The Golden Heart Review at the Palace Theater and Saloon is great entertainment. It’s a comedic look at Fairbanks’ history performed as a musical by quality local actors with outstanding live piano accompaniment. The entire staff is dressed in period costumes. The support personnel (ticket collectors, ushers, sound tech), however, seemed to augment their regalia with assorted tattoos and weird piercings which challenged the show’s authenticity a bit. I guess real pioneer saloon girls are hard to find these days.
The show presented the history of the area and how the locals see themselves. From the city’s founding father, who took great pains to promote his interests during the Gold Strike, to the use of duct tape as the most common repair tool for ripped parkas or coveralls today, the show covers a lot of ground. A favorite scene for most attendees was entitled "Ladies Night at the Bath," with its great set and hilarious performers.
A disappointment for us, though, was that beginning this season, it is only called the Palace Theater—no longer a saloon. Oh well, sometimes it might be good for me to lay off the drink for an hour or so... The show is worth a look, especially if you are already at Pioneer Park for the Salmon Bake. The theater was a saloon (circa 1902) and assorted other things throughout its history. After a flood, many of the buildings shown in the Frontier Town photo below were disassembled and moved to Pioneer Park, where a version of the town has been recreated. Open mid-May through mid-September, as are most things, is the Alaska interior.
907-456-7274
http://www.akvisit.com/palace.html