Chuck's choices for the weekend of December 28, 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:

The St. Louis Symphony presents a showing of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl on Friday and Saturday at 7 PM and Sunday at 2 PM, December 28-30. The score will be performed live by the orchestra and the men of the St. Louis Symphony Chorus, conducted by Richard Kaufman. I've been to several of the symphony's movie events over the last few years and have enjoyed all of them. I remember the first Lord of the Rings movie with great fondness, for example, and wish they'd do the entire cycle at some point; I'll bet it would be a hit. The Pirates of the Caribbean: fllms are several notches below that trilogy, so the real attraction for me here is the Klaus Badelt score. No matter how good the sound system is in the theatre, you can't beat the sound of a live orchestra and chorus. The event takes place at Powell Hall, 718 North Grand. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

The St. Louis Symphony, conducted by David Robertson, presents the annual New Year's Eve Celebration on Monday, December 31, at 7:30 PM. No, it's not really a theatre event but it's always a festive end to the year's concert calendar and if you're not already committed for New Year's Eve you'll want to seriously consider spening the early part of it with the symphony. You can always catch a party afterwards, right? The event takes place at Powell Hall, 718 North Grand. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

Held over:

The Fox Theatre presents the Broadway musical Wicked December 12 through January 6. I haven't seen this particular tour, but in my review of the 2005 tour I noted that composer/lyricist Stephen Schwarts and book author Winnie Holtzman have done a remarkable job of simplifying and reducing the story of Gregory McGuire's original novel while still remaining true to the original characters and their relationships. The score is one of Schwartz's best, and that's saying something. In his review for 88.1 KDHX, Robert Mitchell writes that Wicked "is actually better than the hype! Now, I get why it won all those Tonys, and makes stars out of its leads." The Fox Theatre is at 527 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information, call 314-534-1678.