SAINT LOUIS MUNICIPAL THEATRE
As promised, here is my Tourist Trek to the Saint Louis Municipal Theatre located on a hillside in Forest Park. It was established in 1917 which makes it not only the oldest, but also the largest outdoor theater in the US. The first production in 1917 was actually the opera AIDA …
and for many years it was known as the Municipal Opera. But grand opera doesn’t play there much these days and most of the local folk simply call it …
The Box-office and whatever you call a mural on the ground.
The theater seats 11,000 people for each performance. And the last nine rows or 1,500 seats are FREE SEATS that are given away on a first-come basis. I’ve spent a lot of summer evenings in the FREE SEATS.
The stage is rather large, too. So the big production numbers really are BIG! The center of the stage is the world’s largest revolving stage, which allows for some pretty fast scene changes.
The Muny season runs from June to August with six to eight musical productions each year that range from the latest Broadway hits to the sentimental favorites from the past. And while Saint Louis summers do occasionally get a little hot, the theater’s location in the tree-shaded park make it one of the cooler locations in town for an enjoyable summer evening … except when it rains.
Posted on October 17, 2012, in A PHOTO FEATURE, TOURIST TREKKING and tagged Forest Park, Saint Louis Municipal Theatre, The MUNY. Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.
... a somewhat unknown or perhaps imaginary actor, writer, director, producer, photographer, friend, brother, uncle and all round good fellow that you really should get to know because he lives with that most glamorous fourpaw Mademoiselle Renee. (Mlle. Renee for short)
I love that they have free seats! It’s sort of like free nights at the museums. Art should be accessible to everyone. =)
Saint Louis was lucky to be a city built by immigrants with that philosophy. They became very rich, and shared their money in the name of art and culture. All the libraries, museums, zoo, planetarium and science center are free.
ALWAYS FREE TO ALL is actually carved over the doors of the art museum. The ARCH museum is free, too. But you have to pay to ride up to the top.