When Desert Star Cabaret Theatre announced its 2006 season last year, "Desperate Homemakers: There Goes the Neighborhood" was listed in the March 30-June 10 slot.
"Homemakers" is still there — but the new subtitle should attract even more attention.
The "Neighborhood" has been replaced by the new subtitle, "The Big Fat Sequel to My Big Fat Utah Wedding."
"My Big Fat Utah Wedding," which played for 386 performances between June 2004 and November 2005, set a record as Utah's longest continually running stage production.
Writer-director Scott Holman explains that the sequel will focus on the further adventures of the bride's parents — Heber and Betty Christensen — rather than the newlyweds.
"Homemakers" picks up the story of Heber and Betty following the wedding of their free-spirited daughter. An unexpected windfall allows the Happy Valley couple to move into a new upscale neighborhood, Paradise Acres, where they are immediately confronted by an array of nutty neighbors, each of whom harbors dark secrets.
In her old home, Betty's life revolved around scrapbook parties and cooking dinner, being a stay-at-home mom anxious to get her daughter married off. Now she's faced with competing for social status with neighboring snob Donetta Huxley. But her biggest trial comes when sexpot Greta Van Orden sets her homewrecking heart on Heber.
To fend off the gold-digging vixen, Betty forms an unlikely alliance with Donetta's twin sister, Pat, who is anxious to see her pretentious sibling taken down a peg.
Holman said his sequel will have many of the same elements that made "My Big Fat Utah Wedding" a hit with Utah audiences — zany characters, local cultural references and off-the-wall humor.
Spencer Ashby and Mary Parker Williams will be back as Heber and Betty, the wacky "typical" Utah couple, with Dan Larrinaga, Ed Farnsworth, Bob Longoria, Sharon Lynn Kenison, Bonnie Wilson Whitlock, Jennifer Royall and Ashley Grant. Ashley Kathryn Mayfield, Brooklyn Pulver and Jack Drayton are also in the cast — in a variety of alternating or multiple roles.
Performances will be Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7 p.m., Fridays at 7 and 9:30 p.m. and Saturdays at noon, 3, 7 and 9:30 p.m. Patrons in the Desert Star Cabaret Theatre have optional food service, including pizza, snacks and a variety of other menu items.
If you go ...
What: "Desperate Homemakers"
Where: Desert Star Cabaret Theatre, 4861 S. State, Murray
When: Thursday through June 10
How much: $8-$14
Phone: 266-2600
Web site:www.DesertStar.biz
E-mail: ivan@desnews.com