Performances by the Young Americans at the Center Stage for the Performing Arts on Hwy. 23 South (132 Huntsville Rd.) has created quite a buzz in town with residents reporting that the show is creative, fun, fast and unique.
“This cast of young talent is just phenomenal,” Kristy Balthazor, who recently purchased Center Stage, said. “The show itself has outstanding production behind it. The Young Americans have a strong history in performing arts having been in existence since 1962. Our dinner theater meals Friday and Saturday nights in July are prepared by Chef Wil from the Eureka Dinner Club. The meal is not only a great culinary experience, but interaction with cast members who serve the food and serenade people while they are eating makes it a really fun experience for their guests.”
The Young Americans, a music and dance group, have performed all over the world. In addition to performing, the group operates The Young Americans College of Performing Arts. The group was pulled back to its base in Corona, Calif., during the shutdown of live performances during the pandemic. Balthazor said the performers, who range in age from 19 to 25, are very excited to be performing again and you feel that when you watch the show.
The intent is not just to have regular shows here for five months, but to create a sustainable model having season after season of shows in Eureka Springs.
Jerry Stoner, marketing director, is also a former performer for Young Americans.
“Young Americans started in 1962 founded by Milton Anderson, the conductor of the CBS orchestra in Hollywood who conducted music for classic ‘50s and ‘60s TV shows,” Stone said. “Back then when gang violence and drugs started to permeate, Anderson wanted to give young people a venue to perform. People from all over the country auditioned. They came through my town in Michigan in the 1970s. At that point they were traveling in performance shows nationwide.”
After performances, people could audition and become part of that group. Stoner auditioned, was selected, and performed in dinner theaters in northern Michigan—now the longest running musical theater in the country. After a year off for Covid, the group has started up again.
“Eureka Springs is the first Young American dinner theater other than the one in Michigan,” Stoner said. “We are excited to be part of the Eureka Springs community and bring that kind of excitement here. It is a very unique kind of model.”
A driving force behind attracting the group to Eureka Springs was Mike Seals, Interim Director of the Eureka Springs Chamber of Commerce. In 2009 the Young Americans came to Rogers High School on one of their outreach tours. Seals’ two stepchildren, Ariana and Dexter Kemmet, were attending Rogers High School, auditioned to join the group and spent the next four and a half years traveling the nation and the world with the Young Americans teaching music, dance, and performance.
“I fell in love with the group and thought this would be a great town to host a Young Americans dinner theater, also,” Seals said. “I tried five or six years and, finally in 2020, got a return phone call. Their CEO and another board member came out to Eureka in October and we began working on a plan to bring them to Eureka beginning Memorial Day weekend 2021 to do five or six shows a week through the end of October. Because of the pandemic, they had to shut everything down for the rest of 2020, so they had time to explore the opportunity.”
His stepdaughter, now Ariana Grant, a Ballet Westside dancer, said the Young Americans changed her life.
“I am forever grateful for the incredible experiences and memories shared during my four-plus years with the group,” Grant says. “Traveling to do music and dance outreach tours to schools in Japan and Germany were two of my favorite times I will never forget.”
Seals said Center Stage was identified as an ideal venue for the performances, and that it was fortunate Balthazor was willing to step up and purchase the theater and be the host for the group here. Of the 26 young people in the group, only a few had been to Arkansas before.
“They have already fallen in love with Eureka Springs,” Seals said. “They have been here for about a month and rehearsed six weeks in California before coming to Eureka Springs. It is a unique show put together for Eureka Springs, titled A Place Called Home. It’s lively, entertaining and full of energy, music, song, and dance.
The group has no ties to any political or religious organizations.
“It is unique even to anything that is happening in Branson. It is a really powerful show that has broad appeal. We have a small grant from the State of Arkansas. We hope the state can help more in future years with the possibility of a satellite campus.”
The show schedule in July includes a show only performance on Thursday nights at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday night dinner theater performances at 6:30 p.m., and Sunday show only matinee performances at 3 p.m. Tickets can be purchased in advance at tix.com/ticket-sales/growbold/6578 or at the door 30 minutes prior to the show.