Theater/Film Reviews
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Stiff
Whatever you do, don’t think Stiff is about someone who’s awkwardly formal in their dealings with other people. Even the full title of the regional premiere from Inevitable Theatre Company is Stiff: A Fast-Paced Comedy About Moving Slow doesn’t really do it justice. There are indeed many laughs in the one-woman show which is not
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Born Yesterday
"I want everyone to be smart. As smart as they can be. A world of ignorant people is too dangerous to live in." That’s a serious quote to start a review of a comedy. Born Yesterday, the last show of the season at Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, is now on the Mainstage. It’s a
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As It Is In Heaven
As It Is In Heaven isn’t quite a Shaker musical, although there’s plenty of music and even dance in it. It’s a fascinating story of women in a Shaker community in 1840’s Kentucky. The Shakers were a religious community of both men and women, segregated by gender, founded by Mother Ann Lee. Lee believed in
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Caught
Here’s another chance for the reviewer to use that classic Monty Python title, “And Now for Something Completely Different”. Lately, it feels like those opportunities are coming up at least twice a year. But the current production, Caught, at the Rep Studio qualifies beyond any possible doubt. The first clue is that entering the theatre,
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Anything Goes
Anything Goes comes from the era when musicals were musical comedies, and the music was the important thing. Stories were just something to bridge the gap from one song to the next. Admittedly, there were some madcap romps that came from this era – and Anything Goes certainly is one – but holes in the
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Blackbird
Fasten your seatbelts. St. Louis Actors’ Studio’s current staging of Blackbird is a jolting ride. This year it’s pretty much impossible to view a play about child abuse without thinking about Larry Nassar and the young women he attacked. In Blackbird, we have a middle-aged man unexpectedly coming face to face with a young woman
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The Humans
The parts are not greater than the whole. Or at least they don’t offset it. That’s the bottom line on The Humans, the newest offering from Repertory Theatre of St. Louis’ main stage. I’m clearly in the minority here; the play won multiple Tonys and other awards in 2016. It’s about a family as they
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Red Scare on Sunset
It is a strange time indeed to be seeing Red Scare on Sunset. Stray Dog Theatre chose it as part of their fifteenth season, which means the decision was made about a year ago. But even compared to that period of time, things have become more…well, pick your own adjective here. Red Scare talks about
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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