Capital City Productions team reopening Main Street Music Hall at lake

Main Street Msuci Hall in Osage Beach. (Provided/Rob Crouse)
Main Street Msuci Hall in Osage Beach. (Provided/Rob Crouse)


The show will go on at a Lake of the Ozarks mainstay this summer thanks to the owner of Capital City Productions.

Main Street Music Hall, a 1,000-seat music hall in Osage Beach that provided entertainment for the lake area for decades, shuttered at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and has remained closed since. The Blair family, which owns the venue and the surrounding area of shops known as the Landing, was looking for a passionate team to take the reins and reopen the venue -- and CCP founder and artistic director Rob Crouse said it was a perfect opportunity for his volunteer-based group.

"It's not an opportunity that we sought out but an opportunity that came to us," Crouse said. "They had had several groups ask about putting on shows there, but they just wanted to put on a show and leave. They didn't want to actually operate the theater.

"The family decided that we were the right group to do this, and we're so very excited about the opportunity to carry on its legacy."

Crouse said the team plans to open the venue in the summer under its original name, noting the building had been impeccably kept during its extended closure.

It will host professional actors and shows to corner a live entertainment market he said the lake area is lacking in. While the area comes alive with conventions and tourists, the shuttering of the hall had closed off live theater from the list of local recreation options. While many people flock to the area on Sundays to register for weekday conferences, he said there was a lack of Sunday evening activities in the area the rebooted venue would account for.

The CCP team will lease the venue for five years before having the option to purchase the theater, Crouse said.

The response to the news from the lake area has been outstanding, he said. In addition to drawing professional actors to the stage, they are also set to stay at local resorts while rehearsing and performing, bolstering the area's hospitality sector as well.

The venue also creates a new opportunity for locals hoping to get involved: Crouse said the Jefferson City location had several lake-area actors who traveled in to perform, and the Main Street Music Hall gives performers and volunteers of all skills the chance to use their skills, whether they're carpenters, seamstresses or painters.

Crouse said the group also hopes to bring activities like children's theater camps once they get into the groove at the music hall. Similar to those hosted in the Capital City, camps would last for a couple of weeks and culminate in a production.

Thirty-three years after starting CCP, Crouse said he was excited for the future of both his original theater and the Main Street Music Hall.

"After decades doing this, we know what kind of support you have to have in order to be successful and so I am very thrilled by the support we've had," he said. "My involvement has been much more limited in the last couple of years, but I am so proud to see our CCP family -- because we do refer to ourselves as a family, we spend so much time together and support each other in good times and bad -- so I'm proud to see they're going to carry Capital City Productions to something bigger and better going forward."

Capital City Productions Theater is located at 719 Wicker Lane, and upcoming shows and other opportunities can be viewed at ccpjc.org. Main Street Music Hall is located at 1048 Main St. in Osage Beach.

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