Major Broadway and Hollywood stars of the time performed on stage at the Sombrero, including Katharine Cornell, Helen Hayes, Kirk Douglas, Milton Berle, Billie Burke, Burgess Meredith, Walter Pidgeon, Tom Drake, Vincent Price, and Mary Astor.
[10] Merrill owned the summer stock Will-o-Way Playhouse in Birmingham, Michigan,[11] while Charlton operated the Music Hall in Detroit.
[14] Charlton and Lee took a long-term lease for an empty two-acre lot on Seventh Street near Camelback Road, on which a new theater would be built.
[12] Merrill filed an injunction with Maricopa Superior Court to stop the use of the name "Sombrero Playhouse", which he had registered with the state in February 1949.
[10] The name stayed on the theatre,[18] which had its opening on March 29, 1949, with a performance of Born Yesterday, starring William Bendix, Audrey Totter, and Whit Bissell.
The first three seasons, plays opened on Tuesdays and closed Sundays, generally with Wednesday and Saturday afternoon matinees, for a one-week run of eight performances.
[26] Bit parts and walk-on roles were filled by local actors, drama school apprentices, and an occasional Phoenix notable.
[34] A drama school, the American Foundation for Theatre Arts was established during late 1958 at the Sombrero, with free tuition for up to ten apprentices.
The Sombrero's reputation had grown with the Hollywood community, helped in part by the producers opening an office in the Los Angeles area.
[2] The New York Times ran a half-page article profiling the success of the producers in recruiting, not only for their own theater but also for Broadway productions that needed a name star in a hurry.
[2] Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis watched ZaSu Pitts in Ramshackle Inn at the Sombrero on their honeymoon in March 1952.
Guthrie McClintic and Sol Hurok produced the world premiere of their production of Dear Liar at the Sombrero in 1959, starring Katharine Cornell and Brian Aherne, with the playwright Jerome Kilty himself directing.
Critic William J. Nazzaro took exception to the slapdash production schedule of the Sombrero: "What we saw last night was what one should expect at a theater that operates on the star system, where the management does not know what it will present even two or three weeks before the actual event...
But what really needs correction is the Sombrero's attitude that a star can be engaged at the last minute, thrown into a vehicle with limited rehearsals, and come up with a winner".
[49]Charlton responded with a letter to the Arizona Republic editor, acknowledging problems with the opening night performance, but denying that the Sombrero production method itself was at fault.
[56][57] Regular stage seasons ceased on March 31, 1968, with a production of The Torch-Bearers starring Cornelia Otis Skinner, Mildred Natwick, and Joe Flynn.
A Maricopa Superior Court judge ruled the ten-year lease was valid and the art house could continue showing films, but its patrons would have to park elsewhere.