Share on Google+:
New this week:
 |
| Darick Pead as Beast and Hilary Maiberger as Belle Photo by Joan Marcus. |
My take: Yeah, I know. But let's face it—Beauty and the Beast is a big, brash, amusement park of a show. It's fast, colorful, loud, opulent, shamelessly sentimental, unapologetically vulgar, and (when done properly) highly entertaining. The well-known story is simple enough to keep the kids' attention, and polished enough to amuse all but the most jaded adults. If this isn't a family show, I don't know what is.
 |
| Zach Wachter as Mr. Gibbs, Roger Erb as Lush Photo: John Lamb |
My take: I'm on the board of West End Players Guild and was the one who first proposed that the group take on this rarely-seen (the last local performance was over 30 years ago; I was in it) Pinter. Now, as then, I was amazed at how much like a Monty Python sketch (albeit a very dark and odd one) this play is. I don't know whether Pinter was influenced by the Pythons at all, but it's hard to read this and not visualize specific Python actors in the roles. Graham Chapman, for example, would have been an ideal Roote, the asylum director. But what the heck—go and see for yourself.
R-S Theatrics presents its second annual KIDaret on Saturday, November 2, at 7 PM. “This is a fundraiser cabaret designed for families and featuring some of your favorite R-S Theatrics performers, this year's Halloween themed KIDaret will handle difficult subjects like whether or not Istanbul really is Constantinople, what to do with your Undead Mummy, and how to dance the Monster Mash. This event is designed to be a relaxed evening of musical performances, where children are invited to sing along and dance in the aisles during the show with costumes encouraged to show off their best ghoul-ish attire. In addition to the performance, there will be a silent auction, concessions, and craft paper and drawing materials for kids of all ages.” The cast includes Rachel Hanks, Marshall Jennings, Mark Kelley, Nick Moramarco, Macia Noorman, Christina Rios, Antonio Rodriguez, Kirsten Wylder, and Michael Young. Music direction is by Nick Moramarco. For more information: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/475773
My take: R-S is a company worth supporting for its daring choices (they took on the local premiere of Jason Robert Brown's Parade, for example) and the performers in this show constitute a nice cross section of local theatre talent. Should be fun, and certainly less pricey than Beauty and the Beast as a family night out.
Slightly Askew Theatre Ensemble presents the thriller The Woman in Black Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8 and Fridays and Saturdays at 10, October 30 - November 9. Performances take place at The Chapel Venue, 6238 Alexander Drive. For more information: slightlyoff.org.
My take: if your only exposure to this creepy little masterpiece is the recent film version with Daniel Radcliffe, you're in for a bit of a surprise. Stephen Mallatratt's stage adaptation of the original Susan Hill novel—still running after 25 years in London's West End—is a tour de force for two actors. "The Woman in Black," says the London production's web site, "combines the power and intensity of live theatre with a cinematic quality inspired by the world of film noir. It gives audiences an evening of unremitting drama as they are transported into a terrifying and ghostly world." Yep. And as a neat bit of chamber theatre, this should play to SATEs strengths.
Held Over:
 |
| Photo: John Lamb |
My take: Honestly, this is not my particular thing, but the reviews have been so good and I'm so favorably inclined towards Stray Dog shows anyway that I have to include it. "If you like your scary stories served with a generous helping of ribald and slapstick humor," writes Tina Farmer in her review for 88.1 KDHX, "you'll want to put Evil Dead The Musical at the top of your must see list. Stray Dog Theatre kicks off its eleventh season with a show that takes the company's tagline "Come out and play" and ratchets it up to new levels in an energetic, yet playful, spoof on the teen horror movie genre." Besides, how can you not like a show that includes a dance number titled "Do the Necronomicon"?
 |
| ©Photo by Jerry Naunheim, Jr. |
My take: As I wrote in my OnSTL.com blog, the world premiere of Trey Ellis and Ricardo Khan's drama Fly at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis is the most inspiring, enraging, and sad thing you can see in a theatre this week. Inspiring because this story of the legendary Tuskegee Airman—an all-black fighter pilot unit who escorted an unprecedented 200 of 205 bomber missions without losing an aircraft and earned a raft of medals in the process. Enraging because the white Americans whose lives and freedom they were protecting treated them as subhuman. Sad because we seem to have learned so little in the intervening seven decades." Other critics have been equally effusive. This is definitely a "must see."
 |
| Photo: Jill Ritter Lindbergh |
My take: This is not, as you might think, another horror send-up along the lines of Evil Dead the Musical. "This is no spoof," writes Steve Callahan in his review for 88.1 KDHX, "nor is it merely an homage; if you let it, it will lead you to think...By approaching these rather two-dimensional characters with such deep seriousness the cast leads us to consider some thoughts that make this show more than just a zombie thriller: How fragile is peace. How fragile is happiness. Death, despair, catastrophe can come suddenly, with no warning. War, a tornado, an economic crash—they can destroy us in a moment, just like a horde of zombies." So, no, not a lot of laughs, but rather a serious musical about what's out there in the dark—very appropriate to open the current season by "the bad boy of musical theatre." Before you go, check out my interview with director Scott Miller.
 |
| Photo: Whitney Curtis |
My take: This powerful rock musical of teens struggling with raging hormones in a repressive social system is pretty much ideal material, I think, for a collegiate theatrical program. In her review for 88.1 KDHX, Tina Farmer says this "is a beautifully produced and acted piece, filled with youthful exuberance and cold truths that linger well after the final song."
My take: For many local theatre companies, not having a fixed abode is a problem. For OnSite, it's a mission. Their site-specific productions have taken them to bars, restaurants, a bowling alley, and a laundromat, among other non-traditional locations. In her review for 88.1 KDHX, Andrea Braun says The Trivia Job "is clever, fun and surprisingly moving. Anna Pileggi had her hands full directing this complex operation, and she pulls it off with apparent ease."
No comments:
Post a Comment