Desert Star Theater

The first time I attended a performance here, I was in high school – too many years ago now for me to want to think about. The shows here are spoofs on popular songs and movies, throwing in national political commentary and Utah jokes, too. Hopefully you like singing, because audience participation is part of the game; oil those rusty pipes and familiarize yourself with the lyrics for songs such as «Let Me Call You Sweetheart,» «Take Me Out to the Ballgame,» «Happy Trails,» «Sweet Caroline,» etc.
There is full waitstaff during the performance. Come hungry and feast on pizza, garlic cheese bread, mozzarella sticks, and burgers (just to name a few of their staples), and ice cream treats for dessert. Desert Star Playhouse serves Coke products, if you’re one of those that has a preference between Coke and Pepsi. Complimentary popcorn is provided at each table.
Table spaces are small, so be prepared to get creative with your seating and food arrangement. Plan on packing light, too. Do you really need that gigantic purse just to go to a show (I tell myself this every performance; you should too.)?
There’s also a small gift shop in the theater, as well as a banquet hall that can be rented out for your special occasions. Not sure of the pricing, but from what I’ve seen of the inside, it’s pretty safe to assume they would do a great job for your special occasion.
I’m not really one that likes the spotlight focused on me, but I love witnessing couples on first dates having to dance in front of everyone and kiss, proposals being made, birthdays being celebrated, etc.
If it’s still June 2016 and «Perfect Pitch» is playing when you read this, make sure you get tickets for it! I’m such a boy band lover, and this show mocks them endlessly. I loved Nick Whitaker’s portrayal of Chad; reminded me a lot of Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys. Even the dance moves seemed reminiscent of nineties boy bands.

One star for 2 staff people who «tried» to correct a horrible experience at the DST and make it acceptable. A group of 19 ladies planned a fun evening at DST on Thursday, May 26. Upon arrival, having made reservations nearly a month in advance, we were shown to our seats. Two of us arrived shortly after the main group. Only 17 seats were provided for our group of 19. So, we sat at a table next to the rest of our group. About 2 minutes before show time, those two were told they were in the wrong seats. Now… lights out, show begins. Here are 2 of us being squeezed into 2 tables with 5 at each table. Staff were bringing in more chairs, drinks got spilled, commotion all around. Patrons behind us, as well as our group meanwhile, missed the the first 10 minutes or more of the opening act. 5 ladies each around 2, two foot diameter tables with 5 drinks, 5 meals, on each. People couldn’t see, no room for food. One lady who had to move is 80+ years old, in the dark and struggling to see where she needed to go. People behind us, telling us to sit down, etc. Very embarrassing and Not Our Fault. Poor planning and accommodating from management was the source of the problem.
Missing a good portion of the opening act, it was very difficult to hear and understand what the cast was saying. The acoustics were horrible at best.
DST. You need to stop packing in your patrons like sardines to make an extra buck. Charge a buck more for your tickets and eliminate these rediculous tables for five. Be more accommodating and concerned for your patrons comfort and enjoyment of your venue. Fix the sound system.
We were offered a discount on our next engagement to «correct» the most unfortunate and embarrassing situation that we experienced. Well… not one of us is willing to take a chance on DST ever again. Too bad, you have an opportunity for providing a fun venue for people to enjoy.

I really like this place! I love plays and the plays they do here are super funny and fun for anybody. It’s always a fun date night for my husband and I. The plays seems always well written and are about hour half long. I love the feel to the whole place! It’s got a western feel and all the servers are dressed up. They offer a lot of different types of plays but I usually enjoy the Christmas or Halloween ones most.
The seating is pretty tight. Tables are close but that may buy some but not really me. The table is perfect for my husband and I but I could imagine having 4 people at a table would not be as enjoyable. As for the food it’s not terrible but also not great. We usually get the pizza like I said not great but not bad but is a little over priced. That’s basically what the four stars are for is the food could be better or cheaper everything else is a 5 star experience in my opinion. We will for sure be back for many plays.

Desert Star is an amazing hidden treasure even if it is on State Street!
I just enjoyed two and half hours of fun, comedic and excellent acting in «My West Valley Fair Lady». Great show! To make the experience even more enjoyable, they serve food at your table with very friendly and efficient staff.
A definite must go if you want an affordable fun night out!

What a blast! Hilarious! We saw My Valley Fair Lady. What a hoot! They were amazing. A great night out with friends.

I absolutely love Desert Star! I’ve been a season ticket holder for about two years and I probably will be for a long time. The only problem I have with it is that the tables are packed in like sardines, but you have to appreciate how well they work with it.
The food is great, but a little over-​priced. Nothing worse than a normal restaurant though.
Everyone is always very nice, the staff is amazing and so helpful.
The shows are usually extremely funny, of course that depends on the shows subject and your sense of humor though. They always have a little bit of something for everyone though, even if the show isn’t completely geared towards something you’d typically enjoy.

I got my hubby tickets for Xmas, and we really loved the experience here. The show was super fun and interactive, and it was nice to have a restaraunt experience at the same time. The only thing lacking was some beer ;)

This place is quite the hidden gem in utah. They do shows year round and all of them are really well thought out and enjoyable to see. We recently went to scrooges nightmare before Christmas. It was up to par with the other shows we’ve seen there. It’s always full of humor, mostly stupid humor from around Utah based on current events. They do a good job of involving the audience. It’s fun to sit at the little tables and watch as you are eating dinner or dessert. I was bummed though cause last time they were out of vanilla ice cream, which really should never happen. For anyone looking for something new to do, this is a great place to go!

Love this place! I’ve been to their funny performances for decades. They also have dinner concerts and other events. My kids liked to order food (pizza, ice cream, drinks) and throw popcorn at the villains. The olio at the end is good for us old folks who like to sing along. Lots of parking behind the building. You can admit to having a birthday or anniversary, but they might haul you on stage or sing to you to embarrass you a little. It’s all entertaining.

I’ve been to the Desert Star Theater several times throughout the past 10 years. It gets worse each time I attend. The actors do a decent job and most of the shows are pretty funny, but the seating and food service are horrible. It’s too crowded to eat comfortably and the food is awful. Everything is bland. Our server forgot the meal of someone in our group and didn’t bring us any utensils for our salad. We waited and waited. All of our food got cold. I finally got up during the show and went to the kitchen. All of the servers were standing around, talking. I talked to a different server and our utensils and food were brought out about 10 minutes later. It was almost intermission. Then, when we were finally able to eat, we found that another one of our meals was the wrong meal. A hamburger was delivered to someone who ordered a chicken sandwich. Is it really this hard to get it right? Maybe the servers are too rushed to get everything in and out during the play. They should just do the play and maybe drinks and snacks and forget trying to serve dinner.

My husband and I love desert star shows. I end up laughing more than I thought was possible. It is always an excellent date night option. Last night we saw «Into the Hoods» we both thought it was the best one we have ever seen! Hilarious! We always get the bbq chicken pizza which is excellent too. All of the actors are incredibly talented acting wise as well as being able to sing. All of the seats in the theater are great! The piano player has serious talent too!

This is such a fun place, and family friendly. The shows are comedic and the people are extremely friendly. The only issue we had was the small sitting area. Other than that I would recommend this to anyone.

It’s ALWAYS fun at the Desert Star! And as an actress who has worked here for over 7 years I can promise that we have just as much fun on stage as you will in the audience.
We take classic stories and add a little more funny to them. With titles like The Grouch Who Stole Christmas and Star Ward you know you are in for a good time.
Hungry? No need to find a spot to eat before hand, we’ve got you covered right here at the show. We’ve got pizza, burgers, wraps and a slew of desserts. Plus! Free popcorn!
Yes I’m a little bias, but I was a fan long before I was an actor. Trust me, you’re gonna laugh.

Went and saw Dracula Saturday night. THE SHOW WAS AMAZING, we had a blast, my 8 year olds said it was the funniest show ever, and we were laughing just as much. The characters were awesome! Only took a star off for the seating… I had a very large person next to me, and she was basically fattin over into my seat we were so close… Other than that, it was great!

I have been to around a dozen shows here and will keep coming back. The plays are fun and good for all ages. The actors interact with the crowd sometimes and really do a good job.
–1 star because they smash everyone in way too tight and too small of tables and –1 star for the STUPID constant and repeating Utah type jokes… aside from those two things this place is great.

Friend and I went to the hungry games. Which the show was quite funny and very enjoyable. We ordered food even after being told it was bad it wasn’t we both thought it we quite good not a huge order but not small either so no complaining the price could be dropped a little bit I understand you gotta make the green lol the female servers were adorable in their time feeling costumes. We both enjoyed the music with the piano in the beginning very very fun. One reason I docked a star. It was sooooo cramped we were smooshed. Its a Good and bad if your on a date you sure can be close other than that your smooshed. Still had a great time

We bought tickets for the Hungry Games, and we both thought it was really funny. I enjoyed the Utah jokes that were interspersed throughout the play. Overall, we left chuckling, and we will be back. :)
A note on the seating — the seating arrangements are cramped. We sat a really small four-​seat table which we had to share with another couple. If you’re going for a date night, try to reserve a two-​seat table. You’ll be a little less cramped, and you’ll actually get to sit next to your date.

We just saw Kicking the Hobbit this past Saturday at 8:30pm and it was our first time at Desert Star Theater. We both had a good experience.
We didn’t try any of the food because we had just come from dinner but I did notice the prices — quite extreme for what is being offered — so while we are likely to return for another show, we will make sure we eat before we go.
There were quite a few positives about our experience. First, it was a welcome different way to spend a date night. Second, the quality of the acting, singing, dancing, campy fun was really good. The ad lib parts were hysterical — especially when the tree almost fell over. I am still laughing about «I don’t remember my lines».
There was also a notable negative. The tables and chairs are PACKED in such a way that you are really uncomfortably crammed against strangers at the same and/​or next table. If you are a couple, you will likely be placed at a table built for 2 but 4 people will be crammed around it. If you are as unfortunate as we were and your table mates decide to order food, you will have to sit and smell their food and listen to their cud chomping while you are trying to enjoy the show.
Overall, we enjoyed our night. When we do return, we know to eat before we come and to request a table that only has two chairs and if none are available, we will choose a different night.

I’ve enjoyed shows here for a really long time. Since high school and perhaps before. They’ve always been fun. I’ve love to see the addition of the cabaret theater and had a wonderful Christmas variety show there several years ago.
I believe that they’ve got a lot going for them, but I can’t help but notice that I’m not enjoying the shows nearly as much as I used to. Why is that? I think they’ve fallen into the formula rut. They’ve always been formulaic, but the shows are just written so flat, one-​note, and predictable that I can’t get into them.
Yes, it’s always been campy. That’s part of the charm. But It’s gotten to be where you can just say «Insert Utah politics joke here» and get the standard guffaw.
You’ve got a great space. The food. is just theater food. I’m not in love, but it’s fine. But you need to keep the show quality up or it’s going to get tough to get excited to come back.

Fun show.
Our waiter was an idiot and the food sucked!!!
At least the show was pretty entertaining.