Muny Tickets Go on Sale May 20 for 106th Season, John Legend Concert

Muny Tickets Go on Sale May 20 for 106th Season, John Legend Concert

Single-performance tickets for all seven musicals in the 106th Muny season — and for John Legend: A Night of Songs and Stories With the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra — go on sale at muny.org starting at 9 a.m. Monday, May 20, at The Muny Box Office, 1 Theatre Drive in Forest Park.

It’s fast and easy to purchase tickets online using MetroTix, the only authorized vendor for Muny tickets. But buyers who visit the Muny Box Office in person May 20 will be able to learn more about each of this summer’s Broadway hits and sneak a peek at sketches by our design teams.

Box office guests who buy three or more single-performance tickets for the 106th season will be entered to win a VIP seat upgrade — with parking. Free In the Heights-inspired snow cones also will be available.

Only tickets for the 106th Muny season will be available at the Muny Box Office; tickets for John Legend: A Night of Songs and Stories With the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra must be purchased through MetroTix at muny.org.

Season 106 at The Muny includes Les Misérables (June 17-23), Dreamgirls (June 27-July 3), Disney’s The Little Mermaid (July 8-16), Fiddler on the Roof (July 19-25), Waitress (July 30-Aug. 5), In the Heights (Aug. 9-15) and Anything Goes (Aug. 19-25). The Muny presents John Legend: A Night of Songs and Stories With the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra on Sept. 7.

The Muny will present EGOT-winning, critically acclaimed, multiplatinum  musician John Legend on its iconic James S. McDonnell Stage for John Legend: A Night of Songs and Stories With the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra at 8 p.m. Sept. 7.

Renowned for producing exceptional musical theatre, The Muny, in collaboration with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, revives a beloved tradition by presenting its first live concert in more than 30 years.

John Legend: A Night of Songs and Stories With the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra will feature intimate reimaginings of Legend’s greatest hits (“All of Me,” “Ordinary People,” “Tonight”), unexpected stories from his life and career, and selections from his most recent release, LEGEND (“Nervous,” “Wonder Woman”). This concert is Legend’s first-ever performance with the SLSO.

Tickets for John Legend: A Night of Songs and Stories With the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra are $75-$300 and go on sale at 9 a.m. CT May 20 at metrotix.com and muny.org/johnlegend. Muny and SLSO subscribers can access a presale from 9 a.m. May 17 to 9 p.m. May 19 CT. MetroTix is the only authorized vendor of Muny tickets.

The Muny also will offer tickets for its famous “free seats.” Details will be announced.

“We have been eager but deliberate in recent years about creating the right opportunity to bring live concerts back into the Muny tradition, and the alignment of an icon like John Legend with one of the best orchestras in the world, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, is the perfect opening for this next chapter,” said Muny President & CEO Kwofe Coleman. “Generations of St. Louisans have memories of seeing legendary music acts on our magnificent stage, and I am excited to deliver this bit of nostalgia to our community at the end of our 2024 summer season.” 

The last concert at The Muny was by the Moody Blues and Kansas in 1991. Other notable artists who have performed on the Muny stage include Whitney Houston, Patti LaBelle, Sting, Barry Manilow, Bob Dylan, the Allman Brothers and Hank Williams Jr.

“We are thrilled to partner with The Muny and the incredible John Legend for this truly not-to-be-missed performance,” said SLSO President & CEO Marie-Hélène Bernard. “This concert highlights the best St. Louis has to offer — the remarkable talents of our musicians on one of the most celebrated musical theatre stages in the country. This collaboration with The Muny is another milestone in our treasured partnership and elevates our shared vision of providing unique artistic experiences for the community.”

JOHN LEGEND

John Legend is an EGOT-winning, critically acclaimed, multiplatinum musician who has garnered 12 Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award and three Emmy Awards, among others. 

Legend is one of only nineteen people in the prestigious EGOT club. Legend has released nine celebrated albums over the course of his career, including Get Lifted (2004), Once Again (2006), Evolver (2008), Love in the Future (2013), Darkness and Light (2016), A Legendary Christmas Deluxe  (2019), Bigger Love (2020), LEGEND (2022), and most recently, LEGEND (Solo Piano Version) (2023). In 2022, his critically acclaimed Las Vegas Residency, “Love In Las Vegas,” took place at Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. 

Legend starred as Jesus in NBC’s JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR LIVE IN CONCERT in April 2018. That year, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for “Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie” and won an Emmy as a producer in the “Outstanding Variety Special (Live)” category for the show.  Legend joined THE VOICE as a coach for Season 16 (2019) and has returned for a number of seasons, most recently Season 25 (2024).  

Beyond his music career, Legend, along with partners Mike Jackson and Ty Stiklorius, is a principal of Get Lifted Film Co., a production company which has developed projects with major networks including ABC, NBC, FOX, HBO, Showtime, Netflix, and FX. Get Lifted’s latest projects include the MAX documentary STAND UP AND SHOUT, Emmy Award-winning HBO documentary 1000% ME: GROWING UP MIXED, Paramount+ documentary LOUDMOUTH, PBS documentary RACIST TREES and the Netflix hip-hop competition series “RHYTHM & FLOW.” Their upcoming projects include NBC/Peacock’s BEFORE I LET GO, based on the New York Times Best Selling Author Kennedy Ryan’s book, and REVERB with Renée Elise Goldsberry attached to star; the film THE WAR & TREATY, inspired by real-life husband-and-wife Black country music stars Michael and Tanya Trotter; the TV adaptation of S.A. Cosby’s novel BLACKTOP WASTELAND; and the forthcoming Broadway-bound musical SOUL TRAIN.  

In 2021, Get Lifted and Erik Feig’s PICTURESTART formed Picture LIFT, a joint venture focused on developing, producing and financing multiple films in the $10M range, featuring diverse filmmakers and inclusive casts. Get Lifted and Universal Studio Group’s UCP inked a first-look deal for unscripted series and an exclusive multi-year overall deal for scripted content. Additionally, Get Lifted recently renewed their first look feature documentary deal with HBO.  

Aside from film, TV and theater, Get Lifted has partnered with Zando to form Get Lifted Books, which builds upon Get Lifted Film Co.’s mission of spotlighting stories from dynamic creatives. Their most recent acquisition, “Wild Life,” a memoir by National Geographic Explorer and ecologist Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant, published in April. Previous titles include “Rosewater,” by Liv Little, and “Black Love Letters,” which  features a foreword by Legend.   

Legend’s skincare line, Loved01, launched in 2023 and is available online and through CVS and Walmart. Loved01 is an effective and affordable unisex skincare brand formulated to treat the needs of melanin-rich skin. 

As an activist, Legend launched FREEAMERICA in 2015 to change the conversation surrounding criminal justice policies and to end mass incarceration. Legend serves on the Board of Directors of Harlem Village Academies and Management Leadership for Tomorrow, and on the Advisory Boards for The Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and Teach for All. 

THE MUNY

The Muny’s mission is to enrich lives by producing exceptional musical theatre, accessible to all, while continuing its remarkable tradition in Forest Park. As the nation’s oldest, largest outdoor musical theatre, we welcome more than 350,000 theatregoers each summer for seven world-class productions. Now celebrating 106 seasons in St. Louis, The Muny remains one of the premier institutions in musical theatre. For more information, visit muny.org.

ST. LOUIS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Celebrated as one of today’s most exciting and enduring orchestras, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is the second-oldest orchestra in the country, marking its 145th year with the 2024/2025 season and its sixth with Stéphane Denève, the Joseph and Emily Rauh Pulitzer Music Director. Widely considered one of the leading American orchestras, the Grammy Award-winning SLSO maintains its commitment to artistic excellence, educational impact and community collaborations — all in service to its mission of enriching lives through the power of music. For more information, visit slso.org.

An August Wilson Play Changed Kimmie Kidd-Booker’s Life

An August Wilson Play Changed Kimmie Kidd-Booker’s Life

Article originally appeared in Arts For Life’s Feb. 18 newsletter. Article written by Kim Klick and Lynn Venhaus

After working as a professional actor and singer for more than 30 years in Las Vegas, including performing opera at the Venetian Hotel on the Strip, Kimmie decided to move back to her hometown.

To leave her comfort zone and start over at 45 years old was daunting.

“More than a few people thought I must have been crazy!” she said.

But she knew it was time for a change and she did have support.

She was hired to work at Nordstrom Department Stores and found an apartment in Valley Park.

“I thought I’d be satisfied with all of that, but I wasn’t. Frankly, I was quite miserable. I was lonely, broke and terribly homesick! Most of all, I missed performing.”

However, things slowly fell into place. She not only found her way into the St. Louis theatre scene but reconnected with childhood friends, settled down here and married Gregg Booker. They grew up in the same neighborhood, and found each other on Facebook.

She started researching St. Louis theater companies, sending out letters and headshots, hoping to be acknowledged, but no response.

One day in 2012, she came across an audition for an upcoming production of August Wilson’s “Fences” at Hawthorne Players.

“I hadn’t even heard of August Wilson! Can you believe that? Someone like me, who has done theatre her entire life, had not heard of August Wilson?”

She showed up, prepared but “terrified.”

“A little-known fact about me is that I had never done a ‘straight play’ before! I had always done musical theatre. So, to put myself in a position where I had to just ACT, well, it was unchartered territory for me, to say the least!”

She was offered the part of Rose, the long-suffering wife who is married to the lead character, Troy.

Kimmie Kidd-Booker in “Fences” at the Hawthorne Players. Photo by Larry Marsh

“It’s one of the most important, historical, emotional, heartfelt roles to exist in American Theatre. I thought, ‘What the hell did I get myself into?’” she said.
She did not need to fret.

“This was one of the best and most fulfilling theater experiences of my career,” she said.

For the record, August Wilson was not only an African American playwright, but also was an amazingly talented award-winning playwright who died too soon at the age of 60, Kidd-Booker explained.

“Fences” is part of Wilson’s celebrated “Pittsburgh Cycle,” sometimes called “The Century Cycle,” in which he wrote 10 plays, each set in a certain decade of the 20th century.

Set in the 1957, it is the sixth play of the cycle, premiered in 1985, and like the others, explores the evolving African American experience and among other themes, examines race relations.

Troy is a Negro Baseball League player who now works as a garbageman – but can’t be a driver (yet). His bitterness is apparent and affects his family – wife Rose and sons Lyons and Cory, and disabled brother Gabriel.

“Fences” won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play.
“I am honored and privileged to say I performed in an August Wilson play! Being in an August Wilson play was both thrilling and terrifying. The context is historic and genuine and dramatic. His words are thoughtful and compelling and emotional,” she said.

 While “Fences” is her only August Wilson play to date, she said she is optimistic that moving forward, there will be more opportunities to educate, perform, explore and share the African American experience with everyone.

“Black History Month is just a drop in the bucket. But it is certainly a start. My hope moving forward is that we can continue to gain an understanding of each other and continue a dialogue and put fears to rest. We have many differences, but we must continue to be reminded that we are more alike than we’d like to think,” Kimmie said.

Before she debuted in “Fences,” after a year here, she was considering returning to Las Vegas.

But once she started rehearsals with the cast and crew, then bonding with everyone, she decided to stay.

“My love for theatre kept me here in St. Louis. As I began to meet other theatre people and make more and more theatre connections, I knew that this is where I belonged. These are my People!” she said.

As Eliza Haycraft in the original musical “Madam”

Kimmie recently became part of the AFL Board of Directors. She has won two Best Performance Awards for Best Featured Actress as Glinda in “The Wiz” at Hawthorne Players in 2014 and as Estonia Dulworth in “Nice Work If You Can Get It” at the Kirkwood Theatre Guild in 2019.

She was nominated as Best Actress in a Featured Role as Sister Mary Hubert in “Nunsense” at Hawthorne Players in 2015 and as The Witch in “Into the Woods” at Curtain’s Up Theater in 2018.

Among her roles in regional professional theater, she played Tom Robinson’s wife in “To Kill a Mockingbird” at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, as Lady Bird in Stray Dog Theatre’s “Spellbound: A Musical Fable”and in the ensemble of “Sweeney Todd,” as “Aunt Missy” in The Black Rep’s “Purlie” and as Evangeline Harcourt in “Anything Goes” at New Line Theatre. In January 2020, she starred as brothel owner and philanthropist Eliza Haycraft in the original musical, “Madam.”

About August Wilson

August Wilson

Wilson was born Frederick August Kittel in Pittsburgh, Penn., on April 27, 1945. His mother, Daisy Wilson, was of African American heritage. His father, Frederick Kittel, was a German immigrant.

As a child, Kittel attended St. Richard’s Parochial School. When his parents divorced, he, his mother and his siblings moved from the poor Bedford Avenue area of Pittsburgh to the mostly white neighborhood of Oakland. After facing the relentless bigotry of his classmates at Central Catholic High School, he transferred to Connelly Vocational High School, and later to Gladstone High School.

When he was 15 years old, Wilson pursued an independent education at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, where he would earn his high school diploma.

Following his father’s death in 1965, a 20-year-old Wilson adopted the pen name “August Wilson” — reportedly an homage to his mother — and declared himself a poet. In 1968, Wilson and a friend, Rob Penny, co-founded the Black Horizon Theater.

Wilson remained primarily focused on making it as a poet — largely to no avail — until moving to St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1978.

Wilson wrote his first notable play in 1979,” Jitney,” for which he earned a fellowship at the Minneapolis Playwright Center.

The following year, his new play, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” was accepted at the Eugene O’Neill Playwright’s Conference. The year 1982 was particularly fruitful for Wilson, as it marked his introduction to Lloyd Richards, who went on to direct Wilson’s first six Broadway plays.

“Joe Turner,” the second part of the cycle, opened on Broadway in 1988.He took home another Pulitzer Prize in 1990, this time for The Piano Lesson, following its Broadway premiere.

Wilson died of liver cancer on Oct. 2, 2005, in Seattle. His new play, “Radio Golf,” had opened in Los Angeles just a few months earlier.

Information from www.biography.com is included here.

Mrs. Harcourt in “Anything Goes” at New Line Theatre 2018

Bright Lights Column: Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars

Bright Lights Column: Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars

By Lynn Venhaus
Managing EditorA STAR WAS BORN: It was as if scripted in a movie. You’ve heard of that classic moment in the 1933 movie “42nd Street” when an understudy takes over for an injured diva. Well, it really happened right here in St. Louis one summer 46 years ago at The Muny.
On Aug. 14, 1972, MGM musical star Ann Miller was playing Reno Sweeney to Michael Callan’s Billy Crockett in “Anything Goes.” The classic Cole Porter romantic romp was underway when right after the song “Friendship” during a scenery change, Miller was conked on the head by a steel boom. Callan had followed her off-stage, then found her on the floor, dazed and bruised.

“Is there a doctor in the house?” A call went out from the stage and 15 doctors responded. The show was cancelled and Miller taken to Deaconess Hospital with a mild brain concussion and loss of equilibrium. She spent 23 days there.With Miller out but not wanting to cancel the week, Muny brass sought a replacement. They plucked Pat St. James, a senior at Webster University, from the ensemble. She rose to the occasion.
St. James, whose parents were local broadcast celebrities Clif and Nance St. James, was praised for her soaring performance. She later thrived in a musical theater career.
But in 1999, she switched gears, earning a degree in theology and ordained an Episcopal priest. She was married to David Roberts, and they lived in Atlanta with their two children, Oliver and Julia. At age 61, after a four-year battle with cancer, she died on Dec. 5, 2010.
Her moment in the sun became a Muny legend.
“Anything Goes” may have been Miller’s first appearance at The Muny but it wouldn’t be her last. She would be persuaded to return in the next decade, for ‘Sugar Babies” with Mickey Rooney in 1984.
Miller starred in “Kiss Me Kate,” “Easter Parade,” “On the Town,” “Stage Door,” “Room Service” and “Mulholland Drive” (?!?).Side Note: I actually saw Pat St. James as Reno Sweeney that week at The Muny. Everyone was abuzz.
(“Anything Goes” photo from Muny archives, from left, Pat Paulsen, Pat St. James, Michael Callan.)
***HELLO, USA!: Congratulations to Madison Johnson of St. Louis, who has been cast in the national tour of “Hello, Dolly!” that begins in late September. She is part of the ensemble and understudy for Minnie Fay.This tour of the Broadway revival, which won four Tony Awards in 2017, will feature Betty Buckley as Dolly Levi and Lewis J. Stadlen as Horace Vandergelder. Stadlen, a three-time Tony nominee, has been in several Muny shows, including “The Producers,” “Damn Yankees,” “Meet Me in St. Louis” and “Fiddler on the Roof.”
Madison has been part of the Muny ensemble the past six years, recently playing Lucille Ballard in “Meet Me in St. Louis.” She was Kristine in “A Chorus Line” last summer and Frenchie in 2014’s “Grease.” She started at age 7 as a Muny Kid. A graduate of Whitfield School and Elon College, she moved to New York City in 2016.
***
SIX DEGREES OF ST. LOUIS: John David Washington is starring in “BlackkKlansman” as undercover cop Ron Stallworth, who wrote the book that Spike Lee has adapted into this acclaimed film.

He was signed by the St. Louis Rams in 2007 after he was not drafted in the NFL Draft. Later cut from the Rams, he was a running back for the Hamburg Sea Devils, a German team playing in the NFL Europe League. Fun fact: Eldest son of two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington.
Photo: Adam Driver and John David Washington
***GO SEE A PLAY! POLL: The St. Louis Fringe Festival’s local headlining act is an original musical written and composed by Colin Healy called “The Gringo.” The world premiere will be performed four times from Thursday, Aug. 16 through Sunday, Aug. 19, at the .Zack, 3224 Locust.
It’s about how art can bring a community together. Set in Miami, a local street artist is wrongfully gunned down by police. As told through the lens of a successful painter, this community faces injustice and rapid gentrification. They learn what it means to fight for your home.
The cast includes Gheremi Clay, Kevin Corpuz, Robert Crenshaw, Evann De-Bose, Riley Dunn, William Humphrey, Omega Jones, Tim Kaniecki, Alicia Revé Like, Brittany Losh, Samantha Madison, Gabby McNabb, Carly Niehaus, Janine Norman and David Zimmerman.
Healy directs, with Bradley Rohlf assistant director; Christopher Page-Sanders choreographer and Carly Uding costume design.Tieliere Cheatem contributed the artwork. On opening night, they will give this portrait away that has been signed by the cast and the crew. Tickets available at Metrotix.com

For a chance to win two tickets to one performance, enter our poll drawing!Poll Question: What Is Your Favorite Show About Art? “Art”
“Is He Dead?”“Red”“Sunday in the Park with George”“Sight Unseen”
Submit your selection to lynnvenhaus@gmail.com by noon on Wednesday, Aug. 15. Please include your phone number. You will be notified that afternoon if you won, and you can select what performance so that tickets can be arranged. The show is at 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, and Sunday at 2 p.m. Thanks for participating.
Winner of our two tickets to “Meet Me in St. Louis” was Chuck Brinkley. Thank you, Muny!
“Meet Me in St. Louis” received the most votes as the favorite local movie shot in or made about St. Louis.
***TRIVIA TIME-OUT: Oscar winner Shelley Winters, whose career spanned five decades, was born Shirley Schrift on Aug. 18, 1920, in St. Louis to Jewish immigrant parents. Her father, a tailor, moved the family to Brooklyn when she was a child. She died at age 86 in 2006.
Once nicknamed “The Blonde Bombshell,” she later became known for forceful dramatic roles.For what movie performances did she win her two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress?Answer: “The Diary of Anne Frank” in 1959, as a shrill Mrs. Van Daan, and “A Patch of Blue” in 1965, in which she played a slatternly mother cruel to her blind daughter.
Her breakthrough role on stage was as Ado Annie in “Oklahoma!” five years into the run, and she was noticed in “A Double Life” starring Oscar winner Ronald Coleman in 1947.But after a dissatisfying number of movie roles, she finally got the role of her lifetime in “A Place in the Sun” with Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor.
Some of her other big movies were “A Night of the Hunter” in 1955 and “The Poseidon Adventure” in 1972. Earlier, she had returned to studying at the Actors Studio and became a big advocate of the Lee Strasberg method.
A lifelong progressive Democrat and outspoken on feminist issues, she became quite a raconteur on talk shows during the 1970s and ‘80s. Her two tell-all autobiographies created quite a stir, as she had some high-profile leading-men dalliances.
Fun fact: She roomed with Marilyn Monroe when they were just starting out in Hollywood.
Happy Birthday, Shelley! (She would have been 98 Monday).Photo at right: Marilyn Monroe, Robert Mitchum and Shelley Winters.
***ICYMI: A movie adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony-winning “In the Heights” is planned for summer release 2020. Jon M. Chu, who helmed the new romantic comedy “Crazy Rich Asians,” will direct.Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cats” will be made into a movie, and production is to start in November. Stars signed so far are Tony winners James Corden and Ian McKellen, along with Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson and Grammy winner Taylor Swift.
***WORD/DOWN MEMORY LANE: “Would you shut your phones off for Christ sakes?” – Stanley Tucci, during the Aug. 14, 2002, performance of “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune” at the Belasco Theatre on Broadway. An audience member’s cell phone kept ringing. Calls for a ban on cell phones at NYC’s theatres grew louder, and a law was put into effect in 2003.
***Have any tidbits for this people column? Contact Managing Editor Lynn Venhaus – lynnvenhaus@gmail.com
.All photos from archives or submitted. Featured image is of St. Louis native Shelley Winters.