Chuck's Choices for the weekend of February 7, 2014

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

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Winter Opera St. Louis presents Verdi's Falstaff Friday at 8 PM and Sunday at 3 PM, February 7 and 9. Performances take place at The Skip Viragh Center for the Arts at Chaminade College Preparatory School, 425 S. Lindbergh. The opera is sung in Italian with project English supertitles. For more information, visit winteroperastl.org.

My take: I haven't seen this production yet, of course, since Winter Opera only does two performances. But Falstaff is widely regarded as one of Verdi's masterpieces. The libretto is by Arrigo Boito, one of the best librettests around back then and a pretty respectable composer in his own right (his Mefistofele is still the best operatic version of Faust ever). It's based on Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor along with bits Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2. That, along with the fact that the Skip Viragh Center is one of the best opera houses in town, are good enough reasons to put this one on the list.

Photo: Stewart Goldstein

The Black Rep and the Missouri History Museum present Ntozake Shange's For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf through February 9. Performances take place in the Lee Auditorium at the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park. For more information: mohistory.org.

My take: There has been no shortage of productions of Ntozake Shange's 1975 "choreopoem" lately, but this appears to be a good one. In her review for 88.1 KDHX, Tina Farmer says it's "a vibrant interpretation that keeps the focus squarely on the material and performances...The excellent cast commands attention at every turn, and the mix of voices, rhythms, and movement create a colorful and complex patchwork."

Upstream Theater presents Forget Me Not by Tom Holloway through February 16. "Forget Me Not is the story of a man who was told his mother had died and was shipped to Australia when he was three years old. And of his mother, who never stopped celebrating her little boy's birthday. And of his learning about himself-and about what it means to love." Performances take place at the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information, including show times: upstreamtheater.org.

My take: Upstream has, once again, taken on a tought-provoking play about difficult subject. In this case, it's non-humanitarian child migration. "The policy of child migration for non-humanitarian reasons is disturbing," writes Tina Farmer in her review for 88.1 KDHX. "The fact that some of these children were, literally, stolen from their families is tragic and appalling. Director Philip Boehm steadily guides this fascinating and compelling production, keeping the focus clearly on the story and actors."

The Fox Theatre presents the ABBA musical Mamma Mia! Friday through Sunday, February 7-9. The Fox Theatre is at 517 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information, call 314-534-1678.

My take: As I wrote in my review of the 2002 USA tour of this show on its first visit to the Fox, I am not now nor have I ever been a fan of the 1970s pop quartet ABBA. When they were cranking out hits like "Dancing Queen", I was sneering at them and listening to Elvis Costello and The Ramones. But when I first saw Mamma Mia! in London back in 2001 surrounded by wildly enthusiastic Brits (who apparently feel about ABBA the way the French feel about Jerry Lewis), I had to admit it was great fun. I found it a completely captivating evening of musical theatre, mostly because Judy Craymer, director Phyllida Lloyd and playwright Catherine Johnson (all from Britian, where this show began) have put together a fast-paced, funny, and occasionally even touching show that can send even a die-hard ABBA hater like yours truly out of the theatre with a smile on his face and a handful of those bouncy, hook-laden melodies rattling around in his brain. So enjoy it, already.

Peabody Opera House presents the new national tour of Man of La Mancha Friday through Sunday, February 7-9. “Man Of La Mancha is a remarkable show and one of the great theatre successes of our time. This play-within-a-play is based on Cervantes's Don Quixote. We have a poignant story of a dying old man whose 'impossible dream' takes over his mind. Against all odds, a man sees good and innocence in a world filled with darkness and despair. Man Of La Mancha won 5 Tony Awards including Best Musical, along with the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical and the Outer Critics Circle Award.” For more information, visit peabodyoperahouse.com or call 314-622-5420.

My take: It's an established musical theatre classic and the Peabody is a great house for musicals, largely because it's so much smaller and gets you so much closer to the action. That's especially important in a piece like this, which was always conceived as a (relatively) small cast show. I think that's all I need to say.

Photo: Ken Howard

The St. Louis Art Museum presents Metropolitan Opera Live at SLAM: Dvorák's Rusalka on Saturday, February 8, at 11:5 AM. The live digital HD video broadcast from New York takes place in The Farrell Auditorium at the Art Museum in Forest Park. For more information: slam.org.

My take: Opportunities to see this opera about a water sprite and her tragic lover for an earthbound prince (sound familiar?) are rare, so this HD broadcast from the Met might be your only chance.  It's widely regarded as one of the most successful Czech operas and is as popular there as it is rare over here, although in recent years performances have become more common.  And the HD experience is about as close as you can get to the real thing.

Photo: John Lamb

New Jewish Theatre presents The Whipping Man by Matthew Lopez through February 16. "A seriously injured Confederate soldier returns to the ruins of his once grand Richmond home at the end of the Civil War to find only two former slaves and no one else - creating an unlikely trio - a Jewish Confederate soldier and former slave owner and his two former slaves who were raised as Jews. As the three gather for a makeshift Passover Seder, they come to terms with their shared past and secrets as they ask the age-old question "Why is this night different from all other nights?"" Performances take place in the Marvin and Harlene Wool Studio Theater at the Jewish Community Center, 2 Millstone Campus Drive in Creve Coeur. For more information: www.newjewishtheatre.org or call 314-442-3283.

My take: This is the second time around for this piece in the last year. The local premiere by the Black Rep got plenty of critical acclaim but, as Andrea Braun writes in her review for 88.1 KDHX, this production "matches that level of excellence, and due primarily to directorial choices, occasionally surpasses it...The South was a more cordial place than the North for Jews in that era, and many thrived there until after the Civil War, even though this is a people who understood the horror of enslavement. That irony and all that is revealed on this stage will certainly intrigue you and provoke some interesting discussion." Held Over:

Photo: Jerry Naunheim, Jr.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents The Other Place through February 9. "Brilliant research scientist Juliana Smithton is on the cutting edge in her field, but her life is beginning to come unhinged. While promoting her groundbreaking drug for the treatment of neurological disorders, she experiences a disturbing medical episode of her own and begins to lose her own tenuous grasp on reality. The past blurs with the present and fragmented memories collide in this riveting drama where nothing is as it seems." Performances take place in the studio theatre at the Loretto-Hlton Center, 130 Edgar Road in Webster Groves, MO. For more information, call 314-968-4925 or visit repstl.org.

My take: Once again, the Rep studio theatre has come up with a winner. Sharr White's play is, as I write in my review for 88.1 KDHX, "a compelling drama about what happens when reality, perception, and memory become disconnected from each other." The script is a strong one, with dialog poetic enough to be interesting while still natural enough to sound real. And Mr. White's characters have depth and the story makes sense. Acting and technical aspects of the show are flawless.