The Opry, Arizona style

Sunday, March 27, 2011

PHOENIX, AZ – We’ve just come back from a terrific evening at Barleens Arizona Opry, a dinner theatre venue just down the road from our campground. It’s a family-run business that has been running for 30 years, and it was founded by Mr. Barleen, who still lives in Mesa at the age of 9o.

We had read some pretty good reviews of the show, and when we arrived there was a lineup of cars going in and a lineup of people at the box office, so we figured it should be good. We were not disappointed. Luckily for us, when we called for reservations, they told us two people had canceled for tonight, leaving excellent seats in the third row near the middle.

There was a big piece of chocolate cake sitting at each place when they brought us to our table – a very good omen! We introduced ourselves to the two ladies across from us and after chatting with them for a while, a delicious chicken dinner was placed in front of us. (I managed to resist tasting the chocolate cake until I had dutifully consumed my vegetables and the rest of my first course. I noticed some other patrons had not!)

Then the entertainment began. A huge array of instruments were set out across the stage – saxophones, trumpets, clarinets, flutes, fiddles, guitars, banjoes and even a pair of Alpine horns! The performers, eight in all, used all of them throughout the show and regaled us with jokes, nostalgic medleys from the fifties and sixties, country songs and gags (like the arthritic Elvis who had to give his wobbly legs a lift after getting too enthusiastic with his gyrations!).

The surprise of the evening was a rendition of the old sixties favourite by a group called the Tokens: “Wimaweh”, otherwise known as “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” — because it was sung by the original Tokens singer, George Staerkel (pictured here), who is now the master musician of the show.

He was the real thing, but his colleagues did some great imitations of John Denver, Sonny and Cher, Willy Nelson and, of course, Elvis, that kept us clapping and laughing. We had a great time!

It was a lovely ending to a very pleasant Sunday, which began with the high church service at the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration in nearby Mesa — complete with bells chiming during the eucharistic prayer, and holy water at the entrance.

After chatting with some parishioners over coffee, we headed out again to Camping World, where we had seen a very interesting Class C motor home yesterday. We wanted to learn more about it, because it looks like a viable alternative to our fifth wheel when we are ready to downsize and simplify. With the sleeping quarters and driving end of things all in one piece, it becomes much simpler to manoeuver and more compact for fitting into provincial campgrounds and the like. It can also tow a small car, if we wanted to be able to take short jaunts around town and leave the camping unit behind. Something to consider for the future!