You may or may not know that the Broadway touring companies, more often than not, will leave behind a "Thank-You Note" of sorts backstage for BTL. In fact, it's quite the tradition for these tours to leave these love letters in the form of a gorgeous backstage mural in theaters all across the country. And this has been going on for decades. So my advice to you is if you ever have the opportunity to go backstage at any of the big touring houses, go and seek out these time capsules of artistry. It's great fun to take that walk down memory lane, checking out the dates and reading the signatures of all the people that were part of these beautiful shows.
So this is how it usually works: A member of the props team will take the lead by using a stencil to create the show image and integrate the color palette of the show into their mural. After it has fully dried the entire company will sign it and the rest is history. Literally, it becomes history for all the future shows to see.
Last week, Greg Screws from WHNT News 19 came to our office to interview Andrew about our newly announced 2024-2025 Season. Wil came up with the idea to film the interview backstage at the loading dock so Greg could see all of the Broadway show murals left by tours for the past two decades. Well he was impressed and had no idea that they were back there. Cut to the interview being more about the backstage murals than our upcoming season. I loved that!
Any time now the VBC Concert Hall will begin undergoinging a major renovation. Which is fantastic news because after that is completed we will finally be able to bring some of the biggest names in Broadway Touring shows to Huntsville that we haven't been able to bring here before. Because we will finally have the space here to present them! However it's not such great news for this impressive collection of Backstage Murals, which will not survive this renovation project. So we have decided to preserve their memories here on Kip's Korner with photos of each one and a little info about them.
Between the years of 1995 and 2007 I was on tour A LOT with several different shows, and one of the coolest parts of that was playing the same theaters in the same cities multiple times. I would always go and search for the different murals I had signed over the years and see if they were still there. It was nostalgia at its best!
I know this next thing might sound a bit off topic, but bear with me and I'll connect the dots. Another one of my favorite things to do when I was on tour was to locate and explore their cemeteries. There is always so much history and intrigue involved with each one. I loved walking around and reading all the names and dates. Always trying to find the oldest tombstone there, etc. In a way exploring the backstage murals in each theater gave me the same fascination as learning about the cemeteries there. Reading the names, checking the dates, history, and intrigue... So the backstage murals and the cemeteries in each of our tour stops have left a significant imprint on me from my days on the road. Strange maybe, but very true.
Please stay tuned for the "Broadway Tours 'leave their mark' with Backstage Murals..." series which will be ongoing. We have quite a few of these murals we're excited to share with you!
P.S. If you're not familiar with the upcoming renovation project for the Von Braun Center Concert Hall, here's some more detailed information from the "Official Website of the City of Huntsville":
The concert hall will be undergoing the most extensive changes in its history after the City approved a $15.3 million contract with Turner Construction Company. The project includes a 12,000-square-foot addition to the facility of about 12,000 square feet as well as about 6,000 square feet of renovated backstage space.
Von Braun Center Executive Director Steve Maples said the improvements could be a prelude to iconic Broadway shows like "Phantom of the Opera" or "The Lion King" playing in Huntsville. In fact, Maples said representatives from the "Phantom of the Opera" production in New York traveled to Huntsville to review the concert hall and recommend enhancements.
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