Palo Duro Canyon State Park / Texas Outdoor Musical?

[tomneal]

My wife has talked about this for years. We are going to be traveling North and West from Houston. This seems like it could be a memorable side trip but...

I started doing old guy (time related) math.

It looks like the "Texas Outdoor Musical" a two and a half hour show begins at 8:30PM

The park looks to be an hour South of Amarillo

That would put us getting to a hotel at Midnight.

So here are my questions:
Has anyone seen this show?
Were you camping in the park, living in the area, or staying in a hotel?
Did you think the show was worth seeing?

[Steve W]

I have seen it, pretty good time and show :)

I mess around with acting in community theatre and had a personal interest in the stage and different production values that they used. It's a very unique stage as it is used to perform only one show and is outdoors. The backdrop of the stage is the cliffs of the canyon and it's very pretty.. A hint..... Stay alert as show time nears and don't take your eyes off the top rim of the canyon :)

The wife and I were camping at the park so drive time was not an issue for us. If the weather is nice it's well worth the time spent driving to the park.

Unless things have changed, in the last 10 years, I would pass on the BBQ dinner they served us when we went...

[tomneal]

Thanks for the info.
I suspect that most of the folks that have seen the show were camping at the park

[Interblog]

In the consideration of logistics, note that Palo Duro is located in the country's second largest canyon, and the park itself is the most popular state park nation-wide (the staff claims). It is very difficult to get reservations. Some of the back country camping sites are let on a first-come-first-served basis, but reservable spots generally have to be booked months in advance.

[Bruin98]

I saw the show 25 years ago. I still remember parts of it. Bbq dinner was good.

I was in the canyon last year with my kids. Stage looked the same but musical wasn't in season.

I didn't see any 30.06 signs up. It was off season for musical though. We were there to hike the canyon.

[thatguyoverthere]

Wife and I went 3 or 4 years ago. We were on the motorcycle, staying in a motel in Amarillo (the one with the steak eating contest thing - I forget the name of it). Seems like the trip was a little less than an hour (30 or 40 minutes) from there, but I don't remember for sure.
We really enjoyed the show. Includes a lot of local history. It's a musical. I was really impressed with the talent of the singers/actors.
The canyon itself is really neat to see, too, so plan on spending some time there.
Also if you have time, check out the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum. It's at the college there in Canyon. Lots of old early settler and native people's history and displays from the canyon and area.

[Venus Pax]

Great thread!

Hoping to visit Palo Duro within the next few years.

Do you have to have reservations for the show and BBQ dinner after? Do you pay cash for dinner, or is this pre-paid at the canyon office?

Friends have told us that the hiking there is great, and they enjoyed camping in the canyon. They didn't mention the musical.

[thatguyoverthere]

You'll almost surely need reservations for the show. We've been to the canyon several times over the years, but only able to do the show this last time, with reservations made several weeks in advance. But well worth the effort, in my opinion. We didn't do the meal, so can't say about that.

[tomneal]

To All
Thanks for the updates / info.