Ann Lemons Pollack
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The Phantom Of The Opera
Talent will out. Talent and attitude together will turn preconceived notions upside down, as they did to me at the Fox Theatre last night. I've seen "The Phantom of the Opera" at least a dozen times, and I went more out of duty and hope than high expectations. Wow! What a treat! A talented, exciting
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Conversations With My Father
As the greatest philosopher of the 20th century, Pogo the Possum, once reported, "We have met the enemy, and he is us." In a nutshell, that's the story of "Conversations With My Father," the searing, passionate drama by Herb Gardner that opened the New Jewish Theatre's 13th season last night in the Clayton High School
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Capitalism: A Love Story
If Louis IX, our patron saint and the leader of many Crusades, were choosing his army of Crusaders today, he wouldn’t choose Michael Moore. After all, Moore is kind of fat, and he’s funny looking, and carries himself less like a Crusader than anyone I can imagine. Even though he’s a Catholic, he’d never
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The Invention of Lying
For its first 40 minutes or so, "The Invention of Lying" is one of the funniest films I've seen in years. It slows down from there, and the flying start becomes a walking finish, but the overall effect is splendid work by Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson, who co-wrote and co-directed. Gervais also stars
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No Impact Man
Colin Beaven may have parlayed his 15 minutes of fame into a year, a book and a movie, but "No Impact Man" lives up to its title perfectly, as far as I'm concerned, though he's talking about living with no environmental impact and I'm talking about living to provide interest, or entertainment, or even enjoyment.
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Cielo
It was an evening when a desire for elegance and excellence came upon us.”Upscale,” we thought. “Downtown,” we decided. “Expensive,” we agreed. “Cielo, in the Four Seasons Hotel,” we concluded. “Outstanding,” we hoped. “You can’t win them all,” we concluded. “No, you can’t,” we realized, and while Cielo performed slightly better than the Rams at
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Another Starbucks Surprise
Starting today, Tuesday, September 29, Starbucks will be offering an instant coffee called VIA under the Starbucks brand. Available only in their stores and on the internet, it comes as three or 12 single-serve packets. Now, we will not get involved in why people who frequent Starbucks, or any coffee house for that matter,
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Wonder of the World
When it comes to off-the-wall comedy, mostly of the absurd variety, David Lindsay-Abaire can provide good entertainment. He shows it well, if for too long, in "Wonder of the World," which ends the Orange Girls' 2009 season-and probably its existence-with the current production, which opened Friday at COCA's Anheuser-Busch Black Box theater and will run
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Portrait of My People
Erin Kelley, local actress and director and Managing Artistic Director of the Avalon Theatre Company, has white skin, blonde hair and blue eyes. She's also one-fourth Cherokee and Shawnee, and that's the part of her heritage she discusses in her one-woman show, "Portrait of My People," which opened last night as an Avalon production at
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The Burning Plain
Kim Basinger and Charlize Theron are mother and daughter. In the days of Damon Runyon, they would be charitably characterized as "having round heels." Today, in "The Burning Plain," they're more than a little mixed up. And so is Guillermo Arriaga, who wrote and directed a film that bounces around in time and place and