Theater/Film Reviews
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Blood Wedding
There's nary a drop of blood on the stage, or on the costumes, but the mind and the emotions are soaked with it after watching Upstream Theater's production of Federico Garcia Lorca's "Blood Wedding," which opened at the Kranzberg Theatre last night, to run through Oct. 23. It's dazzling theater, featuring Philip Boehm's always spot-on
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The Who’s Tommy
"The Who's Tommy," a ground-breaking concept album from 1969, has split into a variety of entertainment forms. First, as noted, was the album, with music and lyrics by Pete Townshend. In 1975, there was a movie version, loaded with special effects, directed by Ken Russell and starring Roger Daltrey. In 1992, a stage version opened
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Love Crime
Ludivine Sagnier and Kristin Scott Thomas, fine actresses and beautiful women, go head to head in "Love Crime," a first-rate murder mystery with lots of jealousy, sex and ambition to spice up a good story. It opens today, and has enough old-fashioned detectives and new-fashioned ad-p.r. executives to keep everything spiced up. It's the last
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Machine Gun Preacher
Many years ago, one of James Thurber's fables (a series of short stories involving animals to satirize the human condition) dealt with a bear who drank until he fell asleep, misbehaved and made life miserable for his family. When he reformed, he exercised until he fell asleep, harshly criticized those who did not believe and
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Happy Happy
He'd rather go hunting than make love with his wife. That's Erik (Joachim Rafaelsen), who thinks that Kaja (Agnes Kittelsen) isn't attractive enough to excite him these days. He's not involved with another woman; he simply prefers to be with his buddies. And the movie, which opens today, is entitled, "Happy Happy" and billed as
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The Addams Family Musical
"Are you unhappy, darling?" "Oh yes, yes! Completely." This conversational fragment first saw life on a page of The New Yorker as a caption to a cartoon showing Gomez and Morticia sitting by the fireplace. Charles Addams, a cartoon artist for more than a half-century, developed the family of misfits, bad actors, sadists and other
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Passing Strange
It's an age-old story: A talented young man leaves home in search of. . . something. Maybe it's freedom, maybe it's riches, or sex, or rock-and roll. He travels the world, meeting all kinds of people, enduring heartache and headache, pleasure and pain, still searching. Sound like Candide? Or maybe Jacques Brel? Or perhaps Pippin?
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Rabbit Hole
Parents never truly “get over” the loss of a child, but they must keep their relationship open and their discussions honest if they want to get past the terrible event and live successful lives. David Lindsay-Abaire’s outstanding play, “Rabbit Hole,” looks at the event in the lives of a suburban family, and tackles the difficult
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One Man, Two Guvnors
Britain's National Theatre, along with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Metropolitan Opera or the Bolshoi Ballet, are national treasures, renowned throughout the world for their contributions to the arts. Their work is brilliant, but not always classic or heavy — and St. Louisans can see for themselves tomorrow and next Saturday when a filmed production
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Moneyball
One of the rare sports movies that has an intelligent approach to baseball, and which does not end with a game, “Moneyball” is an interesting movie, even though it projects a concept that I abhor, the overuse of statistics by announcers, writers and others who are not skillful enough to properly describe what they are