The Municipal Opera Association of St. Louis
| The Muny | |
Venue seen in 2007
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| Former names | Municipal Theater of St. Louis (1917-19) |
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| Address | 1 Theatre Dr St. Louis, MO 63112-1019 |
| Location | Forest Park |
| Coordinates | 38°38′26″N 90°16′50″W / 38.640560°N 90.280484°WCoordinates: 38°38′26″N 90°16′50″W / 38.640560°N 90.280484°W |
| Owner | Municipal Theatre Association of St. Louis |
| Capacity | 11,000 |
| Construction | |
| Opened | June 5, 1917 |
| Renovated | 1923, 1930, 1935, 1997, 2004, 2014-15 |
| Construction cost | $10,000 ($220 thousand in 2016 dollars) |
| Website | |
| Venue Website | |
The St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre (commonly known as The Muny) is an amphitheatre located in St. Louis, Missouri. The theatre seats 11,000 people with approximately 1,500 free seats in the last nine rows that are available on a first come, first served basis.
The Muny seasons run every year from mid-June to mid-August. It is run by a not-for-profit organization. The current president and chief executive is Dennis M. Reagan. The current artistic director & executive producer is Mike Isaacson.
In 1914, Luther Ely Smith began staging pageant-Masques on Art Hill in Forest Park. In 1916, a grassy area between two oak trees on the present site of The Muny was chosen for a production of As You Like It produced by Margaret Anglin and starring Sydney Greenstreet with a local cast of "1,000 St. Louis folk dancers and folk singers."
Soon after, the Convention Board of the St. Louis Advertising Club was looking for an 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 the United States. On June 5, 1917, the opera Aida was presented on what would become the Muny stage.
In 1919, the new theatre received a name: St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre, 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. Concerts were performed here prior to the opening of Riverport Amphitheatre in 1991.
In 1930, the stage was equipped with a turntable for performance purposes. It was reconstructed in 1997 due to dilapidation. In 1994, The Muny's Board of Directors founded the Muny Kids, a select group of performers between the ages of 7 to 13 who traveled around St. Louis performing, and in the summer gave preview shows prior to the production. In 1998, the Muny Teens group was formed for the same purpose, featuring teen performers between the ages of 14 to 18.
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