Christopher Brown Manos

Christopher Brown Manos passed away quietly in his sleep on Tuesday, August 10, 2021 at the age of 90. He led a vibrant and entertaining life filled with joy and wonder, friendships and laughter, struggles and perseverance, accolades and accomplishments. Active well into his 80’s, his health and vitality declined over the past few years, and his passing is a blessing in disguise.

The only child of a Greek immigrant family in Elyria, Ohio, he was strong headed and anxious to begin his adventurous life. His performing talent and independent spirit were clear at an early age as he toured throughout Ohio as a teenager doing Al Jolson impressions with a travelling minstrel show. After graduating High School, he joined the Army where he was assigned to the Special Services performing and producing shows to entertain the troops. One of those shows was at the White House performing for President Truman.

After discharging from the Army, he joined the School of Theatre Arts at the Pasadena Playhouse where he produced, performed, and built over 100 shows in 18 months on five different stages. In that time, he learned that his ideal vocation was producing theater of all types. After school, he moved to New York City to pursue a career in the Arts. The theater scene in NYC in the 50’s was quite unpredictable, and he enjoyed some successes along with some failures. Most months, he paid the rent with his poker profits. Having exhausted his options in NYC, he moved with his young family to Atlanta where his wife Glenn was raised.

The Arts scene in Atlanta in 1960 was under-developed and needed vision to grow. He immediately joined Theater under the Stars (TUTS) as an unpaid intern. TUTS was the only major theater in the region and performed Summer Stock productions outdoors at Chastain Park. Within a year, he had revolutionized the theater by implementing a Star System importing headliners from Broadway and the Opera World. He was hired as Producer and the shows became true spectacles with live elephants and hot air balloons mixed in with huge casts and devoted patrons.

But it rains in the Summer in Atlanta. In the Summer of 1967, it rained a lot. So much rain that they lost an entire week of performances. He decided it was time to move indoors and change the company’s name to Theater of the Stars (TOTS).

From 1968 thru 1987, TOTS performed at the Atlanta Civic Center and continued its practice of mounting Star driven shows for the masses. Mitzi Gaynor, Paul Lynde, John Davidson, Robert Goulet, and many more stars performed annually in TOTS shows. In 1988, TOTS moved to the Fabulous Fox Theatre and changed its programming to a blend of self-produced and touring Broadway shows. Over the next 25 years, TOTS produced or presented over 250 shows of all types to enthusiastic audiences. The 2008 Recession hit TOTS hard. They never recovered and closed their doors in 2013.

The 2021 Arts scene in Atlanta is vastly different than it was in 1960, and Chris Manos played a big role in that change. He was personally involved in the birthing or professionalizing of the Alliance Theater, The Atlanta Opera, The Atlanta Ballet, The Atlanta Children’s Theater, Just Us Players, True Colors, and the Community Arts Fund. He volunteered on several Arts boards and supported numerous Arts organizations behind the scenes.

He was active in many national Theater Organizations including the National Alliance for Musical Theater, the Independent Presenters Network, and the Broadway League. He loved everything about the Arts world and its people and impact. He was an omnivore in artistic taste sampling everything from straight plays to musicals, ballet to opera, simple to epic, classics to new works.

He was also a pioneer in adding extra children into productions with a limited number of children’s roles...sometimes even to shows without children’s roles. Why would Annie live in an orphanage with only 6 other kids when she could have 24 bunkmates? Some would argue that it was a way to get parents to buy lots of tickets. He would argue that it was the best way to introduce kids to the joy of performing on stage in a professional show at an early age.

He is perhaps best remembered for his unique curtain speech before every performance. In those speeches, he welcomed the audience to the performance, thanked the organist for playing the Mighty Mo during the pre-show, talked about the remaining shows in the season, told a (sometimes) funny joke, gave the “news from the ballyard” (the Braves score), and signed off with “Thanks for coming, know we care about you, see you next time.” You always knew when you were at a TOTS performance because of Chris Manos.

He was preceded in death by his wife Glenn who was a ballet dancer with the New York City ballet. He is survived by his sons Chris and Nick (Laura) and his daughter Ann (Kenny). He is also survived by eleven grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. The family will have a private graveside service with a larger Celebration of Life planned for the Fall.

Chris Manos was a throwback to a simpler time. He was a lucky man who got to work in a profession he loved with people he enjoyed and respected for more than 60 years. We should all be so lucky.

The family wants to acknowledge and offer praise for the amazing experience Dad enjoyed at Sunrise of Buckhead. Steffenie and the entire Sunrise team surpassed even our lofty expectations over the past two years. They showed him remarkable levels of respect and affection that made his time at Sunrise a true blessing. Thank You.

If you want to want to celebrate Chris Manos’ life in a tangible way, do something Dad would have done...find a local theater, buy a ticket, and attend a performance. They could use your support and patronage.