being eased, the Orpheum is looking into hosting video game events again.
"We sure want to look at that and maybe get eSports or the video gaming leagues going for different ages," Jocelyn said.
The movie industry was drastically slowed down over the past two years, but it seems that it's gradually getting back with some bigger releases, and the Orpheum hopes to get back into the routine soon. They usually try to have two new movies each week playing in two cinemas.
"We're trying to be optimistic that the attendance is going to start improving. Starting March 4 is The Batman movie. That's one of the bigger movies coming out this year. Spider Man sure helped us a lot over Christmas. And we're looking forward to the bigger releases coming up," Jocelyn said.
They are currently open five days a week with fewer employees than before the pandemic, but they hope it will get better soon.
Jocelyn added that they are installing an air ionization system to treat the air quality in the theatre, which will improve the general experience and also will make it safer for people.
As of Wednesday afternoon, tickets for the concert were officially sold out.
