Ann Lemons Pollack
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The Hundred Dresses
A fast tip of the hat – and a swoosh of the petticoats as well – in the direction of Metro Theater Company, St. Louis’ long-lived children’s theatre group. Their current offering, The Hundred Dresses, gives audiences the eternal question of dealing with The Other – a person or persons who are different from those
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Avenue Q
Does the whole world know by now that Avenue Q is a puppet show that definitely isn’t for kids? One would hope so, but just in case…. The version that’s currently at the Playhouse @ Westport Plaza seems even rowdier than the first version I saw. I didn’t find it offensive, and neither, apparently, did
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Classic Mystery Game
Classic Mystery Game is, as often happens with SATE Ensemble Theatre, rather a romp. Written and directed by Katy Keating, it’s a take on the board game Clue. It’s an Agatha Christie-ish murder in an English country house bringing together a bunch of strangers – strange strangers, in this case – to address some rather
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Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof has become one of the standard American musicals. It’s popular with all kinds of groups, from schools to monster-sized professional theaters like the Muny. The show’s been seen in tiny 50-seat black boxes, school gymnasiums, under canvas. Residents of Anatevka, the village where it’s set, have been portrayed by actors from
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On the Road: LC’s in Kansas City
I was just on 107.3, Radio Arts Foundation, talking about food, and I mentioned that I had been in Kansas City earlier this week. This is my favorite hole in the wall there, although, as I admit, I have a soft spot for the lamb ribs at Jack’s Stack – the place whose name I
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L’Italiana in Algeri
Winter Opera St. Louis staged L’Italiana in Algeri this past weekend. Not so well known as some other Rossini operas, it nevertheless proved to be mostly quite delightful despite the plot’s distasteful number “Viva, viva, il flagel delle donne”, or, more or less, “Hooray for striking the women”. The bey of Algiers, Mustafa (Alec Soare)
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Wittenberg
Upstream Theater is pretty much a sure bet for theater-goers who want something different. Their current offering, Wittenberg, described as “a tragical-comical-historical play”, is full of the high-verbal work that often graces their shows. It would have to be high verbal, given that the main characters are Martin Luther, Faustus and Hamlet, all converging on
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District Merchants
Overheard at District Merchants on its opening night at The New Jewish Theatre: “Shakespeare? I didn’t know this was Shakespeare!” The extraordinary production of Aaron Posner’s play, which riffs on The Merchant of Venice the way Posner did with Chekhov in Life Sucks! (a take on Uncle Vanya), requires no familiarity at all with the
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2019 Theater Circle Nominees
Here are the nominees for the 2019 Theater Circle Awards. We will announce the winners at the ceremony March 25 at the Rep. Tickets for what's been referred to as "theatre nerd prom" are at Brown Paper Tickets. Outstanding Supporting Actress in a ComedyKari Ely, Into the Breeches!, Shakespeare Festival St. LouisCarmen Garcia, Luchadora!,
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Wolves
A pack of young she-wolves are roaming the Studio Theatre at The Rep these days. They’re energetic, sometimes focused but often with short attention spans, and very yappy. The Wolves, by Sarah DeLappe, is about a girls’ soccer team called the Wolves. They’re high-school-aged, playing in an indoor league, some of them long-time acquaintances. The