Skagway’s The Days of ’98 Show wraps its 98th season

The Days of ‘98 Show is the longest-running show on Broadway Street in Skagway. The run started in 1923 at the Eagles Theatre, and the new producers just wrapped the show’s 98th season this week.

The Eagles Theatre on Broadway Street is a throw-back to the pioneer days of Skagway. The stairs that lead to the costume room above the balcony creek with the memories of countless performers racing for costume changes. The walls smell of decades of popcorn butter and a hint of whiskey. In short, it smells, sounds, and feels like a classic theatre.

Charity Pomeroy and Meredith Schmidt inked a deal in December of 2019 to purchase the musical production that tells the story of famed con-man Soapy Smith. From his reign as the biggest gangster in Skagway to his death during a shootout with vigilante Frank Reid. Little did they know, just a few short months later, the show would not go on.

Skagway’s Assembly had a special meeting that March and informed the community that a global pandemic might impact the cruise ship season.

“I knew it was getting crazy… But that was, of course, for everybody in town, just horrific,” said Charity Pomeroy, one of the co-Artistic Directors of the Days of ‘98 show. 

“But even I, at that time, I feel like I was very Pollyanna, like, okay, okay, the season will start late. You know, it might not start until mid-June. We can deal with that, that’s fine, that’s fine,” said Pomeroy.

But no cruise ships would visit in 2020. 

“When we went through and wrote our budget and wrote our plans, we had really thought, Well, what happens if a catastrophe happens, and we lose half the season? Could we still do the show? And yeah, financially we were like, this is how we can make it work,” said Pomeroy.

Of course, they didn’t lose half a season, they lost a full season. Then this year, news spread that cruise ships would likely return.

“As soon as we knew that there were going to be big ships, we knew we had to do something. I mean, even if we only recouped $100, that’s $100 less of a loss that we would make. So anything for us was better than nothing,” said Pomeroy.

But they had to find a way to do the show while keeping costs low, as the projected number of passengers coming to town was less than a tenth of a normal summer season.

As the other co-Artistic Director Meredith Schmidt tells it, the two never planned on performing in the show, but they couldn’t afford to bring a group of actors to Skagway this year.

“We are totally performers. But we’re a little past star days of 98 show prime if you know what I mean. But when push came to shove, you know, we just looked at each other and said, okay, we got to do The Days of ‘98 Show, we’re gonna be in it,” said Schmidt.

She played Squirrel Tooth Alice and Pomeroy played Belle Davenport. They hired a local lodge owner to play the male lead of Soapy Smith. They brought a piano player up from Pennsylvania, hired a couple of lighting techs, and the show did indeed, go on.

In total, the troupe put on 33 shows this summer, a far cry from the roughly 400 shows of a typical season.

Some federal COVID relief money helped keep the lights on during the pandemic. But moving forward, the co-directors will look to next summer as their first, true, full season. 

“We can’t wait to hire some fabulous actors to perform next year,” said Schmidt.

Looking back on this season, the new show owners see 2021 as a gift.

“To have this kind of slow startup chance to learn literally everything about the show, from designing and running the lights, to directing the show, to performing in a show, to scoopin’ the popcorn, to selling on the streets. You know, this was a total education. And so next year, hopefully, we can hit the ground running, bring ’em on,” said Schmidt.

The troupe just wrapped the 98th season of the Days of ‘98 Show, and are looking forward to the 100th anniversary in 2023.