Share on Google+:
New This Week:
 |
| Jeremy Webb in Buyer and Cellar ©Photo by Jerry Naunheim Jr. |
My take: One-man shows can be risky propositions, but this one is apparently a success. "If you are a Streisand fan (and who among us isn’t?)," writes Bob Cohn at St. Louis Jewish Light, "'Buyer & Cellar' is a double treat. Not only is the play itself highly amusing and satisfying, it also contains enough Streisand trivia to satisfy an entire season of questions on 'Jeopardy.'" "Jonathan Tolins is a very clever writer," says Bob Wilcox at KDHX. "Jeremy Webb is a very smart actor. Put them together, with some inventive guidance from director Wendy Dann, and you get a quite enjoyable ninety minutes or so in the Studio Theatre at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis."
 |
| Anna Blair |
My take: I saw this show the first time Anna did it back and 2009 and was very impressed. At the time, Andrea Braun reviewed it for KDHX and had this to say about Anna's performance: "She has a supple, melodic voice, and she looks like she was born to wear a red dress (and proves that redheads needn't avoid that color) and lean against a baby grand. She is sultry, playful, sad, straight-forward, and she provides the audience with an altogether lovely evening." Anna was still relatively new to cabaret back then and has only gotten stronger over the years. Fran Landesman might not have always been the most profound lyricist, but her work was always intelligent, and Anna brings real heart to her performances of Fran's songs.
 |
| Robert McNichols, Jr. as Paul Robeson Photo: Stewart Goldstein |
My take: Paul Robeson's story is an important one, and not just because he was one of the great bass-baritones of the early 20th century. His courage in the face of virulent racism and deranged red baiting is an inspiration to us all. "Seeing a performance of playwright Phillip Hayes Dean’s fascinating, one-man drama, Paul Robeson," writes Mark Bretz at Ladue News, "is an exhilarating and educational experience." Over at stltoday.com, Judy Newmark has words of praise for the show's star, Robert McNichols, Jr.: "An opera singer himself, McNichols performs the song with feeling and intention, and gives an equally meaningful treatment to a trio of gospel numbers that Robeson sang in his stage debut. McNichols is also a fine actor, a big plus for a show that’s not a musical."
 |
| Meghan Kirk |
My take: Conflicts have prevented me from seeing Meghan's solo shows until now (yes, I'll be there on Friday), but her work at the Cabaret Project's open mic nights (which I host) has always been exemplary. I'm looking forward to this one.
The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents a staged reading of This Thing of Ours by Caridad Svich on Saturday, March 21, at 3 p.m. as part of the Ignite! New Play Festival. "When an act of violence strikes an American city, how do we react? It's happened before. We say we will put our lives back together, but years will go by. We will grow apart, come together and some of us will wonder how to keep going, as we turn to myths and seek lessons there. This Thing of Ours is the latest play by Caridad Svich, winner of the Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement and author of the loving adaptation of Love in the Time of Cholera, read in the 2012 Ignite! series." The reading takes place at Sally S. Levy Opera Center, 210 Hazel Avenue, on the Webster University Campus. For more information: repstl.org
My take: The Rep's Ignite! festival offers a fascinating glimpse at new works while they're a-borning. Some, like Soups, Stews, and Casseroles 1976, have gone on to full productions and proven worthy of attention. Will this be the start of something big? The only way to know is to attend. It's a fascinating experience and a great opportunity to let the playwright know what you think.
 |
| Women Under the Influence L-R: Carol Schmidt, Michele Isam, Debbie Schuster, Katie McGrath |
My take: I will confess to knowing all the the members of Women Under the Influence for a number of years now (especially Carol Schmidt, who is the music director for the monthly open mic night I mentioned earlier). Their first show back in 2012 took a classic '60s R & B song list and, by artfully arranging the songs, turned the show into a narrative that moved from the first crush, through true love, down into betrayal and back up into independence. It’s could have the story of one woman or of late 20th century women in general. It might even be a little of both. WUI created a space for ambiguity there, and ambiguity is where art lives. They have added songs to their list and rearranged things a bit since then, so it will be interesting to see what the new show look like.
Held Over:
 |
| Afflicted: Daughters of Salem Photo: Victoria Lafferty |
My take: Metro can usually be relied upon to redefine the concept of "children's theatre" in ways that will engage and adult audience as well. In her review for KDHX, Tina Farmer says this new take on the Salem witchcraft trials is "an enjoyable well-researched fiction that successfully reminds audiences there are two sides to every story, even history."
 |
| Jerry Springer the Opera Photo: Jill Ritter Lindberg |
My take: Come on, how can you not want to see a show with a title like this? The second act, after all, is a "very special" episode of the Jerry Springer Show broadcast live from Hell. And, yes, it really is an opera—or at least a musical in which there is no spoken dialog. "I recognize a quality production with strong direction and spot-on performances," says Tina Farmer in her KDHX review, "and I applaud the company for the bold and daring theater they produce."
No comments:
Post a Comment