Ann Lemons Pollack
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Spellbound
"Spellbound" is a work in progress. It's no secret. This is the world premiere showing of what is subtitled "a musical fable". Gary F. Bell. the artistic director of Stray Dog Theatre and co-author of the musical, talks about it as he welcomes the audience. "What you see tonight may well be different by
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New Wave Ice Cream
Another hot spell approaches. No surprise; this is August in St. Louis. High ice cream weather, right? If you're up for something beyond the same old stuff – not that I've got anything against you, strawberry – here are some places that offer new tastes. I wrote this for a London-based international website called Foodie Hub
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Restaurant Week 2015: A Glance at Anthony’s Bar
This is Downtown Restaurant Week in St. Louis. I went off for dinner at Anthony's Bar with a pal, and have, in particular, a couple of dishes to report on and suggest. Two entrees on their Restaurant Week menu are remarkably good. An immense pork chop in a mustard sauce was moist and tasty, nice with
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More On Old Standard
One of my mother's more daring culinary moves was the very occasional event of serving waffles for Sunday night supper. I hadn't thought about that in ages. But Sunday, I took a friend about to leave the United States for an extended period of time out to eat. What did she have a hankering for?
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Brunch: Bistro at Balaban’s Wine Bar
This was originally going to be a blog post. But I mentioned to my editor at St. Louis Magazine how great the eggs Benedict were I had at Balaban's brunch. (Remember – this is Balaban's on Clarkson, not what's now Herbie's in the Central West End.) One thing led to another. And this is the result.
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The Parkmoor
Not having grown up in St. Louis, I only occasionally encountered the Parkmoor until someone put me onto their onion rings tragically late in the history of this St. Louis standard. But the people that loved really loved it, apparently. Somewhere out there, there surely are car hops with great stories. In the meanwhile here's this, and
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Moon Over Buffalo
"Moon Over Buffalo" is a very funny play. Written by Ken Ludwig, it's full of good lines and a fair amount of physical comedy. It's one of those self-referential inside-theater things, but that doesn't make it less funny, and these days, most people who go to theater are there because they know and like theater,
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LaBute New Theater Festival Part 2
Four new one-act plays, plus "Kandahar", create the second half of this year's LaBute New Theater Festival. LaBute's "Kandahar" was also included in the first half with four other new plays. This batch's theme seems to be writers and the arts. Perhaps the best of the batch is "Homebody", a story about a mother and
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Anything Goes
Local lovers of lyrics are in luck this week. Perhaps the two greatest lyricists of the 20th Century are represented on stages in St. Louis, along with their music. Stages St. Louis is presenting Cole Porter's "Anything Goes", an absolute romp, and of course the Muny is offering "Into The Woods" right now. "Anything Goes"
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Into The Woods
A very young theater-goer and her father sat next to me at the Muny last night at the opening of "Into The Woods". They decided to leave at the end of the first act. It was another reminder of why this is a perfect show for the Muny. Take the little ones home at that