John Sparger

The St. Louis Theater Circle has just announced the nominees for the 2013 Louie Awards, honoring excellence in professional theater. The ceremony is set to take place on March 11 at the Gaslight Theater (358 North Boyle Avenue). To reserve tickets, email stltheatercircle@sbcglobal.net.

I'm lucky enough to see over a hundred shows every year, and I'm happy to report that 2012 was an excellent year for theatre in St. Louis. So, here I am again, offering up my lists for the best productions of 2012. While I'm not going to include the touring companies that came through town this year in my listings, I'd like to give them a shout out just the same.

In this week's edition of Around BWW: Regional Highlights of the Week', we bring you the most-read stories for the week of October 8! From reviews to interviews, videos and photos, catch up on all the latest regional happenings around the Broadway World!

Just in time for election season, New Line Theatre, 'the bad boy of musical theatre,' opens its 22nd season of alternative, adult musical theatre with the St. Louis premiere of the outrageous rock musical BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON, now running through Oct. 20, 2012. An outrageous, audacious, hard-rocking mix of historical fact and fiction redefines America's controversial seventh President, through a time-bending funhouse mirror that reveals the jacked-up political landscape of America in 2012. Get a first look at highlights from the production below.

It's kind of hard to describe the new musical BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON (book by Alex Timbers with music and lyrics by Michael Friedman), but only because it's such a phantasmagorical journey through the life and presidency of Andrew Jackson. Parts of it are downright hilarious, while others are amazingly informative. Kind of like what Bill Cosby used to say during the opening credits of The Fat Albert Show: "If you're not careful, you might learn something before it's done". New Line's current presentation of this wild and woolly excursion into history is a rockin' riot, filled with catchy tunes and funny, anachronistic humor that rarely misses the mark.

Just in time for election season, New Line Theatre, 'the bad boy of musical theatre,' opens its 22nd season of alternative, adult musical theatre with the St. Louis premiere of the outrageous rock musical BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON, running Sept. 27-Oct. 20, 2012. An outrageous, audacious, hard-rocking mix of historical fact and fiction redefines America's controversial seventh President, through a time-bending funhouse mirror that reveals the jacked-up political landscape of America in 2012. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the production below!

The 22nd season at New Line Theatre opens with alternative, adult musical theatre with the St. Louis premiere of the outrageous rock musical BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON, running tonight, Sept. 27-Oct. 20, 2012. Performances are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings, at 8:00 p.m., at the Washington University South Campus Theatre.

The 22nd season at New Line Theatre opens with alternative, adult musical theatre with the St. Louis premiere of the outrageous rock musical BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON, running Sept. 27-Oct. 20, 2012. Performances are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings, at 8:00 p.m. BroadwayWorld has various interviews with Taylor Pietz, Zak Farmer and D. Mike Bauer from the cast. Check out the videos below!

Just in time for election season, New Line Theatre, 'the bad boy of musical theatre,' opens its 22nd season of alternative, adult musical theatre with the St. Louis premiere of the outrageous rock musical BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON, running Sept. 27-Oct. 20, 2012. An outrageous, audacious, hard-rocking mix of historical fact and fiction redefines America's controversial seventh President, through a time-bending funhouse mirror that reveals the jacked-up political landscape of America in 2012. Get a first look at the cast in the photos below!

The 22nd season at New Line Theatre opens with alternative, adult musical theatre with the St. Louis premiere of the outrageous rock musical BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON, running Sept. 27-Oct. 20, 2012. Performances are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings, at 8:00 p.m., at the Washington University South Campus Theatre.

New Line Theatre, 'the bad boy of musical theatre,' has secured the rights to three premieres for its 22nd season of alternative, adult musical theatre -- the outrageous emo rock musical BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON, running Sept. 27-Oct. 20, 2012; the powerhouse Pulitzer Prize-winning rock opera NEXT TO NORMAL, running Feb. 28-March 23, 2013; and the hilariously dark, adult musical comedy BUKOWSICAL, running May 30-June 22, 2013.

Twenty-two St. Louis theater companies are represented in the nominations for the Sixth Annual Kevin Kline Awards. Thirty plays and musicals produced in the St. Louis area during 2010 now share 112 nominations in 22 different categories for the coveted award.

The theatre scene in St. Louis in 2010 turned out to be another year filled with fine productions and superb performances. Despite the economic barriers faced by all the local theatre companies many continued to take risks, presenting material that challenged audience expectations, but entertained them as well. And so, I'm presenting my own top ten of 2010, to honor the shows that beguiled and entranced me this past year.

New Line Theatre closes its nineteenth season with the first St. Louis production in many years of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's rock opera EVITA, running July 8-31, 2010, at the Washington University South Campus Theatre (formerly CBC High School), 6501 Clayton Road, just east of Big Bend. Tickets are on sale now, through Metrotix, 314-534-1111.

New Line Theatre, 'the Bad Boy of Musical Theatre,' closes its nineteenth season of provocative, adult, alternative musical theatre with the first St. Louis production in many years of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's political rock opera EVITA, running through July 31, 2010, at the Washington University South Campus Theatre (formerly CBC High School), 6501 Clayton Road, just east of Big Bend. Tickets are on sale now, through Metrotix, 314-534-1111.

Simply put, New Line Theatre's current production of EVITA absolutely rocks! Employing a more intimate staging and utilizing stripped down orchestrations acts to reinvigorate the work, personalizing the story and adding a real edge to the music. This is one of the chief reasons I'm always drawn to New Line's productions; they don't conform to the norm, offering regular theatre goers the opportunity to witness creative and imaginative takes on new works as well as more familiar ones. If you're already a fan of EVITA (or musical theatre in general), or if you've only seen the misguided movie version with Madonna in the lead role, and you've been turned off to the subject as a result, then you owe it to yourself to check out New Line's darkly engaging presentation.

New Line Theatre closes its nineteenth season with the first St. Louis production in many years of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's rock opera EVITA, running July 8-31, 2010, at the Washington University South Campus Theatre (formerly CBC High School), 6501 Clayton Road, just east of Big Bend. Tickets are on sale now, through Metrotix, 314-534-1111.