Golden Apple Dinner Theatre

The Golden Apple Dinner Theatre has been a fixture on the Sarasota culture and entertainment scene for 35 years.  The horseshoe-shaped theater, which can accommodate 281 seated audience members, serves a delicious buffet prior to showtime on the main floor, and then presents entertaining productions on its 704-square-foot stage.

Since opening in 1971, the Golden Apple Dinner Theater has produced over 270 plays and musicals, including five original plays.  The 2007 schedule includes a diverse selection of productions, including "Bingo," a new musical, and "Carnival," based on the movie "Lili."

Regular showtimes at the Golden Apple are 8:00 p.m. Tuesday through Friday Evenings and matinee performances Saturdays and Sundays at 1:30 p.m.  The doors to the theatre open for the buffet at 6:00 p.m. prior to evening performances and at noon prior to matinee shows. 

The Golden Apple buffet is nearly as popular as the theatre´s productions.  The signature entrée is the carved Prime Rib, which has been featured at every serving since the Theatre opened.  The buffet also includes a wide selection of entrees, including a chicken dish and a vegetarian dish, various vegetables, an abundant salad bar, and a choice of three deserts.  A full service bar also is on site, offering alcohol and premium deserts.  The chef and wait staff at the Golden Apple are experienced and professional, ensuring a consistently positive dining experience.

Ticket prices include the cost of the buffet.  Prices for evening performances on all nights but Saturdays range from $37.00 to $40.00.  Saturday evening performances are $42.00 to $45.00.  Matinee showings are $33.00 to $36.00, with a special discount rate of $31.00 for seniors.  Season tickets are available for 4-show, 5-show, and 6-show packages, and rates represent a savings over individually-purchased tickets.  Discounts for groups are also offered.

More information is available by contacting the Golden Apple Dinner Theatre box office, located at 25 North Pineapple Avenue in downtown Sarasota, or by calling (941) 366-5454 or toll free at (800) 652-0920, as well as online at http://www.thegoldenapple.com.

Shows at the Golden Apple Dinner Theatre consistently garner rave reviews.  Critics from the press have written of the Golden Apple experience, "[the] Golden Apple Dinner Theater can virtually guarantee you an evening of romance, fantasy and fun," and, "an evening full of hilarity ? raucous, touching, imaginative and well sung."

The name of the Golden Apple Dinner Theatre comes from the representation of an apple through legend, myth, and history, from a tool of temptation in the Garden of Eden to a test for William Tell.  The executive director of the Golden Apple, Bob Turoff, met his wife, Roberta MacDonald, when she played Helen of Troy in his production of "The Golden Apple," a musical based on Homer´s "The Iliad," at the York Theatre.