Ann Lemons Pollack
-
My Life In Ruins
No travel budget for this summer? Forced to abandon your plans for a trip to Greece? A possible solution is "My Life in Ruins," little more than a glorified travelogue, but with Nia Vardalos, probably the most famous Greek actor since Telly Savalas or Melina Mercouri, as an American teacher, now a down-on-her-luck, depressed tour
-
Hangover
I’ve never had a hangover that I enjoyed, so why should I enjoy a movie called "The Hangover?" Besides, having had three weddings and not a single bachelor party (one of the more inane parts of pre-wedding debauchery), I hardly saw it as something with which I could easily identify. And yet, I liked the
-
Little Shop of Horrors
"Little Shop of Horrors" takes the entire concept of vegetarianism and stands it on its head. It’s Michael Pollan’s worst nightmare. Instead of people eating plants, plants eat people. The heroine, hardly a Green Goddess, precedes today’s thinking by several decades when she sings of her dream, a house — even in New Jersey —
-
Vin de Set
Vin de Set, atop an older building in a neighborhood where Lafayette Square ends and industry begins, has settled into a comfortable position in the local restaurant community. Owners Paul and Wendy Hamilton, and chef Ivy Magruder,also responsible for 1111 Mississippi a few blocks away, have taken advantage of their location and created a large
-
Rent
With "La Boheme" having opened the Opera Theatre season a couple of weeks ago, it’s only proper that its 20th-century descendant visit St. Louis for a different audience. And so, "Rent" showed up Tuesday night and the Fox, grand dame of St. Louis theaters, was filled with the shrieks of an audience far younger than
-
Salome
The emotion is palpable, and the Loretto-Hilton Center almost trembles as Kelly Kaduce drives to the climax of "Salome," in fiery style, blazing with youthful passion amid the rumbling thunder of a hormonal storm. The Opera Theatre of St. Louis production of the Richard Straus work opened Saturday night and will blaze across the stage
-
Blues In The Night
The rowdy, raunchy, rhythmic, real-life sound of blues music fills the Grandel Theatre these days, with the St. Louis Black Repertory Company offering a sparkling production of "Blues in the Night." It opened over the weekend and will run through June 28. The revue, conceived by Sheldon Epps, includes classic blues numbers like "Kitchen Man,"
-
This Week’s Wine May 31, 2009
Jon Emmerich, leading us on a recent walk through some lush, bright green Napa Valley vineyards, stopped abruptly, pointed. A rabbit looked back at us, stared for a few seconds, turned and loped off. It was about four times the size of those who hang out in Clayton back yards, and it showed off large
-
The Last Five Years
Having grown up in Brooklyn, one of my first sentences was: "Wait ‘til next year!" And that’s about the best that can be said for a disappointing New Jewish Theatre production of "The Last Five Years," which opened last night as the final show of the 2008-09 season, to run through June 21. But take
-
Little Ashes
Turning real people into characters for stage or screen is a difficult task, far more tricky than merely writing a biography, and the risk shows again in "Little Ashes," opening today. Philippa Goslett’s screenplay gives us poet-playwright Federico Garcia Lorca, artist Salvador Dali and filmmaker Luis Bunuel as 20-somethings, still very wet behind the ears,