A Celebrated History!

Over 8 million guests have visited Chanhassen Dinner Theatres since it opened in 1968. Since that time, 193 productions have graced our stages. As our guests, your history with us continues to make our future possible.

Please use your mouse to click and drag the marker left and right across the timeline to go through nearly four decades of distinctive entertainment at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres.

Origin

Chanhassen Dinner Theatres' founders, Herbert and Carolyn Bloomberg, designed and constructed their 90,000 square foot entertainment complex where once stood a cornfield, some distance out of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. The Bloomberg's interest in owning a theatre blossomed in 1965, when the couple was building a new home for the Old Log Theater in Excelsior. Herb and Carol combined their talents along with their love for live theatre and decided to move forward with a building plan of their own. This was risky. Not only was the theatre located 30 minutes from downtown Minneapolis, but Bloomberg was opening a restaurant in combination, a venture subject to a high mortality rate even by today's standards. Bloomberg's theatre opened on October 11, 1968, with How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Bloomberg's initial vision to bring dinner theatre to a country cornfield has given skeptics opportunity to eat plenty of crow over the years. Today, Chanhassen is the nation's largest professional dinner theatre, and the largest privately owned restaurant in the state of Minnesota. Since Chanhassen Dinner Theatres opened, nearly 200 plays have been produced and played to more than eight million guests.

  • Herb BloombergHerb Bloomberg
  • Herb and Carol BloombergHerb & Carol Bloomberg
  • 1968 Ribbon CuttingThe ribbon cutting in 1968
  • Chanhassen Dinner TheatresChanhassen Dinner Theatres

1970s

The theatre scored a home run with A Flea in Her Ear in February 1970, followed by Fiddler on the Roof. Audiences began attending in earnest. Then Bloomberg started tinkering. The 125 seat Dinner Playhouse was built. Less than a year later, the romantic musical comedy I Do! I Do! opened, a production that has gone down in the annals of theater history as being the longest-running musical with its original cast (it ran for 22 1/2 years). In 1973, a courtyard was enclosed to become another dinner theatre appropriately named The Courtyard, to accommodate 180 patrons. The Bronco Bar, part of the entertainment complex and a popular local hangout, fell subject to Bloomberg's restless hammer in 1978 to become yet another theatre space. The Bronco Opera House, now known as The Fireside Theatre, seats 230. In addition to the four existing dinner theatre spaces, Chanhassen features three banquet rooms and a ballroom used for weddings, banquets and business meetings. To view our rooms, see the facilities webpage.

  • Fiddler on the RoofFiddler on the Roof, 1971
  • I Do, I DoI Do! I Do!, 1971

1980s

Founding Artistic Director Gary Gisselman directed the first production in 1968 and almost every play thereafter through 1980. Guest directors were then hired on a show-by-show basis until 1987 when the Bloomberg's asked Michael Brindisi, an actor and protégé of Gisselman, to accept the position as Resident Artistic Director. In 1989 the Bloomberg family sold Chanhassen Dinner Theatres to entertainment entrepreneur Thomas K. Scallen and International Theatres Corporation based in Minneapolis. Previously, Scallen ran such well-known family entertainment enterprises as: The Harlem Globetrotters and The Ice Capades. Shortly thereafter, Scallen named Brindisi as Resident Artistic Director and Vice President.

  • Gary GisselmanGary Gisselman
  • Micheal BrindisiMichael Brindisi
  • Thomas K. ScallenThomas K. Scallen

1990s

In 1994, playwright Dan Goggin contracted with Chanhassen Dinner Theatres and the Ordway to co-produce the World Premiere of Nunsense II. Goggin's hilarious third installment of the Nunsense series, Nunsense Jamboree, came to Chanhassen Dinner Theatres for its World Premiere in November 1995. The Courtyard became The Club in 1991. No longer used as a theatre, it became a nightclub featuring dueling pianos. This venture was short-lived however, and The Club is now used for banquet space and the occasional musical revue. In May 1998, Brindisi appointed Solveig Huseth Theis as General Manager to oversee all business operations. Huseth Theis began working for Chanhassen Dinner Theatres as a teenager in 1978. Upon completion of college, she returned, and worked her way up the ladder of success. On the stage in 1998, Chanhassen Dinner Theatres proudly introduced the World Premiere of the Nunsense Christmas musical, Nuncrackers.

  • Dan GogginDan Goggin
  • Nunsense JamboreeNunsense Jamboree, 1995
  • NuncrackersNuncrackers, 1998
  • Solveig Huseth TheisSolveig Huseth Theis

2000s

In 2002, Dan Goggin contracted with the dinner theatre to produce the World Premiere of the outrageous ecumenical Nunsense production Meshuggah-Nuns! It was the year of two premieres for Chanhassen Dinner Theatres (CDT). Brothers Bob Walton and Jim Walton contracted CDT to produce the World Premiere of their wacky creation, Mid-Life! The Crisis Musical. The fifth Nunsense incarnation brought the blessed Little Sisters of Hoboken to Las Vegas. In December 2005 Chanhassen mourned the loss of one of the Dinner Theatres' co-founders, Herb Bloomberg. His wife, Carol passed away in December 2006. Chanhassen Dinner Theatres was contracted with The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization in New York to co-develop the World Premiere of Irving Berlin's Easter Parade for Chanhassen's Main Stage. Irving Berlin's Easter Parade was directed by CDT's Resident Artistic Director, Michael Brindisi, and designed by the CDT artistic team. Chanhassen Dinner Theatres' owner and Executive Producer, Thomas K. Scallen stated, "This exciting event marks a milestone in Twin Cities theatre history. It's a testament to our work and we are both thrilled and honored to take on the project."

  • Meshuggah NunsMeshuggah Nuns, 2002
  • NunsensationsNunsensations, 2005
  • Mid-Life! The Crisis MusicalMid-Life! The Crisis Musical, 2006
  • Irving Berlin's Easter ParadeIrving Berlin's Easter Parade, 2007

People

Chanhassen Dinner Theatres employs over 300 people in a variety of occupations ranging from food and beverage staff, ticket sales and marketing staff, maintenance and custodial staff, accounting staff, actors (we are a professional company presenting members of Actors' Equity Association), musicians, theatre department designers, technicians, and stage crews who work together to create a quality experience for the theatre's 250,000 guests per year. In 1989, Dick Stanley was hired as a Greeter. Dominic Castino became a Greeter, too, in 1994. Their welcoming words offer a charming personal touch to audience members prior to each performance. Following Dominic's retirement in 2006, Jay Reilly joined Dick Stanley in the role of tuxedoed Greeter. Click on a link to contact members of the staff, find out about employment opportunities or see who is in the current Main Stage production.

  • Dominic Castino & Dick StanleyDominic Castino &
    Dick Stanley
  • Jay ReillyJay Reilly
  • A cast of hundreds - CDT StaffA cast of hundreds - CDT Staff

Today and Beyond

Chanhassen Dinner Theatres is thrilled to celebrate its 40th anniversary in the fall of 2008. Please be watching the website for upcoming celebrations and specials!

  • CDT TodayToday

Main Dinner Theatre Productions

Playhouse Productions

Courtyard/The Club Productions

Fireside Productions

Now Playing

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Coming Soon