A Haunted World

Editor's note: I wrote this about a year and a half ago in March 2019, and for some unknown reason I never published it.  I thought it would be a good time to do so now.   Please be aware I have made a few corrections but have mostly left the story as it was originally written.

An attraction I get asked quite a bit about is Haunted Theatre, which was located at the Tivoli Music Hall from 1985 until 1986.  It never fails to surprise me that for an attraction that lasted only two seasons, it hasn’t been so easily forgotten, and in fact in many ways has its own small cult following.  For me, I have never held any attachment to it, other than the fact that it is part of Worlds of Fun history. I don’t personally remember it in the slightest, and that is probably why I have not made any significant attempt to cover its history over the last 23 years.  I have only just recently started to realize how massive a slight I have given it.  A fascinating side note is that the first time I ever heard the name Haunted Theatre was in an old Rand McNally Kansas City atlas from 1994 that still mentioned Haunted Theatre as a current attraction!  I have a very good friend who remembers it, and my husband also does and since multitudes have asked for more information on it I figured I would give it my best shot.  I am hoping this blog will open up the memories of those that remember it well and who can share their own experiences with this short-lived, but no less memorable Worlds of Fun attraction.

“With a thundering last note from the organ, the house lights in the already gloomy theater fade to black.  In the half-light of the stage, two hunchbacked figures in filthy rags carry a pallet on which lies a skeleton with a stake protruding from its rib cage.  Approaching the bright red coffin that sits isolated in a pool of brightness they place the corpse inside. The two hulking gnomes pause a moment then reopen the casket, yank out the stake and stand back as the music swells and a Byronic figure in long sideburns, black riding boots, and short jacket emerges and surveys the audience with a disdainful smile.” (Robert, 1985).

That is how the world was introduced to an entirely new macabre experience.  A friend of mine who quite vividly remembers both seeing and being terrified of Haunted Theatre attests to the show starting by everything going dark.  My husband who also saw the show in his late teens, recalls two show openings, which initially involved two bantering skeletons, but was later changed to a large, back-lit floating skull that hovered over the audience just prior to the show start.

Designed by legendary illusionist Mark Wilson, the Haunted Theatre was the headline attraction for the 1985 season and part of the season’s 2.1 million expansion investment.  A component of Haunted Theatre included major renovations to the Tivoli Music Hall itself which involved painting the theater walls black along with several massive installations,  a  “long-abandoned Victorian-era theater”  stage proscenium* that measured 20 feet by 70 feet,  four major sets, mechanical gargoyles, and audio-animatronic characters.  Very little work was actually done in house, with settings designed by Hollywood designer Brian Bartholomew (responsible for sets on the 1984 Summer Olympics), and costuming by Pete Menefee (from the Shirley MacLaine TV specials), which rounded out the efforts of a total of 155 designers, painters, electricians and builders used to complete the project.

Overall the show attempted to capture the 1980’s version of terror, seen and heard today in the cult classics such as Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and Nightmare on Elm Street, but also walking the careful balance between entertainment and terror.  No one wanted screaming kids running out of the theater (though from second-hand experience that definitely did happen).

Haunted Theatre was hosted by a “monster of ceremonies” portrayed in1985 by Hollywood performer Vernon Willett.  The park hoping the character would be a memorable, slightly tantalizing, vampire host. Instead of the host though, most remember the elaborate magical routines.  Jeff describes it best as a magic show gone wrong, but one that was elaborately dressed up and suited for Hollywood. Ballroom dancing skeletons, a trip to a torture chamber where the host precariously balances on a floating sword and is then impaled,  a women passes through a glass mirror to exit as a walking skeleton instead, even a gigantic spider played a role at some point in Haunted Theatre’s run.  All the effects were relatively mild-mannered, and the show even had a few moments geared towards kids with a delightful dancing glowing skeletons set to “We’re gonna Getcha”.  Overall, Haunted Theatre was a massive undertaking on the park, and on its premiere, the park was already in early planning stages to lease the concept to parks across the country.

Mark Wilson stated to the Kansas City Star at its premiere that “right now the show is about 50 percent of what I want it to be” (Robert, 1985).  One has to wonder if it ever even came closer than the 100% that Mark had originally intended.  This is reflected in the other story I often hear when it comes to Haunted Theatre, in that it never quite worked exactly the way it seems to have been intended to, so much so that in 1986 the show was heavily modified, and then discontinued after the 1986 season returning the theater to its “singing and dancing extravaganza” a tradition that would continue until even those shows were discontinued after 2011.  Like so many aspects of Worlds of Fun in the 1980s, Haunted Theatre probably is most remembered for being both amazing and spectacular, but also a failure.  Amazing and Spectacular in the pure show quality realm, a failure in that it never seemed to reach the pinnacle the park had planned for it.

Robert, B. (1985, April 9). Ghoulish Pleasures: Haunted Theatre conjures up a blend of thrill and chill. Kansas City Star, p. 1B.