Ann Lemons Pollack

  • Beehive The 60s Musical

    When the '60s arrived, I was a grown man with an interesting job, a house, a wife, two very small children and the personal security that came with surviving having been on strike for more than three months. I had strong musical interests, but they did not include piping girl voices, even if they were

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  • Jimmy Webb

    Jimmy Webb sure doesn't sing very well, but he writes good songs and tells great stories, and puts an awful lot of energy into his cabaret performance, which opened a three-night run last night at the Kranzberg Arts Center. He'll be back on stage Friday and Saturday, hitting many high spots on his nearly half-century

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  • A Somewhat Gentle Man

    Coming out of prison after serving 12 years for murder can be a disorienting experience, but Ulrik (Stellan Skarsgard) shot a man as a hired killer, not as an emotional revenge-seeker, a robber, or someone in a passionate argument. That makes it both easier and more difficult for him to return to a normal life,

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  • Limitless

    In a world where "mind over matter" has fallen far behind its reverse rival in the way things work, it's a great pleasure to see "Limitless," a movie where suspension of disbelief is a very difficult task but one worth striving for. Its success brings an almost-overwhelming sense of power and pleasure in succumbing to

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  • Diner’s Delight

    Always happy to visit a new restaurant, we dropped by Diner's Delight, and wrote about it for St. Louis Magazine.We suspect more folks will be using Compton now that the Grand Avenue viaduct is closed, so keep your eye open for it, just south of Chouteau.

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  • Cardwell’s at the Plaza

    Most of us don’t think of Cardwell’s at the Plaza in terms of snacking, but after a movie at the other end of the mall, it’s a real no-brainer for first-rate food and drink. Warning: Early in the week, which is their term, the kitchen closes at 9 p.m., or so the hostess told us

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  • In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play

    How does one write–for a St. Louis audience–about an interesting, unusual play that deals with sexual arousal among men and women of the late 19th century? Very carefully, I would say. And yet. . . . Sarah Ruhl's often-funny, sometimes-enlightening play, "In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play," opened last night at the Rep

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  • Even the Rain

    Like a set of those nesting Russian dolls, "Even the Rain" has a film within a film within a film within a film, a nod to Francois Truffaut's "Day for Night," a political statement, a social polemic and a revisionist view of Christopher Columbus, all in an hour and 44 minutes. It opens today on

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  • Battle: Los Angeles

    The Marines win again. Could there have been any other possible outcome? Well, at least they won in Los Angeles, shown at maximum explosive volume in “Battle: Los Angeles,” which opens here today. All we know for sure is that they defeated a bunch of invading aliens in one city, though TV reporters keep interrupting

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  • Boerwors

    Regular readers know how much we like sausage. We're big fans of G & W Sausagein South St. Louis, and never visit Hermann without a cooler so we can take the short drive down to Swiss. Wherever we go, the mention of sausage always makes our ears perk up. This week we found a new

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