Theater/Film Reviews
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Spring Awakening
Several school districts in this vicinity are still battling sex education curriculum problems. The combatants probably should go see Spring Awakening at Stray Dog. It’s a fine example of what adult unease over saying facts out loud can lead to. Believing that adolescents won’t think about sex unless the adults bring it up is truly
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Lizzie
Lizzie. Shall I compare thee to The Student Prince, or even Oklahoma!? One of the great pleasures of theatre is the wide range of possibilities within a genre, and if Sigmund Romberg is at one side of the spectrum, heeeere’s Lizzie at the other side, strutting her stuff at New Line Theatre. Yes, it’s that
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The Feast
Let’s get this out of the way first thing: I can’t recall the last time I saw a toilet onstage. But there it is, upstage left, gleaming and tidy. Interestingly (said the former nurse, who’s heard them all), there aren’t many potty jokes in The Feast. St. Louis Actors’ Studio’s first production of the year
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Unsuspecting Susan
The new theatre kid in town is the Inevitable Theatre Company. (Who could resist the slogan, “Death. Taxes. Theatre. You Can’t Avoid the Inevitable!”?) Their maiden voyage into the St. Louis theatre waters is Unsuspecting Susan at The Chapel. Donna Weinsting is Susan Chester in this almost-one-woman show. She lives outside of London in a
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South Pacific
Are critics harder on shows they know and love – or does their previous affection soften their hearts toward new stagings of them? I have no good answers for that. Nevertheless, I publicly admit that South Pacific is one of my favorite shows, and I argue that it’s the best of any of the Rogers
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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time has opened Repertory Theatre of St Louis’ 51st season. What a fascinating show it is, showing the work that must have gone into it for much of the summer. Based on the bestselling novel of the same name, it tells the story of a teenaged boy
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Uncle Vanya: Valiantly Accepting Next Year’s Agony
“White nights” refers to the long, lingering twilights occur at far northern (and southern, of course) latitudes such as Russia. A gathering of people having tea just before dusk is happening several times currently in town. It’d be a good idea to join them. Rebels and Misfits’ Immersive Theatre Project is giving us an utterly
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9 to 5 The Musical
What fun it is to go to a show about which you’re hesitant – and come out grinning from ear to ear. Stages St. Louis’ current show is 9 to 5 The Musical, and for those of us who delighted in the movie, it was holding-our-breath time to see what surgery had been done. Hooray,
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Newsies the Musical
The 21st century did not invent “fake news”. (As the widow, mother, mother-in-law, and stepmother of journalists, and in the interest of full disclosure, I will say the phrase makes my skin crawl.) It was going on in the United States even before the 20th century. Late in the 1890’s newspaper wars, particularly in New
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Is He Dead?
Is He Dead? could well be described as a melodrama of manners. St. Louis Shakespeare has brought in director Ed Coffield, a guy possessed of a fine hand with comedy, to handle this Mark Twain story, found only a few years ago and turned into a play by David Ives. Let me tell you, it’s