Ann Lemons Pollack
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Egg
A little musical chairswent on in 2016 with a couple of soutside spots. Spare No Rib moved from its Gravois location to my old stomping ground on South Jefferson, and its morning food operation stayed on Gravois, naming itself Egg. I finally got there not long ago, and was more than happy with what I
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Les Pecheurs de Perles/The Pearl Fishers
Georges Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers was the second of three operas this season for Winter Opera Saint Louis, and it was a very satisfying production. The plot, rival lovers on the island of what is now Sri Lanka, reminds us that magical realism is standard in opera before the 20th Century. But plot is really
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The How and the Why
A woman sits at a desk in a home office, engaged in reading. Another woman silently approaches the stage and walks into the office. How can the reading woman not know someone’s there? Is it a ghost? A memory? This is the opening of The How and the Why. The second woman turns out to
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Faceless
Some people toss off the descriptor “ripped from the headlines” as though it’s a bad thing. I don’t agree. Creative people get their juices going from all kinds of places. Works of art addressing contemporary problems can get other people’s juices going too, ruminating on the story and then the general subject while they’re driving
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Hugo’s Pizzeria
Dave and Kara Bailey have brought pizza back to my old neighborhood, near Pappy's and Southern. So that stretch of Olive Street now has barbeque, fried chicken and pizza. Ah, heaven is near! Here's the scoop from St. Louis Magazine.
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Just One Bite: At Louie’s
At last, Louie’s has opened. Those of us who mourned the demise of King Louie’s so many years ago have been waiting, and now there it is, on DeMun where Jimmy’s on the Park used to be. The joint, not surprisingly, is jumping. Matt McGuire and staff are keeping the long bar available for walk-in
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Fences
If anyone needs to consider whether August Wilson may have been America’s greatest playwright of the Twentieth Century, please go to the Black Rep’s production of Fences at Washington University’s Edison Theatre. The Black Rep was the first theatre to perform the entire Pittsburgh Cycle, ten works from Wilson, one each for a century’s worth
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The Marvelous Wonderettes
One can’t help but wonder what, say, 15-year-olds make of the love songs that form most of the score of The Marvelous Wonderettes, longing and wistful and full of sentiment and hormones spoken of mostly in coded words. The Rep’s current Mainstage show features music sung by female artists, particularly groups, in the Fifties and Sixties.
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It is with great sadness that I pass on the news of the death of Richard Perry. He left us on Christmas Day. We have no word on a public service for him yet. Here's a remembrance: https://www.stlmag.com/dining/long-time-chef-and-restaurateur-richard-perry-dies-at-79/
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Oddville: a love story?
The Playhouse at Westport is a good venue for small, often one-person shows that are, to varying degrees, not the same old thing. The current offering is Oddville: a love story?, from the creative team of Dave Shirley and Robert Dubac. If Dubac’s name is familiar, it’s because he’s been in town with his shows