Chris Gibson - Page 52

Stray Dog Theatre presents DARK MATTERS by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. In an isolated house at the edge of a cornfield, in the mountains of Virginia, something almost beyond belief is happening to the Cleary family. When Bridget Cleary goes missing in the dead of night, her husband Michael and son Jeremy do everything within their power to help find her. Then, as suddenly as she vanished, Bridget reappears, talking about strange visitations and otherworldly beings. Is she lying, or are supernatural forces at work? A suspenseful thriller about the secrets that hold families together. Justin Been directs the show and the cast features Sarah Cannon, John Reidy, David Wassilak, and Tyler Whiteman.

Magic Smoking Monkey Theatre presents THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES...in 3-D! Performing May 13 - 21, 2011, Friday and Saturday at 8pm and 10:30pm nightly at the Regional Arts Commission Studio Theatre, 6128 Delmar in University City.

This month, the university's Performing Arts Department (PAD) in Arts & Sciences will present the world premiere of Chris Kammerer's THE STROKE SCRIPTURES in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre. Performances take place at 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, April 28, 29 and 30; and at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, April 30 and May 1. Tickets are $15, or $10 for students, seniors and Washington University faculty and staff, and are available through the Edison Theatre Box Office and all MetroTix outlets.

John and Alan Lomax were pioneering folklorists and ethnomusicologists who tracked down songs and performers to produce field recordings that provide a compelling picture of our cultural history in musical terms. Oft times, their recordings required them to travel to remote locations, or even prisons, to find heretofore undiscovered gems. BLACK PEARL SINGS!, by playwright Frank Higgins, is an intriguing and fictionalized take on their unique talent for ferreting out these songs, here casting an ambitious female in their role. The Black Rep's current production is an engaging glimpse into the processes individuals like the Lomax brothers utilized, and it features sharp direction and a terrific two person cast.

Though playwright Clifford Odets wrote AWAKE AND SING! in 1933, it still has the power to resonate with an audience over 70 years later, not only due to the fact that our country is currently struggling with its own economic uncertainties, but also because the theme of pursuing your dream under undeniably dire circumstance is a timeless one. Revived in 2006, but rarely staged otherwise, this is a rare opportunity to see an American masterpiece. The New Jewish Theatre's current production is a real stunner, chock-full of drama and humor, and brimming with electric performances.

The Sheldon Art Galleries presents a free Gallery Talk with Bärbel Schulte, curator of the exhibition Max Lazarus: Trier / St. Louis / Denver - A Jewish Artist's Fate, Saturday, April 23, 1 p.m. Dr. Schulte will speak on Max Lazarus' life and career in conjunction with the exhibition, admission free.

Hazard To Ya Booty fuses old-school funk with elements of rock, hip-hop and soul to make a unique sound that's guaranteed to get your body moving. Garage-rock band The 4th Row continues its reunion tour at The Sheldon Ballroom! Led by Radio Rich Dalton of KHITS 96, thehigh-energy group performs your favorite hits from the '60s, including the music of The Doors, the Moody Blues, and more!

It's always exciting when a reviewer gets the opportunity to see a new work premiered, and Mustard Seed Theatre is currently presenting an adaptation of the C.S. Lewis novel TILL WE HAVE FACES by playwright/director Deanna Jent, and it's a well-done and literate play that captures the prose and style of the author quite nicely. While I was always more attracted to the science fiction of C.S. Lewis, the 'Space Trilogy' in particular, I think the show has appeal beyond the fan base of Lewis, and at the sold-out performance I attended it was clear that there's definitely an audience for this material. A terrific cast under Jent's thoughtful direction brings this novel, and the mythologies that it represents, to life in fine fashion.

The Friends of the Sheldon present Steve Tyrell, May 15 at 7:30 p.m. in the perfect acoustics of the Sheldon Concert Hall. Grammy Award-winning vocalist Steve Tyrell has spent four decades in the music business, has achieved great success as an artist, producer, songwriter and performer and is a two-time Emmy nominee. Tyrell helped to re-invent and re-popularize classic pop standards for a modern-day audience and has worked with legendary artists such as Diana Ross, Ray Charles, Burt Bacharach and Stevie Wonder.

Like a space-age mix of Stomp and Blue Man Group, THE ALUMINUM SHOW is a visually arresting spectacle filled with unique choreography, avant-garde lighting, pulsating electronic music and ingenious sets and costumes constructed entirely from the title substance. The show dates back to 2002, when Israeli dancer Ilan Azriel and his wife, Ella Munk-Azriel - cofounders of Dollbeat Productions Ltd. - began developing a theatrical evening that would personify industrial materials while enabling direct interaction between audience and performers.

Set in the 1930's, jailed in a Texas prison, Alberta 'Pearl' Johnson has little hope for release and even less for reconnecting with her missing daughter. That is until Susannah Mullally, a song collector on a mission to record pieces of African American culture, overhears Pearl singing while on a visit to the prison. Through her music, Pearl has the unexpected opportunity to earn her freedom and search for her daughter. BLACK PEARL SINGS! is a work that harnesses race relations and the rich oral history of the African American community to build a tale that is funny, touching and compelling.

In conjunction with this year's production of the Taming of the Shrew, set for May 25-June 19 (excluding Tuesdays) in Shakespeare Glen in Forest Park, the two educational shows now making their rounds to 22,000 students throughout 125 schools and community venues include 'Shrew in a Few,' and 'Cruel to be Kind.' Both adaptations were written by Christopher Limber, the education director for Shakespeare Festival St. Louis. 'Cruel to be Kind' illuminates Shakespeare's career as a playwright in London while also addressing the timely subject of bullying and the power of theatre to change lives.

Never before presented in English, this historical-folklorical tragical-comical reenactment of THE DEATH OF ATAHUALPA will be making its world debut in St. Louis this April. For centuries this tale of regicide has enthralled audiences in the Andes Mountains where some 7 million people speak Quechua, the ancestral language of the Incas. (That's more than speak Danish, Hebrew, or Slovak.) Plays depicting the Spaniard Pizarro's conquest of the majestic Inca Empire have been orally handed down through the generations, and now English-speaking audiences will have the unique opportunity to witness a work never before performed in the United States.

Last year the Pulitzer prize-winning play August: Osage County absolutely lit up the Fox Theatre, going down in my memory as one of the finest productions I'd ever had the pleasure to have seen, and this year the Pulitzer prize-winning musical NEXT TO NORMAL arrives with similar high expectations and critical acclaim and, I'm happy to report, doesn't disappoint. At a time when the safe bet seems to be simply plucking a comedy from Hollywood's recent past and reworking it for the stage, it's refreshing to see an original work that actually addresses a real life issue, which in this case is mental illness and the devastating effect it can have on individuals and their families. NEXT TO NORMAL is a phenomenal show that's gripping from beginning to end, and the current production playing the Fox Theatre is required viewing for any fan of modern musical theatre.

Mustard Seed Theatre opens TILL WE HAVE FACES April 15 - May 1, 2011. A powerful Queen must surrender to invisible forces to rescue her sister and discover the secret of true beauty. From the novel by C.S. Lewis, this retelling of the Greek myth of Psyche has been adapted for the stage by Artistic Director Deanna Jent.

The Presenters Dolan welcome Kay Love and her cabaret show Confessions of a Pom Pom Reject 8pm on Friday, April 15 & Saturday April 16 at the Kranzberg Arts Center. Lennie Watts directs and Steven Ray Watkins is the music director for this presentation. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at www.licketytix.com, or by calling 314-725-4200 ext 10.

Set in the 1930's, jailed in a Texas prison, Alberta 'Pearl' Johnson has little hope for release and even less for reconnecting with her missing daughter. That is until Susannah Mullally, a song collector on a mission to record pieces of African American culture, overhears Pearl singing while on a visit to the prison. Through her music, Pearl has the unexpected opportunity to earn her freedom and search for her daughter. BLACK PEARL SINGS! is a work that harnesses race relations and the rich oral history of the African American community to build a tale that is funny, touching and compelling.

In celebration of its 25th season, Circus Flora, St. Louis' beloved, one-ring circus presents a brand new show, VAGABOND ADVENTURES, June 2 through 26, under the air-conditioned, red-and-white, big top tent in Grand Center. Presented by Edward Jones, the show comes on the heels of Circus Flora's triumph with the St. Louis Symphony in January.

The Sheldon presents The Sheldon Jazz Quintet, Tuesday and Wednesday, May 10 and 11, 2011 at 10 a.m. in the perfect acoustics of the Sheldon Concert Hall. Enjoy complimentary coffee and pastries at 9 a.m. in the beautiful Louis Spiering Room. Led by guitarist Rick Haydon, The Sheldon Jazz Quintet features St. Louis all-stars performing straight-ahead jazz and swinging jazz standards! Haydon will be joined by acclaimed vocalist Mardra Thomas, and a rhythm section including pianist Reggie Thomas and drummer Miles Vandiver.

On November 11, 2011 - 100 years to the day after the first performance of The Players at the St. Louis Artists Guild - WEPG will open its season with Charles Marowitz's MURDERING MARLOWE directed by Robert A. Mitchell. William Shakespeare is an aspiring playwright desperate to make his mark in London. The greatest obstacle to his success is the prominence of Christopher Marlowe, the 'superstar' of the Elizabethan theatre. This intriguing thriller explores the high price of envy, love and blind ambition, all played out among the familiar names of Shakespeare's day. MURDERING MARLOWE runs through November 20.