web1_National_Weather_Service-Logo.jpg

Severe thunderstorm watch in effect for Luzerne County, surrounding areas

web1_Starlin-Castro-mug2017818161354367.jpg

Eager N.Y. Yankees 2B Starlin Castro starts Major League rehab with the SWB RailRiders Friday

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Marie Osmond was 3 years old when she made her first television appearance on the Andy Williams Show.</p><p>Osmond is now 57 &#8212; she will turn 58 on Oct. 13 &#8212; and she will join her most famous brother, Donny, for a foot-stompin,&#8217; fun lovin,&#8217; stage show at the F.M. Kirby Center on Thursday. Donny turns 60 in December.</p><p>The legendary sibling entertainers will bring their summer tour to the Kirby Center as part of the Wells Fargo Concerts and Comedy Series.</p><p>In a telephone interview with the Times Leader, Marie said she and Donny mix the spirit of their early television specials and recordings with a nostalgic look back on their storied career in a dynamic stage show showcasing fan favorites including, &#8220;A Little Bit Country, A Little Bit Rock &#8216;n&#8217; Roll,&#8221; &#8220;Paper Roses,&#8221; &#8220;Puppy Love&#8221; and &#8220;It Takes Two.&#8221;</p><p>Add in that sibling humor that has always been a part of their act, and their supreme Las Vegas band and dancers, along with high-energy style and dance numbers, and this is one production that will be total entertainment for the young and young at heart.</p><p>&#8220;The show is a blast,&#8221; Marie said. &#8220;This is our fifth decade of performing &#8212; can you believe that?&#8221;</p><p>Marie talked about her and Donny doing &#8220;their thing&#8221; for so many years before they stopped performing together.</p><p>&#8220;Then we talked about it &#8212; what if we got back back together,&#8221; she said. &#8220;And we thought it could be fun, so we agreed to a six-week stint in Las Vegas. That was nine years ago. It&#8217;s really been a hoot.&#8221;</p><p>Over the years, Donny &amp; Marie have collectively recorded 142 albums, selling more than 100 million copies with 51 gold and platinum recordings. They have starred in their own television series, specials, documentaries and numerous programs throughout the world. Collectively and individually, they have sold out venues worldwide, breaking box office records and receiving countless awards.</p><p>In addition, Donny and Marie continue their extraordinary run at the legendary Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. They were named &#8220;Best Show&#8221; by the Las Vegas Review Journal for three years in a row and Entertainment Weekly raved that their live performance is &#8220;insanely entertaining &#8212; a song and dance spectacular.&#8221;</p><p>As hosts of &#8220;Donny and Marie&#8221; on TV in the late 1970s, Donny and Marie and their Osmond siblings worked firsthand with a who&#8217;s who of entertainers, from Milton Berle to Tina Turner.</p><p>&#8220;We didn&#8217;t learn this out of a textbook,&#8221; Donny said in one interview. &#8220;We learned about singing from Frank Sinatra. We learned about comic timing from Lucille Ball.&#8221;</p><p>Marie said the Kirby show won&#8217;t exactly be the Vegas spectacular, but she promises it will be awesome.</p><p>&#8220;We will do everything from country to rock to Broadway to opera,&#8221; she said. &#8220;It&#8217;s just a really fun show.&#8221;</p><p>Marie said she and Donny don&#8217;t tour too often, and she said she can&#8217;t say how much longer they will be performing together.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve been everywhere,&#8221; she said.</p><p>And through it all, Donny and Marie have retained that wholesomeness that they brought to the television screen and the stage.</p><p>&#8220;We started so young,&#8221; Marie said. We grew up at the tail end of great entertainers. Sammy Davis Jr. taught me how to walk on a stage. Frank Sinatra tutored me on singing and Bob Hope schooled us on humor. We all grew up wanting to be great entertainers.&#8221;</p><p>Marie said she and Donny love to interact with the audience members.</p><p>&#8220;The people who come to see our show won&#8217;t just sit there listening to song after song,&#8221; she said. &#8220;We are really interactive with the people. That&#8217;s what we really enjoy.&#8221;</p><p>Marie said it will be a professional show in every way. She said she loves the adoration she and Donny receive from fans &#8212; she even does her own social media posting.</p><p>Marie and actor/performer John Schneider are co-founders of the Children&#8217;s Miracle Network, which helps more than 11 million sick kids every year. In its 35th year, Marie said CMN has raised more than $5.6 billion and all of the money goes to help the children served.</p><p>Marie is also spokesperson for Nutrisystem Weight Loss Program.</p><p>Marie has a new album out &#8212; &#8220;Music is Medicine&#8221; &#8212; and she said she will sing a song or two from that. She said performing is still fun for her and Donny.</p><p>&#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t do this if I wasn&#8217;t having fun,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Our fans are the best.&#8221;</p><p>Marie is the only Osmond sister among eight brothers.</p><p>&#8220;All are doing well,&#8221; she said. &#8220;There are around 82 Osmond grandchildren and a lot of great-grandkids.&#8221;</p><p>Donny and Marie know that in many ways their show is a throwback to an earlier form of entertainment, and they take pride in that. It&#8217;s the wholesomeness aspect.</p><p>&#8220;We grew up in the variety world,&#8221; Donny said in an interview. &#8220;We&#8217;re still doing that. We&#8217;re there to give people a good time.&#8221;</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_AP_661729150694-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Marie Osmond, left, and Donny Osmond accept the pop culture award at the 2015 TV Land Awards at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills, Calif. Marie Osmond said the duo&#8217;s show touches on everything from country to rock to Broadway to opera and contains the sibling humor the pair is known for. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_AP_661729150694-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Marie Osmond, left, and Donny Osmond accept the pop culture award at the 2015 TV Land Awards at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills, Calif. Marie Osmond said the duo&#8217;s show touches on everything from country to rock to Broadway to opera and contains the sibling humor the pair is known for. </caption0><photoCredit0>AP file photo </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_AP_070814044908-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Donny and Marie Osmond joke during a 2007 taping of the Osmonds&#8217; 50th anniversary show at the Orlean&#8217;s casino in Las Vegas. Their show is a throwback to an earlier form of entertainment, and they take pride in that. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_AP_070814044908-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Donny and Marie Osmond joke during a 2007 taping of the Osmonds&#8217; 50th anniversary show at the Orlean&#8217;s casino in Las Vegas. Their show is a throwback to an earlier form of entertainment, and they take pride in that. </caption1><photoCredit1>AP file photo </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_AP_080815026069-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Singers Donny Osmond and Marie Osmond perform in Bryant Park on ABC&#8217;s &#8220;Good Morning America&#8221; show in 2008 in New York. The sibling performers will bring their versatile stage show to the F.M. Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre Thursday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_AP_080815026069-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Singers Donny Osmond and Marie Osmond perform in Bryant Park on ABC&#8217;s &#8220;Good Morning America&#8221; show in 2008 in New York. The sibling performers will bring their versatile stage show to the F.M. Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre Thursday. </caption2><photoCredit2>AP file photo </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Famous siblings to deliver songs, laughs</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>IF YOU GO</strong></p><p><strong>What: </strong>Donny &amp; Marie</p><p><strong>Where: </strong>F.M. Kirby Center, 71 Public Square, Wilkes-Barre</p><p><strong>When: </strong>7:30 p.m. Thursday</p><p><strong>Additional information: </strong>Tickets range from $66 to $122 and are available through the Kirby Center box office, online at kirbycenter.org and by phone at 570-826-1100. </p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Donny and Marie Osmond ready to interact with F.M. Kirby Center audience