Cornwell’s Dinner Theatre’s 40th anniversary season is in full swing with an expanded lineup of Broadway plays and musicals that span a wide variety of musical and dramatic genres, including thrillers, farce, yacht rock and classic country music. 

“We felt that the right way to launch into our fifth decade as Michigan’s premiere dinner theatre was to embrace our roots, serving up ingenious new turkey dishes and programming big, bold, fun musicals filled with color and energy,” says the theatre’s producing artistic director, Dexter Brigham. “As audiences continue to return to live entertainment, they are telling us what they want… and what they want is to smile and laugh. And we do that better than anyone!” 

The spring trio of plays, featuring a resident company of guest artists, recently opened Elvis Has Left the Building, a broad comedy about how badly things go wrong when a certain celebrity goes missing, and will reach its zenith with the wildly popular bedroom farce, Run For Your Wife, about a taxi driver with two wives, two lives, and a giant headache when the two worlds collide. After that, Jimmy Buffett’s songbook takes center stage as Escape to Margaritaville gets everyone singing hits like “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” “It’s Five O’clock Somewhere,” and of course the title track. 

The fall will feature a look back at one of country music's greatest divas, with A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline, with tunes such as “Crazy,” “I Fall to Pieces,” and “Walkin’ After Midnight.” And the season will end with a holiday-themed return of those zany ladies of the Lutheran church basement in Away in the Basement: A Church Basement Ladies Christmas.

The stage isn’t the only place to see bold moves. Turkeyville USA boasts a calendar full of special events, including the an Arts and Craft Show My 16,17 and the Corvette show on May 17.  The kitchen recently added a smoker and delivers mouth-watering new dishes every season such as the California Cranberry and Smokey Jack. 

For more information about planning a visit to Turkeyville USA and Cornwell’s Dinner  theatre Visit the theatre’s website, turkeyville.com, for a complete schedule and ticketing information, including their new subscription package, the Flex Pass, or by calling the box office at 269-781-4293.