SPOTLIGHT TONIGHT! BACK ON STAGE

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Spotlight Tonight!, a five-member musical extravaganza, will again be performing in Cape Girardeau the second week in February.

The group made their debut in July as the first entertainers at the River City Yacht Club at Port Cape Girardeau. They performed a month of shows and sold out after the first weekend.

Now they return for four weekends with the same family-type of entertainment that made them so popular last summer.

The first night of the two-hour musical review and dinner theater is scheduled for Feb. 8.

"There will be a lot of emphasis on variety, using the same format as the last show but different songs," said Mike Dumey, who directs and produces Spotlight Tonight. "I think the reason we were so successful is because we perform a wide variety of music and pride ourselves as being family-oriented."

The group performs music from the 1940s, '50s and '60s, as well as modern pop music made popular by Miami Sound Machine. A little bit of country and gospel is also mixed in along with some comedy, Dumey said.

Performing vocals with the group are Dumey, Robyn Hosp and Vicki Long. Cheryl Fortner and Brett Yount play keyboards.

The group has added Dean Fields as their sound technician.

"We try to do a little something for everybody," Dumey said. Last summer the show attracted people in their mid-20s as well as those in their 70s, he said.

In addition to performing each Friday and Saturday in February beginning on Feb. 8, the group will put on a special Valentine show Feb. 14. They have added Feb. 24 and March 1, 2 and 3 to their schedule.

Dumey said the Valentine show will be basically the same as other shows, but with added "love songs and Valentine music."

Dumey has directed other dinner theaters at Port Cape Girardeau, including Spotlight 85 and Center Stage. But since formation of Spotlight Tonight! success has really taken off, he said.

The Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce has approached the group about becoming a selling point for tourism. Bus tours that will stop here and see the group perform may begin as early as spring, he said.

They may also be included in tourism brochures, he said.

"It's really an honor to represent the city in that way," he said. "We really can't thank them enough."

The dinner theater includes an all-you-can-eat buffet beginning at 6 each night. The show begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $16.95 per person and reservations are required.