View Full Version : Deerhurst and Beyond
Hi everyone,
Bob drove me from his home in Lansing USA to Deerhurst where on Tueday night we watched the revue show "Vibes"
A great array of local talent that moved us both. Two of the Girls are very, very good singers and two of the boys as well. The danced and sang for almost 2 hours without a break covering everything from Harry J/Sinatra and Bing to Mowtown and current classics such as Madonna and Sting.
So talented, I hope Shania get to catch this show soon. She will be impressed.
Got to Timmins about 4:30 pm Wed night and went direct to the STC where we checked out the trees planted at Fan con 2003 and got a sneak preview of the new displays. AWESOME, visitors to the Shania Twain Centre are in for a real treat this year.
As usual Timmins are treating us like we are royalty and spoiling us with there warm welcome. Took some photos of Deerhurst which I will share with you when time permits. No camera's are alowed in during the revue, which is a pity as visually it is just SOOO GOOD. One of the Girls is such a good dancer, I found the whole thing quite moving and at less than $38 each Canadian, a snip at that price.
Shania was so Timmins at Grand Rapids, you have to come here for yourself and get the flavour of the locals who shaped her as a schoolgirl. They are SO Proud of her.
You do not have to stay at the resort to watch the show and it is still held in the very same red roofed lodge where Shania received her 'finishing school' training all those years ago in 1989/1990. They have a collection of photo's hanging up outside the concert venue, which I will share with you soon.
Tom in Timmins Web high in ShaniaLand
Tom! Ah, the first update from you from your travels! :D
Sounds like the show at Deerhurst is really spectacular! That impressed you much, eh? :p
Say hi to the good folks at Timmins, and enjoy your stay! :up:
Thanks for the review. Can't wait to see the pics
Thanx for your report, Tom. Kay and I have stayed at Deerhurst and taken in the show on two occasions, once in the mid 90s and once in Sept. 2000. The first time what struck me was that Shania was probably the biggest star who ever has or is ever likely to come out of the Deerhurst review. Yet at that time there was not a single mention of Shania anywhere, not even at the variety show. In 2000 there was mention of Shania in one of the brochures I picked up at Deerhurst and during the show the emcee (who by the way was part of the review when Shania worked there) announced a Shania impersonation by one of the showgirls. He said that that was where Shania learned everything she knows about stage work. The impersonation was pretty good by the way. And Shania herself saw it earlier in May of 2000 when she unexpectedly dropped in and watched the show.
Anyway, I was wondering if there was yet any more permanent recognition of Deerhurst's most famous alumna? The photos hanging outside the theatre were all of the current stars of the show in 2000, none of Shania.
Roger
Just-a-Fan
05-20-2004, 6:09pm
Nice review, Tom. Looking forward to the pictures! :great:
Anyway, I was wondering if there was yet any more permanent recognition of Deerhurst's most famous alumna? The photos hanging outside the theatre were all of the current stars of the show in 2000, none of Shania.
Roger
They are VERY proud of Shania at Deerhurst and she is a frequent visitor. Yes there is a mention of Shania on the Current posters advertising the Vibes Show. Round the side of the main show area there is a corridor lined with photo's some of which I will attach to this post, enjoy!
OK this board will not allow me to post pictures greater than 75K so I will email them to one of the mods and they can post them for me!
http://img26.photobucket.com/albums/v78/Finn5/TomDeerhurst/Eilleen1.jpg
http://img26.photobucket.com/albums/v78/Finn5/TomDeerhurst/Eilleen2.jpg
http://img26.photobucket.com/albums/v78/Finn5/TomDeerhurst/Eilleen1990.jpg
Thank you Marika for posting the Deerhurst piccys for me. They were taken without flash as the glass reflection would make that difficult, so sorry they are a bit dark.
Tom (and Bob) Timmins Web
Hi to Forums readers,
Tom asked me to post a photo. I've edited it in photoshop a bit and reduced in size to meet 75 K limit.
Bob
Hey guys, great pictures! I am still buzzin over Grand Rapids!
David
Tom asked me to post a photo. I've edited it in photoshop a bit and reduced in size to meet 75 K limit.
BobLooking good! Who is the lady? :)
Looking good! Who is the lady? :)
Hi Marika,
I finally got a second to catch my breath after 2+ days here in Timmins, and read some of the posts and mail. Sorry for being unable to answer your earlier requests.
Here's an answer to your question above, (plus tax).
Tom gave a thumbnail sketch of the Deerhurst show near Huntsville, so Ill try to avoid duplicating that. Here's some added news.
They change the show each year at the "Lodge" in Deerhurst Resort complex. Previous show "Impact" ended 2-3 weeks ago. This year's show "Vibe" started about a week before we were there. About 1/4 of the performers were new, the rest were the same.
Shania tries to get there each year to give them a review. She has a home in Huntsville area I'm told, and her older sister lives in the area also. But I got there first this year, as you can see from this review. She'll probably stop in some time after her tour ends in July. But may go home to Switzerland to let her voice recover first for a while.
There is a musical director for the show, about age 50, who has done a fine job selecting talent and organizing the performance. But Tom and I both wondered why he also performed on stage with a guitar for most of the numbers, when the sound system clearly was effectively piping in all the music except for the guitar. His voice was okay, but unremarkable.
There are 3 guys about age 20-30, that many ladies would find good looking, who sing and dance in choreographed numbers, with a light show and sound mixer. They all had good voices and were fairly good dancers, but one had a lead song early in the show that made me tell Tom, "That guy has the best voice of the guys." After the show, I learned his name was Paris, seemed to be the most mature of the group, and from the brochure of Impact, I could see he was a new addition to the cast.
There are about 9 women in the show. All are attractive and good singers and dancers. One seemed even prettier than Marilyn Monroe and was tied for best voice in my assessment, among the female singers. She also played keyboards in at least one of the numbers. Never the shy one, after the show, Tom managed to get his picture taken with her. Overall, I estimated that she had the best package of looks, shape, dancing, singing and musical talent, to "break out" of the pack, if anyone would, like Shania did in the past. But she might do it in movies or TV rather than as solo musical artist on the road.
The Resort had a brochure with performer names and brief bios from last year's show, but not yet for this year's show. So I don't yet know the name of my nominee for future career success.
The performers took turns between being support cast and lead, with each getting a good chance to build up to and display their best abilities. They played about 3-4 dozen numbers almost non-stop, many with almost instantaneous transition from one number to another.
One lady deserves particular mention. She was a dark-haired, wonderfully fit and well shaped gal with a good voice but somewhat better dancing ability than the others. Her face had a couple dimples suggesting some fatigue, so compared to the prettiest ladies, we tended to not notice her as much during the earlier numbers.
Anyway, as the show progressed, Tom and I began to notice this good dancer more and more. About 3/4 of the way thru the whole show, that built up to a climax. At this point, the music and the routine was primarily focused on dramatic dance and light effects. We were both totally absorbed. Afterwards, I told Tom "Wow! that was simply awesome!!" and he agreed. The crowd seemed to have a similar reaction. Later, when I got a brochure from last year's show, it looked like she may have been the lead performer in a greater number of their songs.
After the show, the performers exited the stage through the audience en route to the dressing rooms. Most of them were pleasant and receptive to stopping and interacting with members of the audience who showed interest. I complimented Paris on his voice, and complimented Tom's picture-mate on her performance. The terrific dancer had gone straight back and changed and was waiting for the crowd to leave, so she could get out. Seemed to be uneasy about being delayed by or involved with crowd contact.
There was another lady tied for best voice. She was a bit older, maybe in early 30's. Had greater range and experience in types of songs and music as lead performer, and really knew how to belt out the songs.
One of the gals was rather young, tall, and demonstrated great gymnastics and joint flexibility. Others specialized in various other attributes.
The place seats about 100-120 people along a half dozen rows of tables leading from the elevated stage.
Despite the earliness of the season, the performance was fairly coherent. I expect it will get even smoother and more delightful as the season progresses, similar to the differences I noticed between Shania's concert outdoors in Grant Park, Chicago before the start of the Up! tour, and the show nearer the end of that tour in Grand Rapids last weekend.
As a former DJ, and current owner of community radio station, Tom knows his music quite well. And he seemed quite pleased with the range and quality of the music and associated dance and light show. Considering we'd just come from a top drawing, world tour, Shania Twain concert 2 days earlier, Tom's enjoyment seems like quite a compliment to the Vibe cast, crew and director.
Next morning, we went back to get some photos in daylight of the Resort. The buildings are on hills interspersed with lake, trees, golf course etc. So photos of the red roofed Lodge (theatre) were limited. But we did get some special photos of the fog lifting from the lake, with a cupola on a small peninsula mirrored in the water and geese taking flight in the foreground.
Bob
Thanx for the report, Bob. You know, it sounds to me as if Deerhurst and Shania have now made up. I think that visit by Shania in May 2000 was a surprise. But it went well. I was told Shania met with the performers after the show and they all got on well. It bothered me that there wasn't more tangible recognition of Shania at Deerhurst before. All's well that ends well.
Roger
They are all pretty proud of Shania at Deerhurst and having seen Huntsville it is easy to see the attraction in living round there. It is a special place and just like Timmins the locals give you a very warm welcome should you choose to stay with them for a bit.
We were lucky as it is still early in the Season as I suspect it may get a little crazy later in the Summer.
Thanx for the report, Bob. You know, it sounds to me as if Deerhurst and Shania have now made up. I think that visit by Shania in May 2000 was a surprise. But it went well. I was told Shania met with the performers after the show and they all got on well. It bothered me that there wasn't more tangible recognition of Shania at Deerhurst before. All's well that ends well.
Roger
Hi Roger,
I can only try to recreate this from memory a 2nd time, because original attempt to post was delayed, then deleted by inexplicable request for me to log in a 2nd time here on this Internet Cafe pc. Ah, after I copied this to notepad, then tried posting again, the same thing happened. Went across the table to talk to Tom and discovered he was having problems as well. He was still logged in as me. Arghh!
You'd specifically asked me for for information about current visibility of Shania in the publications and communications at Deerhurst. That plus Marika's recent request triggered me to share my thoughts. I have simila info on all aspects of this trip. But not everyone can handle that bandwidth, so I've learned to pick my spots.
Here are a couple added items which might interest you.
1) The show included one song written by Shania - That Don't Impress Me Much. I was wondering which of the women performers would do the lead on that. But 3 of them took turns, alternating after every second phrase in the lyrics. They each did quite well, and I was unable to tell any significant difference in their ability during just that song. I was hoping to compare the show's best singer's with Shania's performance of that song. They might not have had quite the same polish, but their vocal quality could not be faulted, as far as I could notice.
2) A number of local young women were key performers in the show. And the Huntsville area was proud of that, according to receptionists at main desk.
3) Deerhurst lodging is expensive, even in this off-season. Rooms are from about $150/night and up. Even Huntsville is expensive, at $100/night and up. Pre trip online search showed the place we stayed at for $79/night - King William Inn on the main street thru town. No complaints.
4) Deerhurst resort is about 5-7 miles north then east of Huntsville. Their restaurants are also very expensive - the Eclipse and the other is something like the Steamer. The Pub at the Pavillion was recommended as more economical. It's at the right (south) end of the main building, in back behind the sports shop. Tom and I found their Black Angus sirloin burger platter with potato and leek soup excellent and reasonably priced.
Bob/RJ
Oh the joys of computing in tandem. Tom had a nice post in here in his own name, but he says he asked FV or one of the moderators to delete the post he made accidently in my name this morning. Now all his posts on this thread written today are gone, not just the one he did accidently using my name.
C'est la vie.
One thing that Tom and I found interesting on this trip, was that we outran spring.
The flowers, trees and lawns were all into early summer down by Lansing in Central Michigan, and also by Grand Rapids. But as we drove east then north thru Ontario, we began to see time go backwards, in climatological signs. We worked our way back thru peonies, to lilacs, to tulips, then daffodils then finally dandelions. Meanwhile the leaves got smaller and smaller, then disappeared entirely on the deciduous trees.
We did not find any patches of snow on the north facing slopes as someone had predicted. But Timminites said the snow only melted a couple weeks ago, and it might still be found out in the deep forest.
Bob/RJ
Hi Roger,
3) Deerhurst lodging is expensive, even in this off-season. Rooms are from about $150/night and up. Even Huntsville is expensive, at $100/night and up. Pre trip online search showed the place we stayed at for $79/night - King William Inn on the main street thru town. No complaints.
4) Deerhurst resort is about 5-7 miles north then east of Huntsville. Their restaurants are also very expensive - the Eclipse and the other is something like the Steamer. The Pub at the Pavillion was recommended as more economical. It's at the right (south) end of the main building, in back behind the sports shop. Tom and I found their Black Angus sirloin burger platter with potato and leek soup excellent and reasonably priced.
Bob/RJ
Thanx again Bob for your report.
You're right Deerhurst is expensive. That's why we don't usually stay there. There is a reasonably priced restaurant just down the road from Deerhurst. If I had been with you, I could have steered you there.
Oh, about the trees etc. being less advanced than in Michigan, it is not obvious but that part of Muskoka is 1100 feet above sea level. This makes it significantly cooler than for example Ottawa and probably where you are from, Bob.
Roger
Thanx again Bob for your report.
You're right Deerhurst is expensive. That's why we don't usually stay there. There is a reasonably priced restaurant just down the road from Deerhurst. If I had been with you, I could have steered you there.
Oh, about the trees etc. being less advanced than in Michigan, it is not obvious but that part of Muskoka is 1100 feet above sea level. This makes it significantly cooler than for example Ottawa and probably where you are from, Bob.
Roger
Please tell us, Roger. Future fan travelors may benefit from another economic alternative. The Pub at the Pavillion had great food at good prices. HOwever some families might not like the bar/lounge atmosphere.
Please tell us, Roger. Future fan travelors may benefit from another economic alternative. The Pub at the Pavillion had great food at good prices. HOwever some families might not like the bar/lounge atmosphere.
Well, I'm stuck for the name of the place. But if you continue down the same road you take to get to Deerhurst, you go past Deerhurst and it is only about a kilometre further on the right hand side. Now what is the name of that ski area, Hidden Valley?? Sorry. I'm bad with names.
Roger
Well, I'm stuck for the name of the place. But if you continue down the same road you take to get to Deerhurst, you go past Deerhurst and it is only about a kilometre further on the right hand side. Now what is the name of that ski area, Hidden Valley?? Sorry. I'm bad with names.
Roger
Bad with names hey? Too bad you weren't along for the ride with Tom and I. What a hoot that would've been. As it was, I have limited vision, Tom doesn't know his rights from his lefts due to Great Britain traffic and we got lost about 7 different ways all within a mile of the resort. In our favor, it was at night.
Bob
Bad with names hey? Too bad you weren't along for the ride with Tom and I. What a hoot that would've been. As it was, I have limited vision, Tom doesn't know his rights from his lefts due to Great Britain traffic and we got lost about 7 different ways all within a mile of the resort. In our favor, it was at night.
Bob
LOL!! Yeah, I could have helped. Our family have been vacationing on Lake of Bays every year since 1983. So I know the Huntsville/Dwight/Dorset area pretty well. But I'm lazy about learning the names of places. I just know where they are.
Roger
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