Retro Indy: For nearly half a century Starlight Musicals delighted summer audiences

Indianapolis Star

5 days ago

For nearly 50 years, Starlight Musicals enjoyed a long and entertaining career that treated Indianapolis area residents to concerts and summer musical productions under the stars.
The production of Gilbert and Sullivan's 'The Pirates of Penzance' staged at Garfield Park in 1944 helped spark the idea for a permanent summer theater presenting musical fare outdoors.
About 20,000 people jammed Garfield Park for the three-night run of the popular light opera. Charles Hedley, then director of the Indianapolis Opera as well as chair of the voice faculty at Jordan Conversatory of Music, directed the performance.
Buoyed by its success, the following summer Hedley and his collaborators brought a three-night, free performance of the 'H.M.S. Pinafore' to the same stage
The troupe operated under the name Indianapolis Theatre Association and later Indianapolis Operetta Associates before finally settling on Starlight Musicals in 1949. Productions of grand opera, concerts, ballet and operettas rotated among Garfield Park, the Butler Bowl and the Indiana State Fairgrounds. But in 1954, an Indianapolis Star story noted that Starlight Musicals had faded in recent years .
Just a few months later, however, the Indianapolis News reported that an outdoor summer theater program was coming soon to Butler.
Summer 1955 saw a $350,000 outdoor amphitheater constructed on the south end zone seating area of the Butler Bowl. Dressing rooms, workshops and rehearsal rooms were located under the stage.
The 3,200-seat Hilton U. Brown Theatron (Greek for 'theater') opened with a six-week series of shows that included classics such as 'Kiss Me Kate' and 'Show Boat.' That first year 70% of the actors in the production of "South Pacific" were Equity members and had appeared in the national or original company for the show, the Indianapolis Star reported in July.
The only complaint that the Indianapolis Star's theater critic Corbin Patrick had with the show, he wrote, in July 1955, was that an ill-time summer rain shortly before curtain time kept the audience at about 1,800, far below capacity.
At some point, the theatron's facilities were enhanced years later, with an additional 4,000 seats and a roof over the seating and stage.
In 1962, Starlight incorporated the 'star system,' which added a big-name stage or screen star to anchor its productions. Carol Channing, Mitzi Gaynor, Jane Powell, Yul Brynner, Carol Burnett, Debbie Reynolds, Jack Benny, Dick Van Dyke — the list of notable stars who appeared on the stage was long. Stars such as Perry Como, Liberace, Liza Minnelli and Sammy Davis Jr. also performed on their own on the Starlight stage.
For many years, Starlight operated as a local musical theater company, employing Indianapolis area musicians and actors. Tried-and-true productions of Rodgers and Hammerstein and Lerner and Loewe drew crowds. Each summer, Starlight became a mini-city of carpenters, painters, electricians, stagehands, set and prop designers and, of course, the actors.
By the 1980s, traveling theatrical production companies were used. By the end of the 1980s, interest in the theater waned, and Starlight struggled financially.
Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Evita' was one of the last successful shows Starlight Musicals presented in August 1992.
Still, throughout the spring of 1993, Starlight was announcing plans for season that summer. Then in early June, the company abruptly announced it was closing, after coming up about $300,000 short in early ticket sales, according to a June 11 story in the Indianapolis Star.