"Muny"

In St. Louis last week fashionable Westsiders were having their dinners earlier than usual while urchins on the North and South side were packing up sandwiches at home. Then Westsiders, Northsiders and Southsiders by the thousands thronged to the outdoor theatre in gladed Forest Park for the beginning of Municipal Opera. "Muny" opera, which is not opera at all but light summer music, is so dear to the heart of all St. Louisans that not one of its many guarantors has ever lost a penny by his civic generosity.

Last week for the 17th "Muny" opening there were 10,000 ardent spectators, a new producer, a new operetta and a new lighting system. The new producer was Broadway's smart Laurence Schwab (Good News, New Moon), successor to J. J. Shubert who has taken the "Muny" idea to Navin Field, Detroit. The new operetta was Teresina, a confection by Vienna's old Oscar Straus (Chocolate Soldier). At a cost of $25,000 two giant towers had been built to flank the big revolving stage, flood it with light, support an over-head bridge which provides more lights and potent amplifiers. In the background were the majestic twin oaks, so valued sentimentally that they-are heavily insured and dosed with castor oil to fend off old-age sickness.

"Muny" opera, this summer, has $77 citizen-guarantors, a backing of $103,000 and a roster of well-paid performers which includes Evelyn Herbert, Odette Myrtil, Katherine Carrington, Gladys Baxter, Marguerita Sylva, Leslie Adams, Robert Halliday, Alexander Gray. The "Muny" way is to have local choristers and dancers who work very hard for very little and get their pictures in the papers. For "Muny" opera some 1,700 seats are free to first-comers who arrive hours before curtain time, munch their suppers while they wait. In the $2 seats early-dining socialites sit comfortably on cushions hawked at every entrance. But informality prevails at Forest Park performances. The popcorn sale is heavy. Soft-drink men stalk the aisles. St. Louis expects much this year of Producer Laurence Schwab. Boston-born Harvardman whose Broadway record shines. Producer Schwab will follow the established "Muny" pattern, change operas every Monday during the twelve-week season.* Teresina was a sterile, tuneless start last week but the direction at least was blameless. While Schwab's pretty wife amazed St. Louis by playing golf in scanty shorts and a sunback bandanna, her husband rehearsed tirelessly for 14 hours a day. Producer Schwab's costume: baggy slacks, sweat shirt, worn felt hat. His results: a smooth performance, with no muffed lines, no backstage clatter, no long stage waits.

*This summer's repertory: Teresina, Rio Rita, Madame Sherry, The Chocolate Soldier, Good News, The Vagabond King, Sunny, The Beloved Rogue, The Cat and the Fiddle, The Desert Song, Roberta, Lady in the Window, a world premiere by Sigmund Romberg.

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