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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 completed its eighty-ninth annual season in the summer of 2007 with more than 440,000 audience members attending. The Muny seasons run every year from mid-June to mid-August. It is a not-for-profit organization. The current president of the theatre's 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 1 History of The Muny 2 A Muny Production 3 Celebrities at The Muny 4 2007 Season 5 Current Board of Directors 6 Honorary Life Directors 7 Future seasons 8 See also 9 Sources 10 External links

The Muny can trace its roots 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 because of dilapidation. In 1994, The Muny's Board of Directors founded The Muny Kids, a select group of performers from the ages of 7 to 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 to 18.

The Muny produces all of its musicals (typically seven) in the season and operates only in the summer. During the winter, a staff of twelve prepare for the approaching summer season. All shows are rehearsed within the course of eleven days, with a tech rehearsal being held from midnight to five o'clock on the Sunday morning before the show. Shows typically run from Monday to Sunday, although there have been exceptions to this.

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 Cabaret
• 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 such as Annie Oakley, Mama Rose, and Reno Sweeney)
• Ken Page - Broadway performer (originated roles such as Old Deuteronomy)
• Bruce Adler - Broadway performer (originated roles such as Bela Zangler)
• Ozzie Smith - St. Louis Cardinals Hall-of-Famer; father of American Idol star Nikko Smith
• Carol Channing - Broadway performer (originated roles such as 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 such as 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 original Broadway cast 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

Oklahoma! (June 18-24)

Grease (June 25-July 3) (July 2 & 3 were 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 were non-subscriber nights)

• 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

(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

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.

• The Muny Repertory

• The Muny "Sound of Music" program, 2005
• The Muny "King and I" program, 2006
• www.kmox.com

• Official site