Lampooning Life and Getting Laughs
For 17 years, Desert Star Theater has been entertaining audiences with its laugh-out-loud parodies of popular culture and Utah life.
Justin Berry, a 2000 graduate of Utah State University, is an actor and graphic designer at Desert Star. Since 2003, he said he has been involved with 11 productions.
Currently, Berry is starring as “Dax,” the groom in the production “My Big Fat Utah Wedding,” a parody of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.”
“My Big Fat Utah Wedding,” which will close Nov. 19, has been running for a total of 75 weeks, a record which the Deseret News told them was the longest running show in Utah history.
Berry said he is sad the show is closing and will miss the people he got to work with, but is looking forward to moving on to other productions.
“You don’t spend 75 weeks with those people and not bond with them,” Berry said.
Desert Star Theater currently has two theaters putting on several different productions. Berry said there is a dinner theater, where the cost of a meal is included with the ticket price and there is a cabaret theater that does not include a dinner, but free popcorn is served and the patrons have the option of ordering ice cream and gourmet pizza.
Desert Star is unique in that all of their productions are original. Scott Holman, the artistic director of the theater, is the mastermind behind most of the productions.
“Scott writes a little over half of what you see on stage,” Berry said.
Berry said Holman and the other writers sit down with founders/owners Mike and Alyce Todd and brainstorm about new ideas for shows. They consider what shows have been successful in the past and think of new ideas about what can be parodied. Upcoming shows for the 2006 season will include parodies of “Pirates of the Caribbean 2” and Desperate Housewives.
Mashell Brown, a senior majoring in elementary education, said that she and her family love to go see the shows at Desert Star.
“My family has gone at least 15 or 16 times in the past five or six years,” Brown said. “One year, we even had a season pass.”
Brown said it only takes about an hour and a half to drive down to the theater. She said the shows are very family-friendly and are done in good taste. Her favorite production she has seen to date was called “Forever Joseph.”
“It was hilarious; it was a mixture of “Forever Plaid,” “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” and the “Donny and Marie Show,” Brown said.
Brown said not only are the shows good entertainment, but they are a fun activity because there is a lot of audience participation. Many of the shows are melodramas where the audience gets to “boo and hiss” at the villain or “cheer and clap” for the hero. Brown said the actors will announce audience member’s birthdays, anniversaries and even first dates. One time when Brown was attending a show, the actors sang to a couple celebrating an anniversary and then made them kiss in front of everybody.
“I love that playhouse,” Brown said.
The holiday season is especially busy for Desert Star, with several new productions on stage, life for the actors just keeps getting busier. Berry, who will end his role in “My Big Fat Utah Wedding” Saturday, will be taking on a new role in “Home for the Holidays,” Desert Star’s newest production, which opens Nov. 25.
Freelance actor and costume designer Phillip Lowe said he has been in several Desert Star productions and is also a graduate from the Utah State theater program with a bachelor’s in theater and a master’s in theatrical design, emphasizing in costume design.
Lowe likes that the atmosphere at Desert Star is uncomplicated and not too high brow. He said that anyone can sit back and have a good time watching a show. As an actor, he likes that he has the opportunity to play with the audience and try out new things.
“You get to flex a different muscle that you don’t get to at other theater companies,” Lowe said.
Lowe is currently playing the part of Horace, the idiot son of the villainess in the production, “Christmas Vacation, The Bi-Polar Express.”
Desert Star is expanding and growing, gaining popularity with theater goers from all across the West. Berry said that recently a couple from Canada called and ordered tickets. He said that tickets for the Christmas season go fast and some large groups even reserve seats a year in advance, so it is a good idea to call ahead and make reservations.
Prices for tickets range from about $35 for a dinner theater ticket to $13 for a cabaret theater ticket. Students with ID can get a cabaret ticket for $10. Desert Star is located at 861 S. State Street in Murray.
-nnaylor@cc.usu.edu