By Megan Holley
Desert Star Playhouse in Murray, Utah is a family-friendly dinner theatre, that brings us The Greatest Snowman. Desert Star consistently bring us a holiday production that is bound to keep you in the holiday spirit all season long. Desert Star is well-known for having free delicious popcorn, newspapers as playbills, and encouraging audience participation by booing at the villains and cheering for the heroes. At the end of every show, the cast performs an olio that is themed to the show. this olio features holiday classics such as: “White Christmas”, “The 12 Days of Christmas”, and “Happy Holidays” and these all sport the popular Desert Star twists of course. Liz Christensen wrote and directs this wonderful holiday spectacular. Christensen is able to produce the vision she created and The Greatest Showman is a fun-filled treat you will want to see over and over again.
Detective Nic (Alan Smith/Todd Michael Thompson) along with Officer Duane (Danny Eggers/Rusty Bringhurst), and Police Chief (Larissa Villers/Alina Mowers) try to find out who the Christmas Card Bandit is after Lucy’s Toy Shop gets robbed. While trying to figure out who was behind this dastardly deed, Jack (Matt O’Malley/Lee Daily), who’s a snowman, magically comes to life to help them solve the mystery and spread holiday cheer, while quoting several lines from Disney’s Frozen. Detective Nic and Lucy (Kahli Dalbow/Abigail Ford) harmonize wonderfully with one another, especially during the song “A Million Wishes”.. While Veronica (Katie Drake/Katherine Tietjen) and Maximillion Cash (Kyle Larsen/Rick Miller) are plotting, Zoya (Brittany Blaire Andersen/Chelsea Hubbard) is in the background doing entertaining rope tricks, , and why is she doing rope tricks in a Christmas show? She’s as a former circus performer, naturally. When Veronica’s microphone goes out during the song “One Last Perfect Crime” with Maximillion Cash she projects her voice nicely and keeps going on with the show until she gets a replacement microphone. This, to me, shows not only true professionalism. Not only “the show must go on”, but this actress has the pipes to be heard even without a mic. Impressive.
The Greatest Snowman has some memorable lines that I keep giggling about. When Lucy tries to say something nice about Officer Duane after he says so many nice things about her: “You deserve all the happy meals with only the best toys inside”. The joke here is Police Chief found his happy meal receipt in the trash when trying to find a note of evidence. Zoya, in her perky Russian accent quips: “My mama perform on stilts. I look up to her.” Zoya gets many punny lines in the show, and becomes a favorite character.
Christensen not only writes and directs but also choreographs this brilliant show. The cast is perfect, the dances, the acting, the music—it’s all a sheer delight. Even with various technical malfunctions, the actors always stay in character and improvise around it to make the show not only go on, but to add more comedy to the situation. Desert Star is a safe and comfortable place to ad lib and those that happened in the performance I attended only added to the fun.
Costumers Mary Atkinson and Brytan Todd brilliantly create costumes similar to the movie The Greatest Showman to add more depth to characters. Zoya wears the circus outfit similar to what Zendaya wore in the movie, lavender, sparkly, circus-y. The olio costumes are truly a sight to behold, the dresses are so sparkly and twirlable, and the tuxedos look very sharp, like classic Christmas party outfits that you wish you could own and wear.
Nothing spreads holiday cheer like music, which is exactly what accompanists Jordan Richardson, Tracy Harris, and Zach Hansen bring to The Greatest Snowman. They play the piano effortlessly, and keep the show running by providing the music for the show and the sounds for the audience to know when to boo or cheer. Set Designer Ken Lineberry creates such a cute little toy shop for the show, it looks like it popped out of a Hallmark movie. During the song “I am Enough”, the backdrop of twinkling lights behind Lucy and Veronica while they sing gave me goosebumps. Dereck Walden and Maeson Busk add so much to the show by having the lighting be softer during cute Hallmark-esque moments. The lovers finally let each other know they like each other more than friends and we feel that glow.
Playwright Christensen shared something beautiful about writing this production on Facebook: “Duane is my favorite character in The Greatest Snowman, and here’s the real reason why. Yes, Duane was funny from the beginning, but he wasn’t a character who had anything to do with me until rewriting. No one could give me the help I wanted. I knew my mom very well. We are very much alike. So I decided I would have to be the one to say to myself what she would tell me. I did. Five or maybe 15 minutes later, I was writing the scene at the top of act two. What I thought my mom would tell me became the foundation of Duane’s beautiful monologue to Lucy. I’m crying as I write about this even now. I love Duane because Duane carries the very best parts of me–the wisdom, the compassion, the perspective, the support, the optimism–the parts I get from my mom.”
It is this passion and beauty that makes this fun little family-friendly musical special. Come down to Desert Star Playhouse to spread holiday cheer that will last all year. Of all the Christmas shows out there, The Greatest Snowman is one you definitely don’t want to miss. So bundle up, grab your friends and family, and come to this fabulous dinner theatre that will leave you wanting to come back time and time again.
Children under five years old are not allowed. Masks are not required but are recommended.
November 11, 2021- January 1, 2022, times vary
Contact: 801-266-2600
Desert Star Facebook Page
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