Chuck's Choices for Labor Day weekend, 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:

Carol Schmidt

The R-S Theatrics Summer Cabaret Series presents in Labors of Love, an evening of St. Louis cabaret artists performing the music they love for Labor Day weekend, on Friday, August 31, at 8 PM. The show stars Anna Blair, Robert Breig, Ken Haller, and Charlene Reimann along with 88.1 KDHX's Chuck Lavazzi, who also hosts. The music director is Carol Schmidt. Yes, this is shameless self-promotion, but in all fairness I'm only 20% of the show and my fellow performers are a tremendously talented bunch with a diverse set of styles and musical interests. I think you'll have a great time. Come early and have dinner and drinks in the West End Grill next door; you can walk right into the theatre from the restaurant. The performance takes place at the Gaslight Theatre, 358 North Boyle in the Central West End. For more information, email rstheatrics at yahoo.com, visit brownpapertickets.com, or call 314-968-8070.

Max and Louie Productions presents Richard Greenberg's “brilliant comic fantasy about fate, ambition and loyalty” The Violet Hour through September 2. In her reveiw for 88.1 KDHX, Andrea Braun writes that "the actors are all playing at the top of their form and I enjoyed and admired almost every minute of it." Performances take place at COCA, 524 Trinity in University City. For more information, visit maxandlouie.com.

Held over:

The Fox Theatre presents the Disney musical The Lion King August 15 through September 2. It's a bit less spectacular this time around, but as I note in my review for 88.1 KDHX Julie Taymor's re-imagined version of the original animated film is still a remarkable piece of work; let's not hold the show's immense popularity against it. Great art can still be popular, as Shakespeare (among others) proved. The Fox Theatre is at 527 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information, fabulousfox.com or call 314-534-1678.