'Meet Me in St. Louis' opens at Manatee Performing Arts Center in Bradenton
Dewayne Barrett didn't have a lot of experience with "Meet Me in St. Louis" before he signed on to direct the Manatee Players production. But he knew a lot of people who did.
"I've been in this business a long time. A lot of people I've worked with have done this show five or six times," he said. "And they all say it's one of their favorites."
It's not staged often these days, but Barrett said the old-fashioned qualities that have may have made it less popular are also the qualities that make it particularly appealing.
"It takes you back to the classics," he said. "It's a really great, heartfelt show. And the last song is 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,' which makes it a great show for the holiday season. The old-timers are just going to eat it up. They're going to love it. "
The Manatee Players production opens Friday for a three-week run at the Manatee Performing Arts Center in Bradenton.
More people know "Meet Me in St. Louis" from the 1944 movie version than from the stage show. There are some differences.
"In the movie, everything revolves around Judy Garland," said Eliza Engle, who plays that same role in the Manatee Players production. "That's the biggest difference."
The film was designed as a showcase for Garland at the peak of her stardom just five years after "The Wizard of Oz."
The stage version involves the entire Smith family, not just Esther (the role played by Garland and Engle). It's a large family -- six girls, one boy and their parents.
"The central problem in the story is that we've all been told that we're moving to New York City," Engle said. "The father has been promoted, and he's moving us a away from St. Louis, where we've lived our entire lives."
The impending move complicates everything else in the lives of the Smith kids, especially teenaged Esther, who's been trying to attract the boy next door. That's the guy she's singing about in "The Trolley Song" who makes her heartstrings go "zing-zing-sing."
Aside from that song and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," the best-known number from the show is the title song.
That song kicks of a bit of good-natured controversy in the show that has extended into the cast of this production.
In the song, the name of the city is pronounced as "St. Louie." Some of the characters in the shows object, insisting it should be "St. Louis."
A lot of people pronounce the show's title the same way as the song's title, and call it "Meet Me in St. Louie." After some discussion, the people involved with the Manatee Players production have decided to go with the normal pronunciation of the city's name.
"I think we've decided it's 'St. Louis,' " Barrett said. "But if you call it 'St. Louie,' that right, too."
Details: Dec. 4-21 at Stone Hall at the Manatee Performing Arts Center, 502 Third Ave, W., Bradenton. Show times: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets: $27-$37. Information: 941-748-5875, manateeplayers.com.
Marty Clear, features writer/columnist, can be reached at 941-708-7919.
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This story was originally published December 4, 2014 at 12:00 AM with the headline "'Meet Me in St. Louis' opens at Manatee Performing Arts Center in Bradenton ."