Desert Star Playhouse

 The Desert Star Playhouse is a fun whimsical dinner theater in Murray. As far as I can tell they specialize in parody/satire. We saw an ad for their current play called: Survivor: Antelope Island and well, that sounded pretty fun! So we decided we should check it out.

Quick history from what I can gleam from their website and Wikipedia: The building started as a small theater called The Gem that played silent films with piano accompaniment. That was demolished and rebuilt as the Iris Theater, apartments and commercial space in the 1930’s. by owner Tony Duval (that name sounds so familiar but I can’t place why). His family lived in the apartments above the theater. After his retirement, It changed hands several times before being renamed The Vista

It is the only commercial building in Murray that is in the Art Deco style. Though not particularly ornate, it is still distinctive.

Duval and his partner Joe Lawrence built the Murray Theater just a few buildings to the south. Which is also a neat theater that I will be writing about. Anyway, during the summers the Iris would close, and movies would be shown at the larger and cooler Murray Theater.

The theater first became the Desert Star when Mike and Alyce Todd attempted to produce a play at This Is The Place Heritage Park. At the end of the summer they sought an indoor venue and found the then closed down Vista and renamed it The Desert Star, the website says since 1989.

In 2000, after several successful shows Murray said it had to be brought up to code or torn down. The then owner wanted to tear it down, but the Todds bought it and renovated it.

*Note: the wording here is a little confusing. I am not sure if they have been at the playhouse since 1989, or just a theater troop since then and at the playhouse since near 2000?

Either way, I thought it had been around longer than that. I mean, yes, the building has been, but I thought it was The Desert Star for longer than that. Huh. The more your know.

Quick Details:

Length: NA
Trail Type: Wander or get in and sit down.
Difficulty: DR2.
Elevation Gain: NA
Restroom: Of course
Dogs? No.
Other Info: Tickets start at $22.00

To Get Here:

Take i15 to 53rd South head east. Turn left on State Street. After a few blocks the theater will be on the right at 4861south.

If coming from the north, take i15 to 45th south turn right on State Street and it will be on your left.

The Adventure:

We decided to start our day at nearby Crow And Pitcher to have a drink or 2 before going to the show. It is literally 3 doors down.

The neat old building.

The neat marquee.

The marquee sign.

So… I am not at all sure what I was expecting, but it certainly was not this! Wow. It’s like an indoor old west town.

With an old outhouse. I… I wonder if they have ever had a problem with it…

Fun wanted signs that we so took pictures of us in.

Desert Stagecoach.

Neat mural of Delicate Arch.

Looking back towards the front.

Upstairs was off limits. I assume it leads to the old apartments... which are probably office/staff space/storage now.

Inside the theater, the stage.

The piano, and player.

I found the… lobby with a lot less people during intermission.

So weird, but neat too.

Ticket office.

With a stuffed bull and moose, cause, why not?

There is a second intermission followed by an “Olio” or a medley. I went back in and watched part of it before Landis informed me our friends were outside waiting for us. Meh, it was fun, but I don’t think we missed much.

The back.

We all really enjoyed the play. The cast was funny, and I like that they don’t take themselves too seriously. They definitely got some laughs out of us!

They have the dinner theater service down ensuring everybody gets their food and drink orders in (I was a little surprised to learn they serve alcohol). It can be a little distracting, but overall not too bad. We recently went to a comedy show that offered the same kind of experience and I was not a fan of how that was handled. But I get it, finding the balance between offering good service without interrupting the show is a hard line to find. So, I am not sure which I prefer.

We returned to Crow and Pitcher to finish out the night, cause we’re personality 20 somethings living on 40 somethings salary.

A not great picture of the recently restored back to the original Murray Theater sign. I have seen quite a few of my favorite bands perform there, so I am glad they are restoring it and not tearing it down. The grand reopening is in late September so I might be going back and getting better pictures soon.

I don't know why the lens flares are so bad tonight... maybe I need to do a thorough cleaning of my phones camera lens.

Day Murray Music. Another historic building. 

I plan on doing a historic Murray tour sometime soon because wow there is a lot of cool buildings and history to be discovered. So many neat things, such little time!

Anyway, The Desert Star, what a neat building, and a fun play. There are a couple upcoming shows that I am considering coming back for. It did feel a little cramped, at least where we sat and the table was a bit small for 5 people with food and drinks. But, looking around the room I think there might be better choices to sit, just not with 5 or more people haha. So, yeah, this was really neat and I had a really good time with my framily. 9 out of 10 squirrels.

As for difficulty, I mean, its indoors so DR2.

Dogs are not allowed for obvious reasons.