Michael Kostroff News

The St. Louis Theatre Circle has announced their nominations for their annual awards to be distributed on March 23, 2026, at the Loretto-Hilton Center. 172 theatre artists have been nominated in 34 categories honoring the best in St. Louis Theater in 2025. The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis leads all companies with a record-breaking 38 nominations for their productions of Athena, Clyde’s, Emma, Ken Ludwig’s Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Brothers Size, and The Cottage. Emma is the most nominated comedy of the season with 11 nominations.

DOG DAY AFTERNOON, a new play by Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Adly Guirgis (Between Riverside and Crazy, The Motherf***er with the Hat), has found its cast! The play is directed by two-time Olivier Award winner Rupert Goold (King Charles III) and inspired by the actual events that captivated audiences in the Oscar®-winning motion picture.

This one of its kind world premiere event also pays tribute to Bernstein’s passion for education, with proceeds supporting MTG’s Youth Education Outreach programs.

Jason Graae (pronounced 'grah'or 'graw', but not 'gray' is an established American musical theater actor, best known for his musical theater performances but with a varied career spanning Broadway, opera, television and film. He has won four Bistro Awards, two Ovation Awards, two New York Nightlife Awards, the Theatre Bay Area Award for Best Actor in a Musical and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Joel Hirschhorn Award for Outstanding Achievement in Musical Theatre.

In the vernacular of the production, everything about it is quite satisfactory. Solid performances, handsome and functional staging, etc. It is all quite lovely. This production overall, however, fails to breakthrough. Christie’s script and characters are, as many of her works multifaceted and deliciously intertwined. As we get to know more about each of them over the course of the just short of two and a half hours (with one 15-minute intermission) information that makes all potential suspects much in the way the popular 1974 film Murder On The Orient Express did. This production is flat and rather two dimensional. Although the audience laughed in all the right places, we were never really drawn in. We watched the action play out before us, but the multitude of wait-what, and a-ha moments seemed to fall short not crossing the proscenium to connect with the audience members in the way they should. I will say that for me personally, , Matt Sullivan’s performance as Mr. Paravicini achieved the level of mysterious particularly well.

Berkshire Theatre Group is bringing a new staging of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap to The Colonial Theatre this summer, with performances running July 24 to August 17, 2025.

Designer Ann Beyersdorfer discusses creating the set for Murder for Two at STAGES St. Louis, balancing quick character transitions, classic mystery aesthetics, and fast-paced comedy.

The STAGES St. Louis season opens at the end of May with the hilarious musical whodunit Murder for Two. A famed novelist is killed at his surprise birthday party and everyone attending is a suspect. A small-town police detective, piano playing Marcus Moscowitz, arrives to investigate and question all 12 suspects. The 12 suspects are all played by one piano playing actor. The zany music-filled murder mystery unfolds as Detective Moscowitz interviews the eccentric party guests.   STAGES St. Louis artistic director Gayle Seay knew she had to find the perfect team to lead this madcap comedic thriller. Casting two actors who are piano playing virtuosos, plus standby actors for each role was hard enough, but she immediately knew who she wanted to direct. Enter Michael Kostroff.  

STAGES St. Louis has announced their 2025 line-up, and it is a season of comedy, romance, and nostalgia. The season opens with the hilarious madcap musical MURDER FOR TWO. That will be followed by the pre-Broadway tryout of the Jane Austen bio-musical AUSTEN’S PRIDE and the Tony Award Winning Broadway hit BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL. Broadway World had the opportunity to sit down last week with STAGES artistic director Gayle Seay, executive producer Andrew Kuhlman, and marketing director Michael Adkins to talk about their upcoming season.  

JUDGMENT DAY may be a world premiere comedy, but it trades in old-school jokes. Rob Ulin’s play is relatively simple and wears its moral heart on its sleeve (Main takeaway: Don’t be a jerk), even if lead role Sammy Campo doesn’t have a heart at all. While JUDGMENT DAY pokes some fun at the Catholic church, the play’s satire is not that deep. That said, this play is swiftly moving and delightfully entertaining, and it fully delivers on the promise of offering audiences a good time. 

Get a first look at Chicago Shakespeare Theater's Judgment Day, a hilariously irreverent world premiere comedy starring Tony and Emmy Award winner Jason Alexander (Seinfeld) in his Chicago stage debut.

Get a first look at Jason Alexander in Judgement Day at Chicago Shakespeare Theater! Learn more and see how to purchase tickets.

Go inside rehearsals for Chicago Shakespeare Theater's production of Judgment Day, a hilariously irreverent world premiere comedy starring Tony and Emmy Award winner Jason Alexander (Seinfeld) in his Chicago stage debut.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater will present Judgment Day, a hilariously irreverent world premiere comedy starring Tony and Emmy Award winner Jason Alexander (Seinfeld) in his Chicago stage debut. Check out rehearsal photos here!

Jason Alexander discusses why he is excited to dive into rehearsals for the world premiere comedy JUDGMENT DAY at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, running April 23–May 26, 2024 in the video here!

Chicago Shakespeare Theater has revealed the full company of Judgment Day, a world premiere comedy starring Tony and Emmy Award winner Jason Alexander in his Chicago stage debut.

Pioneer Theatre Company’s blossoming production of NATIVE GARDENS is both thought provoking and flat out entertaining thanks to the timely script, solid performances, and extraordinary set. If you’re wondering whether this is one worth seeing, stop wondering and just go. 

Meet the cast of Pioneer Theatre's Native Gardens as they tell us what plant their character would be in a fun new video. From award-winning playwright Karen Zacarías, NATIVE GARDENS is a contemporary comedy that reminds us: we can’t always choose our neighbors. 

Pioneer Theatre Company will kick off 2024 with the Utah premiere of Native Gardens. See who is starring and learn how to purchase tickets!

A re-imagined production of Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee’s Inherit the Wind is currently playing on the Pasadena Playhouse stage, just extended through December 3, 2023. Michael Michetti directs the cast, led by Alfred Molina & John Douglas Thompson as the battling lawyers in a trial inspired by the Scopes Monkey trials in 1925. Rounding out the talented company: Chris Perfetti, Abubakr Al, David Aaron Baker, Rachel Hilson, Jared, Brian Calì, Marlene Forte, Matt Gomez Hidaka, Thomas Hobson, Michael Kostroff, John W. Lawson, Philip J. Lewis, Gabriella Pizzigoni, Rene Rivera and Pam Trotter. After the whirlwind of opening night and unexpected COVID cancellations, John Douglas graciously found some time to chat with me on the phone.