THE MUNY

'The Muny' short for 'The Municipal Opera Association of St. Louis' is the largest and oldest outdoor musical theatre in the United States, located in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri. The Muny seats about 11,000 people with 1,450 free seats in the back of the theater. The Muny has completed it's eighty-ninth annual season for the summer of 2007 with over 440,000 audience members attending The Muny's productions during our 2007 season. The Muny seasons run every year from mid June to mid August. It is a not-for-profit organization. The theatre's current president of the Board of Directors is William H.T. Bush, current chief executive officer is Dennis M. Reagan, and current executive producer is award-winning producer Paul Blake.

Contents

History of The Muny

Celebrities at The Muny

2007 Season

2006 Board of Directors

Honorary Life Directors

Future seasons

See also

Sources

External links

History of The Muny

The Muny can trace its root to 1916 when actress Margaret Anglin produced As You Like It on the current site. A major success, the production had in its cast 200 citizens of St. Louis.
Soon after, the Convention Board of the St. Louis Advertising Club found itself without any entertainment feature for its thirteenth annual convention, which was to take place June 3, 1917. Mayor Henry Kiel, Attorney Guy Golterman, and Parks Commissioner Nelson Cunliff stepped in and, in forty-nine days (not counting seven lost to rain), created the first municipally-owned outdoor theatre in America. On June 5, 1917 the opera Aida was presented on what would be the Muny stage.
In 1919, the new theatre received a name: The Municipal Opera Association of St. Louis, or The Muny for short. The first show under the Muny banner was Robin Hood, which opened on June 16, 1919 and featured Mayor Kiel as King Richard.
In 1930, the stage was equipped with a turntable for performance purposes. This would be reconstructed in 1997 due to dilapidation. In 1994, The Muny's Board of Directors founded The Muny Kids, a select group of performers from the ages of 7-13 who would travel around St. Louis performing, and in the summer would give preview shows prior to the production. In 1998 The Muny Teens group was formed for the same purpose, featuring teen performers from the ages of 13-18.

Celebrities at The Muny

Since its beginning, The Muny has featured many big names in theatre and film on its stage, drawing inevitably huge crowds. Here are a few of those big names, along with their claims to fame:

★ W.C. Fields - comedian

★ Stevie Nicks - singer

★ Vincent Price - horror film actor

★ Cary Grant - film actor

★ Bob Hope - comedian

★ Glen Campbell - singer

★ Joel Grey -reprised his award winning performance in Caberet

★ Carol Burnett -comedian, actress

★ Eddie Albert -actor

★ Lauren Bacall -actress

★ Pearl Bailey -actress

★ Betty White -actress

★ Red Skelton - comedian

★ Milton Berle -comedian

★ Ethel Merman - Broadway performer (originated roles like Annie Oakley, Mama Rose, and Reno Sweeney)

★ Ken Page - Broadway performer (originated roles like Old Deuteronomy)

★ Bruce Adler - Broadway performer (originated roles like Bela Zangler)

★ Ozzie Smith - St. Louis Cardinals Hall-of-Famer; father of American Idol star Nikko Smith

★ Carol Channing - Broadway performer (originated roles like Dolly Gallagher Levi in Hello Dolly)

★ Yul Brynner - Reprised the role of the King in The King and I

★ Howard Keel - film actor (played Gailord in Show Boat and Adam in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers)

★ Margaret Hamilton - film actress (played Wicked Witch of the West in ''The Wizard of Oz'')

★ Shoshana Bean - has played as Elphaba in the Broadway cast of Wicked (got her equity card at The Muny)

★ Joel Grey - Broadway performer (originated roles like the Emcee in Cabaret and the Wizard of Oz in Wicked

★ Joneal Joplin - St. Louis performer; voiced the characters Mr. G and Mr. S on The Letter People

★ Pamela Isaacs- Broadway actress; appeared in OBC of The Life, for which she won a Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Musical

★ Simone- daughter of Nina Simone and Andrew Stroud; originated roles in Rent and on First National Tour of Aida

★ Kendra Kassebaum-currently playing Galinda in the Broadway cast of Wicked

2007 Season

Oklahoma! (June 18-24)
Grease (June 25-July 3) (July 2 & 3 are non-subscriber nights)
Hello, Dolly! (July 9-15)
Peter Pan (July 16-22)
The Pajama Game (July 23-29)
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (July 30-August 5)
Les Misérables (August 6-15) (August 13-15 are non-subscriber nights)

2006 Board of Directors

★ Chairman: William H.T. Bush

★ Vice Chairman: Richard G. Millman

★ Treasurer: Douglas H. Yaeger

★ Assistant Treasurer: Terry E. Schnuck

★ Secretary: Joseph F. Imbs III

★ Assistant Secretary: Raymond R. Fournie

★ Andrew N. Baur

★ Gary D. Bess (ex- officio)

★ Cindy Brinkley

★ Carole L. Buck

★ James H. Buford

★ August A. Busch III

★ John R. Capps

★ Karen Carroll

★ Parker B. Condie

★ Clark S. Davis

★ David N. Farr

★ Raymond R. Fournie

★ Ronald A. Fromm

★ Louis J. Fusz, Jr.

★ E. Douglas Harbison

★ Samuel B. Hayes III

★ Robert R. Hermann, Jr.

★ Douglas E. Hill

★ William F. Holekamp

★ John E. Jacob

★ Stephen G. Jansen

★ Henry O. Johnston

★ Stephen C. Jones

★ Edward J. "Ted" Koplar

★ Peter B. Krombach

★ F. Mark Kuhlmann

★ J. Mark Lashly

★ Seth M. Leadbeater

★ Ned. O. Lemkemeier

★ Doris H. Lichenstein

★ W. Stephen Maritz

★ James S. McDonnell III

★ Richard G. Millman

★ Charles W. Mueller

★ Kimberly A. Olson

★ Gary L. Rainwater

★ Steven C. Roberts

★ Hugh Scott III

★ E.C. Simmons III

★ Hon. Francis G. Slay (ex- officio)

★ David L. Steward

★ James W. Suelmann (ex- officio)

★ Donald M. Suggs

★ Jack E. Thomas

★ Robert J. Trulaske, Jr.

★ Carol Walker

★ Kelvin R. Westbrook

★ Orrin S. Wightman III

★ Douglas H. Yaeger

Honorary Life Directors

(as of Summer 2006):

★ Frank Adam

★ Clarence C. Barksdale

★ Van- Lear Black III

★ Frank C. Blumeyer

★ William E. Cornelius

★ Sam Fox

★ Clifton W. Gates

★ A. William Hager

★ Earle H. Harbison, Jr.

★ Mary Lee M. Hermann

★ Robert R. Hermann

★ James L. Hoagland

★ Bettie S. Johnson

★ Donald E. Lasater

★ Lee M. Liberman

★ Michael E. Pulitzer

★ Michael J. Roarty

★ Warren M. Shapleigh

★ Donald M. Suggs

★ H. Edwin Trusheim

★ John K. Wallace, Jr.

★ Eugene F. Williams, Jr.

★ Frederick S. Wood

★ Maurice B. Wood

Future seasons

The new Muny season is not officially announced until the preceding January or February, but many have found it entertaining to speculate on what shows will be produced, especially since The Muny follows certain patterns when selecting its shows.
The best way for an outsider to guess the next season is to fill out the evaluation forms handed out at the end of the current season's run, which allow audiences to circle their top seven choices for the next year. The choices change each year, depending on what shows are available and what shows have not been produced for a number of years.

See also

★ The Muny Repertory

Sources

★ The Muny "Sound of Music" program, 2005

★ The Muny "King and I" program, 2006

★ www.kmox.com

External links

★ Official site