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Great American Melodrama Theatre
Rating Details »
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
5 reviews for Great American Melodrama Theatre
What a great evening out in the central coast area.
I have been coming here for over 25 years and love this turbo charged version of the Bird Cage Theater I grew to love as a kid at Knott's Berry Farm in SoCal. I have been bringing my family here for about ten years and our visits are not complete to the central coast without a night here. For a very reasonable price, you can watch a live vaudeville and melodrama show. Audience participation is encouraged. During the intermission, the performers are your servers. Be advised the chow is pretty straight forward bar fare. Nothing fancy, but they do serve beer and wine. Stage actors travel from all over the United States to perform here and the holidays are the most popular. Great family fun. Highly recommended!
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The performers also do their part as staff members which explains why their ticket prices are reasonable (they save costs), but they're so great at doing both! And the best part? They are so hilarious and talented. I've seen their Pismo Beach one about the clams only. But just from that show I'm pretty certain all of their other shows are probably just as great (or better). They do also have food you can buy there while you watch the performance (we toasted to champagne since it was my sister's birthday). You will definitely leave happy and laughing.
I love this place! It's a little hard to find if you don't know the area but once you do, it's so worth the drive.
For the uninitiated, melodrama is live theater with audience participation. If you're a newbie, don't worry - they give instructions at the start of every performance. Cheer for the hero, swoon for the lovers, hiss at the villains - go ahead, they encourage it!
Vaudeville on the other hand is more like a short-subject performance. One-liners and short skits are the trademarks. My favorite was one where a lone actor delivered the "to dream" soliloquy from Hamlet ... complete with with sound effects and silly gestures - it was like watching Daffy Duck perform live!
People thing that because it's in a small town they must have all the reject actors who couldn't make it elsewhere - so wrong! Everyone there is amazingly talented.
They serve beer and peanuts (whose shells you're encouraged to throw on the sawdust-covered floor) but not much else. The best part is that the actors work the snack bar in full costume before and during the show. Actors working as waitstaff? Hmm ... never seen that before ... :)
I hate the Melodrama. Growing up in this area means that every school year, inevitably one teacher would have the great idea to take the entire grade class out, usually during Christmas. If I have to see A Christmas Carol one more time at the Melodrama, I'll go insane.
So why give it 5 stars if I hate it? Well, for what it does, the Melodrama is good at it. That is to say, if you love going to see a musical show in a dark, cramped auditorium filled with annoying kids (trust me, I was one of them) and a floor covered in wood shavings, the Melodrama is the place to be. Also, the place to be if you're interested in fire hazards. Kidding - I'm sure they're up to date on their codes.
Be aware that they do serve concessions but not real food and that the Melodrama is in Oceano... an area not generally acknowledged to be the most affluent. I live in Long Beach though... trust me, nothing is going to happen to you in good ole' population 10k Oceano.
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Fun, entertaining "theater" for the whole family or for a rowdy night out. Popcorn throwing and audience participation is encouraged if your feeling brave. Not for the elegant set but truly an enjoyable way to pass the evening.
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