Ann Lemons Pollack
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Taste
Taste isn't – quite – a speakeasy, but it certainly comes close. From its unmarked door just west of Brasserie by Niche (with which it is no longer officially affiliated ), to the dark curtains on the windows, it looks that way from the streert. Inside it's dark and casual, but the noise level is
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Intelligent Life
Robin believes in the existence of extra-terrestrials. She apparently also believes in the tooth fairy, the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus and Tinker Bell, or so one would assume after watching and listening to her in "Intelligent Life," a play whose action denies its title, or else pokes fun at it. It opened over the weekend
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Agnes of God
A young nun is found in her convent room. She is bleeding, apparently as the result of giving birth. A dead infant is found in a wastebasket. The nun says she does not remember anything about a sexual experience, a pregnancy, the birth, the death. A court calls in a psychiatrist to determine her sanity
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Fair and Unbalanced
More than 50 years dropped off my back last night when the Second City touring company took the stage at the Touhill Center. Suddenly it was the mid-50s again, and a Chicago-based comic group called the Compass Players was under the lights at the Crystal Palace. Ted Flicker directed, and Del Close was there. And
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Memphis
"Memphis," which won four Tony awards last spring, including Best Musical, will send its touring company to the Fox next May 1. But the movie version, or a sort-of movie version, is playing at three area theaters this weekend, and it's a terrific show, with fine music, superb dancing, outstanding singing and above-average singing. It's
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Winter in Wartime
Many years ago, I knew a Dutch cinematographer who had been a boy in Amsterdam during World War II, and had suffered through the German occupation. He sometimes told stories of the war's final winter, 1944-45, and the horrors that visited the Dutch people. "Winter in Wartime," which opens today, recalls those days in the
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Heartbeat
One must be generous to the young, but there are exceptions. Take Xavier Dolan ("Take him please," as Henny Youngman might have said). He's 22 years old, directing "Heartbeats," his second movie. But directing is not enough for this would-be Canadian filmmaker. He also wrote it, was the editor, designed the costumes, served as
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Terrace View
Citygarden is like a beautiful dimple on the face of St. Louis. Nearly surrounded by tall buldings that act like a platinum setting for this downtown diamond, it brings style and grace to the city, smiles to visitors. It's the finest addition since the Arch and City Museum. If only it had welcomed and embraced
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Black Pearl
There's a hard note of cynicism running through Frank Higgins' strong, interesting play, "Black Pearl Sings," which opened Friday night at the Grandel Theatre as a St. Louis Black Repertory Company production. The author's point seems to be that whether the goal is as crass as money, fame and power, or as noble as motherhood
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Awake and Sing
Think back a moment. Think of the last couple of years, and how much less money you have today than you did in 2008. Remember collapsing home values. Foreclosures in your neighborhood. People begging on the streets, maybe in your neighborhood. Think about it being 10 times worse. Then go to the New Jewish Theatre