Chanhassen Dinner Theatre is one of the sights to see in Minnesota's Twin Cities. More than 8 million patrons have seen over 193 shows there since 1968. Given the quality of shows, those numbers aren't surprising.
A married couple, Herbert and Carolyn Bloomberg, looked at a corn field and imagined a 90,000 square foot theatre facility. They had designed a new home for the Old Log Theater. They followed that job by building their own theatre complex about 30 minutes from the town center. They took an extra risk by adding a restaurant. Surely the distance from downtown as well as a restaurant, a business with a high failure rate, combined to doom this dream.
But on October 11, 1968 the theatre opened. Fittingly, "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" was the inaugural production. That ran for a month and a half before "the Fantasticks" took the stage. So here's a pun. The stage was set for what is today the largest professional dinner theatre in America. It can also boast being the largest privately owned restaurant in Minnesota. Not bad for such a risky venture.
The Playhouse, a small theatre room in Chanhassen, started showing "I Do! I Do!" in February of 1971. It kept showing night after night for 21 years. The same cast performed each and every show. That's quite a performance, huh. That long running show made Chanhassen and the Playhouse famous throughout the United States. It drew its final applause in November of 1992, but after a brief hiatus of a few months, returned for almost a year in 1993. "Stevie Ray's Comedy Troupe" took over for the next two years. But "I Do! I Do!" remains the king.
Both "Stevie Ray's Comedy Troupe" and "I Do! I Do!" later returned to Chanhassen, but in a different room. The Courtyard, now called the Club, hosted each of the plays in 1995. Today the Club is a popular spot for wedding receptions, private parties and even business meetings. Other well known plays that have appeared at Chanhassen are Camelot, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, Guys and Dolls, 42nd Street, Oklahoma, and Dial M for Murder. This is by no means the complete list.
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