EVERETT — A Michael Jackson impersonator from Vegas will finally make it to the stage on Colby Avenue this weekend.
The “I Am King” tribute was booked three years ago for a show at the Historic Everett Theatre but had to be rescheduled several times due to COVID.
It’s worth the wait, theater manager Curt Shriner said.
“He’s had the surgeries to make him look like Michael. He moves like Michael. He sings like Michael.”
His name is Michael Firestone. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $28 to $45.
“A show like this should have 400 or 500 sales. Right now we’re sitting at 200,” Shriner said. “That is pure fear, people afraid of coming out of their home.”
The theater seats 800.
“We’ve had to cancel a lot of shows,” Shriner said. “One of them sold 18 tickets. It’s not worth four entertainers to come up and play in front of 18 people. It’s embarrassing for them. We can’t put the lights on for that.”
Curt Shriner walks into the technical booth at the Historic Everett Theatre. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Sometimes it’s the performers who have to cancel due to the pandemic.
Other venues around the area have endured similar challenges and are ready for the shows to go on. Some require proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test. Only masks are required at the Everett Historic Theatre.
There have been some hits at the downtown Everett theater. Blue Öyster Cult pretty much sold out last July.
Shriner is hoping fans will show up for former Kiss co-founder and lead guitarist Ace Frehley (aka Space Ace) on April 29.
“Roy Orbison & Buddy Holly: The Rock ‘N’ Roll Dream Tour” is set for Oct. 7. It’s a tribute using holograms, a first for the Everett theater that has seen a lot since it opened in 1901. A 1923 fire gutted the inside of the building and the front was reconstructed.
The venue, a vintage playhouse and one-time movie palace, hosts concerts, tributes, comedy shows, film fests and events such as ghost hunts.
“The grand old dame of Everett” is the description by the late David Dilgard, historian at the Everett Public Library.
Ticket prices include a 35% donation to the Historic Everett Theatre Preservation Society to assist in the care and upkeep of the building.
“I spend my day, looking for acts,” Shriner said. “I pay big bucks to get them to come here.”
There are two employees.
“Me and Bob, my custodian guy,” Shriner said. “It’s just been the two of us.”
Volunteers keep the shows going. Some shows have a cash bar in addition to theater popcorn and other concessions.
Shriner, 70, has operated the theater since 2014. His brother, Craig Shriner, a Woodinville real estate businessman, is the theater’s primary owner.
The brothers are looking for a buyer.
“We are getting old. Time to retire. The theatre will pay for itself with the right acts and the help of grants,” Shriner said.
Two groups have tried to buy the theater, he said. One failed because of an investor and the other due to COVID.
Asking price: $2.3 million.
Everett Historic Theatre manager Curt Shriner. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
“We’ll take checks, cash or money orders,” Shriner said. “It’s a good price. It’s a prime piece of real estate. The city has changed the zoning, so it could go up 25 stories.”
It stands now at three stories.
For Shriner, it is filled with memories.
“I met my wife here. We got married on the stage,” he said.
Laura Lee Shriner died in October 2019, a week after her 56th birthday. The couple were in plays together. She ran the box office.
In front of the stage dedicated to Laura, patrons at Saturday’s show can dance to “Billie Jean” and “Thriller” on the floor.
“It was the thing my wife loved the most, to look out and watch people standing up and dancing,” Shriner said. “That was her thing.”
Andrea Brown: abrown@heraldnet.com; 425-339-3443. Twitter @reporterbrown.
People walk down the sidewalk in front of the Historic Everett Theatre. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
It’s showtime!
Note: Some venues require proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test. Shows are subject to cancellation.
• Marysville Opera House, the historic landmark building at 1225 Third St. in Marysville, is hosting “Dueling Pianos with Jeff and Rhiannon” on Valentine’s Day.
• Also on Feb. 14, Whidbey Island Orchestra’s “Lollipops and Roses” is slated to perform at Whidbey Island Center for the Arts in Langley.
• Richard Thompson, a British folk rocker, will play a solo acoustic set Feb. 15 at the Edmonds Center for the Arts, a 700-seat venue at 410 Fourth Ave. N., Edmonds. Singer Judy Collins and comedy shows are set for later this month.
• At the Everett Performing Arts Center, 2710 Wetmore Ave., “Songs for a New World” kicks off Village Theatre’s 2022 season on Feb. 18 through March 13.
• Magician Nash Fung will take the stage Feb. 19, at Northshore Performing Arts Center, 18125 92nd Ave. NE in Bothell.
• Cole Swindell’s “Down to the Bar” tour with special guests Travis Denning and Ashley Cooke is coming to the Angel of the Winds Arena, 2000 Hewitt Ave., Everett, on Feb. 25.
• Shows continue at the Tulalip Resort Casino, where the band Blood, Sweat & Tears is slated to perform Feb. 26 in the Orca Ballroom.
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