New Line Theatre, whose tagline is fittingly #MusicalTheatreAF, opens their 29th season with Cry-Baby, the 2007 musical with book by Mark O'Donnell & Thomas Meehan and songs by David Javerbaum & Adam Schlesinger. It is based on Cry-Baby the film, written and directed by Hairspray creator, John Water... (more...)
For going on fifteen years now Philip Boehm's Upstream Theater has been giving us some of the finest, most thought-provoking theater in town. Now they have opened a play about two iconic American agitators in the struggle for equal rights: Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony. It's by playwrig... (more...)
Angels In America is must-see event that is, in equal parts, a depiction, dialogue, response and conversation about the AIDS crisis. It also is underpinned by themes of
race, life, death, faith and politics.... (more...)
A soldier gone to a far off war, absent for years. His wife in anguish, not knowing whether she's a widow. It's a story far older than The Odyssey.... (more...)
Adapte from the 1994 film, A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE centers around Alfie Byrne, a down on his luck bus conductor and theater director whose latest theatrical production leads to a powerful journey of self-discovery.... (more...)
Mary Engelbreit, that is. Roald Dahl's Matilda, playing now through August 11 at The Muny in Forest Park, is inspireda?'the entire productiona?'by the artwork of St. Louis' own Mary Engelbreit, and is it ever something to see! Even on first glance of the curtain, which is painted with colorful stack... (more...)
Assisted Living: The Musical, written and performed by comedy duo Rick Compton and Betsy Bennett, and accompanied by pianist Jeremy Franklin Goodman, is a hilarious little 75-minute distraction from life's real aches and pains, playing now at The Playhouse at Westport Plaza. The vaudeville-style mus... (more...)
Union Avenue Opera is on a roll! Two homers in a row! First their sublime Candide, and now an equally fine production of Puccini's La bohème. Union Avenue knocked them both right into the bleachers, and those of us who were lucky enough to catch one of those prize performances now own a true treasur... (more...)
Few people seem to be familiar with Lerner & Loewe's Paint Your Wagon. Those who are usually mention the 1969 film of the same title, starring Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood, known for being a ridiculously miscast and embarrassingly terrible flop. The musical, which originally appeared on Broadway in... (more...)
Jørgen Pedersen makes his musical directorial debut with Chicago (High School Edition) featuring the talented youth at Ignite Theatre Company, and here's something fun: it features an all-female cast! The fine performers at Ignite (whose mission involves inclusion of performers from all walks of lif... (more...)
WOW is the word right now, as Grease, with direction and musical staging by Michael Hamilton, plays at Stages St. Louis! In this automatic, systematic, hyyyydromatic show, it's 1950s USA, and a new school year is beginning at Rydel High. A feisty Miss Lynch (Kendra Lynn Lucas) greets us as her stude... (more...)
Sunday shoes are being kicked off right and left in Footloose at The Muny right now, as Christian Borle, the two-time Tony Award winner who has been in 11 Broadway shows, makes his musical theatre directing debut. In this four-time Tony Award-nominated adaptation of the 1984 movie by the same title,... (more...)
The Muny's current production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella is definitely not Walt Disney's Cinderella. It is nothing like Perrault's or the Grimm Brothers' Cinderella. It's not even pure Rodgers & Hammerstein, but rather a 2013 adaptation based on Rodgers & Hammerstein with a new book by Do... (more...)
Run, don't walk, to see the brilliant CANDIDE at the Union Avenue Opera in St. Louis! This is the opening production of their twenty-fifth festival season, and it is, for my money, the most wonderful of the many lovely shows they've done.... (more...)
St. Louis Actors' Studio's LaBute New Theater Festival pulls together two sets of one-acts and a staged reading of high school finalists this month in order 'to bring a fresh vision of theatre to St. Louis.' Blind, open submissions were taken from playwrights near and far, with six new, previously-u... (more...)
Three-time Tony Award-winning 1776 with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and book by Peter Stone is based on the events in Philadelphia leading up to the creation of the United States of America's Declaration of Independence, by making real people of historical giants like John Adams, Benjamin Fr... (more...)
Paula Vogel's Indecent is actually about another play, Sholem Asch's 1906 play, God of Vengeance. At curtain, stage manager Lemml (TJ Lancaster) introduces the troupe, which has been waiting, frozen, in chairs along the back wall. The troupe, all who play multiple characters, is comprised of Paul Ce... (more...)
It's puppies, puppies everywhere-even in the audience!-as families and young friends are brought into an interactive version of the Stages St. Louis Emerson Family Series production of Disney's 101 Dalmatians, playing now through June 30 at Robert G. Reim Theater.... (more...)
The most beautiful thing in the world is a shoe at The Muny this weekend and into next week, as Kinky Boots, based on a 2005 film of the same name, takes the stage in its extraordinary St. Louis premiere after its six-year run on Broadway. There, it won multiple Tony awards, with a book by Harvey Fe... (more...)
Fire Shut Up in My Bones has opened at Opera Theatre St. Louis. It is gorgeous! Deeply intimate and honest, the beautifully told story almost overshadows the music by the great jazz trumpeter Terrence Blanchard.... (more...)
THE BOY FROM OZ brings a new story to the Midwest, and to the audiences of Stages St. Louis. From the reaction of the crowd, it is a must see. It will have you wanting to dance like you were at the Copacabana...and wishing you had worn your feathers and sequins!... (more...)
The Opera Theatre of St. Louis continues its 44th festival season of world class opera with a magnificent production of Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto. OTSL presented a splendid Rigoletto fourteen years ago, but this production is, I think, even better. It's the best Rigoletto your ever likely to see.... (more...)
Part awkward teen drama, part eerie sci-fi, Be More Chill with music and lyrics by Joe Iconis and book by Joe Tracz, based on the 2004 young adult novel by Ned Vizzini, is one of the coolest, freshest comedic musicals in years. It already classifies as a cult favorite, and even though it's currently... (more...)
BWW Review: CRY-BABY is a Rockin' Fun Look at Privilege and Classism
BWW Review: THE AGITATORS at Upstream Theater
BWW Review: ANGELS IN AMERICA at Virginia Jackson Browning Theatre
BWW Review: 'A MODEL FOR MATISSE' at Midnight Company
BWW Review: A GRIM AND POWERFUL 'GLORY DENIED' at Union Avenue Opera
BWW Review: Emotional and Intense, A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE Resonates at The Marcelle
BWW Review: The Muny's MATILDA is Magically Mary
BWW Review: ASSISTED LIVING: THE MUSICAL Makes Retirement Look Fun
BWW Review: LA BOHEME at Union Avenue Opera
BWW Review: Lerner & Loewe's PAINT YOUR WAGON Is Pure Gold
BWW Review: CHICAGO (HSE) Brings the Heat at Ignite Theatre Company
BWW Review: Stages St. Louis' GREASE Is the One That You Want (Oh Yes Indeed)
BWW Review: FOOTLOOSE at The Muny is a Timeless Smash Hit
BWW Review: RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN'S CINDERELLA Is Wild Deviation from Expectation
BWW Review: Union Avenue Opera Gives St. Louis a Brilliant CANDIDE
BWW Review: LABUTE NEW THEATER FESTIVAL Serves Up Much to Ponder With New, Fresh Work
BWW Review: 1776 at The Muny Shows Scuffles and Snags to Independence
BWW Review: INDECENT Pays Gorgeous Homage to Love, Art
BWW Review: DISNEY'S 101 DALMATIONS Barks Up the Right Tree at Stages St. Louis
BWW Review: KINKY BOOTS Dazzles at The Muny
BWW Review: FIRE SHUT UP IN MY BONES at Opera Theatre St. Louis Captures Your Heart!
BWW Review: THE CORONATION OF POPPEA at Opera Theatre Of St. Louis
BWW Review: THE BOY FROM OZ at Stages St. Louis performed with energy and excitement!
BWW Review: A Glorious RIGOLETTO Opens at Opera Theatre St. Louis
BWW Review: BE MORE CHILL is Cool, Fresh Take on High School Angst
