The new Desert Star Playhouse might be considered a "theater in progress" - sort of like the theatrical "play in progress."
Artistic director James Gooden and producer Michael Todd have been scrambling to get the theater in shape. They had hoped to hold the grand opening tonight (Nov. 3), but due to last-minute details in meeting Murray City's codes, the opening has been postponed for two weeks."We'll open on Friday, Nov. 17," Todd told the Deseret News this week. Despite the problems in bringing the nearly 60-year-old structure up to contemporary building standards, Todd said, "The city's been real good to us, and we want to cooperate with them."
What patrons initially see in two weeks will be just the first phase of the year-round melodrama showcase.
The playhouse, at 4861 S. State, will be the home of Desert Star Theatrics, which specializes in musical melodrama. It will also feature light refreshments and soft drinks, including free popcorn on the tables.
Gooden anticipates that, sometime before Christmas, the theater will be offering pizza and ice cream treats as part of an expanded menu.
This will be family-style dinner-theater - not that high-priced, $20 a seat, big-name dinner theater that proliferated in Salt Lake City a decade ago. What Gooden is providing is reasonably priced "good-time" entertainment.
It's fitting that old-fashioned melodrama (and some new-fashioned melodramas, too) will be presented in one of Murray's most historic buildings.
In recent years, the structure housed the Vista Theatre, but when it was first constructed by Tony Duvall in the early 1930s, it was known as the Iris.
Unlike the newer Murray Theater up the street (built by Duvall and the late Joseph Lawrence), the Iris had a stage large enough to accommodate touring stock companies and other live shows, including occasional locally produced plays. Back in the 1930s, stock companies were featured on a monthly basis, along with films and other entertainment.
Although Art Proctor leased it for a couple of years and ran it in tandem with his Avalon, several blocks north, the Vista has been mostly vacant in recent years, its marquee used to advertise an adjacent pawn shop.
Another theater company, the Old Nauvoo Playhouse (since changed to Vine Street Theater), also had considered using the old Vista Theater as a new home at one time, but negotiations fell through and that company is now in residence at the Mount Vernon Academy, a private school in Murray, just a couple of blocks south of the Desert Star Playhouse.
The theater has been a lively place these past few weeks as Gooden, Todd and their crews have been revamping the old building into the new home of their Desert Star Theatrics.
The stage has been enlarged and the theater seats removed to make room for small, cabaret-style tables. The auditorium has a slight rake but not enough to cause any problems. (Glasses and silverware won't slide off the tables.)
Eventually, the floor will be terraced slightly to enhance the sightlines, and raised sections have been installed along the sides of the hall for some tables.
Gooden is directing the company's first production in the new facility.
"Flower of the South (or Nipped in the Bud)" is a heart-wrenching drama by George Salem about a Southern belle and her addlepated father caught up in the throes of post-Civil War turmoil. The setting is the Bell Haven Plantation in Louisiana's sugar country, where Charlotte Thibudaux, the strength of the family and "the flower of the South," is struggling to salvage the family farm.
Her father, Col. Gus Thibudaux, is a shell-shocked veteran who has lost his mind.
Charlotte, in between juggling the plantation and her father, also has been promised to Confederate Capt. Madison Tyler, the scion of the South and the melodrama's hero.
Other characters are Lt. Amos Canfield, a well-meaning Yankee; Biloxi Bill, the most notorious bushwhacker of them all; Marcus Meanly, who wants to procure the plantation and its surrounding property for his nefarious scheme - to divert the Mississippi River and bypass New Orleans; Miss Margaret, a family friend, and Harmony, Charlotte's sister.
Period costumes, created from authentic patterns from 1816, have been constructed by Ruth Todd, Lauren Thompson and Carole Maxfield.
Members of the cast for "Flower of the South" are Gooden (Col. Thibudaux), Jansen Davis (Meanly), Shawn Maxfield (Col. Tyler), Janie Wallace (Charlotte), Eric Jensen (Lt. Canfield), James Darling (Biloxi Bill), Paula Jessop (Miss Margaret) and Ginger Bunnell (Harmony).
Six of these performers also appeared during the summer in DST's successful production of "The Sally Kathleen Claim (ore All That Glitters Is Not Gold)," presented outdoors at Pioneer Trail State Park.
Musical director for DST's melodramas is Val David Smithson, known in local theater and performing arts circles for his orchestrations and scoring.
Gooden explains that songs from various sources are added to the melodramas. For "Flower of the South," he's inserted such old-timers as "Golden Slippers" and "Dixie," along with some selections from "Shenandoah," including "We Make a Beautiful Pair," "Next to Lovin', I Like Fightin' " and "Over the Hill."
In addition to the melodrama, which lasts about an hour and 10 minutes, the DST players will present a 20-minute olio showcasing their musical, dance and comedic talents at the end of the show. Live music also will be presented during the evening's two intermissions.
Admission for adults is $5, with those under 12 admitted for $3. Group rates are also available. Curtain time is 8 p.m. nightly on Mondays and Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
Gooden said several nights at the theater have already been booked during the holidays.
For information or preferred-seating reservations, call the theater at 266-7600.