All the World is a Stage: The Birth of the Muny

Shakespeare has a long reach. It is no exaggeration to note that he played a significant supporting role in the creation of the St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre Association, known as the Muny, which happens to be the oldest and largest outdoor musical theatre in the United States.

Still basking in the glow of hosting the World’s Fair at the turn of the 20th century, Forest Park was ripe for new and creative uses. Luther Ely Smith, who went on to choose the Eero Saarinen design for the Gateway Arch, had initiated a series of artistic pageants on Art Hill. 

 One day he and the celebrated actress Margaret Anglin were touring the Park. Suddenly, Miss Anglin pointed to a large, lovely hillside which sloped naturally into a large meadow below. Two huge oak trees punctuated the bottom of the hillside; Miss Anglin immediately grasped that a large stage would fit perfectly between the two commanding oaks,

Wasting no time, Smith and the St. Louis Park Commissioner leapt into action and, using the new site imagined by Miss Anglin, produced Shakespeare’s pastoral comedy, As You Like It, the following summer. Starring Miss Anglin and Sydney Greenstreet, the show was a huge success as it drew an audience of more than 40,000 St. Louisans and visitors over the summer.

Not one to miss a good opportunity , Mayor Henry Kiel stepped forward to assist the backers of this new theatrical site in the Park by granting a 100 year ground lease of the land to the Muny for use in staging theatrical performances. In return, the City required that 1500 seats be reserved free of charge each night, on a first come, first served basis, in perpetuity. 

Mayor Kiel also led the effort to raise funds from the St. Louis business community in order to construct a permanent stage and seating area at the site. This is where my namesake and grandfather enters the stage. While he studied at Georgetown where he captained the baseball team in 1909, I am not certain he acquired any appreciation of music or the arts, although the Jesuits were certainly not averse to that.

Rather, I believe his marriage to my grandmother, who came to St. Louis from Pittsburgh in 1913, played the primary role in his decision to contribute to this new musical and theatrical venue. My grandmother loved music. Years later she took me to the St. Louis Symphony Children’s Concerts at the old Kiel Opera House, for which I am forever grateful. 

Whatever the impetus, my grandfather elected to become a Charter Member/Guarantor of the new Muny and, as a result, our family has occupied perfectly located box seats for the past 105 summers. The Muny has changed dramatically in some ways over the past century and remained exactly the same in others.