Meet Me in St. Louis: Could The Muny Be America's Greatest Theater? (today's MARQUEE)
Tens of thousands of free tickets make the massive outdoor venue a real "unicorn" in musical theater
Shalom, Broadway lovers!
In today’s FREE edition of MARQUEE: The Broadway Maven’s Weekly Blast: an essay about why The Muny in St. Louis may be America’s greatest theater; a homework video for Monday’s “Introduction to Jewish Broadway” class; and a Last Blast about Company.
Today, Premium subscribers also get: a Broadway Maven YouTube Gem that’s a 10-minute version of Stephen Sondheim’s Evening Primrose; a Broadway Blast about Fiddler on the Roof, and a quiz about adaptations of animated films.
NOTE: SAVE $20! Second Semester ALL-ACCESS Passes are discounted to $79 (instead of $99) now through Saturday, August 31. Get automatic access to dozens of classes. Includes a 4 months’ Premium subscription to MARQUEE (a $20 value), access to the archive, a bonus class only for ALL-ACCESS Passholders, and periodic drawings for off-Broadway and Broadway tickets, including at least one opening night. Classes offered include “Sondheim Academy,” Jewish Broadway, Lyrics & Lyricists, Early Broadway, and more.
SEPTEMBER: A FREE course on Jewish Broadway meets every Monday in September at Noon and 7 pm. Sessions include Introduction to Jewish Broadway, a two-part series on Fiddler on the Roof, a class covering both Ragtime and Parade, and a session on Barbra Streisand’s musicals.
Every Tuesday in September at Noon, The Broadway Maven offers Sondheim Academy, an advanced course in Sondheim. Instructors Gail Leondar-Wright (talkingsondheim.com), Mateo Chavez Lewis (Music Theatre Theory), and David Benkof (The Broadway Maven) will tackle the following four topics over four weeks: Company, Funny Sondheim, Sweeney Todd, and Favorite Songs. $36 for the entire course.
ESSAY: Which theater showcased a real helicopter flying overhead during Miss Saigon, actual fireworks exploding above the actors during In the Heights, and 76 trombones marching onstage during The Music Man? At St. Louis's The Muny, the oldest and largest outdoor theater in America, unforgettable moments like these are an annual summer highlight. With its unique location, storied traditions, and commitment to live theater that's accessible to Broadway fans of all income levels, this gem not far from the Arch may just be the greatest theater in America.
Greatest? On one important metric, the superlative is unquestionably deserved. Well beyond its artistic achievements (more on that below), The Muny's commitment to accessibility puts it in a category far, far beyond what other theaters that produce musicals are doing. Of the nearly 11,000 seats, approximately 1,500 in the last nine rows are provided on a first-come, first-served basis for more than 50 performances every summer, with no tickets necessary.
Such giveaways are simply unheard of, even for non-profits with a commitment to affordability and access. And because The Muny also gives free tickets to community groups, every summer 100,000 people (25 percent of the total audience) get to see a Broadway-quality show at no cost. For moderate-income patrons who want to sit a little closer, a season-long subscription admits one fan to seven shows for just $126 ($18 a performance!). Single tickets are just $21. Some movie tickets cost more than that.
And this ain't amateur hour.
Muny Artistic Director and Executive Producer Mike Isaacson is a St. Louis local who's had great success on Broadway, producing shows that have won 40 Tony Awards, including Fun Home, Legally Blonde, and Thoroughly Modern Millie. His Muny programming every season is diverse, though it frequently follows a familiar formula. A typical season includes one Golden Age show, one family show, one show with a largely Black cast, one female-focused show, and one under-appreciated classic among the septet of musicals they produce annually.
Summer in St. Louis is an annual tradition for some of Broadway's best actors, directors, and other theatermakers. Onstage Muny favorites include a former Broadway Maven guest, actress Ann Harada (Avenue Q), and St. Louis native Ken Page, a larger-than-life Black performer whose Broadway roles range from the original Old Deuteronomy in CATS to the Lion in the original production of The Wiz. Every summer, about half the performers on stage are locals, and the rest are from New York and around the country.
Other reasons The Muny shines:
• Every performance starts with the audience joining together to sing the National Anthem. Who does that?
• The venue takes no public money and relies on box office for 85 percent of its revenue, including from more than 20,000 subscribers. The rest comes from donations.
• The Muny has been a St. Louis tradition since World War I. Some local families have been attending The Muny every week in the summer since the theater opened in 1917; my own family's attendance goes back more than 90 years.
• The theater hires from within, and much of its leadership has worked up the ranks, most significantly immediate past president Denny Reagan and current president Kwofe Coleman, both of whom started as ushers.
• Even a potential downside of the theater's setting -- summer nights in St. Louis can be rainy -- is part of its charm. Attendees bring umbrellas and seat cushions in case The Muny's seats get wet, and casts continue performances until Muny staff determine there's a safety issue, at which point the performance halts until the rain stops and the stage is dried off. In some St. Louis circles, being rained out at The Muny is actually a point of pride.
I didn't know what musical theater was until I started going to The Muny every summer, starting in 1975 when as a 4-year-old boy I was fascinated to see Margaret Hamilton play the Witch in The Wizard of Oz. I'm proud to say that in the summer of 2016, as a donor to the organization, I was able to go onstage in the walk-on role of "The Mayor of Emerald City" in that year's production of the same show.
Of course, as a St. Louisan I'm proud of a hometown highlight. But The Muny's uniquely creative use of its large outdoor setting, and especially its community outreach, make it truly a national treasure for lovers of the arts.
The Muny has never won the Tony Regional Theatre Award, perhaps because it doesn't program a year-long season. But it sure deserves one, and the national attention that comes with it. Perhaps it can inspire other theaters to make sure large numbers of local residents who cannot afford even an inexpensive ticket are nonetheless able to experience the joy of live theater.
Even without a helicopter.
HOMEWORK: A strong majority of Broadway's most accomplished lyricists have been Jewish. For your homework for Monday's FREE class "Introduction to Jewish Broadway," watch this video about music by Jewish lyricists and choose a lyric by a Jewish songwriter you find appealing and explain why.
Note: Links to register for ALL classes are always available at TheBroadwayMaven.com.
• Monday, September 2 Noon and 7 pm ET Introduction to Jewish Broadway (FREE)
• Tuesday, September 3 Noon ET Sondheim Academy ($36 for the series)
• Monday, September 9 Noon and 7 pm ET Fiddler on the Roof part A (FREE)
• Tuesday, September 10 Noon ET Sondheim Academy ($36 for the series)
• Monday, September 16 Noon and 7 pm ET Fiddler on the Roof part B (FREE)
• Tuesday, September 17 Noon ET Sondheim Academy ($36 for the series)
• Monday, September 23 Noon and 7 pm ET Ragtime and Parade (FREE)
• Tuesday, September 24 Noon ET Sondheim Academy ($36 for the series)
• Monday, September 30 Noon and 7 pm ET Barbra Streisand’s musicals (FREE)
NOTE: As always, ALL-ACCESS Passholders do not have to sign up or pay for anything. Just show up!
LAST BLAST: In the song “Being Alive” from Company, Bobby supposedly realizes that he needs to connect with another person to truly feel alive. But the song may just have the seeds of its own failure, or at least Bobby’s. That’s because post-epiphany, Bobby still sees relationships in terms of what he can get out of them, for example to know him too well, give him support, or crowd him with love. There are no verses about what he wants to give the person he connects with. So Bobby’s eternal singlehood is unlikely to be culminated by this song.
ANSWERS TO THE QUIZ: The Prince of Egypt, Beauty and the Beast, Mary Poppins, Aladdin, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Anastasia, Frozen
Broadway Maven David Benkof helps students further their appreciation of musical theater through his classes, his YouTube channel, and MARQUEE: The Broadway Maven’s Weekly Blast. Contact him at DavidBenkof@gmail.com.