Chuck's Choices for the weekend of July 6, 2012

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

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New this week:

Not the Muny's Aladdin, but you get the idea

The Muny presents the first Muny production of the Broadway musical Aladdin Thursday, July 5, through Friday, July 13 in the outdoor theatre in Forest Park. I'm not normally a big fan of the Muny. The atmosphere is too much like a baseball game and too little like a theatre for my tastes. They appear to be doing awfully good work these days, but you'd have to hold our dog for ransom to get me out to Forest Park in this unseasonal heat. A bunch of very talented performers will be sweating in that heat to entertain everyone, though, so for that reason alone I want to give them a nod this week. Besides, this being a Disney musical, you can probably expect some great songs, colorful sets and costumes, and even a bit of stage magic. For more information, visit muny.org or call 314-361-1900.

The Wine Press presents guitarist Mike Krysl and singer Shuana Sconce in an evening of cabaret on Saturday, July 7, from 8 to 11 PM. Shauna and Mike have been performing together for a while now and have developed a great rapport. She has a killer voice and he has great guitar chops along with a knack for truly inspired arrangements. The Wine Press is at 4436 Olive in the Central West End. For more information, visit stlwinepress.com.

Held over:

Union Avenue Opera presents Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera (A Masked Ball) Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM, June 29-July 7. Performances take place at the Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 Union at Enright in the Central West End. The opera is sung in Italian with projected English text. I won't get to see this until Friday, but I'm singling it out because Union Avenue is almost always a company worth watching and because performances of thie work are relatively rare. For more information, visit unionavenueopera.org or call 314-361-2881.