STAGES St. Louis 2025 Season to Include BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL

STAGES St. Louis has announced their 2025 line-up, and it is a season of comedy, romance, and nostalgia. The season opens with the hilarious madcap musical MURDER FOR TWO. That will be followed by the pre-Broadway tryout of the Jane Austen bio-musical AUSTEN’S PRIDE and the Tony Award Winning Broadway hit BEAUTIFUL: THE Carole King MUSICAL. Broadway World had the opportunity to sit down last week with STAGES artistic director Gayle Seay, executive producer Andrew Kuhlman, and marketing director Michael Adkins to talk about their upcoming season.  

One thing is apparent when meeting with Seay, Kuhlman, and Adkins, each of them get an immense amount of joy bringing high-quality, Broadway caliber theater to their St. Louis audience. “Our audience is excited about the upcoming season,” exclaimed executive producer Andrew Kuhlman.  

Kuhlman says, “What I love about next season is that it is a perfect exemplification of our ‘experience the story’ tag line.” He says that the three musicals next season tell completely different stories. Each one is unique in its storytelling convention in such a cool way. “This is an answer to what our audience has been asking for with three STAGES musical premieres on the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center (KPAC) stage,” Kuhlman shared.  

The audience excitement is showing in the subscription renewals for next season. STAGES St. Louis’ renewals are well ahead of pace from previous years. Their summer shows are becoming must-see theater in St. Louis.  

Marketing Director Michael Adkins says, “This season is going to play into our subscribers’ strengths. They trust that we are going to produce superior quality theater.” He said MURDER FOR TWO will be as funny and comedic as CLUE, and the audience is going to love the beautiful music in AUSTEN’S PRIDE.  

Seay says that MURDER FOR TWO is unlike anything that STAGES St. Louis has done before. “We have been talking with the director and set designer,” she laughed and said, “They are so down to clown!” Seay shared that when casting this show that it will be critical to find two actors who are transformational and are proficient on piano. “It is important that the actors are skilled musicians who can play 13 different roles,” Seay told Broadway World.  

MURDER FOR TWO is being directed by television and theater actor Michael Kostroff, who is known best for his role as lawyer Maury Levey on HBO’s “The Wire.” Kostroff has had recurring roles and/or guest starred in over 75 television shows. He was an original cast member of the first national tour of Mel Brook’s THE PRODUCERS covering the roles of Max Bialystock and Roger Debris. He has also played the Thénardier in touring company of Les Misérables, a role that he reprised for the 25th anniversary tour.  

The buzz and level of excitement for STAGES St. Louis having another pre-Broadway tryout is palpable. Seay has been working, in some fashion, on the development of AUSTEN’s PRIDE since 2019. Kuhlman calls the AUSTEN’S PRIDE score gorgeous and says the audience is really going to connect with the music. 

Kuhlman says, “I am a Jane Austen nut! I have read Pride and Prejudice inside and out.” Kuhlman also acted in an adaptation of the story called FIRST IMPRESSIONS with Slightly Askew Theatre Ensemble (SATE.) 

Seay said, “First Impressions is what Pride and Prejudice was originally titled, and you learn about that in the show.” AUSTEN’S PRIDE tells the story of Jane Austen authoring the novel and creating the story.  All three said this show has the romantic feel of “Bridgerton,” and “The Gilded Age” in a musical.   

The Ross Family Theater at the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center is the perfect space for the STAGES premiere of BEAUTIFUL: THE Carole King MUSICAL. Seay says, “This theater is so intimate that you can see the whites of the performers eyes from the back row of the balcony.” Kuhlman agreed and talked about how the KPAC theater is like the smaller, more compressed houses on Broadway and in London’s West End.  

BEAUTIFUL: THE Carole King MUSICAL tells about the life of one of the most prolific songwriters of the past century. Kuhlman gushed, “Her songbook goes well beyond the Tapestry album. She wrote “One Fine Day!” Seay agreed saying that before she had worked on any projects about Carole King, she had no idea she had written the Little Eva hit “Locomotion.” 

In addition to Carole King’s life, BEAUTIFUL also examines the song writing competition between the two powerhouse duos of King/Gerry Goffin and Cynthia Weil/Barry Mann. The four composers penned some of the biggest hit records of the late 50’s, 60’s and early 70’s, including “(You Make Me Feel like) A Natural Woman,” “Some Kind of Wonderful,” “Up on the Roof,” and “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’.”  

Seay says, “Each show is going to give the audience something completely different that will be an entertaining escape.” MURDER FOR TWO is going to bring laugh-out-loud comedy, the romance of AUSTEN’S PRIDE will sweep the audience off their feet, and BEAUTIFUL: THE Carole King MUSICAL will offer a nostalgic walk down memory lane.

Their conversation kept returning the satisfaction they each get from creating excellent theater for their audience. Kuhlman said, “We listen to our audience and this season is a perfect mix of exactly what they’ve been asking us to stage.”  He shared that there is zany comedy, musicals, and new works. They all agreed that the upcoming season exemplifies the voice and opinion of the local audience.  

Current subscriber renewals are ongoing. New subscribers can order season tickets beginning January 13, 2025, and single season seats will go on sale on April 7, 2025. Click the link below to visit the STAGES St. Louis webpage.  

To post a comment, you must register and login.