Ann Lemons Pollack
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The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music has just opened at the Fox. The return of the old warhorse surely drew sighs from frequent theater-goers, but they needn't have worried. To the surprise of even the most cynical, this new national touring company production is a charmer, and not unbearably saccharine. At least it's as un-sweet as something
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Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis
The Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis kicks off May 11. It's going to be a long weekend that's a whirlwind of interesting things to see and hear. There's the familiar, The Glass Menagerie from Upstream Theatre, and a public screening of the film, A Streetcar Named Desire, which will run on a continuous loop. But
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Bosnian/American: The Dance of Life
It's been a long time since St. Louis had a large group of immigrants arrive in a relatively short period of time. We've certainly had them before, the Germans, for instance, and the Italians. But that was several generations back, and for most of the area, the arrival of Bosnians has been a new experience.
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Cookies from DOUGH
Another food movie is opening April 29 at the Plaza Frontenac. DOUGH is about a failing kosher bakery in London and the search for an apprentice. I haven't seen it – yet – but in the meantime, here's something to whet our appetites. There's a local promotion being done in several markets where the movie
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Brunch: Retreat Gastropub
If someone had moved back to St. Louis after an absence of a couple of years – if that someone had gotten their daily coffee at the shop at Laclede and Sarah – if that same someone decided to drop by Retreat Gastropub…well, their jaw would drop. 6 North was the coffee shop (It's still
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Beer and the Bard
The Shakespeare season is about to start here in St. Louis, and to mark its opening and the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death, Schlafly has created a new brew. And it's delicious. You can read about it here, including the interesting variety of hops that make the beer quite singular. It's well-known that I am a
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Ivanov
In Girl Crazy, Ira Gershwin wrote, "With love to lead the way, I've found more skies of gray than any Russian play could guarantee." St. Louis Actors' Studio's current offering, Anton Chekhov's Ivanov isn't depressing. It feels more like it's about boredom, at least for most of the play, when it's a frequent complaint among
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Flashback: The Fedora Cafe
Ah, the Fedora Cafe at Union Station and what we learned from it. Modern American first reared his head about then. Union Station was the place to be, for strolling, stopping, eating and drinking, and Fedora, an early outpost of the Gilbert-Robinson group, led the way. I had my first interview with a nationally-known cookbook
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Pizzeoli
There's a school of pizza thought that believes there is no bad pizza, just that some pizza is better than others and a few are waaay better. Then there is the other, much larger school at the other end of the scale, those who believe there is no pizza but the True pizza, usually the
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BRIEFS
BRIEFS: A Festival of Short LGBTQ Plays opened last night, Friday, at the Centene Center. This is their fifth year, and they continue to evolve. There are a lot of laughs in this year's collection, even when the subject is a serious one – after all, just because you're in the middle of a mess