There are moments in life that, as they are happening, you are aware of their significance and remember months and even years later, where you were and the circumstances in which you experienced that particular moment. Folks of a certain age often talk about where they were and what was happening they heard the news of President Kennedy’s assassination in 1963 (in 8th grade agriculture class with my one-armed teacher, Mr. Hinshaw), or how they listened and watched the first moon landing in 1969 (on a little battery-powered TV we brought with us to a drive-in movie!). Events like Nixon’s presidential resignation, the Challenger disaster, and the OJ chase/trial/verdict inspired other such lasting memories.
Another such experience occurred this weekend, not just for me, but also for nearly 32,000 appreciative musical theatre aficionados at the stunning Fox Theatre in St. Louis, Missouri. This location, originally built as a movie house in 1929, inspires audiences and performers alike with its ornate “Siamese Byzantine” interior and 2,000-pound jeweled glass lobby chandelier. Like the Atlanta Fox Theatre, the St. Louis Fox Theatre is on the roster of the National Register of Historic Places. In this remarkable venue, another memorable chapter in musical theatre history was written last weekend.
On Sunday, July 23, 2006, Cameron Macintosh’s Marius Company production of Les Misérables performed its final engagements at this magical site in St. Louis. Fittingly, the city of St. Louis upheld its reputation as a solid arts community, posting a giant billboard on I-64 bidding Les Mis ‘Au Revoir!’ In spite of terrific tornadoes on Wednesday that knocked out power and damaged neighborhoods throughout the city, fans from all over the U. S. showed up to sell out the final five shows of this long-running tour. This tour, which originated in 1988, has been performing consistently for 17 years, through 7,061 performances in 145 cities in 43 states to more than 25 million people in the United States alone. The show employs 101 cast and crew members at any one time and more than 417 actors have performed with the Marius Company since it began, including 14 actors and 28 understudies that have played the lead role of Jean Valjean.
We were blessed to have our entire family meet us in St. Louis to share this moment, to thrill to the joy of watching our son Jason play Jean Valjean in one of those final shows, and to hear the audience’s appreciative roar of applause and shouts of “Bravo” at his curtain call. To experience that moment, with my two sons, their wives, and my granddaughter (who spent every second of the show on the edge of her seat), and to be a part of an historic moment, was special. Like other moments in our personal and national history, I am sure that it will be one we will share over and over, reliving its flavor, never to be forgotten. Just like the final strains of Jason’s performance of “Bring Him Home” echoed for a quiet second before the audience stopped the show to applaud him, this weekend’s experience will linger in our memories as a sweet, shared story of love and redemption.
Opportunities for this week and the future: Another laugh-filled Alhambra Dinner Theatre show “Love, Sex and the I.R.S.” takes risks by messing with the IRS; the drive to Gainesville for “The Great American Trailer Park Musical” might be worth the laughs, through 8.13 at the Hippodrome State Theatre; catch illusionist Mark O’Brien’s latest and greatest show at the Atlantic Theatres in Jax, through 7.29, don’t miss Camden Area Players musical “Honk” at David L Rainer Elementary on Friday and Saturday, 8.4 and 8.5.
If you have ideas or events you want me to share with readers, send me a note at pkraack1@tds.net.
7.26.06
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