Spend the night, then catch a show. New cabins open at Yellowstone Playhouse.
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Editor’s Note: This is the third of a three-part series focused on live theaters in West Yellowstone and Island Park. You can read part one here and part two here.
ISLAND PARK — A family-friendly dinner theater that prides itself on musical spoofs and big laughs wants you to “stay and play” in new cabins.
Andrew and Julie Durrant are the owners of the Yellowstone Playhouse located at 5163 North Highway 20 in Island Park near Henrys Lake. The theater seats about 300 people, and the shows consistently sell out.
No play is ever the same. Andrew describes it as “non-traditional.”
“We’re kind of improv meets musical theater. I love laughing, and I love watching people laugh. Life’s too serious, and so I love getting 300 people in a room and making them laugh, and not just making them laugh, but we’re laughing along with them,” he said.
It’s a popular destination and one that visitors can experience something new this year: staying overnight in cabins.
“We’re putting in these five cabins right next door to the theater so that people can come and stay and play with us. It overlooks Henrys Lake, and it’s got some of the best sunsets I’ve ever seen out in the back of our theater,” Durrant said.
They bought two acres right next to the Yellowstone Playhouse and have begun building. Three of the cabins are completed and opened about a month ago. Two more cabins should be finished by the end of the summer and will be ADA accessible.
“We’re trying to have 15 cabins when the project’s completely built out,” Durrant said.
It’s called the Yellowstone Playhouse Cabins and is ideal for families. The cabins are going to be themed with a western facade, like a general store, a church, and a jail. It’s modern on the inside. The cabins are $250 a night with a two-night minimum.
“We are a family-run business; we like family pricing. You can fit six people in a cabin. It’s got a loft with two double beds. It’s got a full kitchen, a full bathroom and then it’s got a private bedroom with a queen bed,” Durrant said. “We launched them on Airbnb and they are filling up pretty quickly.”
Best of all, you can walk right over to the theater for a dinner and show ranging in price from $50 to $55. A dinner show includes water and lemonade on the table along with a salad. There’s a one-time-through buffet including prime rib, chicken, or mac and cheese along with delicious sides.
“We are known for our big portions. Dinner starts at about 5:30 p.m. and the show starts at 7 p.m.,” he said. “We do matinees with no dinner on Saturdays in July and August. We hired about 15 college-aged performers from all over the U.S. They seat the patrons when they get here.”
After dinner, before every show, Durrant says they like to acknowledge people in the audience who have served in the armed forces. They get free popcorn and soda.
As for the shows, three are being offered this summer. One of them is a crowd favorite called “The PrinceLESS Bride: Un-con-think-able!” It’s a spoof on the 1980s movie The Princess Bride. The other is “Family Night LIVE!”
“It’s 25 to 30 different bits and skits and songs. It’s kind of like Saturday Night Live meets the old Carol Burnett show meets Studio C but family friendly,” Durrant said. “At the end of that, we do a special tribute to the 250th anniversary of America.”
Then, there’s “Ramona’s Home School of Rock,” which is a new show that was written for the stage this year. It’s a spoof on School of Rock.
“For the last 20 years, I’ve played a homeschooled mother. Ramona is a character that I’ve developed over the years,” Durrant said.
He writes half of the shows and his friend from Salt Lake City, Utah, Ben Millet, writes the other half of the shows.
The first act is about an hour long, then at intermission, there are QR codes on the tables where people can scan for concessions and the actors bring treats out.
“We’re really well known for cinnamon rolls. We do ice cream floats. We’ve teamed up with Reed’s Dairy in Idaho Falls,” Durrant said.
Intermission is a unique experience that you won’t see at traditional theaters, too, he explained.
“At intermission, we celebrate birthdays every night. We do the same thing with anniversaries or if anybody’s there on a date. A lot of people will look forward to it,” he said.
After the intermission and the show finishes, the cast poses for photos with anybody who would like to take one. He said the plays are meant for everyone to enjoy.
“We really try to gauge it so that people who are on vacation, the 8-year-old can be sitting next to his 90-year-old grandpa and they’ll both be laughing, and both have a good time,” he said.
Check out ticket prices and shows here. At the end of the season, a Beatles Tribute Band from Salt Lake City will perform three shows. They dress up in costumes, play instruments, and have accents.
In the off-season, the Durrant family heads to a theater in southern Utah in Hurricane, where they perform a Christmas and Valentine’s show.
