“TEXAS, the outdoor musical drama” is a broadway-quality production put on outdoors in the middle of the spectacular Palo Duro Canyon.
The show begins on a grand scale with the lone horseman on top of a 600 foot cliff in the distance, waving the Texas state flag, a burst of fireworks, the music starts and the rider gallops away. On the stage in front of us, the cast of more than 60 actors, singers and dancers launch into the story of the Texas panhandle. A drama that tells of cattlemen and farmers at odds over the future of the land.
With plenty of song and dance, and quite a bit of humor, the show takes us through history via a fictional drama that highlights the struggles and triumphs of the europeans who settled here. Fireworks, pyrotechnics, sophisticated lighting and a whole set of hollywood-level special effects, turn the entire canyon into part of the show, and that is arguably the most exciting and truly unique aspect of this production. More than “just” a musical drama, “Texas” is an experience for the senses.
The venue, The Pioneer Amphitheater, is a natural basin in the Palo Duro Canyon, fitted out to make a comfortable seating area that allows the production to be played in three dimensions, the stage immediately in front of us, the middle ground of the canyon behind the stage, and the far ground of the cliffs above.
This show has been running annually for over 45 years, and is enjoyed by locals as well as visitors. “TEXAS” was the brainchild of Margaret Harper, who in 1960 read an article in Reader’s Digest about a playwright, Paul Green, who had recreated the history of several regions in ambitious dramas complete with pageantry and music. Harper began a correspondence with Green, and at the same time reached out to friends and colleagues to support the creation of an outdoor theater in Palo Duro. “TEXAS” opened on the stage of the Pioneer Amphitheater in the summer of 1966.
It remains a great evening of entertainment in an amazingly beautiful and unique location, and you might even learn a thing or two about local history!
(Definitely sign up for the Texas BBQ Dinner before the show, which is served by the Big Texan Steakhouse (itself an area legend, famed for the free 72 oz. steak — “free” on condition that you eat the whole thing!). The BBQ is served right outside the amphitheater in a space with a comfortable covered patio. There is music and a county-fair atmosphere until showtime.)
Click on the map to view images from the Great American Road Trip by State.