Families spread out on the expanse of green grass, putting down blankets, low profile chairs and coolers. They take in the evening air, cooler here in Spring Mountain Ranch State Park than it is in the city, some 10 miles to the east. They admire the craggy sandstone features of Red Rock Canyon in the near distance. They look, expectantly, to the stage. And what bursts forth from it, what you probably wouldn’t expect to find out here in the desert, is rousing, joyful musical theater.
Super Summer Theatre, a nonprofit that’s dedicated itself to staging family-friendly outdoor productions since its founding, enters its 50th year this week with a production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, playing Wednesday to Saturday through June 14. It’s followed by The SpongeBob Musical in July, Legally Blonde: The Musical in August and Singin’ in the Rain in September, and as ever, they’ve kept tickets affordable: only $28 per person, $10 per parked vehicle.
Those four shows—plus a fall gala featuring performances from past productions, a new front-row VIP Under the Stars ticket option, and a few other modest happenings to be announced throughout the season—are how SST is celebrating a half-century of bringing 200-plus affordable Broadway shows to more than 1.3 million patrons, says Lisa Davis, who sits on the nonprofit organization’s publicity committee. A 2025 SST show night isn’t all that dissimilar from those of years past, save for some technical upgrades to improve the experience and to allow for cashless transactions with concessionaires.
There are no grandiose expansion plans forthcoming for year 50; there’s no big, self-congratulatory proclamation in the offing. This year, as always, SST is all about working hard for the next show, for the next season and for the next 50 years.
“It’s nice that we’ve sustained 50 years, because it is an all-volunteer organization,” Davis says. (She’s been volunteering for SST for 20 years now.) “It’s a group of people that has a lot of passion to provide great theater. And not only our volunteer board, but also the directors, producers and actors of all the shows. It’s quite a jaunt from Vegas, to go out [to Spring Mountain State Park] every night. I think, on average, it’s about 12 nights per show, not including rehearsal. Having to drive from Vegas and back to perform, that’s a labor of love.”
That labor generally begins a year out, Davis adds. Next year’s three shows are already set; they need to be listed in this year’s program, which Davis lays out. It’s one of several tasks she takes on for Super Summer Theatre, which include show-night duties that, happily, allow her to meet its most passionate fans firsthand.
“We all have different roles to volunteer for: concession, meadow, parking,” she says. “When I was volunteering for parking, I was asking people, ‘Have you been out here before?’ And a lady said, ‘Oh yeah, I used to come out here with my parents, and now I’m bringing my kids.’ I got a lot of that feedback, [of] impacting generations. That’s what really warms my heart, making a difference in our community like that.”
SUPER SUMMER THEATRE: JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT Thru 6/14 (Wed.-Sat.), 8 p.m., $28. Spring Mountain Ranch State Park, supersummertheatre.org.
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