When The Muny (formally the Municipal Theatre Association of St. Louis, of course) moved its entire 2020 season to 2021 due to COVID-19, a void was created for its 102nd year of shows normally performed in the amphitheater in Forest Park. Luckily, Mike Isaacson, The Muny’s artistic director and executive producer, and Denny Reagan, its president/CEO, with creative input from many others, assembled an online season of sorts to fill that void.

The first portion of the 10-week season, Muny Magic in Your Home, was streamcast from June 15 through July 18, featuring exclusive footage of The Muny’s concert series, Muny Magic at The Sheldon. The weekly concerts, streamcast on Mondays and reshown on Thursdays, featured Tony-winning actress Beth Leavel, A Night With the Buddy Holly Boys, Our Leading Ladies, Our Leading Men, singer/actress Mikaela Bennett and St. Louis native Alex Prakken.

Now it’s time for even more variety. For five weeks beginning Monday, July 20, The Muny will present The Muny Summer 2020 Variety Hour Live! Each 60-minute show will be streamcast at 8:15 p.m. on Mondays and then shown again at 8:15 p.m. on Thursdays, the traditional starting time at the outdoor Muny.

“We were really asking ourselves back in May, ‘What could we do?’” Isaacson says. “Not doing anything never was a choice for us. When we announced postponement [of the 2020 season], there was true sadness by people, so we thought of what might be possible.”