By Suzanne Vanderhoef
When you walk into St. Louis’ historic Fabulous Fox Theater, you’re overcome with its over-the-top opulence, but if you pull back the curtains and go backstage, you’re hit by a whole other piece of history most of us never get a chance to see.
“I lovingly refer to it as the catacombs,” says Fox Tour Guide Rebekah Williams. “Broadway productions come through, they paint a lovely mural or they sign their names and every show that comes through does it now. And it’s quite exquisite. Sometimes they’ll do something simple and sometimes they will draw an absolute masterpiece.”
It’s not uncommon to find performers’ signatures on walls of other venues, but the ones at The Fox carry a special place in theater history. That’s because the tradition was started there by singer Tony Orlando, who left his John Hancock outside his dressing room as a way of saying thank you. And thus a trend was born, with everyone from Sheryl Crowe and Celine Dion to Michael Jackson and Liberace all leaving their marks on the walls of the Fox.
“At first it was kind of signatures,” explains Williams. “But after a while we got more productions coming through. And so at first they would just kind of write their names, maybe do a little picture, smiley face, or they’d paint glue a picture to the wall. But then they started doing more dramatic, more painting.”
It’s those murals that now take up most of the space on the catacomb walls, with the artists who paint them getting more and more extravagant with some even incorporating 3D elements like poppies and gears on the wall for “Wicked” and model cows being catapulted above the painting for “Spamalot”.
There’s even a wall representing St. Louis’ High School Musical Theatre Awards, with signatures of all the student nominees.
Sometimes, rather than painting a whole new mural, shows that return to the Fox multiple times will have each new cast sign the existing “legacy” artwork instead. Other times, it’s a combination of the two, as with A Chorus Line…even if more recent companies have had to make due with smaller and smaller pieces of real estate, like the dwindling space to write Happy Birthday on a cake.
Fortunately, there’s still plenty of space on other walls for lots more murals and lots more memories for years to come.
