The Grand Strand invented a genre: the big variety dinner theater. This guide tells the industry's story first, then walks into each house.

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

Pirates Voyage Dinner Show Myrtle Beach, SC a must see!!

Good Life Detected

The only full-length Pirates Voyage show film in this set: a family's August 2015 vacation video that captures the dinner show end to end — the rival crews, the diving and acrobatics over the indoor lagoon, the fire work, and Salty the sea lion's act. It predates the current production, so treat it as the show's enduring shape rather than this season's script — the spectacle format it documents is the one the venue still runs.

Key takeaways
  • Full-show footage from August 2015 — the production has evolved since
  • The format on display: rival pirate crews, lagoon diving, acrobatics, fire
  • Salty the sea lion performs in the filmed show

Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament | 40 Years of Entertainment

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Jim Collins, Medieval Times' director of stunts and choreography at the Myrtle Beach castle, tells how he walked in looking for a job 30 years ago and was put in a show that same night. He explains the tournament story — the king and queen call the knights of the realm to compete — and why the immersive dinner, eaten with your hands, becomes a core memory families return to across generations.

Key takeaways
  • Stunt director Jim Collins has choreographed the Myrtle Beach castle's fights for 30 years
  • The show is a full tournament story: knights compete for the honor of victor before the king and queen
  • Dinner is part of the immersion — guests eat with their hands, medieval style

How the theater row happened

The CVB's documentary leads: Calvin Gilmore built the Carolina Opry after seeing eight million visitors a year with no family nighttime entertainment — cast members 25 years in describe the formula (music, comedy, dance) and the door it opened for every theater that followed. A behind-the-scenes Opry film adds the human layer: the MC's comic battles with the cloggers, and audience members thanking the cast for carrying their families through hard years.

The dinner spectacles

Pirates Voyage appears twice: a full-show family film from 2015 (the enduring format — rival crews, lagoon diving, fire, Salty the sea lion; the current script has evolved) and the venue's own segment marking 15 years docked in Myrtle Beach, four-course feast included. Medieval Times is told by its stunt director of 30 years — who walked in looking for a job and was put in a show that same night; the hands-eaten dinner is part of the immersion.

Behind the Scenes at The Carolina Opry Theater

The Carolina Opry

Behind the scenes at the Carolina Opry with MC and vocalist Brad Long, who trades comic battles with the clogging team, sings the production's big 'This Is Me' circus-themed number, and tells the story of an audience member who thanked the cast for carrying her family through a year of cancer treatment — the moments that remind the performers what the show means to the people watching.

Key takeaways
  • Brad Long is the show's MC and a featured vocalist who spars on stage with the cloggers
  • The production includes a large Greatest Showman-style 'This Is Me' number
  • Cast members regularly hear from audience members whose hard years were eased by the show

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

Legends in Concert | 40 Years of Entertainment

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Inside Legends in Concert Myrtle Beach with its chief operating officer and resident Elvis, Taylor Rodriguez: the show — born in Las Vegas in 1983 and running in Myrtle Beach for over three decades — recreates musical heroes with live vocals and obsessive authenticity, down to original costumes Elvis himself wore. Rodriguez, who decided on this career at age 9 after seeing an Elvis tribute in Myrtle Beach, explains how the show creates the moment fans remember.

Key takeaways
  • Legends in Concert began in Las Vegas in 1983 and has operated in Myrtle Beach for 31+ years
  • Resident Elvis Taylor Rodriguez started tribute performing at age 9 after a Myrtle Beach vacation
  • The production displays original costumes once worn by Elvis in 1986

The variety houses

Alabama Theatre's company (cast in their 16th and 26th seasons) and Legends in Concert — born in Las Vegas in 1983, live vocals only, original Elvis costumes on display, its resident Elvis who started at age 9 — complete the row.

Sources: the 7 videos on this page.

Watch: Myrtle Beach Dinner Shows Guide, guided

1 videos · summaries from the actual guides

Pirates Voyage Dinner & Show | 40 Years of Entertainment

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Captain Blackbeard himself — Edward Teach — welcomes you to Buccaneer Bay in this Visit Myrtle Beach segment. The pirates docked in Myrtle Beach in 2011 and the film marks the venue's 15th anniversary, pitching the formula plainly: a four-course feast from the galley, astounding acrobatics, daring dives, feats of fire, and mermaids. Kept as a borderline transcript — the narration is dense with venue fact under the music.

Key takeaways
  • Pirates Voyage has been docked in Myrtle Beach since 2011
  • Four-course dinner served with the show
  • Acrobatics, high dives, fire acts and mermaids headline the production

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