Shotwell family conclude whirlwind year – including John Travolta film– with ‘Let It Snow’

It has been a busy year for the Shotwell family.

Winter 2024 saw the family – parents Jenny and Dalton and children Clark and Skye – take over “Let It Snow,” the Christmas show at the Coeur d’Alene Resort. Previously performed by Ellen Travolta and her family, Travolta acted as producer of the Shotwell show, ensuring a smooth turnover from family to family.

While in rehearsals, Travolta asked Jenny for clips of Clark’s performance in Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre’s production of “The Secret Garden,” which ran in summer 2024 and in which Shotwell also appeared.

Travolta had previously clued the Shotwells in that her brother John, yes that one, was working on a project and had asked them for a short video of Clark speaking to the camera, but Shotwell said she and her husband forgot about it until Travolta asked for the “Secret Garden” clips.

A month or so later, the family submitted yet another video of Clark, followed by a meeting with John himself, all while the Shotwells opened their show.

Clark then officially booked the role of young John in a movie John Travolta wrote and directed. The film, which has yet to announce a release date, is based on Travolta’s book “Propeller One-Way Night Coach,” about his childhood flying experiences.

The Shotwells were on set for three weeks in January, with filming bouncing from New York to Los Angeles. Though memorizing a film script is not much different than memorizing a play script, Shotwell said there was a learning curve to being on set, especially on days when they would film part of a scene one day and another part days later.

“That’s so different from theater,” she said. “I spent time with Clark every morning going over the lines that he was going to do that day and making sure he understood ‘This is that scene. Do you remember you did that scene?’ ”

But not wanting to be a stereotypical stage mom, Shotwell, who, along with Dalton, also appears in the film, trusted Travolta, who she said had great rapport with Clark.

After a whirlwind three weeks balancing school and filming, the family returned home. Shotwell said the transition back to real life was easy because being on set was so out of the ordinary and unbelievable.

“Coming back, it was like ‘Wait, did that actually happen?’ ” she said. “I think we all missed the cast. We missed some of the friends we’d made and, of course, we missed the fun glamour lifestyle as we were there, but we both really love to be home, and we love to be in a routine, so in that way, it was sort of nice to just be back.”

Before the Shotwells knew it, it was time yet again to focus on “Let It Snow,” which opened Friday and runs through Dec. 21 at the Coeur d’Alene Resort. The hourlong show features the Shotwells singing holiday favorites and sharing stories. The family is joined on stage by saxophone player Craig Catlett and bassist Eric Haakenson. The show is directed by Leslie Wisdom.

Shotwell said there were a lot of unknowns going into the 2024 show, but the family found the show fun and rewarding to perform. Audiences also responded well to the Shotwell family’s take on “Let It Snow” favorites while also embracing the new spin they put on other pieces.

Shotwell and her husband began working on this year’s show after returning from filming Travolta’s movie and had the show mapped out by June. Audiences really enjoyed the elements of the show that highlighted moments in Coeur d’Alene history related to the holidays, so Shotwell knew she wanted to include more history elements this year.

“It is a wonderful subject matter to latch onto for content, because there’s so much of it,” she said. “We also did a short video presentation in the middle of the show highlighting some of the stories from Coeur d’Alene’s Christmas past that we couldn’t share in story form, so we kept that element this year.”

Being such a musical family, Shotwell said the family also wanted to up the ante on the arrangements they put together and the amount of performing Clark and Skye do in the show. The family has also added a musician who plays saxophone and clarinet to the show.

“That has added an additional wonderful element to the music, because that’s a big part of who we are,” she said. “At the end of the day, I think people come to hear our songs. They love to hear the history, but I think the novelty of a family singing together is pretty special.”

This year’s show is set in the 1950s, so Shotwell made sure all the music featured either debuted or was at its heyday during the decade, a challenge she was more than happy to tackle as she loves arranging songs into medleys.

Without giving too much away, Clark’s opening number brings some of the rock ’n’ roll of the early 1950s to the stage. In the second half of the show, the Shotwells will share the story of a Coeur d’Alene-based family who were in need during the 1950s that connects to the history of generosity in the community.

“The music that we tie into that, I just love that moment,” Jenny said. “I think it’s really, really special.”

Between “Let It Snow” and their time filming with Travolta, it has been a whirlwind of a year for the family, but Shotwell said it is a testament to advice she has given her students over the years: Do not get stuck in your plans, because they are likely going to change.

She did not anticipate spending most of January on a film set or taking over the holiday show with her family, but she is embracing the chaos.

“Dalton and I will have moments every once in a while, where we’ll look at an old picture or we’ll get a contact from John regarding something coming in, and we’ll just laugh like ‘Can you even believe this is even happening?’ ” she said. “It all still feels very surreal most of the time, which is great, which is really fun.”