Ann Lemons Pollack

  • Neighborhood 3: Requisition Of Doom

    Disaffected, disoriented, disenchanted and disheartened, but never disconnected, the young people of "Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom" offer a fearsome picture of a future- perhaps a near one. The drama, by West Coast playwright Jennifer Haley, is a Hot City Theatre production that opened on Saturday. It is an interesting evening, and "interesting," in this

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  • Amadeus

    Too many notes," says Emperor Joseph II of Austria to a young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, delivering a line so amazingly dumb that it probably will remain in universal memory forever, adapted by editors who can tell reporters, "Too many words" or a more exact "Too many letters." But "Amadeus," Peter Shaffer's play that opened the 2009-10 season

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  • Il Divo

    Blending the fierce action, bloody violence and sheer lust for power that dominated "The Sopranos," and "The Godfather," Italian writer-director Paolo Sorrentino brings us "Il Divo," a brilliant flm based on the life and career of Giulio Andreotti, long-time prime minister of Italy, a member for life of Italy's parliament and a man who schemed,

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  • The September Issue

    Hidden behind her dark sunglasses, Anna Wintour observes her world from a position of security, like Daniel Boone awaiting a bear. The editor of Vogue, one of the most powerful women in magazines, is surrounded by people who love her, or pretend to, and watching her prepare one of the year's most important issues should be a fascinating

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  • Guys And Dolls

    It may be the finest musical theater experience-book, music, lyrics-ever created, and Stages St. Louis did "Guys and Dolls" full justice with a rich production that, unfortunately, opened musically short last night at the Robert Reim Theater, to run through Oct. 4. To my mind, no one matched Frank Loesser when it came to creating

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  • Dvin

    Sitting quietly in the Old Orchard neighborhood of Webster Groves, Dvin has been around for many years, running under most radar screens. The small interior is decorated within an inch of its life, filled with large plants, pictures, figurines, all adding up to a feeling of being in something truly Eastern European. The decor fits

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  • 9

    Three, according to singer-songwriter Bob Dorough and Schoolhouse Rock, is a magic number. Six, according to Mobil, gets Cardinal fans reduced-price coffee when the team scores that many runs. "9," according to writer-director Scott Ackers, is the savior of. . . . Well, I’m not sure what the animated hobbit, or straw man, with the

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  • Mushroom Ravioli

    We’ve found something delicious in a freezer case. At Viviano’s on The Hill, on impulse we picked up a bag of mushroom ravioli, mushroom and mozzarella, to be precise. John Viviano eyed the bag. "Those are good," he promised. "A cream sauce and a little truffle oil, and…." At home, we had no cream and

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  • This Week’s Wine, September 6, 2009

    The little ATV bucked and coughed, dug its tires into the grass, spun left, moved between rows of grapevines They were heavy with fruit turning from green to yellow and gold in the August sunshine. Hank Johnson braked, took a couple of sandwich-sized plastic bags from his pocket, handed one to me. "We’re going to

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  • Lorna’s Silence

    Lorna is an Albanian emigrant, living in the gritty Belgian city of Liege. She’s a semi-legal person, as so many Europeans are, having used a phony marriage to gain entry. She now lives and works on the edge, employed in a n almost-menial job. Arla Dobroshi is outstanding in the role in the strong, evocative

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