The Incredible Muny

There is so much about St. Louis to love. And having lived here for less than two years, we're still discovering what the city has to offer. So we are really thankful that of all there is to do in St. Louis, we figured out early about The Muny. Because we adore it. The Muny is an outdoor theatre in Forest Park. It's a venue that seats 11,000 people. It was built as the first municipally-owned outdoor theatre in the country. And every year for the past 96 years, it has hosted two months of locally produced summer musical theatre. This summer that amounted to seven shows, each running for about one week. This is a photo I took in June, when we went to see Billy Eliot, but got rained out. Every now and then that happens, since The Muny is outdoors. It was disappointing not to get to see the show, but for the other five shows we've seen over the past two summers, it's a price we're willing to pay. (And ticket charges are refunded for rainouts so the only price we paid was our time and disappointment.)

This is us at our very first Muny show last summer, Nunsense. It gets hot and humid in St. Louis, even when the shows start at 8:15 p.m. The Muny has some very large fans that spin parallel to the ground, high above the crowd. They help with the comfort level, but once the show starts, I tend to forget about the temperature anyway.

The Muny uses a combination of local talent and imported talent in its productions. Some shows are more regional, while others showcase Broadway stars, directors, and choreographers in productions that will knock your socks off.

This summer we took these three to see Grease, which was probably the weakest Muny production we'd seen, but it still made for a fun evening.

 Also this summer Brad and I saw Tarzan. It was solidly done and made for a fun evening.

Each of the past two summers we've gotten to see a show that is magical. Last summer it was Les Mis, which we saw with with John. All three of us agreed it was an absolutely world class production - just superb. Then last night we went to the final night of the final production of the year, Hello Dolly! We went in not knowing much about the show or the production and with fairly low expectations (I'm not sure why - maybe we thought it was a tired and outdated out musical), but like last summer's production of Les Mis, this was unbelievably fantastic. The performances and choreography were on par with anything I've seen anywhere in the world and it was a night of pure joy. (You know I loved it if I led the way to the standing ovation, which is a pet peeve of mine when every show gets a standing ovation, but this performance is why we have standing ovations.) And so we'll be back next year. We'll enjoy the tradition of standing to sing the national anthem prior to the start of each performance. And if we're lucky enough to get to attend the last production of the year again, we'll stand and sing Auld Lang Syne with the cast and crew after the show. Should any of you ever be in St. Louis in the summer, I strongly recommend taking in a show at The Muny. Sitting under the stars, with trees gracing the back of the stage and a top-notch live musical being performed outdoors on a warm summer night ….. there's nothing like it in the world ….. unless you happen to be in St. Louis, Missouri.