The Alabama Theatre's name is its origin story, and its emcee tells it in this page's backstage tour: the theater is named for the country supergroup Alabama, who got their start playing for tips at the Bowery in Myrtle Beach in the 1970s — their longtime manager Dale Morris and investors built the theater and named it for the band that put Myrtle Beach on the map.

Alabama Theatre | 40 Years of Entertainment

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Meet the Alabama Theatre company at Barefoot Landing: cast members in their 16th and 26th seasons explain why the theater's resident production keeps audiences dancing in the aisles — a high-energy show the cast is proud to say surprises people with its level of talent — and why a theater that has been entertaining Myrtle Beach for 30 years still changes and grows the show every season.

Key takeaways
  • The Alabama Theatre has presented live entertainment at Barefoot Landing for 30 years
  • Longevity is the norm: interviewed cast members are in their 16th and 26th seasons
  • The resident production is built as a high-energy, audience-on-its-feet show

Alabama Theatre, N.Myrtle Beach, Backstage Tour with Greg Rowles

Alabama Theatre, North Myrtle Beach, SC

Emcee Greg Rowles leads a backstage and lobby tour of the Alabama Theatre, starting with the question every visitor asks: the theater is named for the country supergroup Alabama, who got their start playing for tips at the Bowery in Myrtle Beach in the 1970s — their longtime manager Dale Morris and investors built the theater and named it for the band that put Myrtle Beach on the map. Rowles shows the Southern-mansion-style lobby and stresses the surprise inside: the show covers Broadway, big band, rock and gospel, not just country.

Key takeaways
  • The theater is named for the band Alabama, who began at Myrtle Beach's Bowery in the 1970s
  • Alabama's manager Dale Morris co-founded the theater; the band later launched a reunion tour on its namesake stage
  • The lobby is designed like an old Southern mansion to make a big room feel warm

The Story of Myrtle Beach’s Legendary Theaters | 40 Years of Entertainment

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

The Visit Myrtle Beach documentary on the Grand Strand's legendary theaters, led by the Carolina Opry story: Calvin Gilmore explains how he built the show in a town with millions of visitors but no family nighttime entertainment, and cast members — some here 25 years — describe a production that mixes music, comedy and dance. The film also visits the Alabama Theatre cast and glances at the wider theater scene Gilmore's success inspired.

Key takeaways
  • Calvin Gilmore founded the Carolina Opry after seeing 8 million visitors a year with no family evening show to attend
  • Performers like MC Brad Long and vocalist Tangina Church describe arriving as unknowns and staying for decades
  • The Opry's formula is a variety mix — singing, comedy and clogging/dance — pitched at every age in the audience

The theater

Greg Rowles' tour works the Southern-mansion-style lobby and backstage. The cast film adds the tenure: company members in their 16th and 26th seasons explaining why the resident production (ICONIC, the theater's current production, launched in 2023) keeps audiences dancing in the aisles — a high-energy show the cast is proud to say surprises people with its level of talent. The legendary-theaters documentary visits the same cast inside its wider story of the Strand's stages.

The working theater

A long-form profile of the theater's saxophonist, Mark Perry — music-education degree, Def Leppard tour cymbals on his home kit, the home studio between shows — covers the working musician's life inside a resident production. And the Christmas load-in film rigs the biggest show of the year: The South's Grandest Christmas Show, crews staging the theater's signature production.

Sources: the 5 videos on this page, from the Alabama Theatre and Visit Myrtle Beach.

Watch: Alabama Theatre, guided

2 videos · summaries from the actual guides

Alabama Theatre sits down with Mark Perry, Saxophone Player, ONE The Show

Alabama Theatre, North Myrtle Beach, SC

The Alabama Theatre sits down with its saxophonist, Mark Perry, for a long-form musician profile: growing up outside Concord, New Hampshire, a music-education degree at Keene State, the Def Leppard tour cymbals on his home drum kit, and the foam panels and recording setup in his home studio — a look at the working life of one of the theater's band members between shows.

Key takeaways
  • Mark Perry plays saxophone in the Alabama Theatre's show band
  • He studied music education and composition at Keene State College
  • His home studio uses acoustic panels he installed himself to control echo for recording

South's Grandest Christmas Show Technical Load

Alabama Theatre, North Myrtle Beach, SC

A watch-only behind-the-scenes look at the technical load-in for The South's Grandest Christmas Show at the Alabama Theatre — crews rigging and staging the theater's biggest production of the year.

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