Center Stage

Each year, Mike Isaacson, The Muny’s artistic director and executive producer, calls and invites actors from across the country to perform at the storied St. Louis theater, which he says has become colloquially known in the industry as “Broadway summer camp.” And each year, he’s amazed at the number of times he hears two words: “bucket list.”

For over a century, The Muny — America’s oldest and largest outdoor musical theater — has remained a vibrant cultural institution not just for the generations of St. Louisans who have spent summers attending shows but also for the actors and creatives across the country who travel to St. Louis to perform in its seven productions each season. Some of the biggest names in the business have performed on The Muny stage since its first official season in 1919, from Broadway and Hollywood legends such as Cary Grant, Yul Brynner, Ethel Merman, Carol Burnett, Gene Kelly, and Lauren Bacall to contemporary stars including Sarah Jessica Parker, Jennifer Holliday, and Michelle Williams. 

Soon, The Muny will be celebrated for its role on the national stage: On June 8, the theater will receive the 2025 Regional Theatre Tony Award, which recognizes a regional theater company that has “displayed a continuous level of artistic achievement contributing to the growth of theater nationally.”

“The Muny holds an incredible place in the legacy of the American musical theater,” says Isaacson, who has produced 82 shows across his 13 seasons at The Muny and is also a nine-time Tony Award-winning Broadway producer. “So many Tony Award winners started here at The Muny. Tommy Tune choreographed his first show at The Muny. It’s considered the premier sort of starting place, and I love that. That’s one of the reasons I took the job, because it is a place where we can give growing, emerging talent a chance to find their voice at the highest professional level. Usually when you’re starting out, you’re working in a 200-seat theater and you’ve got a cast of eight, but we give you the resources here to create something truly wonderful and discover what you can do.”

Featuring nearly 11,000 seats, The Muny’s sheer size and magnitude put it in a class of its own. And its open-air environment, located in verdant and sprawling Forest Park, incorporates the surrounding trees and the stars above as part of the scenery, which helps create a one-of-a-kind experience that simply can’t be replicated at other theaters. 

“There’s something really special about Forest Park to St. Louis — it’s ours and it’s a magical place,” says Director of Production Tracy Utzmyers, who has been with The Muny for over 13 years. “It feels like a respite the minute you come into it. I think that sort of journey into the theater, the beautiful greenery and the landscaping, is our lobby — who can say that? We’re so lucky. And then there’s nothing more empowering than having 11,000 people dive into a story as the sun sets. There’s no better way to focus in on what we’re doing on stage.”

When planning each production, The Muny team uses its surroundings to their full potential, from real fireworks lighting up the sky during “In the Heights” to a helicopter humming over the stage during “Miss Saigon.”

“We have this chance to be larger than life in every production and at the same time, remarkably intimate,” says President and CEO Kwofe Coleman. “If you think of the greatest scale you could do any production on, that’s what we’re going to do. We have a very large space and we are limitless when you go vertical because there is no ceiling. Whether it’s fireworks or a hydrant on stage or someone flying through the audience, we think that our audience in St. Louis deserves nothing short of excellence. Excellence is not what we shoot for, it’s not the goal — it is the baseline. And that’s what the community deserves.”

Coleman, who got his start at The Muny as an usher and wheelchair attendant when he was 16 years old, says it’s the audience and the relationships he’s built over the years with guests that make the theater so singular. “I’m a fan and an appreciator of musical theater; I think that’s obvious, it’s what I do for a living,” Coleman says. “But what kept me here is understanding those kinds of relationships are formed every day. I’m out there every night and young folks will come and give me their personal review of the show while they’re here holding a grandparent’s hand or a parent’s hand. Those are the things that stick with you.”

The audience plays a central role in Isaacson’s work as well. He aims for each Muny season to serve as a reflection of the theater’s incredibly diverse community, which is full of people with different backgrounds and preferences. Each season includes seven shows across 10 weeks, and you can always expect to see two classics, two productions new to The Muny stage, and one family-friendly show such as Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” or “Aladdin.” Isaacson has also introduced over 33 new shows, such as “Mean Girls” and “Dear Evan Hansen,” to The Muny audience. “You’re going to get this beautiful mosaic of the American musical with surprise and wonder and romance and drama and the whole thing,” he says.

Meanwhile, classics like “Fiddler on the Roof” and “West Side Story” don’t get repeated for at least seven years, a rule Isaacson instituted early in his tenure at the theater.

“That’s a really interesting thing that I didn’t realize until a couple years into it,” Isaacson says. “I remember, I think in my second season, we were doing a classic, I dunno, ‘Fiddler’ or something. And I realized that for the people, The Muny audience sitting in those seats, that the experience of seeing ‘Fiddler’ for them, they remembered who they were the last time they saw it, they remembered who they were with. And they could also think of generations before them who had done this. That’s an incredible undertow that goes throughout the experience, the multi-generational lives and the ritual of it: people spending their summers (here). And that’s an unbelievable gift. I never take that for granted. So if you’re going to give me seven of your summer nights, I’m going to give you a hell of an adventure.”

Each production runs daily for about a week, with a break of just a few days in between shows in which the production crew makes set adjustments, floor modifications, and technical changes. Each production is created specifically for The Muny stage from the ground up, with 11 days of rehearsal, five days to build the scenery, and four days to paint it and put on the finishing touches. Producing seven back-to-back Broadway-caliber shows on such a tight timeline can feel like a whirlwind, but it’s part of what makes The Muny so special, Utzmyers says.

“The first time you do it, it’s scary,” she says.“It feels like you’re jumping off a cliff with no parachute. And when you land on stage and you get the third day into the show and you realize what the audience is giving back and the herculean accomplishment that you’ve done and the bravery that it takes, you learn that you can do hard things and the audience appreciates that you’ve done something hard, there’s nothing more fulfilling. 

“There is no place like The Muny — there just isn’t. And that is exciting and challenging and scary and fun and addictive. And because our audience is so giving, we are allowed to take chances and risks that are not necessarily something you could do somewhere else with a longer-term run.”

Officially known as The Municipal Opera Association of St. Louis, The Muny primarily played operettas in its first 50 years. Over the decades, Isaacson says, the theater has been heavily impacted by the development of American musicals, which have taken on a more cinematic quality. 

To meet the audience where they’re at and mark its upcoming centennial celebration in 2018, The Muny kicked off a massive $100 million renovation including a complete rebuild of the century-old stage, two new towers that frame the stage, a new light bridge, an expanded orchestra pit, and new production staging areas. The upgrades, which were completed in 2022, also feature revolutionary LED technology and automated sets. Isaacson says the renovation has allowed the theater to tell stories in a more contemporary way, but it hasn’t taken away from what makes The Muny so magical. 

Utzmeyers echoes that sentiment. “Just about everything from the front of the proscenium all the way back to the front of the box office has been redone since 2018,” Utzmeyers says. “When you’re undergoing a major renovation like that at a 100-year-old institution, the first thing is: don’t mess up the special sauce. And I couldn’t define to you what the special sauce is at The Muny, but part of it is the open air and the sunset. And part of it is the joy of bringing a community of diverse people together in such a big space. That hasn’t changed and we’re really lucky to have not messed with that.”

Musical theater remains the heart of The Muny, but the organization is also working to find ways to activate the space beyond its seven productions a year and stay relevant with the community. In 2024, The Muny hosted its first concert in more than three decades when singer John Legend performed at the outdoor venue, backed by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. The 2025 season will be capped off on August 28 with a finale concert featuring music icon Diana Ross and multi-Grammy Award-winning artist Jon Batiste.

Coleman says the organization has also made significant investments in education to offer more year-round programming; since 2015, The Muny has tripled the number of education and training programs it offers. In 2019, it launched the Crawford Taylor Education Initiative to improve its current education programs, such as its flagship Muny Kids & Teens programs, while also developing new opportunities for youth performers to help local talent grow and thrive.

There are 129 roles available this season for the members of the kids and teens troupes, and each young performer will be involved in at least one show. For example, in “Bring It On: The Musical” and “Dear Evan Hansen,” the Muny Teens will make high school scenes feel richer and more robust. The casting team also looks to the youth ensemble for principal roles for youth performers. In Disney’s “Frozen,” for example, Young Anna and Young Elsa will be played by two Muny Teens. Local kids or teens who got their start at The Muny and have since gone on to successful careers outside of St. Louis also return to the stage in Forest Park. Kennedy Holmes, who grew up in The Muny’s Kids & Teens program, returns for her eleventh season at The Muny, this time in her first starring role, in “Bring It On: The Musical.”

“We talk about young people at the beginning of their careers — our investment in education, our investment in training, our investment in being the first place for a young performer from a conservatory coming to the states and then earning the right into Actors Equity — that is equally as important to us,” Coleman says. “There are few more gratifying feelings than to see someone who was a Muny Kid, a Muny Teen, go to college, be on stage, and come back and star in one of our shows. This year we have the same thing. 

“And to see that means that the plan is working, the process is working. We’re a place where you can begin your career from a performer standpoint or a place where you can celebrate your career when you’re at the top of that game and everything in between.”

Whether by expanding educational programming or offering affordable opportunities to engage with the arts, The Muny is dedicated to serving the St. Louis community. Since the theater first opened its doors over a century ago, The Muny has offered seats in its last nine rows — about 1,456 seats — free of charge on a first-come, first-serve basis. Recent renovations of the theater’s upper plaza, featuring enhanced accessibility, a new box office, concession stand, and updated performance stage, were designed to create a more equitable experience for all guests, regardless of whether they splurged for box seats or lined up early to snag a free seat for their first Muny show. 

“We’ve been blessed to have the biggest names and the brightest stars choose to come here and share with this community,” Coleman says. “But more than that blessing, we’ve been blessed that this community has made it a part of their tradition. We’re here because generations of people call this place home in the summer. They’ve had their season tickets, they’ve supported it. St. Louis is very plainly the lifeblood of this place. St. Louis also encourages, they root, they support, they tell us that whatever we endeavor to do is worth it. They let us know when we’ve achieved it, and they respond with their support and encouragement. St. Louis is why we do what we do.”

It’s never lost on Isaacson, either, that generations of St. Louisans have called The Muny home for more than 100 summers. As much as the theater has grown to meet changing technology and tastes in musical theater, it’s preserved the joyful community experience that has made it a beloved St. Louis institution year after year. 

“Institutions like The Muny matter, and they matter a lot, because their history contains the life and intention of a community,” Isaacson says. “It’s a repository of a personality. It’s a repository of a soul. The fact that this crazy idea, I mean, I say this all the time. Look at it on a piece of paper as a business plan: summer theater, world-class productions done in 12 days, 10 weeks, 10,000 people. None of it makes any sense, but it has continued to exist and thrive. Why? There’s something about the soul of St. Louis that beats here every summer, and it’s just remarkable.”