Theater/Film Reviews
-
Big River
Adam Shonkwiler lists five dialects among his skills on his Internet resume. None of them came close to the one he used last night as Huckleberry Finn in "Big River," the Roger Miller musical that opened the 2010 season for Stages St. Louis at the Robert Reim Theatre in the Kirkwood Civic Center. What did
-
Eugene Onegin
The entire range of Russian drama, from high ideals to low deceit, from love everlasting, where "ever" lasts about 20 minutes, to deepest perfidy, whose effects last forever, comes across the Opera Theatre of St. Louis in "Eugene Onegin," which opened last night at the Loretto-Hilton Center. It's another dramatic success, lifted by some glorious
-
Hamlet
The calendar wants us to wait a few weeks, but we had our own Magical Midsummer Night in Forest Park last night. A glorious full moon, ideal temperatures for sitting in the Shakespeare Glen on Art Hill, passionate performances on the stage and maybe some under the trees and out of sight as well. It
-
Daddy Longlegs
Joshua and Benny Safdie write and direct films with an attitude–and a deep understanding–which comes from the fact that they are brothers, and that they are dealing with their own lives. Their feature, "Daddy Longlegs," previously titled and released as "Go Get Some Rosemary," opens today as part of the Webster Film Series, with nightly
-
The Marriage of Figaro
One of the longest-lasting and best-loved operas in the canon, with performances a constant since 1786, "The Marriage of Figaro" opened the Opera Theatre of St. Louis season last night at the Loretto-Hilton Center with a dazzling production. It will be repeated eight times through June 26. It's a slightly unusual "Figaro" in its political
-
Princess Kaiulani
Calling it a mish-mash of history and of filmmaking is about the kindest thing that can be said about "Princess Kaiulani," a new film that pretends to relate a story of Hawaiian history, but which provides little more than some nice travelogue shots of Hawaiian scenery and an opportunity for Q'orianka Kilcher to portray another
-
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Call him a street artist, or a graffiti artist, or an underground artist, or even a vandal, but Banksy, the reclusive Englishman who inhabits these titles, is a fascinating man, talented enough to gain a major reputation while hiding both his face and his voice, and to co-opt another director's movie, which he does in
-
See What I’m Saying
"Are you deaf?" seems to be part of the vernacular, used as a jiving joke, when deaf people are conversing. Or maybe it's just among deaf entertainers, or maybe only among deaf entertainers participating in "See What I'm Saying: the Deaf Entertainers Documentary," a moving, sometimes depressing but usually uplifting movie that opens here today.
-
The Square
Mostly well-made and taut in its tension, "The Square" is an Australian crime story that deals in adultery, money and murder. If that sounds like "Double Indemnity," my all-time favorite of similar movies, well, so be it. Nash Edgerton's direction gives the tale proper pacing, but the screenplay, by his brother, Joel and Matthew Dabner,
-
Young Frankenstein
Theater writers often honor talent by turning names into adjectival descriptions like Shakespearean, Brechtian, Chekhovian. Let's add Brooksian to the list. Define it? That's easy. Wild, wacky, over the top, derivative, rowdy, raunchy, extremely entertaining. There probably are more, but those are good enough to describe "Young Frankenstein," the Mel Brooks musical that opened last