Does Dinner Theater bother you? I can't enjoy it, can you?

Question:I have both worked in and seen dinner theater. I tell people it is taking two things that can be done very well separately, and doing them badly together. I just don't see how it can be done well. You have people eating and drinking during the performance instead of really being into it.

One of my favorite movie scenes is from Soap Dish. The scene where Kevin Kline plays Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman in a dinner theater in Florida. An old man in the audience has a heart attack, and Kline's character administers CPR without breaking character. It's a riot-- a spoof on dinner theater that is funnier than the real thing could ever be.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I have both worked in and seen dinner theater. I tell people it is taking two things that can be done very well separately, and doing them badly together. I just don't see how it can be done well. You have people eating and drinking during the performance instead of really being into it.

One of my favorite movie scenes is from Soap Dish. The scene where Kevin Kline plays Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman in a dinner theater in Florida. An old man in the audience has a heart attack, and Kline's character administers CPR without breaking character. It's a riot-- a spoof on dinner theater that is funnier than the real thing could ever be.

Well, I have both participated in a dinner theater show and watched a dinner theater show and I have mixed feelings. While performing, I thought it went fine other than the fact that the audience was a little bit distracted, yah know, waiting for their food and eating it. While watching it, I thought that the food really enhanced the show, although I was a smidge distracted when I got really hungry. :)
Hope this helps!
-Pelagia

I have directed It. and wont do so soon AGIAN.

Just like local community theatre is for a specific audience, dinner theatre is for a specific audience. Not every venue or style is for everyone. I hate dinner theatre, and I hate young audience shows full of toddlers, but I know there are plenty of people who don't mind it and have fun with it. How snobby of me!! LOL

However, I wonder if one of the above answers is bogus and the person has never been in a legit dinner theatre - I have NEVER been to one where people were actually eating a full meal during the play.