PHOTO EXCLUSIVE: "Here on Who..." A Week at the St. Louis Muny With Raymond J. Lee and the Cast of Seussical | Playbill

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PHOTO EXCLUSIVE: "Here on Who..." A Week at the St. Louis Muny With Raymond J. Lee and the Cast of Seussical

Welcome to The MUNY! 11,000 seats! WOW!

PHOTO EXCLUSIVE: "Here on Who..." A Week at the St. Louis Muny With Raymond J. Lee and the Cast of Seussical

Broadway favorite Raymond J. Lee (Anything Goes) is currently performing in family-friendly musical Seussical at St. Louis' famed Muny. With help from castmate Koh Mochizuki, Lee documented his first Muny experience for Playbill.com!
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Welcome to The MUNY! 11,000 seats! WOW!
Welcome to The MUNY and to our production of <i>Seussical</i>!&#65279;
Our day starts off with van pick-ups. Here is Kasey our awesome driver ready to get us to the MUNY. Shout out to the MUNY Transportation Department: Tia, Mary, Kasey, Nick, Debbie and Caressa!&#65279;
Koh, Teddy, Jose, and Allyson are ready to get their butts to rehearsal.&#65279;
On our way to rehearsal. The MUNY is the largest and oldest outdoor theater, and it's a beautiful place to work! Shout-out to the production that's currently performing while we rehearse: <i>The Addams Family&#65279;</i>
This area is right next to our commissary. This is where portions of the set get painted and constructed.&#65279;
Seussical sign-in sheet!&#65279;
Jose demonstrates the proper Seussian signing-in technique.&#65279;
The great thing about The Muny is that we can write our lunch orders in the morning so that our food is ready to be picked up at the commissary!&#65279;
Our musical director Valerie Gebert and fellow Wickersham brother Omari Tau go through some music before we start. We have 12 days to learn, memorize, dance, act, and put the entire show together. 12 Days!!!&#65279;
Teddy Toye for Recycling at The MUNY&#65279;
The MUNY is absolutely gorgeous&#65279;
Teddy thinks he might have found a dust speck. Oooh that dust speck!&#65279;
Stage management is great at making sure we have plenty of water and gatorade to stay hydrated. We rehearse for the majority of the time outdoors and it can get very hot and humid.&#65279;
Costume sketch renderings by the brilliant Leon Dobkowski
The cast stretching before rehearsal&#65279;
Johanna Pan tries some of the show shoes on the cast members&#65279;
John Tartaglia and Larry Pry give us a quick smile before we start rehearsal&#65279;
Repeat: Bug spray is essential for rehearsals!&#65279;
Our associate choreographer Jessica Hartman workshops a lift with Abigail Isom who is playing Jojo.
Sade Simmons, Kameron Richardson, and Jordan Bollwerk also workshop a potential lift for the show.&#65279;
Welcome to the West Pavilion!&#65279;
Our fantastic creative team and stage management team make sure everything's on track and good to go.&#65279;
A quick music sing-through of one of the songs before we put it on its feet. Again we have 12 days to put <i>Seussical</i> together from scratch!
John tells the ultra fierce Liz Mikel aka Ms. Sour Kangaroo to "Raise your right hand and swear!"&#65279;
The amazing Stephen Wallem who plays Horton the Elephant gets to hang out in his favorite Act 2 spot: The Nest&#65279;
Koh takes a quick break to hang out with the MUNY teens and kids. They are all so talented and a joy to work with.
We have a gazelle down!&#65279;
April Strelinger shows us her awesome and sassy shirt! She plays Mrs. Mayor. &#65279;
Julia Murney shows us that Birds Just Wanna Have Fun! Julia plays Mayzie La Bird.&#65279;
Our dance captain Robbie Roby takes a moment to clean up some dance steps.&#65279;
Beth Crandall takes a moment to review music before we put a number on its feet. We'll literally learn a song and then immediately block it the next day so we have to have everything memorized as soon as possible!&#65279;
Robbie Roby takes a moment to work with the MUNY kids.&#65279;
Blakely, Allyson, and Omari work their best Animal Vogue.&#65279;
Taking a quick break from rehearsal&#65279;
We had our designer run through and were ecstatic to have the cast of <i>The Addams Family</i> come cheer us on!&#65279;
Yes that's Rob McClure and Dan DeLuca of <i>The Addams Family</i>, as well as my good friend Hayley Podschun, who all came to see our first run through.&#65279;
John and Teddy take a moment to show how much their friendship has blossomed in just a few days.
Don't mess with the Wickersham Brothers!
The hilarious Kirsten Wyatt plays the adorable Gertrude McFuzz.&#65279;
Our fantastic creative team helmed by director/choreographer Dan Knechtges takes a moment to pose for a picture.&#65279;
Here's our awesome stage management team: Anita, Nevin, & Danielle&#65279;
John starts workshopping some possible circus tricks for the Circus McGurkus number.&#65279;
Autumn Ogama shows off her strength. Don't mess with her y'all!&#65279;
Our fearless director/choreographer Dan Knechtges choreographs the flag squad for the Circus McGurkus number.
Our associate choreographer Jessica Hartman works with the Parasol Ladies for the Circus McGurkus number.&#65279;
Katie Spangler and Annie Petersmeyer take a break from throwing the flags to work it for the camera.&#65279;
John, Jose, Blakely, Omari, and Koh pose for a quick Circus shot.&#65279;
Hi Larry! =)&#65279;
John Tartaglia means business y'all! You can't miss him as our Cat in the Hat!&#65279;
The boys ensemble fit in a quick fish costume fitting.
We have 12 days to put this show together. Repeat: We have 12 days to put this show together!
Lunch break time! Kirsten poses for a quick picture.&#65279;
Jose and Sade pick up their lunches at the commissary.&#65279;
Beth and the entire commissary team are so awesome and make sure we get our meals as quick as possible. There's Chris in the background!&#65279;
Lunch time. Our favorite time of the day. I usually end my lunch break with a nice cold popsicle.&#65279;
It was Beth Crandall's birthday so Allyson baked a cake and we surprised her at lunch!&#65279;
Sunblock Sunblock Sunblock during rehearsals! It's an outdoor theater and the sun can be very strong!&#65279;
Gearing up for our sweat tech. I picked out the most appropriate hat.
Sitz Probe Day!
Koh practices his fiercest Eva Peron while Kathryn looks on in fear.
Sitz Probe :)
The MUNY teens and kids are also excited about Sitz Probe Day!
Kathryn and Allyson get some good reading in before we head back into our vans for tech.
MUNY van time!
We finally get a chance to work on our amazing set!&#65279;
Koh directs us in an impromptu photoshoot.
The hats have finally come out! Anything we can do to protect ourselves from the sun.&#65279;
Jessica Lea Patty, who performed in the original Broadway company, gives an Addams Family shoutout!&#65279;
Welcome to The MUNY! 11,000 seats! WOW!&#65279;
And we start the tech process on stage!&#65279;
The outdoor sound booth.&#65279;
MUNY Artistic Director Mike Isaacson and MUNY Casting Director Megan Larche Dominick hang out in the seats with Valerie.&#65279;
The MUNY teens and kids hang out with Jessica Hartman.&#65279;
To protect the orchestra and the instruments from the intense heat, the crew constructs a huge tent over the pit.&#65279;
Robbie Roby helps Koh, our Vlad Vladikoff, figure out his choreography along the passerelle.&#65279;
Our stage manager Nevin makes sure we're ready to go for Tech!&#65279;
Sade shows us the raccoon trap backstage. Yes, that's a hot dog all the way in the back.&#65279;
Stephen and I try and stay as hydrated as possible. It's hot y'all!&#65279;
Patrick, Omari, and Katie pose with the huge Seuss books.&#65279;
Posing with Seuss.&#65279;
Michael Baxter works with April Strelinger, Gary Glasgow, and the MUNY kids on stage.&#65279;
<i>Seussical</i> Family Picture!
Before we got into costumes for the night, the Seussical principals got us all Ted Drewes frozen custard....&#65279;
...and we were all VERY GRATEFUL! Ted Drewes = Yummy
Koh might have danced a little too hard this afternoon.&#65279;
Finally in our costumes! Check out the gorgeous Bird Girls Allyson Kaye Daniel, Jessica Lea Patty, and Shea Renee.&#65279;
The boys pose for a quick picture. Aren't Leon Dobkowski's costumes FIERCE?! &#65279;
The Wickersham Brothers in an iconic monkey pose.&#65279;
The boys hanging out with Megan Larche Dominick&#65279;
The view from the sound board
A monkey and an eagle walk into a bar...
The Wicks giving you editorial magazine realness
Animal Selfie!
The male ensemble hanging out on stage with Mike Isaacson.&#65279;
Stephen, Julia, and Abigail give us a quick pose&#65279;
Stephen runs through one of his songs during tech. He is brilliant as Horton.&#65279;
Dan directs John and Julia's bird nest entrance&#65279;
As you can tell, it's really hot and we're all starting to shine a little from the sweat!&#65279;
The MUNY kids hanging out on the giant Seuss books&#65279;
As the night wears on, people start getting tired, but we're almost there!&#65279;
And it's opening night! Here we are at the post-party!&#65279;
Hanging with the Cat himself :)&#65279;
The ladies of FSU come in for a quick picture&#65279;
Annie gets in between a lovefest!
Our cast loves a good Selfie!
Group Shot :)
Autumn, Koh, and I were lucky to have first met and worked with Dan and Jessica during the <i>Behind The Painting</i> workshop this past February.&#65279;
When we're not running around on-stage at the MUNY we are....going out for group dinners!&#65279;
We also do our laundry.&#65279;
We take public transportation to various St. Louis tourist spots.&#65279;
We pose at the famous Gateway Arch.
We hit up the local bars.
We also love to Dance Party it out!&#65279;
Here I am with my <i>Honeymoon in Vegas</i> buddies Matt Saldivar and Barry Busby. They're both working on the next MUNY show: <i>Grease.</i>&#65279;
So hurry up and come see us in <i>Seussical</i>!&#65279;
All the animals are already giving it a rave. 6 Paws Up!&#65279;
The MUNY teens giving us their best salute. The future of Broadway y'all :) &#65279;
...and thanks for checking out our pictures. This is Raymond J. Lee signing off :)&#65279;
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