Chuck's Choices for the weekend of July 27, 2012

As always, the choices are purely my personal opinion. Take with a grain (or a shaker) of salt.

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The Hawthorne Players present Sondheim's Company through August 5. I've always been a great admirer of this piece and will be in the audience on opening night. That said, full disclosure obliges me to point out that the director is a friend and theatrical colleague of mine and that I provided the sound effects for the show. That's the full extent of my personal connection, though. The performance takes place at the Florissant Civic Center Theatre at Parker and Waterford in Florissant, MO. For more information, call 921-5678 or visit hawthorneplayers.com.

The Muny presents Andrew LLoyd Webber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat through Sunday in the outdoor theatre in Forest Park. The show has gotten great reviews, including from Connie Bollinger at 88.1 KDHX, who describes it as "a production for the ages." For more information, visit muny.org or call 314-361-1900.

Clayton Community Theatre presents The Little Prince through July 29. Performances take place at the Washington University South Campus Theatre. In her review for KDHX, Connie Bollinger has considerable praise for the young actors in this production: "Clayton Community Theatre has done a lovely job with a difficult play and their hard work has shone brightly as the stars." For more information, call 314-721-9228 or visit placeseveryone.org. Read the 88.1 KDHX review!

Circus Harmony, in collaboration with the Galilee Circus, a Jewish/Arab youth troupe from Israel, present Peace Through Pyramids at various locations around the St. Louis area from July 23 through August 4. How, I ask you, can you not love this idea? For more information, visit circusday.org or call 314-226-3633.

Held over:

St. Louis Shakespeare presents Shakespeare's tragedy  Coriolanus through JSunday. Performances take place at the Grandel Theatre, 3610 Grandel Square. I haven't seen the show yet, of course, but I'm including it here because it's so rarely performed. It has one of Shakesperare's least sympathetic tragic heroes, in my view, so it will be interesting to see what the SLS folks do with it. In his review for 88.1 KDHX, Robert Mitchell has good things to say about both the direction and acting.  For more information, call 314-361-5664 or visit stlshakespeare.org.