Amargosa Opera House

 

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In 2005 we spent the night at and attend the show at the Amargosa Opera House. At that time you weren't allowed to photograph the inside other then after the show but there were too many people and you could not use a tripod. The Amargosa Opera House was sort of discovered in the late 1960's by Marta Becket. Marta and her husband were taking her traveling show around the country and they had a flat tire on their trailer in Death Valley. They took it to Death Valley Junction to be repaired. While the tire was being repaired Marta wandered the town and came across the old building that was abandoned. She decided this was where she wanted to do her show from now on.

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On the walls of the opera house Marta has painted an audience. In the early days there would be times she would perform her show and there was no audience so she decided to paint one. The entire walls of the Opera House are painted including the ceiling. Now for a $5 charge per person they give you the key and you can go in and photograph. Marta still lives on the grounds but no longer performs.

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These days the have a coupe shows from Vegas that come in and perform such as Celebrities Gone Wild. It was nice to be able to photograph it because now I can look at the photos and study just how good a painter Marta is.

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