Our St. Louis Critics
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BWW Review: Avalon Theatre Company's Performance-Driven Production of AGNES OF GOD
Playwright John Pielmeier has constructed an interesting work with AGNES OF GOD. It's decidedly uneven in tone, and the template for the script is very similar to the one utilized by the far-superior Equus (as a learned colleague of mine pointed out), but it's an engaging and involving show nonethel...
BWW Review: The Black Rep's Moving Production of BLACK PEARL SINGS!
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 prison...
BWW Review: New Jewish Theatre Presents Marvelous Production of AWAKE AND SING!
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 unde...
BWW Review: Mustard Seed Theatre's Engaging Premiere of TILL WE HAVE FACES
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 styl...
BWW Review: Fox Theatre Presents Astounding Production of NEXT TO NORMAL
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 an...
BWW Reviews: MICHAEL FLATLEY'S LORD OF THE DANCE Dazzles at the Fox Theatre
After years of just seeing clips on public television, I thought it was time to actually take in a complete performance of MICHAEL FLATLEY'S LORD OF THE DANCE to see what all the fuss was about. And, it's an entirely different experience in person. Live, the energy and enthusiasm of these consummate...
BWW Review: Upstream Theater's Startling Production of THE DEATH OF ATAHUALPA
I can always depend on Upsteam Theater to deliver a unique theatrical experience, and with the US premiere of THE DEATH OF ATAHUALPA they continue in the fine tradition they've firmly established, providing an audience with a fresh look at the last days of the Inca empire. Writer/director Philip Boe...
BWW Review: Stray Dog Theatre's Cute Production of YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN
Charles M. Schulz, the creator of Peanuts, had the ability to communicate tiny bits of wisdom and insight in the space of three panels (six panels in the Sunday funnies) of rudimentary art. And, while most of his colleagues would head straight for a punchline, Schulz tended to take a more philosophi...
BWW Reviews: Lively and Fun Production of STOMP at the Fox Theatre
If you've ever drummed on your steering wheel to a song on the radio, or absentmindedly tapped your pencil on your desk, creating your own rhythmic accompaniment, then you've already grasped the concept at the heart of STOMP. Over the course of an hour and a half, a group of performers demonstrate h...
BWW Reviews: The Black Rep's Artful Production of THE REAL MCCOY
always consider it a rewarding experience when you go to see a play and you actually learn something along the way. In the case of playwright Andrew Moodie's work, THE REAL MCCOY, we're treated to a biographical account of forgotten black inventor Elijah McCoy (1844-1929). It's an intriguing and en...
BWW Reviews: The Imaginary Theatre Company's Cute Production of CHANTICLEER!
The basic story of Chanticleer can supposedly be traced back to Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, and a particular story titled 'The Nun's Priest's Tale', but you'd be hard pressed to find any resemblance between that work and most adaptations which focus instead on the conflict between a sly fox and ...
BWW Reviews: The Rep's Upbeat and Fun Production of BEEHIVE THE 60's MUSICAL
BEEHIVE THE 60's MUSICAL closes out the season for the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, providing a refreshing and cheery dose of 1960's sunshine, and filling the theatre with the sounds of classic pop tunes from that era. This jukebox musical focuses on the contributions that women made to music dur...
BWW Reviews: St. Louis Shakespeare's Swashbuckling Production of CYRANO DE BERGERAC
If your only previous exposure to the story of Cyrano de Bergerac was through the Steve Martin vehicle Roxanne, then you've really only seen a watered down (and considerably lightened) telling of the tale. The movie is a lot of fun, but Edmond Rostand's play, which imparts a great deal of fictional ...
BWW Reviews: JIMMY WEBB at the Kranzberg Arts Center
St. Louis has experienced a veritable confluence of exceptional songwriting talent with concerts by Randy Newman (The Sheldon), Kris Kristofferson and Merle Haggard (The Fox), along with the recent three day stand at the Kranzberg by Jimmy Webb. While I certainly regret missing the show at the Fox, ...
BWW Reviews: Dramatic License Productions' Heart-Warming Production of DRIVING MISS DAISY
It's easy to see why playwright Alfred Uhry's DRIVING MISS DAISY was so successfully adapted for the movies. The episodic structure of Uhry's work, along with its brevity (running a scant 75 minutes), make it a perfect candidate for the big screen. But, don't be content sitting at home watching the ...
BWW Reviews: Citilites Theatre's Production of SOUTHERN BAPTIST SISSIES
The idea of following the stories of four young gay men who are raised as members of a Baptist church in Texas is certainly fertile enough stuff for a play on its own. But, with SOUTHERN BAPTIST SISSIES, playwright Del Shores muddies this basic premise with a non-linear, and at times illogical, pres...
BWW Reviews: The Rep's Arousing Production of IN THE NEXT ROOM OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY
Playwright Sarah Ruhl has crafted a brilliantly funny and touching work with IN THE NEXT ROOM OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY, a piece that's as moving, in the end, as it is hilarious and erotic. While it concerns itself with the invention of the device mentioned in the title, it's also an amusing look at all ...
BWW Reviews: Muddy Waters Opens Season of Paula Vogel with THE BALTIMORE WALTZ
Muddy Waters Theatre opens their season devoted to playwright Paula Vogel with her OBIE award-winning work, THE BALTIMORE WALTZ, a play best described as a kind of farcical fever dream that satirizes AIDS hysteria. It was apparently written as a sort of literary 'AIDS quilt' that allowed Vogel to de...
BWW Reviews: New Line Theatre Rocks with Hilarious Production of TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA
Though Shakespeare's first play, TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, is ungainly and raw at times, many of the devices and plot mechanisms that will soon become the playwright's stock in trade are present in its text. As such, it remains a crude example of an early work by a master still fine tuning his craft....
BWW Reviews: RANDY NEWMAN'S Terrific Show at the Sheldon
So, one evening (February 25, 2011) Randy Newman is providing the assembled throng at the Sheldon Concert Hall (a benefit for the Friends of the Sheldon) with an immensely entertaining concert, and a couple of days later he's picking up his second Academy Award (after countless nominations) for his ...
BWW Reviews: St.Louis Actors' Studio's Intense Production of CLOSER
Patrick Marber's play CLOSER is an intriguing examination of the way men and women interact with one another, particularly with regards to their vastly differing ideas as to what love and commitment actually mean. The story itself is fascinating and frustrating, in equal measure, as we watch four da...
BWW Reviews: New Jewish Theatre Presents Perfectly Charming Production of SIRENS
Playwright Deborah Zoe Laufer has constructed an interesting and very engaging work with SIRENS, which comes to us directly from the Humana New Plays Festival. This is a whimsical and charming tale that touches on a couple of different mythologies with its references to muses and sirens, one of whic...
BWW Reviews: The Black Rep's Haunting Production of RUINED
RUINED is one of those plays that lingers in your mind long after it's over. There's a reason that playwright Lynn Nottage won the Pulitzer Prize for drama with this powerful story, and once you've seen it yourself, it may well haunt you too. Because, even though this tale about the plight of civili...
BWW Reviews: The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis Presents Powerful MACBETH
Since I've become a theatre critic I've had the opportunity to see several productions of William Shakespeare's MACBETH, and most have left me wanting in one way or another. But, just as Roman Polanski's gritty 1971 film adaptation is, for me at least, the best interpretation of the Bard's play that...
BWW Reviews: 9 to 5: The Musical at the Fox Theatre
The 1980 movie Nine to Five was a pretty big hit when it came out, and one reason is because it touched a nerve with its tale of three secretaries (Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton) who extract revenge from their chauvinistic boss, superbly played by Dabney Coleman, who made a career out of ...
Videos
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The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee Stages St. Louis at the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center (5/29-6/28) |
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The Light in the Piazza Loretto-Hilton Center (5/30-6/28) |
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God of Carnage New Jewish Theatre (NJT) (6/11-6/28) |
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The Wasp by Morgan Lloyd Malcom Albion Theatre (6/12-6/28) |
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Terms of Endearment Clayton Community Theatre (7/23-8/02) |
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We Will Rock You The Marcelle Theater (6/04-6/27) |
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Motown Magic Kirkwood Performing Arts Center (6/19-6/19) |
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Jake’s Leg - June 27, 7:30pm The Wildey (6/27-6/27) |
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The SpongeBob Musical Chesterfield Community Theater (6/19-6/20) |
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Harmony STL Presents: Now Playing -- The Hits That Shaped Our Generations! Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center (6/13-6/13) |
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