Submitted Photo Pictured left to right are Heritage Singers Randy Brown, Lindell Kemmet, Mike Jensen, John Scheeler, Mark Schnabel, and director Dave Jensen at bottom right.

The Heritage Singers male choral group had taken a brief hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said Heritage Singer Chad Spokely, but the annual Variety Show is back on and scheduled for a six-night return at 52 Pines, 3220 Grayson Drive, Burlington.

This year’s shows will run Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Feb. 16, 17 and 18, and next Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Feb. 23, 24 and 25.

Show time each night are at 7 p.m., with dinner preceding at 6 p.m. Doors open at 5 p.m. Admission is $45 with a pasta dinner included. The variety show runs two hours and will feature all 32 members of the Heritage Singers, performing solo and group acts by way of song and skit.

“A few of our members were classically trained musicians, directors and singers, and some of us just like to sing and enjoy the comradery. We have carpenters, doctors, dentists and teachers, young to old,” said Spokely.

Spokely said after 40-odd years of performances that generally followed a theme, such as Mash #4077, Superheroes, or The Wizard of Odd, this year’s theme, without spoiling it, “is kind of a country flair.”

From the old-fashioned one-liner to a good amount of social satire, current events and local interest in the city of Minot, the variety show is comedy-based, with some serious songs and “a little bit of everything,” said Spokely.

During intermission there will be a live auction and on-going silent auction, along with a pasta bar.

Putting the show together and practicing takes a lot of time, as does coordinating the lighting, sounds, scenes, screens and jazz band performances, Spokely said. The group practices mostly Thursday nights during the winter.

The performances and meals will run mostly identically on all six nights. The shows follow the same order but will have some change-ups between acts, Spokely said.

“We like to have the opportunity to reach as many people as possible, and sometimes we have people come more than one night,” he said.