Theater/Film Reviews
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Good Hair
One would never confuse Chris Rock with Michael Moore, but here's the comic acting like the rabble-rouser in "Good Hair," a fascinating look at the multi-million dollar industry and the amazing cultural phenomenon created by hair for African-Americans, primarily women. The movie opens today. Apparently, or at least publicly, it all began when one
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Maude Maggart
Member of a show business family for four generations, Maude Maggart comes by her talent honestly, which makes her an honest-to-goodness pleasure when she's on a stage. She sings with honesty and emotion; she tells stories with a winsome expression that draws an audience right into her big, brown eyes. Maggart opened her second
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Helver’s World
Philip Boehm's little Upstream Theater produces more mature and thought-provoking plays than any theater in St. Louis, and he's at it again right now, with "Helver's Night," the American premiere of a drama by Polish writer Ingmar Villqist. It will charm and terrify through Sunday at the small black box Kranzberg Theatre at Grand and
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Sleuth
There’s a venerable theater critic’s line about musicals that are so indescribably awful that the writer will compliment the set and add, “but you can’t hum the scenery while you’re driving home.” Well, maybe you can’t really hum the scenery for “Sleuth,” a terrific production that opened last night at the Repertory Theatre of St.
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Unbeatable
Cancer isn't funny. It kills people, and continues to do so while scientists do research, patients suffer through clinical trials, the religious pray. More people are cured these days, but many still die. "Unbeatable," a musical that opened at the Westport Playhouse last night, takes a different tack, not yet approved by the Food
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Paris
For many years, Paris has been known as the City of Light, and its beauty is almost constantly visible as the city stars in a downer of a movie. "Paris," the movie, which opens today, is largely a love poem to itself, a travelogue from the top of Montmarte to the gorgeous fruits and vegetables
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Somers Town
Not much happens in "Somers Town," a picaresque tale of two lonely adolescents-one English, one Polish-and their friendship, and their attraction to a French waitress, and their lives in a poor, industrial section of London. And yet it's a film with affection, and loyalty, and with making the best of a bad situation. It opens
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Proposals
Only three years before he entered the White House, George W. Bush was invented by Neil Simon and played on Broadway by Peter Rini as Vinnie Bavasi, probably named in honor of the long-time general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now the long-lost descendant of Mrs. Malaprop has come to St. Louis, played in
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Love Kills
It was a killing spree that shocked the nation in 1958. Charles Starkweather, a 19-year-old garbage truck driver in Lincoln, Neb., and his 14-year-old girl friend, Caril Ann Fugate, went off on a killing spree, starting with her family and continuing until 11 bodies were found here and there in a number of midwestern states.
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The Phantom Of The Opera
Talent will out. Talent and attitude together will turn preconceived notions upside down, as they did to me at the Fox Theatre last night. I've seen "The Phantom of the Opera" at least a dozen times, and I went more out of duty and hope than high expectations. Wow! What a treat! A talented, exciting