MURRY'S DINNER PLAYHOUSE

What MURRY'S DINNER PLAYHOUSE does

Murry's Dinner Playhouse is a private, family-owned dinner theater founded in 1967 (originally as Olde West Dinner Theatre, rebranded under the Murry's name in September 1977) and located at 6323 Colonel Glenn Road in Little Rock, Arkansas. The company combines professional live stage productions—typically five Broadway musicals and comedies per season including Tony Award-winning titles—with a chef-prepared buffet dinner service as a single all-inclusive ticket. Pricing for the 2025-2026 season ranges from $44 to $48 per adult (matinee/preview to premium Friday-Saturday evenings) and $34 for children, with a 10-show season ticket package priced at $210 offering up to $270 in savings.

The venue operates a single physical location with a defined performance schedule spanning Wednesday through Sunday evenings plus select Wednesday and Sunday matinees. Distribution is exclusively direct-to-consumer via telephone box office and walk-up sales, with no online ticketing platform or third-party reseller relationships evident. The operation is lean, supported by 11 employees, and relies on a recurring annual production cadence to drive repeat attendance. Marketing channels include Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, the company website, and an eClub email newsletter that captures customer birthdays and anniversaries for personalized occasion-based outreach. Additional revenue streams comprise gift certificates (no expiration), group bookings for parties of 20+, and private venue buyouts for theater parties, Christmas parties, birthdays, anniversaries, and organizational fundraisers.

The company is operated by the second generation of the Murry family—Ginger and her son Ike Murry McEntire—following succession from founder Ike Murry, a former Arkansas Attorney General and civic leader. Murry's is a member of the National Dinner Theatre Association and jointly sponsors the Ike Murry Memorial Scholarship with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock for theatre and dance majors. The business serves a local/regional consumer base within driving distance of Little Rock and has remained a single-venue operation for over five decades.

Name

MURRY'S DINNER PLAYHOUSE

Legal name

Murry's Dinner Playhouse

Website

https://murrysdp.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1967

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Murry's Dinner Playhouse is a family-owned, single-venue dinner theater in Little Rock, Arkansas, offering all-inclusive Broadway-style live productions paired with buffet dining to local families, groups, and special-occasion customers across an annual five-show season.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Dinner Theater / Live Entertainment Venue

NAICS

Theater Companies and Dinner Theaters (711110), Cafeterias, Grill Buffets, and Buffets (722514), Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries (711)

SIC

Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810), Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Supper Clubs & Dinner-Theater Restaurants (THAFACAL)

Keywords

• Dinner theater productions
• Live stage entertainment
• Buffet dining service
• Theater season tickets
• Private event hosting

Headquarters

HQ city

Little Rock

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Ticket and Dinner Package Sales: Primary revenue from combined dinner and show packages. Standard pricing ranges from $44-$48 per person depending on day and show type. Children under 15 priced at $34. Revenue is recognized per performance with dinner included in ticket price.
2. Season Tickets: Season tickets sold at $210 covering 10 shows and dinners. Provides guaranteed revenue in advance and encourages customer commitment. Offers up to $270 savings versus individual tickets.
3. Group Bookings and Private Events: Revenue from theater parties (entire venue reserved), Christmas parties, birthdays, anniversaries, and fundraisers. Group rates available for parties of 20 or more.
4. Gift Certificates: Gift certificates sold in any denomination that never expire. Provides upfront cash flow with future redemption.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Murry's Dinner Playhouse is a professional dinner theater in Little Rock, Arkansas that combines Broadway-style live stage productions with a full buffet dinner service. The venue presents five major productions per season (musicals and comedies) including matinee and evening performances, supplemented by season ticket subscriptions, gift certificates, and private event hosting services.

Product overview

Murry's Dinner Playhouse is a professional dinner theater offering live stage productions featuring Broadway musicals and comedies combined with buffet dinner service. The core offering consists of individual show tickets (Footloose, The Bunco Squad Rolls Again, Drinking Habits, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, and Scrooge) with accompanying themed dinner menus. Additional products include Season Tickets providing 10-show access with savings of up to $270, Gift Certificates with no expiration, Event Hosting Services for private celebrations and fundraisers, and the E-Club email membership for early announcements.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Dinner Theater Shows

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• National Dinner Theatre Association (NDTA)coreOthersMurry's is a proud member of the National Dinner Theatre Association, an organization of professional dinner theatres from across the country. Together with the NDTA, Murry's sponsors the Ike Murry Memorial Scholarship, an annual scholarship awarded to a University of Arkansas at Little Rock theatre or dance major.
• University of Arkansas at Little RockminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerRecipient of the Ike Murry Memorial Scholarship for theatre or dance majors. Annual scholarship program supports local theater education and talent development.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre: Indianapolis-based dinner theater presenting professional Broadway musicals alongside a buffet meal. Comparable stage-plus-dinner formula serving a similar Mid-South regional audience profile.
• Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre: Lancaster, PA dinner theater combining Broadway-style shows with buffet/plated dining. Equivalent value proposition combining professional theater production with full meal service for regional audiences.
• The Fireside Dinner Theatre: Fort Atkinson, WI dinner theater pairing Broadway-style productions with sit-down dining. Operates the same combined entertainment-and-meal experience with comparable Main Street family audience.
• Derby Dinner Playhouse: Long-running family-style dinner theater in Clarksville, IN offering Broadway musicals paired with buffet dining. Operates the same combined live-theater-plus-meal model that directly mirrors Murry's value proposition.
• Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse: Rock Island, IL dinner playhouse offering live musical productions with meal service. Closely comparable small-market, family-oriented dinner theater with similar production cadence and pricing structure.
• Drury Lane Theatre: Oakbrook Terrace, IL dinner theater producing Broadway musicals alongside full-service dining. Highly comparable integrated theater-restaurant operation targeting similar family and group event segments.

Others

• National Dinner Theatre Association: Industry association of professional dinner theaters of which Murry's is a member. Relevant as an ecosystem/adjoining peer that supports shared practices, conferences, and the Ike Murry Memorial Scholarship.

Regional players

• Timber Lake Playhouse: Mt. Carroll, IL regional theater producing Broadway musicals without integrated dining. Comparable in-scale professional theater producing a seasonal slate of musicals, but lacks Murry's dinner-plus-show combo.

Emerging players

• Houston Family Arts Center: Community-based theater producing Broadway-style musicals and plays for local audiences. Comparable in targeting local/regional family audiences with seasonal productions, but lacks integrated dining.

Broad incumbents

• Chanhassen Dinner Theatres: One of the largest dinner theater operators in the U.S., featuring multiple stages and a broader production slate. Same dinner-theater category but materially larger scale and multi-venue footprint.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/MurrysPlayhouse
• Facebookfacebook.com/MurrysDinnerPlayhouse
• Pinterestpinterest.com/murrysplayhouse
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/murry's-dinner-playhouse

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about MURRY'S DINNER PLAYHOUSE