Ann Lemons Pollack
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Something Rotten!
Screwball comedies from Hollywood were at their height during the Great Depression. Laughter and escape seemed worth spending a hard-earned dime on. (Especially on dish night, where attendees also got a piece of dinnerware.) Perhaps that’s why our appetite for laughter seems bigger lately. Satisfy that appetite – at least briefly – with a few
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Cate Zone Chinese Cafe
It’s been decades, I think, since St. Louis had a new style of Chinese cuisine, when Yen Ching brought us Hunan-style food, our first non-Cantonese experience. China, of course, is immense, and more multi-ethnic than most of us tend to realize. (I’m guilty, too.) Now we have a restaurant bringing us Dongbei-style food, something I
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A Doll’s House
What becomes a legend most? Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House certainly is that. Its portrayal of a docile wife turned rebellious was scandalous when it opened in 1879, and remained so for many years. In 2006, the centennial of Ibsen’s birth, it was the most-performed play in the world. How has it aged? Stray Dog
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Siem Reap, Cambodia
Going from the civilized melting pot of Singapore to Siem Reap, Cambodia, was something of a culture shock. It’s easy for Americans to forget that the fighting there raged on even after the US left Vietnam, and didn’t end until 1991. It’s still a very poor country, so the ride in to Siem Reap from
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The Year of the Bicycle
It’s pretty close to free-form theater at the current production from Upstream Theater. Joanna Evans’ The Year of the Bicycle shows some good stuff and some not-so-good stuff. This is the play’s American premiere from the South African author, who’s currently completing her MFA at New York University. Amelia (Megan Wiles), who’s white, and Andile
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Yasmina’s Necklace
There’s a certain irony to the timeliness of Mustard Seed’s opening of Yasmina’s Necklace. The play deals with refugees from Iraq who arrived via Syria and the way they adapt to life in the United States. To see it hours after the news that immigration from both those countries as well as five others was
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Little Thing, Big Thing
Plan on a little extra time to get to Little Thing, Big Thing, the current offering from The Midnight Company. It’s in a film studio near Jefferson and I-64, rather off the beaten path. This sort of thing drives some people crazy. Me, I like it. There’s a certain Insider feel to locations like this,
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Intimate Apparel
Layer upon layer of the ingredients that make remarkable theater are on display at the New Jewish Theatre’s Intimate Apparel, which runs through February 12. Lynn Nottage’s concept and subsequent script, the acting, set, lighting and costumes all contribute to make the experience. Nottage began thinking about the play when she found a photograph of
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First Bite: Hi-Pointe Drive-In
The Hi-Pointe Drive-In has opened to lots of traffic. Located where Naugles of blessed memory was, on McCausland, just south of the movie theater of the same name, and run by the Sugarfire Smokehouse gang, it has been an immediate Hot Spot. No, there’s no drive-through. And there are certainly no car-hops, which is what
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The St. Louis Food & Wine Experience
Turns out there are still tickets available for this weekend’s Food & Wine Experience benefiting the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. It covers several rooms at the Chase Park Plaza, from the Khorassan Room up to the Starlight Roof. I know from previous years’ visits that this can be a place for some very serious