Dinner theater (sometimes called dinner and a show) is a form of entertainment that combines a restaurant meal with a staged play or musical. "Dinner and a show" can also refer to a restaurant meal in combination with live concert music, where patrons listen to a performance during a break in the meal. In the case of a theatrical performance, sometimes the play is incidental entertainment, secondary to the meal. In the style of a night club, the play may be the main feature of the evening, with dinner less important or optional. Dinner theater requires the management of three distinct entities: a live theater, a restaurant and, usually, a bar.

History

The

Madrigal dinner A Madrigal Dinner or Madrigal Feast is a form of Renaissance dinner theater often held by schools and church groups during the Christmas season. It is set in the Renaissance Era and is generally comedic in nature. The meal is divided into courses, ...

s in the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

were early forms of dinner theater. Some early dinner theaters, known as "theatre restaurants", served dinner in one room and staged the play in another.Lynk, p. 18

Notable venues in the United States

Barksdale Theatre

Barksdale Theatre Barksdale Theatre merged with Theatre IV in 2012 to become Virginia Repertory Theatre.Prestidge, HollyRichmond Times Dispatch May 20, 2012; Barksdale, Theatre IV merging Retrieved 2012-05-27Cushing, NathanRVA News May 20, 2012; Barksdale and Thea ...

in Richmond, Virginia, founded in 1953 by David and Nancy Kilgore at the Hanover Tavern, was the first formal dinner theater in the United States. After the theatre was established, an adjoining room in the theatre was changed to accommodate a buffet dinner for groups attending the performance, eventually becoming available to all patrons.

Drury Lane Theatres

Tony DeSantis opened the Martinique Restaurant in Evergreen Park, Illinois and began producing plays in 1949 in a tent adjacent to the restaurant to attract customers.Abarbanel, Jonathan: PerformINK stories: April 29, 2004 – Tony DeSantis and His New Drury Lane Theatre The enterprise was successful, prompting him to build his first theater, ''Drury Lane Evergreen Park'' in 1958. It was the first of six dinner theaters he started and a local entertainment fixture for 45 years before closing in 2003. Drury Lane North began operations in 1976 and was sold to the Marriott Lincolnshire Resort, becoming the Marriott Theatre. Drury Lane Oak Brook Terrace opened in 1984. The facility uses local performers and shows are limited to musicals.

Meadowbrook Theatre Restaurant

Cedar Grove, New Jersey, was the location of the Meadowbrook Theatre Restaurant, which opened in 1960 with 700+ seats of table service. It closed after 13 years, in part due to nearby competition from Broadway and

Actors' Equity Association The Actors' Equity Association (AEA), commonly referred to as Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing those who work in live theatrical performance. Performers appearing in live stage productions without a boo ...

(Equity) requirements that the facility follow the rules that applied to Broadway theatres, including pay scales and other restrictions.

Candlelight Theatre Restaurant

The first facility where dinner and the show were together in one room was the Candlelight Theatre Restaurant in Washington, D.C. Bill Pullinsi was a theater student in 1959 who conceived and implemented the entertainment concept at the Presidential Arms Hotel during summer breaks. The venture was successful but it was unable to convert to a year-round operation due to the hotel's convention business. Pullinsi returned to his Chicago home and opened the Candlelight Dinner Playhouse, first in a building owned by his grandfather, then in a new facility with seating for 550. The Candlelight introduced several innovations, including the hydraulic stage, lighting equipment located in the mezzanine, and stage wagons on wheels.Lynk, pp. 17–18

Barn Dinner Theatre

Howard Douglass Wolfe, an entrepreneur from Roanoke, Virginia, created the Barn Dinner Theatre franchise and has been called the "Father of Dinner Theater". He began the franchise in 1961 with Conley Jones. The chain included 27 theaters in New York, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Louisiana, and Georgia. Each franchise featured Wolfe's architectural barn designs, farm-themed decorations that included a plow and other tools, and a stage elevator that Wolfe called the "Magic Stage". At the end of an act or scene, the stage would disappear into the ceiling, then reappear set for the next scene. The whole process took less than a minute. During the franchise phase of The Barn, all the productions were staged at a studio in New York City, then sent out to the individual theaters. At the break-up of the franchise, the production facilities were moved to Nashville. In its early days, the performance's cast also served as the waiters and waitresses. Actors were selected and cast in New York and resided in living quarters above the theater for the duration of the productions. Mickey Rooney and many other well-known performers acted in roles at The Barn. The Barn in Greensboro, North Carolina, was founded in 1964 and is the oldest continuously running dinner theater in America and the last of the original Barn Dinner Theatres, though a Barn franchise that opened in Nashville in 1967 (now called Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre) is also still in operation.

Alhambra Dinner Theatre

The Alhambra Dinner Theatre in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which th ...

was opened in 1967 by Leon Simon. It was purchased in 1985 by Tod Booth, who left Chicago's

Drury Lane Theatre The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Dr ...

s. The Alhambra is the oldest dinner theater still open. The facility uses a thrust stage to provide all 400 seats with an unobstructed view.

Chanhassen Dinner Theatres

The Chanhassen Dinner Theatres in Minneapolis-Saint Paul,

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...

were founded in 1968. Herb Bloomberg, who designed and built the expanded

Old Log Theatre The Old Log Theatre is the oldest professional theater in the state of Minnesota. It is sometimes cited as the oldest continuously operating professional theater in the United States. It is located in Excelsior and is funded entirely by ticket s ...

near

Lake Minnetonka Lake Minnetonka (Dakota: ''Mní iá Tháŋka'') is a lake located about west-southwest of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Lake Minnetonka has about 23 named bays and areas. The lake lies within Hennepin and Carver counties and is surrounded by 13 i ...

, subsequently constructed and operated the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres. The Old Log Theatre has an attached dining room. Revenue from food sales is necessary for financial success, but is not a dinner theater. The Chanhassen claims to be the largest professional dinner theater in the U.S. The Main Stage seats 577, the Fireside Theatre contains 230 seats for non-dining patrons, and the Playhouse Theatre has tables for 126.

Carousel Dinner Theatre

The Carousel Dinner Theatre opened in 1973 and moved to

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city ...

in 1988 to what had been a

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

-style nightclub. With 1200 seats, it was the largest dinner theater in the United States until it closed in 2009. Some believe the theater was a victim of the late 2000s US economic crisis, however it was more likely the change in ownership and poor decisions on their part that triggered events leading to the theatre closing.

Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre

Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre is a dinner theatre located in College Park near The Pyramids on the northwest side of Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. It is a professional dinner theatre, providing Broadway shows and children's theatre through ...

in Indianapolis, Indiana, opened in 1973 and was one of a chain of dinner theatres founded by J. Scott Talbott. It has a 450-seat house and features Broadway shows and concerts preceded by a buffet dinner. It is a professional

Equity Equity may refer to: Finance, accounting and ownership *Equity (finance), ownership of assets that have liabilities attached to them ** Stock, equity based on original contributions of cash or other value to a business ** Home equity, the diff ...

theatre.

Riddlesbrood Touring Theater

The Riddlesbrood Touring Theater Company stages dinner theater, murder mystery shows, and comedy shows. Based in

Stratford, New Jersey Stratford is a borough in Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. At the 2010 census, the borough's population was 7,040,made-up languages and have incorporated ideas from the New Thought movement.

Westchester Broadway Theatre

Westchester Broadway Theatre in Elmsford, NY. The theatre continuously presents Broadway Musical Revivals and many special events and concerts including tribute bands, comedy shows, rock bands, dance shows, magic shows, and more. It is the longest running year-round professional theatre in the State of New York. The Theatre originally opened as An Evening Dinner Theatre on July 9, 1974. In 1991, the theatre moved to a larger performance space with state-of-the-art technology, hydraulic lifts, increased seating capacity, and many other features. The theatre was also given the new name, "Westchester Broadway Theatre". The Derby Dinner Playhouse The

Derby Dinner Playhouse Derby Dinner Playhouse is a dinner theatre located in Clarksville, Indiana, that opened in 1974. The Derby is the only dinner theatre in the Louisville, Kentucky, area and in southern Indiana. History In the early 1970s, several local business ow ...

in Clarksville, Indiana opened in 1974 and was still open in 2009, operating continuously for 35 years. They utilized a "magic stage" similar to those used by the Barn Dinner Theatre. An orchestra, if utilized, plays in the "attic", out of sight.

Popularity and decline

Dinner theaters as regional entertainments for local audiences in the US peaked in the 1970s. Alhambra Dinner Theatre owner Tod Booth stated that in 1976, there were 147 professional dinner theaters in operation nationwide.Noles, Randy

Florida Times-Union, August 17, 2003; Guess Who Came to Dinner The dinner theaters that used former movie actors to star in the productions were particularly successful.

Van Johnson Charles Van Dell Johnson (August 25, 1916 – December 12, 2008) was an American film, television, theatre and radio actor. He was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during and after World War II. Johnson was described as the embodiment ...

, Lana Turner,

Don Ameche Don Ameche (; born Dominic Felix Amici; May 31, 1908 – December 6, 1993) was an American actor, comedian and vaudevillian. After playing in college shows, stock, and vaudeville, he became a major radio star in the early 1930s, which ...

, Eve Arden, Mickey Rooney, June Allyson, Shelley Winters, Dorothy Lamour, Tab Hunter, Betty Grable, Sandra Dee,

Mamie Van Doren Mamie Van Doren (born Joan Lucille Olander; February 6, 1931) is an American actress, singer, and sex symbol. She is perhaps best known for the rock 'n' roll, juvenile delinquency exploitation film '' Untamed Youth'' (1957). Early life Van ...

, Joan Blondell, Debbie Reynolds,

Cyd Charisse Cyd Charisse (born Tula Ellice Finklea; March 8, 1922 – June 17, 2008) was an American actress and dancer. After recovering from polio as a child and studying ballet, Charisse entered films in the 1940s. Her roles usually featured her abilit ...

, Kathryn Grayson, Betty Hutton, Jane Withers, Martha Raye, Elke Sommer, Donald O'Connor,

Roddy McDowall Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude McDowall (17 September 1928 – 4 October 1998) was a British actor, photographer and film director. He began his acting career as a child in England, and then in the United States, in ''How Green Was My Valley'' (1 ...

, Jane Russell, Cesar Romero, and

Ann Miller Ann Miller (born Johnnie Lucille Collier; April 12, 1923 – January 22, 2004) was an American retired actress and former dancer. She is best remembered for her work in the Classical Hollywood cinema musicals of the 1940s and 1950s. Her early ...

are just a few Hollywood stars who were featured in dinner theatre. Actors from well remembered television series, such as Betty White,

Ann B. Davis Ann Bradford Davis (May 3, 1926 – June 1, 2014) was an American actress. She achieved prominence for her role in the NBC situation comedy ''The Bob Cummings Show'' (1955–1959), for which she twice won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outs ...

, Vivian Vance, Bob Denver,

JoAnne Worley Jo Anne Worley (born September 6, 1937) is an American actress, comedian, and singer. Her work covers television, films, theater, game shows, talk shows, commercials, and cartoons. Worley is widely known for her work on the comedy-variety ...

Bernie Kopell Bernard Morton Kopell (born June 21, 1933) is an American character actor known for his roles as Siegfried in '' Get Smart'' from 1966 to 1969 and as Dr. Adam Bricker ("Doc") on '' The Love Boat'' from 1977 to 1986. Early beginnings Kopell was b ...

, Dawn Wells,

Ken Berry Kenneth Ronald Berry (November 3, 1933 – December 1, 2018) was an American actor, dancer, and singer. Berry starred on the television series '' F Troop'', '' The Andy Griffith Show'', ''Mayberry R.F.D.'' and '' Mama's Family''. He also ap ...

, Gavin MacLeod, Nancy Kulp, Frank Sutton, and Bob Crane were also used as headliners. Burt Reynolds owned a dinner theater in Jupiter, Florida from 1979 to 1997, as did actor Earl Holliman, who owned the ''Fiesta Dinner Playhouse'' in

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, Texas. The boom ended in the mid-1980s, with many of the theaters closing. Film and television stars ceased working in dinner theater. Booth commented: "They could make more in a day doing a commercial than they could make during the entire run of dinner theater show, and they didn't have to travel. Plus, a lot of the stars just started dying off. It was a fine gig for a while." He said that, in 1999, you could count the number of surviving professional dinner theaters on two hands. There was a stigma attached to dinner theater and audiences got tired of such shows like '' The Last of the Red Hot Lovers'' and '' Arsenic and Old Lace''.Patton, Charli

'Florida Times-Union'', March 28, 1999; Curtain Call

Resurgence

After 2000, new dinner theaters began opening. Chicago's original Drury Lane Water Tower Place was founded in 1976, but closed in 1983. A new $7 million version opened in 2004. The Desert Star Theater in Murray, Utah opened a dinner theater in 2004 and the ''Gathering Dinner Theatre'' in Jacksonville opened in early 2009.Bull, Roger

Florida Times-Union, December 23, 2008-New dinner theater planned At the end of 2006, the National Dinner Theatre Association had 32 members, compared to 9 in 1999.Galbraith, Kate

New York Times, December 10, 2006, Do-It-Yourself Entertainment, Way Off Broadway The

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

of 2020 led to a resurgence of the form as a way of giving employment back to musicians and entertainment back to patrons in an industry severely affected by closures.

Different types

Union vs. non-union

In the United States, union theatres are known as ''equity theatres'', where performers are members of the

, the union that represents professional stage actors and stage managers. Union shows have a higher cost because equity contracts typically require the theater to pay for lodging, a minimum salary, insurance and pension payments, among other work rules regarding auditions and hiring. The reduction in professional dinner theaters from 147 in 1976 to 9 in 1999 was partly because union theaters changed to non-union to reduce expenses. Although actors are often housed at non-union theatres, salary for non-union actors may be significantly lower than at Equity theaters.

Commercial vs. non-profit

Tony DeSantis commented that theater operations break even at best, while the restaurant and especially the bar, are more likely to be profitable. While many theaters operate as not-for-profit organizations in order to take advantage of grants and funding from government agencies or private foundations, most dinner theaters are commercial businesses. Commercial dinner theatres often have shows six or seven nights a week and matinees. They also have short breaks between shows, usually less than a week. An example of a non-profit theater is the ''Starlight Dinner Theatre'' in Lansing, Michigan, where the dinner is catered. The shows are staged at a school cafetorium and the season includes only four productions with four performances per production (on Friday and Saturday nights). Some non-profits use amateur actors or casts where the leading role may be a professional with the rest of the cast composed of amateurs.

Variations

Tourist

Vacation American destinations such as Las Vegas, Destin, Florida, Branson, Missouri, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, Anaheim, and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

, California, saw the emergence of specialty dinner theaters, where the show stays the same for an extended run because the vast majority of their customers are tourists, not local residents. The most popular vacation destination in the United States, Orlando, Florida, had more than a dozen dinner theaters operating in 1999; through the 1990s, sixteen opened and closed there.

Murder mystery

Murder mystery games are interactive dinner theater events that have become popular on their own. The productions may be public where anyone can attend for the price of admission, or private where a company, social group or organization sponsors an event for its members. While utilizing the "dinner and a show" concept, the murder mystery show generally targets a smaller audience than typical dinner theater. Public performances usually feature professional actors while private showings may offer "roles" to the guests who participate in the production as either characters or detectives.

Others

The Wedding Comedy is similar to Murder Mystery as the staging requirements are minimal and the audience has interaction with the actors while they perform. Joey and Maria's Comedy Italian Wedding was written by Darlyne Franklin in 1992 and the franchise rights were sold in 2001. Other examples include Tony n' Tina's Wedding and a gay version, Joni and Gina's Wedding. Riverboat Dinner Cruises combine a showboat with a meal. They are limited to locations on a navigable body of water, such as the

Showboat Branson Belle ''Showboat Branson Belle'' is a riverboat—more specifically, a showboat—on Table Rock Lake near Branson, Missouri. The lake is landlocked by the Table Rock Dam on one side and the Beaver Lake Dam on the other side. Being a showboat, it hosts ...

or the Goldenrod Showboat.

s aka ''Madrigal Feasts'' are seasonal, typically held during the Christmas season. They are often staged by educational or religious entities for fundraising and include food, singing, poetry, humor, costumes, and a play from the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, ranging from medieval to the

periods. Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament is a chain of dinner theaters with shows featuring horses and jousting.

Sources

*Lynk, William M. ''Dinner Theatre-A Survey and Directory'', Greenwood Publishing (1993) *McAuley, Muriel: ''Going On...Barksdale Theatre, The First Thirty-One Years'', Taylor Publishing, 1984. *

References

External links

{{Commons category, Dinner theatres
National Dinner Theater Association website
Theatrical genres Restaurants by type Dinner theatre