By Tom Weber, KWMU
St. Louis – The inaugural season of the Blanche Touhill Performing Arts Center at the University of Missouri-St. Louis will start next month. Tickets for the season go on sale Monday.
The $52 million center holds two theatres; its main hall seats 1,600 people.
Jill McGuire with the Regional Arts Commission says the center's size fills a void among St. Louis theatres, and certain shows will play better there.
"The mammoth productions - Phantom of the Opera, Lion King - are amazing in the Fox Theater," McGuire said. "But when you want to see dance or live theater, the Fox sight lines haven't been built to make the viewing enjoyable."
Dancer and actor Gregory Hines was slated to perform at the center's first show next month, but organizers have changed the show to a tribute to Hines, who died over the weekend.