Eureka native Joe Capstick play the role of Dippy in The Muny outdoor theater’s final production of the summer, the Golden Age musical comedy “Anything Goes.” The show will be performed nightly from Monday, Aug. 19, through Sunday, Aug. 25, in Forest Park, 1 Theatre Drive.
Capstick, 33, has performed on stages across the nation, but he said being at The Muny for the first time is a unique experience and “a dream come true.”
The Leader spoke with Capstick after day two of rehearsals, which he said were rigorous but rewarding.
Joe Capstick
He said the cast and crew are hard at work nailing down the intricate choreography for a production that hearkens back to the mid-1930s, when the tap-dancing Nicholas Brothers were in their prime.
“It’s been one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had,” said Capstick, who graduated from Eureka High School in 2009. “I’ve been through a lot of rehearsal processes, and this is just so fun. The shows I’ve seen out here are incredible, and now, I get to kind of peek behind the curtain at how they do that.
“I don’t know a place like it.”
The musical is a story of forbidden love as stowaway Billy Crocker falls for heiress Hope Harcourt, who is engaged to another, aboard the SS American on their way from New York to England, according to Playbill.
Capstick, who lives in New York City, said when he’s not rehearsing, he’s catching up with his parents, Mike and Hope Capstick, who live in Bel-Nor just north of St. Louis. He said his family and some lifelong friends from high school plan to watch him perform at The Muny.
Midwestern roots
Before moving to Chicago and then New York to pursue a career in dancing and acting on stage, Capstick got his start at Dance Art Dance Studio in Eureka. He was 11, and his mother encouraged him to take classes.
As an incentive for Capstick to take the classes, Hope showed him the work of legendary performer Gregory Hines, who died in 2003 after a 50-year career on stage and in film.
“He’s one of the coolest dudes to ever put on tap shoes,” Capstick said. “I was like, ‘Man, tap dancing is actually pretty cool. Maybe I will check it out.’”
Capstick said Susie Allmendinger, a Eureka High drama teacher who retired in 2019 after 28 years at the school, encouraged him to pursue a career in the arts.
During his freshman year, Capstick said he was dabbling in theater while also focusing on soccer, but in his last three years at Eureka High, he was “all in” on the performing arts.
Capstick went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in acting from Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau in 2013.
At SEMO, Capstick met fellow students and performers who influenced where he auditioned. During the summers while he was a student, Capstick performed at outdoor theaters, like Timber Lake Playhouse in Mount Carroll, Ill., west of Chicago.
After building a network of contacts in the Chicago area, he moved there to pursue more onstage roles.
He lived in Chicago for eight years before moving to New York.
Capstick said he was in numerous shows at Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., including “42nd Street” and “Holiday Inn.”
“Most of the time, especially in my case, you’re going to hear, ‘No,’ constantly, but it’s all about that thick skin and just knowing that if you really want to do it, you’ve got to be stubborn about it,” he said. “I thank my Midwest roots for that, that’s for sure.”
In 2021, as the country was beginning to reopen after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Capstick moved into a friend’s spare room in New York. He said he saw the move as a “chapter change” in his career.
When he’s not out auditioning or performing, Capstick works as a bartender.
“I wanted to turn the page,” Capstick said. “Moving to New York was a really fun adventure, and I still live there now. It’s been fantastic.”
Capstick credits his girlfriend of three years, Kelcey Matheny, for being his rock through the ups and downs of auditioning. Matheny is a tap dancer like Capstick.
“She really understands the business,” he said. “There are days when theater is hard and sometimes it’s annoying, and she has gotten me through since day one.”
Dippy and Spit
Due to his love for tap dancing and choreography, Capstick said he’s drawn to musicals of the Golden Age, considered to be from about 1940 to 1960. “Anything Goes,” with music and lyrics by Cole Porter, debuted about 90 years ago and was last at The Muny in 1999, according to its website.
“I get to be in a lot of the production numbers, and we have some really killer tap dancers that we get to dance with,” Capstick said. “The choreography is amazing. It’s going to be a really good time to escape the negative parts of your life and enjoy some quality, heartwarming entertainment.”
Capstick’s character in “Anything Goes,” named Dippy, spends most of his time onstage with the character Spit, played by Spencer Jones. They are a pair of “cheesy, rascally gangster guys who are just Three-Stooging their way through the show,” Capstick said.
Marcia Milgrom Dodge, the show’s director, said Capstick’s character fits into the overall fun and lighthearted escapism of the musical.
“Joe is a wonderful character actor and an excellent dancer,” Milgrom Dodge said. “He brings a great sense of fun and skills and is a joy to play with.”
Capstick said he expects to experience some post-show blues after the curtains close on “Anything Goes,” but he’s excited to get back to his girlfriend in New York. After his stint at The Muny ends, that puts a wrap on his summer of outdoor theater performances.
Milgrom Dodge said, while the musical might be 90 years old, the “themes and shenanigans” feel as if they were written today.
“Muny audiences can expect a playful and joy-filled love letter to musical comedy and romance and the best score by the inimitable Cole Porter,” she said. “There is a love triangle, an abundance of mistaken identities, silly disguises, vaudeville-style snappy patter, Brits versus Yanks, rich versus poor, heathens versus evangelists and disguises versus revelations. Sounds like a typical day in 2024.”
For information and ticket details, visit muny.org or call 314-361-1900.