Desert Star Playhouse — Attraction in Murray

I've been going to shows at the Desert Star Playhouse on and off for several years. I saw shows here as a teen and I've seen several more as an adult. I've seen almost every show since January 2022.

First, this is a PARODY playhouse. If you don't know what parody means, look it up. Someone complained about TOP FUN not being anything like the movie TOP GUN. Of course it isn't! Do you know where you are? It was still an incredibly fun show to watch with plenty of laughs. Talent was excellent! And thanks for finally casting some guys who can sing. I've noticed some excellent male singers in most shows since Phantom of the Opera. Females have usually been strong singers, but shows are so much better when the men can sing well too!

Someone complained about an offensive and racist joke in a show from earlier this year. I saw that show and don't remember anything of the sort. Another person complained about a joke regarding people ending up dead in the Jordan River and how it caused them great offense. This theater often pokes fun at current events, whether local or national. But again, this is a PARODY theater! There is usually something that will offend everyone and enjoying these shows does require a sense of humor. Let out a verbal boo and don't let it bother you if you initially take offense. The theater welcomes audience interaction at appropriate times. Jokes are often made about various local cities (Tooele, Magna, West Valley, Provo, etc.), the University of Utah, BYU, local culture, politics, etc. I have noticed they have greatly toned down or completely omitted most political jokes these days or really jokes about anything controversial. It's probably for the best. Audiences have become too sensitive (shown by a few reviews) and society is too divisive. One of my favorite plays from the past was My Valley Fair Lady, where they took a West Side girl who worked at Hot Dog on a Stick at Valley Fair Mall and made her a proper East Side girl. Of course it was a parody of My Fair Lady. I don't know if they could get away with doing this show again because people might get offended. (eyeroll)

Some shows have a little bit of sexual innuendo, which I never like, but it's rare. Sometimes it's actors adding extra things based on audience reaction that were never in the script. Fortunately, it seems to be less than in the past and there really isn't any in their latest production of Top Fun as far as I could tell. There was a little bit of potty humor, but it was light and pretty funny.

The main show and after-show (called an Olio) are always a lot of fun. It surprises me when people leave after the main show. Don't leave! There is another 20 minutes of singing, dancing, and humor that usually has a theme. The theme might be the 80s, Country, Broadway, your high school prom, a beach party, etc. Think of it as an added bonus. Sometimes I think the olio is better than the actual show.

Complaints: The food seems expensive. The pizza and burgers are pretty good, but I don't know that they are worth the cost on top of a $30/person ticket. I usually just get ice cream. You do get a free basket of popcorn, which is nice. A bottle of water is 49 cents. I know that's not very much, but they used to just give you a glass of ice water for free. They also automatically add 18% tip to your check for gratuity, so just be aware as this catches a lot of people off-guard and then they get angry when they find out they double-tipped. This is written at the top of the menu, so it's not like they're trying to be sneaky. I wish they'd put the words to Happy Trails in the newspaper or have them visible on the screen. I think more people would join in singing if they could see or read the words. And finally, why doesn't the entire cast come out to say hello anymore? It wouldn't hurt for them to greet the audience for 10 minutes as we exit the theater like they did before the...

I have very conflicting feelings about my experience. If I could rate just the show, it would be 5 stars. But the service deserves 0 stars, considering how none existent it was. We arrived right as the show was starting and immediately placed an order for water and cocktails. The bar waiter asked if we wanted to order food, we said yes, and he said he would send someone over to get our food order. We all came hungry, expecting and planning to eat. Intermission comes around and no one came to take our order for food. The bar waiter comes and takes an order from a few of my friends for second drinks, and I asked him what we needed to do to order food. He apologized and said he would go find our food waiter right away. Again, no one arrived. He came a 3rd time before the end of the show and asked if anyone took our orders for food. Again, we told him no. Then 10 min before the end of the show, the manager comes by with a teenage waiter we have never seen before and immediately starts aggressively telling at us that we need to order food because a few of my friends had 2 alcoholic beverages. At this point, we had all decided to go get food afterward somewhere else, because no one came after we asked 3 separate times. I explained to the manager that we would not be ordering food when the show was going to be over in 10 min. She immediately started accusing us of lying, saying the waiter said he had came several times and asked, which never happened. I can only assume the waiter lied so he could save his job, rather than be honest and admit his mistake. When I again told the manager that we were not going to order food when the show was almost over, she then started threatening to "put a note on our account" that would restrict us from purchasing alcohol next time we came. We never once got an apology, and they never owned up to their mistake. When I stood my ground, because it was their error that resulted in this problem, they left and the waiter came back shortly later and dumped an extra basket of popcorn on our table and billed us a $1 for it. No one explained that they were going to do this to resolve the food problem, or asked for our permission. The entire time the manager was there, she kept telling us to order fries or ice cream and never even mentioned we could help them fix the problem with $1 popcorn. She also didn't offer to comp us food to fix the problem they created either. She immediately came at us with accusations and threats. If she had asked nicely and worked with us to find a solution, we would have been open to that. But she came at us very aggressively right from the start. Looking at the other tables in our section, no one else had food either. So it seems like the waiter that was supposed to take care of us for food, dropped the ball on a large portion of his section. And rather than accept responsibility, he lied about. I still can not believe the audacity of the manager to then accuse us of lying when the bar waiter could verify that we asked THREE TIMES to order food. There were 7 of us at 2 tables, and none of us were offered to order food once. To make matters worse, we were here for my husbands birthday, and it really put a damper on the evening. We also missed 5-10 min of the end of the show due to the altercation with the manager, so we missed a big chunk of the end of the show. Completely unprofessional behavior from both the waiter and manager. I loved the show, but I'm not sure I can return if threatening customers for things that are the fault of wait staff is considered acceptable behavior. (As a side note, the bar waiter was very good and on top of things. It's unfortunate he couldn't take our food order for us, due to their convoluted ordering system, with separate waiters for...

Between the one liners, intricate dialoge set ups and witty humor we couldn't stop laughing! The time and attention put into the script was updated to the point that it's obviously happening during the production run, only adding to the fun. The cast is clearly talented, the live music preformed by the vocalists and pianist was fantastic! We loved the interaction with the audience as as a parody theater audience participation is mandatory. Our son who struggles to sit still was so engaged it was never an issue. Seating is intimate but very comfortable and while the tables are close together it never felt like we were too close to others. (Jazz games have you packed in, here you have leg room and space...just as a comparison.) The food was amazing! We ordered the Smoky BBQ Chicken Pizza and my husband declared it the best pizza he'd ever had! This isn't some ordered in and slapped on the table, but a craft style pizza. Places will cut corners, but they haven't. The crust is made on site and in a bread making tradition that shows in the flavor and texture, you can't fudge on this. We also got the American burger with a Gluten Free bun for our child with celiacs, we had to double check with our server to be sure it was gluten free, it just looked too good. Again...they make it on site and our daughter was beyond delighted, it was amazing and really added to her experience! The third dish we ordered was the Southwest Chicken Wrap which was devoured by one of our other children. There's aren't small portions and the quality of the ingredients is plain to see. In spirit of our seeing a spoof that included Harry Potter elements we ordered a Butter Beer as well. Since seeing the play I've been asked by each family member to go back to see additional productions (and this one a second time) as well as to see if we can order the food even if a play isn't in the cards that night. We'll...