The ‘heartbeat’ of the Wharton Center

Bonnie Knutson wins Star of Touring Broadway Award

Bonnie Knutson, a professor of business at Michigan State University and a longtime patron of the school’s Wharton Center for Performing Arts, is positive that her love of theater and the arts runs in her blood.

“I think my love of theater began at birth,” Knutson, a three-time alumna of MSU, said. “Growing up in an Italian family, music, dancing, singing and ‘performing’ for the family was just part of my life. When I was 2, I would stand on my dad’s shoes to dance at weddings.”

Last month, the Broadway League, the trade association for the Broadway industry, announced Knutson as a recipient of its 2025 Star of Touring Broadway Award. The award recognizes individuals and organizations that have demonstrated outstanding support and advocacy for touring Broadway productions in their communities — in Knutson’s case, mid-Michigan. She and Bob, her late husband of 52 years, were fierce advocates of the arts, specifically the Wharton Center.

Knutson received the award at the Wharton Advisory Council’s June 9 meeting. She’s been a member of the council for 20 years, even serving as president from 2007 to 2008.

“It’s beautiful!” she said of the award. “I’m still in awe. I’m so honored — for me and for my late husband.” 

Established in 1992, the Star of Touring Broadway Award celebrates the behind-the-scenes champions of the arts — board members, donors, government officials and volunteers — whose efforts ensure the success and growth of Broadway shows across the nation. For more than 35 years, Knutson has been a devoted advocate, volunteer leader and philanthropist for the Wharton Center.

In 2013, the Bonnie & Robert Knutson Endowment for Musical Theatre was founded. This endowment supports the costs associated with bringing Broadway productions to Wharton, in addition to supporting musical theater education programs. Knutson also played an essential role in supporting the Wharton Center’s 2022 leadership transition, helping to connect executive director Eric Olmscheid with the Wharton family. (The Wharton Center is the namesake of the late Clifton R. Wharton Jr., MSU’s first Black president, who was in office from 1970 to 1978. Wharton died in 2024 at age 98. His wife, Dolores, an arts advocate and author, died June 7 at 97.)

“Knutson is more than a supporter; she’s part of the heartbeat of Wharton Center,” Olmscheid said. “Her passion, leadership and generosity have helped to shape Wharton’s identity and continue to guide its future. Whether through her philanthropy, her service or simply her belief in the power of the arts to bring people together, Bonnie is a constant force for good.”

Knutson had just finished working out when Olmscheid and Wharton director of development Kristen Calabrese called her to inform her about the award. To say she was gobsmacked by this news is an understatement.

“Never in a million years!” Knutson said. “I don’t do what I do for recognition, but because I firmly believe that the arts are essential to life. Clifton Wharton once said — and I’m paraphrasing — ‘Art is in the middle.’ Just look at the name of the WhARTon Center!”

Growing up in Joliet, Illinois, Knutson said her high school had a very strong performing arts program: band, chorus, theater, musicals, speech. It was in choir that she met Bob. The two were later cast as Jean and Charlie in the Alan Jay Lerner musical “Brigadoon,” in which two American tourists stumble upon the eponymous, enigmatic Scottish village that appears for one day every 100 years.

“We jokingly said that we got married on stage and it worked out well, so why not in real life? That was the genesis of our life together,” Knutson said. “After we were first married, Bob continued to sing at weddings, events and even in a barbershop quartet. We both did some amateur shows for churches, et cetera.

“I still ‘dance’ in my workout room,” she continued. “In fact, one of the connections I had with Dolores Wharton was dance, particularly modern dance. We both had the privilege to study with Martha Graham, who once said that being a dancer permits life to use you in a very intense way. I often think that’s part of the genesis of our passion for the Wharton Center.”

Knutson can’t emphasize the value of the Wharton Center enough.

“Just as a miner sifts through countless stones to find that one gleaming gold nugget, mid-Michigan is filled with a multitude of buildings and infrastructure,” she said. “Nestled among them, the Wharton Center shines. It’s a rare gem that brings beauty, value and excitement to its surroundings. The miner’s gold transforms his day. The Wharton Center transforms the spirit of mid-Michigan by bringing people together, sparking creativity and enriching the cultural landscape of today’s and tomorrow’s generations.”