Cody Clark

There's a new entertainment option in a familiar locale. Starting Friday, the old Grove Theatre in Pleasant Grove will be the new home of Showtime Utah, which is calling itself "Utah's first variety entertainment theater."

"We have so much talent in the state of Utah" said Showtime Utah owner and executive producer Joan Peterson. "We need a venue to compensate for all of the thousands of dollars we spend weekly to teach our children to perform."

Peterson, a Provo native who lives in South Jordan, got into showbiz as an extra on the locally produced CBS television series "Touched by an Angel" (which ended its run in 2003 after nine seasons). Peterson eventually moved up to be in charge of booking extras for the show and, after working for a time as a talent agent, opened her own casting agency, Starlight Creative Media. So you might say that she knows talent when she sees it.

Or, as will frequently be the case with bookings at Showtime Utah, when she hears it. Peterson has fond memories from childhood of Western-themed dinner shows like the ones hosted by the Bar J Wranglers in Jackson Hole, Wyo., or the Rockin R Ranch in Mesa, Ariz. So Showtime Utah's main act will be the father-and-son-and-son-and-son-and-son-and-son (whew!) Western band the Mama's Boys.

As the house band, the Boys will do live shows two nights a week on Fridays and Saturdays. It's a plum setup for musical dad Scott Shumway and his five sons, all of whom live in Pleasant Grove. "We're all five minutes from the gig," Shumway said.

A rocker from way back, Shumway played the drums growing up and, after getting married, wanted music to be an important part of his children's lives.

"Each of them picked up an instrument," he said, but the family only started to really jam a couple of years ago.

Shumway doesn't remember exactly when or where it all came together, except that he and his sons were performing "The Devil Went Down to Georgia." It sounded so good that they realized they had a special opportunity.

It was Shumway's wife, Anne, who named the band ¬­-- because they're all her boys, of course.

The Boys practice about 10 hours a week, but Shumway said they have some genetic advantages.

"Our voices blend together real well," he said.