ST. LOUIS THEATER REVIEWS

Stray Dog Theatre provides the discerning viewer with more alternative fare during the holiday season with their fine production of Douglas Carter Beane's pop culture-driven work AS BEES IN HONEY DROWN. Beane's script is peppered with blisteringly funny lines that tumble forth with reckless abandon,...

There are a number of unique holiday-themed shows currently playing in local theatres, and the NonProphet Theater Company has joined in the yuletide fray with their current production of RECKLESS. Playwright Craig Lucas has crafted a strangely affecting little tale that takes any number of twists an...

Echo Theatre Company, who continually push the envelope by presenting fresh and daring plays and musicals as part of their theatrical mission, offer up the St. Louis premiere of playwright Sheila Callaghan's wacky and surreal work CRUMBLE (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake) for your holiday season peru...

I'm a big fright film fan and aficionado, and I've even been to a couple of horror conventions, so playwright Alison Moore's fiendishly clever work, SLASHER, is right up my alley. In fact, I was hooked from the opening dinner conversation, which immediately makes mention of film director Tobe Hooper...

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis continues their stellar season with their third consecutive play concerning issues of faith, and just like those other two productions, it's a definite winner. Playwright Tom Dudzick has constructed a terrific, semi-autobiographical coming of age piece that's both ...

Sophie Tucker, born Sophie Kalish, was an extraordinary performer, possessing a big voice and an even bigger personality, she charmed audiences with her spicy humor and risque material. Tony Parise (who also directs this staging) and Karin Baker have assembled an entertaining and informative show, L...

When I asked my son what part of THE WIZARD OF OZ he liked the best he said: 'All of it.' So, I pressed him a little further, and asked who his favorite character was, and he said: 'The Wicked Witch.' I can only say that I wasn't surprised by his answers, but I was surprised by his stamina, as he sa...

Legendary guitarist John McLaughlin is a special talent, and he brings a real sense of passion and spirituality to his live performances. From the opening notes of his concert at the Sheldon (November 19, 2010), the audience was immediately spellbound by his hypnotic, and often challenging, musical ...

The Muddy Waters Theater company concludes their season devoted to playwright Eugene O'Neill with an American classic; LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT. After you see this intense and powerful play, you'll understand why O'Neill didn't allow it to be staged during his lifetime, since it's autobiographi...

We probably take the cultural impact of rock 'n' roll for granted, not fully comprehending the effect this raw, powerful blast of rebellious freedom has had worldwide, where it has somehow managed to shape generations that are far removed from its origins. With his play ROCK 'N' ROLL, Czech playwrig...

Neil Simon's THE GOOD DOCTOR finds the playwright mining the short stories of Anton Chekhov for material, and this comedy with music, is a decidedly mixed bag, occasionally producing laughs, but not nearly in the abundance we've come to expect. It's an odd marriage of styles, and more often than not...

If you've only ever seen the movie version, or a community theatre production, you owe it to yourself to check out the touring company of the 2008 Broadway revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC that's currently playing the Fox Theatre. This is a lavish and impressive production filled w...

An eclectic collection of one act plays by the likes of Susan Glaspell (Trifles), David Mamet (Australia), William Saroyan (Hello Out There), and Harold Pinter (Ashes to Ashes), A WOMAN'S PLACE fulfills the promise of its title by placing women in key roles in each of these unique pieces. The West E...

MARRY ME A LITTLE is an interesting little musical that cobbles together cut songs and lesser celebrated numbers composed by Stephen Sondheim. It's a clever idea, and even though some of the numbers don't really seem to fit perfectly with the 'story', they still provide an opportunity to hear a mast...

The second half of the mini-Potok festival continues with an engaging and thoughtful dramatization of his classic novel THE CHOSEN, which I can recall reading (for English class) and enjoying myself many years ago. This adaptation, like the recent production of MY NAME IS ASHER LEV, is also written ...

Playwright Geoffrey Nauffts has put together a provocative and engaging evening of theatre with his work, NEXT FALL, which thematically concerns itself with issues of homosexuality and faith. It certainly fulfills my personal requirements for must-see theatre by making the audience laugh, cry and th...

While the chief target of David Mamet's hilariously funny play, NOVEMBER, may not in actuality be former president George W. Bush, Bush's uncanny knack for coming off less than intelligent, and his frequent, and often creative malapropisms, are clearly evident. But, really this isn't about any one p...

There's a moment in playwright Matthew Lombardo's play HIGH when Father Delpapp asks the coarse and tough-demeanored Sister Connelly why she became a nun. Her answer is telling, because it's not the typical selfless response you might expect; she's seeking redemption and forgiveness for her transgre...

I can distinctly recall catching filmmaker Sam Raimi's Evil Dead 2 in a local theatre (an unrated cut) and being wowed by his audacious and imaginative camera work, as well as the copious amounts of gore and humor that gushed forth at breakneck speed. I'd only had the opportunity to see the first fi...

The story of Oedipus is a tragic one, and perhaps one of the most pitiable and pathetic in all of the Greek canon. The tale is familiar and famous enough to have inspired a complex named after the protagonist, although Sigmund Freud's description of it relates more to the unconscious guilt that cent...

Joan MacLeod's play, ANOTHER HOME INVASION, is a cautionary tale, and while the setting may be Canada, the message is one that will resonate with anyone who has aging parents that are living on their own. This short work, which runs about 70 minutes, focuses our attention on the survivor of a home i...

Playwright Aaron Posner has done a wonderful job of adapting Chaim Potok's novel MY NAME IS ASHER LEV for the stage. With amazing economy, Poser whittles down the work to 90 minutes of stage time, and with two of the three actors playing multiple roles, condenses the complexities even further, and y...

Since I started writing theatre reviews a few years back one of the most interesting things that's occurred has been the opportunity to watch performers grow and take risks. A little over a year and a half ago I had the chance to cover Ben Nordstrom's first cabaret performance at the Kranzberg Arts ...

Shakespeare's last great play, THE TEMPEST, has always been a favorite of mine, if only because it lends itself to intriguing stagings and imaginative re-interpretations with it's appealing mix of comedy, romance, and magic. And, with director Julie Taymor's film version about to be put into wide re...

With their funky and fun production of I LOVE MY WIFE, New Line Theatre begins their 20th season with a trip back to the swinging seventies, when the last dying embers of the sexual revolution were still smoldering in the suburbs. It was a time when collars were broad, chests were hairy, and polyest...