St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of October 30, 2023

What's on St. Louis theater and cabaret stages this coming week. Please leave a comment if anything was wrong or got left out

Act Two Theatre presents the musical comedy The Drowsy Chaperone Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 pm and Sundays at 2 pm through November 5. “With the houselights down, a man in a chair appears on stage and puts on his favorite record: the cast recording of a fictitious 1928 musical The Drowsy Chaperone. Mix in two lovers on the eve of their wedding, a bumbling best man, a desperate theatre producer, a not-so-bright hostess, two gangsters posing as pastry chefs, a misguided Don Juan, and an intoxicated chaperone, and you have the ingredients for an evening of madcap delight. Winner of five Tony Awards, including Best Book and Best Original Score, The Drowsy Chaperone is a loving send-up of the Jazz Age musical, featuring one show-stopping song and dance number after another!” Performances take place at the St. Peters Cultural Center in St. Peters, MO. For more information: www.acttwotheatre.com

Mindgame

Albion Theatre presents the thriller Mindgame by Anthony Horowitz through November 5. “Horowitz is known for his novels (including The Alex Rider series, Magpie Murders and many more) and his TV work (Foyle’s War, Midsomer Murders etc.)  This is his only full-length play.  Set in an asylum for the criminally insane, a writer of ‘true crime’ paperbacks is trying to get an interview with a notorious mass murderer but nothing is as it seems.” Performances take place at the Kranzberg Arts Center 501 N. Grand in Grand Center. For more information: albiontheatrestl.org.

The Black Mirror Theatre Company presents White Rabbit / Red Rabbit by Nassim Soleimanpour Tuesday through Saturday at 7 pm and Sunday at 2 pm, November 2 through 5. “Imagine being 29 and forbidden to leave your country. Playwright Nassim Soleimanpour dissects the experience of a whole generation in a wild, utterly original play. Barred from travel, he turned his isolation into a theatre experience that brings actor and audience together through uncharted terrain. A different actor reads the script cold—for the first and last time—at every performance.” Performances take place at the The Chapel on Alexander Drive in Clayton. For more information: www.blackmirrortheatre.org.

Ken Haller

The Blue Strawberry presents I’m Just Ken with singer Ken Haller Thursday, November 2 at 7:30 pm. “What happens when your name is Ken, and you meet Barbie, but you realize that you'd rather be with Bobby?   Acclaimed cabaret artist Ken Haller (Best St. Louis Cabaret Artist, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 2015, 2019) explores this and other burning questions about the things we learn as we grow older in his 69th Birthday show, "I'm Just Ken!" Ken and renowned Music Director Jeff Franzel bring you songs by Johnny Mercer, Lerner & Loewe, Lennon & McCartney, William Finn, Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, E.Y. "Yip" Harburg and many more in a show described by Chuck Lavazzi of KDHX as "...emotionally compelling [with a] heaping helping of humor. Haller managed the ingenious trick of putting together an evening that dealt with the experience of joining the Medicare Generation without using a lot of songs that specifically dealt with aging…a varied and neatly balanced song list, just enough patter to let us know why the list made sense, and a perfect mix of the mirthful and the moving."”  For more information: bluestrawberrystl.com

Ari Axelrod

The Blue Strawberry presents singer Ari Axelrod in A Place for Us: A Celebration of Jewish Broadway on Saturday, November 4 at 7:30 pm. “Celebrated artist Ari Axelrod is thrilled to bring his internationally acclaimed show "A Place For Us: A Celebration of Jewish Broadway" to Blue Strawberry. Hailed by BroadwayWorld as, "genuinely one of the finest shows this writer has ever seen," the multi-award-winning show celebrates Jewish vitality and Jewish culture by honoring the songs and stories of Jewish composers and their contributions to the American Musical. From Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Jerry Herman to Leonard Bernstein, Jason Robert Brown, and Stephen Sondheim, you'll hear songs you've listened to your entire life in ways you've never heard them before.”   The Blue Strawberry is at 364 N. Boyle in the Central West End. For more information: bluestrawberrystl.com

Circus Flora presents the St. Lou Revue Friday at 1 and 7 pm, Saturday at 11 am and 3 pm, and Sunday at noon and 4 pm, November 3 through 5. “Circus Flora is thrilled to announce an all-new edition of the variety show, The St. Lou Revue! This 75-minute performance features many amazing acts from St. Louis (and beyond).” Performances take place at the Big Top in Grand Center. For more information: circusflora.org.

Come From Away
Photo by Matthew Murphy for Murphymade

The Fabulous Fox presents the musical Come From Away November 3 through 5.  “This New York Times Critics’ Pick takes you into the heart of the remarkable true story of 7,000 stranded passengers and the small town in Newfoundland that welcomed them. Cultures clashed and nerves ran high, but uneasiness turned into trust, music soared into the night, and gratitude grew into enduring friendships.” The Fabulous Fox is on North Grand in Grand Center. Check out the interview with cast member Stanton Morales at Chuck's Culture Channel! For more information: fabulousfox.com.

Daddy Long Legs

The Hawthorne Players present the musical Daddy Long Legs Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm, November 3 through 11, and Sunday, November 12, at 2 pm.  “A heartwarming Cinderella story about a witty and winsome young woman and her mysterious benefactor, based on the classic novel, which inspired the 1955 movie starring Fred Astaire. Jerusha Abbott is the “Oldest Orphan in the John Grier Home” until a mysterious benefactor decides to send her to college to be educated as a writer. Required to write him a letter once a month, she is never to know the benefactor’s identity – so she invents one for him: Daddy Long Legs. Jerusha’s letters chronicle her emergence as a delightfully independent “New American Woman”. Yet, there is one startling fact that Jerusha has yet to uncover – a fact that will change her life forever.”  Performances take place in the Florissant Civic Center Theatre in Florissant, MO. For more information: www.hawthorneplayers.info.

The Lemp Mansion Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre and Jest Mysteries present Zombie Love through November 4. "Calling all Zombies! Tired of being judged for munching on the occasional brain? So what if you're not really "alive" anymore. You can still enjoy socializing with the living and enjoying a hilarious show together. Well, we've got the perfect show for you. Drama! Comedy! Looove! ...And, of course, Zombies! But some zombie has ignored rule number one in the “Zombieing for Dummies” handbook…No biting.  Nina Tina Deena May will never be the same…do you know who’s to blame? And, no, it was not Mike Tyson! " The Lemp Mansion is at 3322 DeMenil Place in south city. For more information: www.lempmansion.com

The cast of Eddie and Vinnie

Metro Theater Company presents Eddie and Vinnie, a new play by Jenny Millenger, through November 5. Public performances are Fridays at 7 pm, Saturdays at 10:30 and 2 pm, and Sundays at 2 pm, October 27 through November 5.  “Eddie is an unstoppable artist with a uniquely beautiful mind – and his best friend is a gecko. Together, the pair spends hours making intricate and beautiful puzzles. But he’ll be solving worse puzzles in summer school if he can’t get his grades up. In a last-ditch effort, Eddie teams up with the overly helpful new girl for the dreaded end-of-year report. Will their presentation on MC Escher save his grades? Eddie & Vinnie reminds us all that there is more than one way to learn – and more than one way to shine.”  Best enjoyed by ages 6 – 12, the show’s approximate run time is 60 minutes with no intermission. For more information: www.metroplays.org

Tesseract Theatre presents The Mad Ones Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 4 pm, November 3 through 12.  “Samantha Brown balances on the edge of her future, car keys in hand. Caught between a yearning for the unknown and feeling bound by expectation, she telescopes back to a time before her world had fallen apart. As she sits in the driver's seat, she faces a choice: will she follow in her mother's footsteps, or take the dare of her impetuous best friend and chart a new path?” Performances take place at the Marcelle Theatre in Grand Center. For more information: www.tesseracttheatre.com.

Cabaret

The Washington University Performing Arts Department presents the musical Cabaret Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm and Sundays at 2 pm through November 5. “Join us for a raucous and risqué revival of Kander and Ebb’s musical masterpiece.  Set in the chaotic world of Weimar Berlin, Cabaret is a phantasmagorical theater of pleasure, churning with hedonistic “camp,” that dances wildly on the edge of disaster.  As the looming Nazi storm becomes terrifyingly real, the play asks the challenging, and deeply resonant, question:  “What would you do?”” Performances take place in the Edison Theatre on the Washington University Campus. For more information: pad.wustl.edu

Looking for auditions and other artistic opportunities? Check out the St. Louis Auditions site.

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