Your ticket to decades of stars, producers and memories at Casa Manana

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Cyd Charisse and Keith Rice in Grand Hotel. Star-Telegram Archives

Fort Worth's best-known theater, Casa Mañana, had a number of homes throughout the 20th century, from Billy Rose's original 1936 amphitheater to downtown Fort Worth's Casa in the Square in the 1990s and Bass Hall.

But Casa will forever be identified with that geodesic dome in the Cultural District - the "Jiffy Pop," as many have called it after seeing the dome's aluminum underside. That building opened July 5, 1958 - 50 years ago today - with a production of Cole Porter's Can-Can. As the organization celebrates the building's anniversary today (see the box), we look back through the decades at the local theater where more than a few stars were born.

The building

Melvin Dacus was general manager of the Fort Worth Opera when he read about architect R. Buckminster Fuller's geodesic dome designs and began planning an indoor theater-in-the-round, keeping Billy Rose's name. The theater, which had 1,832 seats, opened in 1958, about 100 yards from where Rose's original theater once stood.

There were additions throughout the years, including the restaurant La Cantina, which opened in the mid-'70s. But none caused as big a stir as the overhaul of the in-the-round format to the theater's current thrust/modified proscenium stage earlier this decade. The theater now holds about 1,100 seats, and offers a much bigger lobby and more bathrooms. Thankfully, the signature Jiffy Pop structure remained intact.

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Before the 2003 renovation and the controversy that ensued, there was another major dust-up. In 1973, Actors Equity Association demanded that Casa raise the minimum wage for chorus performers. Negotiations broke down, and actors went on strike while the Casa season continued with non-Equity performers.

In response, several well-known actors picketed outside. These included Rip Torn,Geraldine Page,Theodore Bikel and Werner Klemperer (Colonel Klink on Hogan's Heroes). With ticket sales declining, the season was canceled, but not before the theater staged the musical Cabaret, starring Brent Spiner (Star Trek: The Next Generation) as the Emcee, in his professional stage debut. In that production, Sally Bowles was played by Linda Daugherty, now the resident playwright for Dallas Children's Theater.

In 1974, a new Equity contract was signed and Casa started back up, and Klemperer returned for the reopening ceremony.

Big and bright

Spiner was one actor who played on Casa's stage before becoming famous. Another was promising young soprano Beverly Sills, who starred in 1958's The Merry Widow.

Arguably, the biggest star born from Casa was Betty Buckley. As a teen, billed as Betty Lynn Buckley, she was in the Casa Playhouse staging of Beauty and the Beast in 1962. In subsequent decades, her roles there included Ado Annie in Oklahoma!, Maria in The Sound of Music (1982) and (in her big return after she won her Tony Award for Cats), Desiree in A Little Night Music in 1991.

One of Casa's most famous performers is film actress Ruta Lee, who debuted at Casa in 1964 in Meredith Willson's The Unsinkable Molly Brown (Willson saw that production and reportedly claimed Lee was the best Molly he had seen). Lee would continue performing at Casa throughout the decades, often with a "Ruta show" built into each season. She was seen most recently in the February staging of Steel Magnolias.

Many other actors who first became famous in film and TV worked at Casa, including the recently deceased Cyd Charisse (Grand Hotel, 1993) and The Love Boat'sGavin MacLeod (Grossinger's, with Ruta Lee, in 1997), and in recent years, Lou Diamond Phillips,Jensen Ackles,Sally Struthers and Lorenzo Lamas.

Comedians, singers and actors who have appeared in their own act on Casa's stage through the years include Debbie Reynolds,Joan Rivers,Don Rickles,Jerry Seinfeld,Penn & Teller,Pat Boone,George Carlin,Carol Channing, Ray Charles, Phyllis Diller and Barbara Mandrell.

Leaders of the pack

The current executive producer and president, Denton Yockey, is the organization's fourth head honcho. Here's a look back at Casa's leadership:

Mel Dacus was executive producer/general manager at the time of the 1958 opening. He remained in that role until he was dismissed in 1975. He was known for finding talent such as Buckley, and pulling in stars he could build seasons around, such as Lee. Mel Dacus died in 1999, and his wife, Katy, an actress, died two years later.

One of Dacus' significant hires was musical director Joseph Stecko in 1967. He retired in 2002.

Next up was Bud Franks, a director/choreographer who once was a member of Casa's dance ensemble. He continued and added to Dacus' tradition of pulling in known performers and scored points by casting husband-and-wife Mel and Katy Dacus as Tevye and Golde in a 1979 production of Fiddler on the Roof. Franks resigned in 1990 to become executive director of Starlight Musical Theatre in San Diego.

That's when actor Van Kaplan took over. One of his big accomplishments was opening Casa in the Square in downtown Fort Worth, a small space that hosted long runs of Forever Plaid and Nunsense. Kaplan left in 1997 to lead the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera.

Next up was Denton Yockey, a former producer of Galveston Island Outdoor Musicals. Yockey helped transition the organization into producing and presenting at Bass Hall, and moved the staff offices to downtown Fort Worth. In booking touring musicals for Bass and having to compete with a bigger tour presenter in Dallas, Yockey has been bold in selecting shows that he knew wouldn't be blockbusters but felt needed to be seen, such as Urinetown, The Full Monty and the upcoming Avenue Q.

Yockey's era is about to end. He announced his resignation (he's moving on to the Starlight Theatre Association in Kansas City) several months ago. The theater's board has a hired a search firm to find a new director, with a target date of August or September.