America's great outdoor dramas: tales and tunes about our nation's heritage ring out in exquisite settings produced by Mother Nature

Travel America, May-June, 2003 by Randy Mink

As "Tecumseh!" unfolds at twilight, spectators witness canoes and boats gliding through placid waters, Indians and whites riding horses through the woods, and vicious combat as artillery shells explode, gunfire crackles, arrows fly and screams pierce the darkness. A special element is the hauntingly beautiful music score written by a Native American composer and recorded exclusively by the London Symphony Orchestra.

A scene-stealing gorge in the Texas Panhandle brings some 80,000 visitors a year to the Pioneer Amphitheatre in Palo Duro Canyon State Park, about 25 miles southeast of Amarillo. The brand new "TEXAS Legacies" production this summer replaces "TEXAS" a Paul Green spellbinder that lasted 37 years and usually was the nation's second best-attended outdoor historical play.

Focusing on the 1850s to 1890s, the "TEXAS Legacies" script calls for galloping horses, a Civil War battle, Texas-sized thunderstorm, snowfall, and blazing fireworks finale, plus live music.

The physical setting for "TEXAS Legacies" is the envy of other outdoor dramas, said Scott Parker of the Institute of Outdoor Drama. "They certainly take advantage of the canyon. It's really a character in the play."

Tops in total ticket sales for historical dramas is "The Shepherd of the Hills" which last year played to 93,975 persons in Branson, Missouri, the booming Ozarks tourist mecca better known for its indoor music theaters. A local fixture since 1960, the play (performed six days a week every April-October) is based on the 1908 novel of the same name. It's a tale by Harold Bell Wright, a traveling Christian minister who based his hill country characters on Ozark folks he met over eight summers.

The Shepherd of the Hills complex includes the cabin on the homestead Wright visited every year, plus a Wright museum, horse wagon and trail rides, gift shops, and an observation tower atop the second highest point in Missouri.

An hour's drive from Branson, the most attended of the nation's 11' religious dramas--or of any outdoor drama, for that matter--inspires audiences in the Ozarks resort town of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, From late April to late October, more than 130,000 people witness Christ's last week on earth in "The Great Passion Play," an elaborate production with more than 250 actors, Roman chariots and a menagerie of donkeys, horses, camels and sheep.

On the grounds of the 4,100-seat amphitheater are the Bible Museum, Sacred Arts Center and the huge Christ of the Ozarks statue. A tram tour showcases a variety of Holy Land settings.

Toe "Black Hills Passion Play" in Spearfish, South Dakota, is America's oldest outdoor drama about the final days of Jesus. First performed in 1938 in view of Lookout Mountain, this version of the "Greatest Story Ever Told" takes place on what reputedly is the longest stage in the country.

Two outdoor dramas in central Kentucky, southwest of Lexington, spotlight celebrated Americans. In Bardstown, "Stephen Foster: The Musical" takes audiences back to the 1850s, featuring lavish costumes and some 50 melodies created by composer Stephen Collins Foster, including "Oh! Susanna," "Camptown Races" and "My Old Kentucky Home."