I have noticed a lot of people on the board mentioning the different changes/cutbacks that take place from year to year. But I haven't seen any about the shows.
Maybe it's just my memory but I recall a time back in the Marriott era when the stage shows were really elaborate with live music and everything.
I remember seeing Barbara Mandrell and some other popular singers of the time involved in the stage shows as well as stand alone performances.
Do you think making those shows more spectacular would have any draw power nowadays? I distinctly remember having to wait in a pretty large crowd to get into see the shows. It also seems like there were other theaters too? But my memory is fuzzy.

You Sir (Or ma'am) [forgive me i dont know] are absolutely right the shows were very elaborate and included sophisticated choreography something you only see at disney. I was never at the park before the 90's but from old pictures that i see on greatamericaparks.com you can tell how the stage shows used to be and what they have become today. From videos I have seen the performers actually sang not like today when the music is so loud that you can barely hear the performers, this is something that I absolutely hate. The character show is gone (curse you DK which is also the biggest line for the shortest and worst coaster). Any shows except the concerts are gone from the ampitheater they had an animal show there in 2006, i guess they felt the failed attempt for Operation Spy Girl was good enough reason for the area to only be open for "special Occasions" for that matter do they even use the other smaller ampitheater anymore? They also say they have "street performers" i have seen three so called street performers there ever.

It's neither sir nor ma'am. I am male but just a regular working guy. Sir is what I call my boss.
Those shows were cool. They were costumed (They must have had designers and tailors working there.) There were backdrops and whole sets. Marriott considered that park the pinnacle of achievment. It (the park) was designed by some famous Hollywood set designer. So there's some really big history in that park.

i didnt know about the set designer thats cool

do you still go to the park and if you do what do you think of the shows no that they are mostly taped and dubbed?

The designer was Randall Duell. He also designed sets for The Wizard Of Oz, Singing In The Rain and many others while he was at MGM Pictures. So there's some cool history there.
There was also supposed to be a third Great America in Washington D.C. But the locals shot it down.

I still try and see the shows. They seem to start later every season. Some are o.k. A couple were horrific. One was nothing more than a compilation of country western music awards shows featuring almost unknown entertainers.
The Dick Clark Bloopers thing was so dated it just isn't relevant anymore. Most of the audience members weren't even born yet when Sanford and Son and Barney Miller were on prime time.
None of the shows I have seen there in the last 5 years even comes close to the shows they used to put on in the seventies and eighties.
And you're right, the music is so Bass'd out that it makes everything unintelligible. In the entertainment industry they refer to that as the sound man having a "Tin Ear" meaning he thinks everything has too much treble and then over compensates with base notes. When it's the venue causing it, it's known as a "high floor" Strangely enough it has nothing to do with the physical floor of the venue, but has to do with the way the venue reacts to the floor level (The very baseline test of the speaker systems.)