Chris Gibson - Page 61

Avalon Theatre Company is proud to present its first holiday production, AN O.HENRY CHRISTMAS, A Christmas Musical by Peter Ekstrom, December 3 - 20 at Avalon in ArtSpace at Crestwood Court. AN O.HENRY CHRISTMAS is comprised of two heart-warming one-act musicals based on the classic O. Henry stories, The Gift of the Magi and The Last Leaf.

As the New Jewish Theatre continues its Bat Mitzvah Season, we take another look at Father-Son relationships with Donald Margulies' brilliant BROOKLYN BOY which opens with a preview performance on Wednesday, December 2 and runs through December 20. For this production, we will once again return to Clayton High School's more intimate Little Theatre.

This is the post-workshop staged reading of the chosen script from the 2009 New Play Festival. THE SINKER will be produced as a world premiere in the 2010 Mainstage Series. Be a part of the post-show discussion with the dramaturg and the playwright and have your feedback help the author edit the play into its published form. It's a comfortable, very casual way to meet the playwright, artists, and HotCity staff working on this production.

Piwacket Theatre for Children continues their season with a festive treat called THE HOLIDAY SHOW, which teaches kids the importance of sharing. Of course, this is a valuable lesson any time of the year, but with Christmas around the bend, it's especially imperative that the little ones understand that it is truly better to give than receive.

Adapted and directed by Black Rep producing director Ron Himes, BLACK NATIVITY tells St. Luke's story of the birth of Christ with an ensemble cast that features inspiring gospel songs and graceful dancing. The Black Rep first produced BLACK NATIVITY 20 years ago, and will reprise the play as a prelude to its 33rd season, which begins in January.

Even if you've never watched the popular TV show that ran from the mid-1970's to the early 1980's, or read Laura Ingalls Wilder's popular children's novel, you'll still find plenty to enjoy watching LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE - THE MUSICAL. This is a sweet and charming show that illustrates the true pioneer spirit of the settlers who forged new lives for themselves in the western frontier.

THE SANTALAND DIARIES comes from Mr. Sedaris' best-selling book, Holidays on Ice, in which he shares the sardonic tale of his employment as 'Crumpet', an elf in Macy's Santaland. Sedaris' reading of this story on National Public Radio generated one of the largest responses from its listening audience ever. As a stage piece, The Santaland Diaries has also met with huge success in theatres nationwide.

Union Avenue Opera presents a school performacne of Menotti's AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISITORS. Students arrive at 9 and take a tour of the UAO facility, watch a presentation on opera history, learn about the Amahl story, and watch the production. The program concludes at 11 a.m.

Performances of TRANSMOTION - sponsored by the Performing Arts Department (PAD) in Arts & Sciences - will feature more than three dozen student dancers, selected by audition, in seven original works by faculty and guest choreographers. Pieces range from ballet and contemporary dance to works drawing on Chinese and Native American traditions.

Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra principal clarinetist Scott Andrews, with the Calyx Trio, performs Messiaen's mystical Quartet for the End of Time, as well as music by Debussy and Joan Tower, on Wednesday, April 7 at 8 p.m.

The Sheldon is pleased to announce Peter Martin Music, a new concert series by St. Louis' own, jazz pianist Peter Martin. He brings jazz home to the Lou with this exciting new series featuring Martin on piano along with special guests. The first in the series will be THE DUO, featuring four-time Grammy® Award winner Dianne Reeves on Friday, February 5 at 8 p.m.

Now celebrating 13 glorious years of girls, glitz and glamour on the Great White Way, the record-breaking smash hit musical CHICAGO is now the seventh longest-running production in Broadway history ... and shows no sign of ever slowing down! CHICAGO returns to the Fabulous Fox Theatre for 5 performances only, January 1-3, 2010.

Playwright Martin McDonagh has a knack for crafting pitch black comedies that find humor in the darkest of subjects. In his play, THE PILLOWMAN, he gives us a horror fiction writer trapped in a totalitarian state, who's being interrogated because the content of his gruesome work happens to coincide with a recent string of child murders. This is heavy stuff, but McDonagh mines his material for the unexpected, producing comic genius amidst the madness.

Truly, the real secret to success in life is following your dreams. And, Alison Brown must have been listening when her inner voice spoke to her. How else do you explain someone who graduated from Harvard with an MBA leaving behind a lucrative position at Smith Barney to pursue the banjo? I know that the appreciative audience at the Sheldon Concert Hall (November 20, 2009) was certainly glad she made that career decision.

Set amidst a Kafkaesque police state, THE PILLOWMAN opens in a stark interrogation room, where the adult Katurian - a slaughterhouse worker beginning to find recognition as a writer of gruesome fairy tales - sits blindfolded, his brother Michal in the adjoining room. Their interrogators, the outrageously profane good-cop-bad-cop duo of Tupolski and Ariel, suspect that Katurian's stories may not be entirely fiction. And in fact, they do bear remarkable resemblance to a series of grisly child murders that the detectives are currently investigating.

Mustard Seed Theatre presents FIDDLER ON THE ROOF October 30 - November 22, 2009 at the Fontbonne University Black Box Theatre in the Fine Arts Building at 6800 Wydown Boulevard in Clayton. Celebrate the lives of Tevye and his family as they navigate tradition, progress, love and hate. You'll see this well-loved musical in a new light: staged in an intimate setting, focused on the characters and the melodies of their relationships.

As the New Jewish Theatre continues its Bat Mitzvah Season, we take another look at Father-Son relationships with Donald Margulies' brilliant BROOKLYN BOY which opens with a preview performance on Wednesday, December 2 and runs through December 20. For this production, we will once again return to Clayton High School's more intimate Little Theatre.

Set amidst a Kafkaesque police state, THE PILLOWMAN opens in a stark interrogation room, where the adult Katurian - a slaughterhouse worker beginning to find recognition as a writer of gruesome fairy tales - sits blindfolded, his brother Michal in the adjoining room. Their interrogators, the outrageously profane good-cop-bad-cop duo of Tupolski and Ariel, suspect that Katurian's stories may not be entirely fiction. And in fact, they do bear remarkable resemblance to a series of grisly child murders that the detectives are currently investigating.