Rainbow Dinner Theatre: All Comedy all the time
It’s been quite awhile since I stepped foot in a new dinner theatre.
And when I say new, I mean new to me, not necessarily a new business.
That changed recently when I made a trip up to the Rainbow Dinner Theatre in Lancaster, a theatre that bills itself as perhaps being the only one doing nothing but comedies.
The exact address is 3065 Lincoln Highway East. The theatre has been around for 29 years and it is locally owned. The owners are also actors and appear in many productions.
The play I saw, Marriage Go Round, they were not in.
Speaking of the play, the entire action is set in an apartment of a happily married couple, until a Swedish bombshell arrives at their door. She wants the husband to be the father of her child. A situation the wife for some strange reason objects to. As the action unfolds the married couple address the audience. Kind of like counseling for them and us.
In the second act we have audience participation. Prior to the show we are given slips to write a question that may be used as part of the play. Someone selects the best question, and as it turned out, that night my producer had his read out loud. The menu changes with each show and also is different for performances during the day and at night.
There are matinees Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and evening shows Friday and Saturday. Depending on demand, additional shows can be added.
The theatre seats about 320, it’s bright and cheery and they have a gift shop stocked with all kinds of items. What I liked best, at least for me, was that since all the shows are comedies, chances are I haven’t seen most of them unlike the dinner theatres that do musicals that tend to do the same plays over and over.
If I see The Sound of Music one more time, I may fling myself over the Bay Bridge, as good as that show is. From the Baltimore area, Rainbow is about 90 minutes. For more information check out Rainbow Dinner website.
Eddie Applefeld is a Baltimore native and a graduate of Towson University. He has been in the broadcasting profession for over 30 years. Currently he is the Promotions Director of WCBM radio. Before that, he was part of the Rouse & Company show on WQSR, host of a cable TV show called Dining Out and adjunct instructor at Towson.
His past accomplishments include being named a finalist in Baltimore Tourism’s Employee of the Year Program and winner of Toastmaster’s Speaker of the Year contest. He was also twice a heartthrob for the American Heart Association’s gala fund raiser.