Te tradition of Te Muny is that this is a place where folks can come out and enjoy a night under the stars, with people they know. – Dennis Reagan
2013 production of Les Misérables, photo by Te Muny
The Municipal Theatre Association of St. Louis, the original name for The Muny, presented its first production at Forest Park in 1916 with Shakespeare’s As You Like It. The cast included Sidney Greenstreet, who later had prominent roles in the classic films Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon. In 1917, there was a weeklong run of Verdi’s opera Aida, followed on June 6, 1919, by a performance of Robin Hood, which began The Muny’s annual summer series of shows. That season featured two grand operas and four light operas. Under the guidance of Henry Kiel, St. Louis’ longtime mayor, The Muny began with a love for light opera but eventually gravitated toward musical theater. Kiel created the nonprofit Municipal Theatre Association in 1919, ushering in an era that featured works by Sigmund Romberg, Jerome Kern and Victor Herbert, among others. From its inception, The Muny offered more than 1,000 free seats to each performance. “The Muny is here to offer something for everybody,” Reagan says. “We have made a commitment to keep our prices as low as we can. A season ticket is less than $80. Plus, we give away 100,000 free tickets every year. In our history, more than 10 million people have seen shows here at no cost.” Since the beginning, a cavalcade of celebrities has graced The Muny stage. The Muny’s audiences love the stars, and those Te Muny ticket office stars love The Muny experience. A young Englishman named Archie Leach was a resident baritone for The Muny during its 1931 season, before he changed his stage name to Cary Grant. Nearly 60 years later, Grant was looking forward to showing his wife, Barbara, the splendor of The Muny’s outdoor stage while he would be in St. Louis for an appearance. Alas, he passed away from a stroke in Iowa, his last stop before his trip back “home.” Local residents such as Betty Grable, Virginia Mayo, Vincent Price, Mary Wickes, Agnes Moorehead, Buddy Ebsen and Ken Page all performed at The Muny in their younger days. Muny management, including executives such as Willie Zalken and Culver, went after big names to grace The Muny stage and keep attendance in the hundreds of thousands, such as the nearly 900,000 fans who attended shows in 1949. Irene Dunne performed on The Muny stage. So did W.C. Fields, Allan Jones, Gretchen Wyler, Andy Devine, Bob Hope, John Travolta, Jerry Orbach, Lauren Bacall and Debbie Reynolds. “The tradition of The Muny is that this is a place where folks can come out and enjoy a night under the stars, with people they know,” Reagan says. “Many have season tickets for decades, and the people sitting next to them have for decades, too. Each week, everyone looks forward to visiting with their ‘theater
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neighbor.’ We’ve had six generations of families attend The Muny. The support we receive is unbelievable.” During the late ’70s and early ’80s, concerts were held by groups such as The Moody Blues and Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass to try to change with the times. When Paul Blake was hired as artistic director in 1990, he and Reagan decided to get back to The Muny’s roots of self-produced operettas and musicals. “Paul came in 1990, and I was named CEO in 1991,” Reagan says. “We agreed that what The Muny does best is produce its own shows. That’s how The Muny began in 1919, and continues today. The model was to do a show with a scope that was bigger than anyone else did; you might see 100 performers onstage here.” Although The Muny looked for the best shows to produce, Reagan and others knew that its infrastructure was aging. At that time, Reagan began supervising $25 million in improvements at The Muny. Today, The Muny is more accessible for physically challenged patrons and sports more aesthetically appealing amenities for its patrons than before, including new restrooms, concessions and seating. The Muny has benefited through the years not only from individuals and families but also from local corporations. Each show this season has a corporate sponsor in addition to World Wide Technologies, which has sponsored the entire season since 2014. Although Reagan has always loved his job with the renowned outdoor theater, in recent years, he says: “My favorite Muny show is our 2013 production of Les Misérables. It featured two Broadway stars, Norm Lewis as a wonderful Javert and Hugh Panaro as a really special Jean Valjean.” Come June 11 and the season-opening performance of Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, you’ll find Reagan meeting and greeting his fellow Muny fans from his familiar location just to the side of stage left of that immense and memorable Muny stage. Meet him at The Muny! The Muny, 1 Theatre Drive, St. Louis, 314-361-1900, muny.org
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