OT: Why Broadway Actors Love The Muny In Forest Park

[Clark Kimble]

Almost four decades ago, while I tended bar every night at the legendary Rossino's in the CWE, one patron came in early every evening, all summer long, taking the booth nearest the bar, where we'd converse nonstop about showbiz. He was Carroll (Doc) Wayham, the gentlemanly Costume Master for (at that point) 28 years at The Muny. Omigod...the backstage tales!!

Working so late with Rossino's' 2 a.m. weekend closing time, i would drive my motorcycle to the Muny upper lot, climb over the chain link fence at 3:30, and watch dress rehearsals for the next week's show until 5 a.m., driving home in the predawn to Florissant.

Ten years later I had returned to St. Louis from my first (disastrous) radio job in the southwest with a woman I loved, who had been our station's secretary. She had never been to St. Louis, so part of my grand city tour for her was a late-morning offseason walk around The Muny in November, while I explained to her its rich history and my wonderful nightly chats with Doc Wayham a decade prior. Suddenly, a tall, slender, gray haired person emerged from a side door...it was Doc!

We renewed our old friendship that day, and Doc gave her and me a wonderful backstage tour, culminating in a walk onto that massive stage, facing 11,000 seats, which I had occupied dozens of times, almost always in the free seats. He told us of a young British actor (years before Doc's service) who was a recurring cast member in 1933....Archibald Leach, who changed his later stage name to Cary Grant. He told of how that tiny creek running under the little bridge alongside the lower Muny parking lot was actually the River des Peres...which in 1919 raged wildly out of control, actually flooding the Muny stage.

I was warmly reminded of sweet ol' Doc this morning when I opened my New York Times to this Tony Award story: (I'm a subscriber, so this is a gift article) https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/07/thea ... =url-share

More from the Times on actors and the Muny: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/07/thea ... =url-share