TPTBT (The Place to Be Tonight): Sunday, July 21

Share on Google+:

Who: The Gateway Festival Orchestra
What: A Tribute to Maestro William Schatzkamer
When: Tonight at 7:30
Where: Brookings Quadrangle on the Washington University campus
Why: What's more summery than an outdoor concert, especially it's the fifty-piece Gatewaty Festival Orchestra? Bring a blanket or lawn chair, buy a Ted Drewes Frozen Custard or two (they're available at the concert) and settle down for an evening of easy-on-the-ear (but still certifiably great) classics, including Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 ("New World"), Smetana's The Moldau from Ma Vlast, Richard Strauss's The Duel for flute and bassoon (with soloists Janet Scott and Peggy Bumb), Carl Komzak's Polka for Two Piccolos (with soloists Janet Scott and Carolyn Hoyer), and music from Bernstein's West Side Story.

Admission and parking (which is plentiful) are both free.

Schatzkamer, who died last year, was the conductor of the Gateway Festival Orchestra until 2002.  He was also on the faculty of Washington University and the original music director of the University City Symphony.

TPTBT (The Place to Be Tonight): Sunday, July 14, 2013

Share on Google+:

Who: The Muny
What: Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific
When: Tonight at 8:15
Why:  When South Pacific hit the stage in 1949, the aftermath of the horror that was the war in the Pacific was still very much on everyone’s minds.  Combine that with the show’s occasionally trenchant commentary on racism, the futility of war, and what Emile De Becque, in a moment of despair, refers to as “a mean little world / Of mean little men,” and you can easily understand why the show took Broadway by storm.

The war has since receded to sepia-tinged nostalgia (although the mean little world of mean little men is still with us), so it's harder to put on a South Pacific with any real impact these days.  Judging from the critical response, the Many has nevertheless managed to do just that.  In his review for 88.1 KDHX, Bob Wilcox describes this South Pacific as "maybe the finest production of it I've ever seen."  In the Riverfront Times, Paul Friswold gives it "two thumbs up."  In the Belleville News Democrat, Lynn Venhaus says it's "simply magnificent, creating an as-good-as-it-gets enchanting evening at the Muny."

I could go on, but you get the idea.  For more information: muny.org

TPTBT (The Place to Be Tonight): Saturday, July 13, 2013

artszipper.com

Share on Google+:

Who: Arthur Migliazza and Boogie Bob Baldori
What: Boogie Stomp!
When: Tonight at 7:30
Where: The Foundry Art Centre, 520 North Main Center in St. Charles
Why: "Experience an evening with two of the greatest jazz/boogie/stride/blues pianists in the world. Together, Saint Louis favorite Arthur Migliazza and music legend Boogie Bob Baldori tell how the basic elements of boogie woogie - rhythm and improvisation over a blues form - became the backbone of American music." I'm a big fan of ragtime, stride, and piano styles that came from them, so this sounds like a little slice of heaven to me.  The Centre plays host to a wide variety of musical acts during the year and includes 5200 square feet of exhibition space with four exhibitions currently on show, so you can soak some visual art along with the music.  For more information: www.foundryartcentre.org

TPTBT (The Place to Be Tonight): Friday, July 12

Share on Google+:

Who: Anita Jackson
When: Tonight and Saturday at 7:30 and 9:30 PM
Where: The Jazz Bistro, 3536 Washington
Why: "Soulful and swinging, vocalist Anita Jackson makes her return to the Bistro as a leader. Drawing on jazz, blues, and gospel influences, Jackson’s powerful voice and commanding stage presence endears her to audiences. Don’t miss one of St. Louis’ finest ladies of song!" The Bistro is known for booking big-name jazz acts from out of town, so it's good to see a local artist take the spotlight. For more information: www.jazzstl.org. The Bistro has a full dinner menu as well; call 314-534-3663 for reservations.

TPTBT (The Place to Be Tonight): Saturday, July 6

Share on Google+:

Who: Gitana Productions
What: Soy Yo! (I Am Me!) An Afro Latina Suite
When: Tonight at 7:30, running through July 14
Where: The Kranzberg Center, 501 North Grand
Why: Soy Yo! "takes the audience on a journey from the 1700’s to 2013 with one family of mixed African and Latino heritage. The range of struggles faced by this family mirror those of more than 9 million Americans who self identify as multi-racial or multi-ethnic. A collaboration between playwright Mariah Richardson and director Vivian Anderson Watt, Soy Yo! uses drama, dance and music to address the complex issue of mixed identity during different generations in America." What better time than the July 4th weekend to learn about a little-known contribution to the rich ethnic mix that makes America strong?  "America’s many famous Afro-Latinos," according to the producer, "include Marian Carey, Sammie Davis Jr., Roberto Clemente (baseball player), Celia Cruz (singer), and Soledad O’Brien (TV Journalist)." For more information: www.gitana-inc.org

TPTBT (The Place to Be Tonight): Friday, July 5

Share on Google+:

Who: Farshid Etniko featuring Sandy Weltman
Where: Jazz at the Bistro, 3536 Washington
When: Tonight and Saturday at 7:30 and 9:30 PM
Why: "Born in Iran, Farshid Etniko is a multi-instrumentist who started the guitar at the age of 16. He studied and worked in France for 15 years as industrial drafter, professional musician, and guitar and Middle Eastern instruments instructor before touring across Europe. Moving to St. Louis in 1999, Etniko began to mix his Middle Eastern influences with Latin jazz and blues to find his unique sound.

While at home in the jazz realm, Sandy is equally skilled in blues, celtic, klezmer, Latin, and much more. He learned much of his harmonica styling while under the tutelage of harmonica wizard Howard Levy, a member of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. He has since gained international recognition in the World Harmonica Competitions."

Weltman is a true virtuoso at his instrument.  If you doubt that, check out the variety of sounds and range of notes he can pry out of a standard harmonica.  He's always worth seeing and, of course, you can have dinner and drinks at the Bistro along with the show.

TPTBT (The Place to Be Tonight): Thursday, July 4, 2013

Share on Google+:

Who: The Northwinds Concert Band
What: Independence Day Concert
Where: Florissant Civic Center, Parker and Waterford in Florissant
When: 7:30 tonight
Why: Sure, you could go down to the arch along with everybody else within a 10-mile radius, bake in the sun, buy food on a stick, and then sit in traffic for hours trying to go home afterwards. Or you could head north for an old-fashioned band concert of "patriotic marches and hits from Broadway and film" followed by a fireworks display. I'm a big booster of city life, but unless you're a city resident who can take public transportation to and from the event, even I have to admit this sounds like a better deal.  For more information: www.florissantmo.com

TPTBT (The Place to Be Tonight): Sunday, June 30, 2013

Share on Google+:

Who: The Compton Heights Concert Band
What: July 4th Tribute Concert
When: Tonight at 7:30 PM
Where: Francis Park, Eichelberger and Donovan
Why: "The program includes Captain America March, Film Score Classics, I Could Have Danced All Night, Summertime from Porgy and Bess, Someone To Watch Over Me, Big Band Favorites, The Thunderer March, National Emblem, Symphonic Marches, Over The Rainbow, God Bless America, Armed Forces Salute, 1812 Overture, and the Stars and Stripes Forever March." Featured vocalist is Beverly Stewart-Anderson (pictured) and the evening concludes with Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture."  Temperatures are expected to be mild and the concert is free.  'Nuff said, as Stan Lee used to say.

TPTBT (The Place to Be Tonight): Saturday, June 29

Share on Google+:

Who: OnSite Theatre
What: There's a Gun in Your Goodbye Bag by Elizabeth Birkenmeier
When: Tonight at 5 and 8 PM
Where: Classic Coin Laundry, 7200 Balson Ave, University City
Why: OnSite has the unique mission of performing "site specific" theatre pieces in places that aren't theatres.  Previous shows have taken place in restaurants, a gym, and a bowling alley.  The author of this play, Elizabeth Birkenmeier, wrote a show I appeared in last month—Winning Juliet, with Shakespeare Festival St. Louis—and I was very taken with her skill and good ear for dialog.  Reviewing There's a Gun in Your Goodbye Bag for 88.1 KDHX, Steve Callahan says the show "is, ultimately, quite beautiful. And it is, altogether, one great hour-long poem."

TPTBT (The Place to Be Tonight): Friday, June 28

Photo: John Lamb

Share on Google+:

Who: Insight Theatre Company
What: 1776
When: Tonight through July 7
Where: Heagney Theatre, 530 East Lockwood on the campus of Nerinx Hall High School in Webster Groves
Why: What could be more appropriate for this time of year than this 1969 Broadway hit about the signing of the Declaration of Independence?  The book by Peter Stone (one of the small number of writers to earn an Oscar, Tony, and Emmy during his career) sticks fairly close to historical events, portraying the shifting alliances and political deals that eventually led to the break with Great Britain.  Sherman Edwards's score supports that book and illuminates character brilliantly.  I haven't seen this production yet, of course, and this is a challenging show to produce, but they're starting with tremendously strong material.

TPTBT (The Place to Be Tonight): Saturday, June 1

Share on Google+

Who: Opera Theatre of St. Louis
What: Puccini's Il Tabarro and Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci
Where: The Loretto-Hilton Center
When: Tonight at 8 and running in rotating repertory through June 29
Why:  Jealousy!  Intrigue!  Violence!  Illicit sex!  No, it's not an episode of Jerry Springer, it's just an evening of verismo one-act operas.  The verismo school, as Ron Daniels points out in his program notes, embraced "[s]tories about real, ordinary men and women in the real world."  Except, of course, they sing some truly stirring music.  Besides, while the Parisian stevedores of Tabarro and the provincial touring circus performers of Pagliacci might have been familiar figures when these operas were written in 1918 and 1892, respectively, they are now sufficiently distant from us in time and space to become exotic again.  Whether that means they are still verismo or not is an interesting question, but I won't try to answer it here.

One very notable aspect of this production: it marks the OTSL conducting debut of our the Symphony's Ward Stare, a young conductor who is beginning to make a very big name for himself around the world.

TPTBT (The Place to BeTonight): Friday, May 31

You can tell it's a comedy

Share on Google+

Who: Shakespeare Festival St. Louis
What: Twelfth Night
Where: Shakespeare Glen next to the Art Museum in Forest Park.
When: Nightly at 8 except Tuesdays through June 16
Why: Shakespeare Festival has been bringing polished outdoor productions of the Bard to town for some time now.  They've had their ups and downs, critically speaking, but they're always a class act.  Twelfth Night, in addition, is a show for which I've always had a great deal of affection, in part because I've performed it twice (once as Sir Andrew and once as Antonio) and in part because it's such a good-natured piece.  I'll be moderating a talkback session after the show on Friday night, so hang around and say "hi".  The title, by the way, refers to the fact that the play was written as an entertainment for the close of the Christmas season in 1602 or thereabouts.

TPTBT (The Place to Be Tonight): Thursday, May 23

Share on Google+

Who: New Jewish Theatre
What: Shlemiel the First
Where: The Marvin and Harlene Wool Studio Theater at the Jewish Community Center, 2 Millstone Campus Drive in Creve Coeur
When: Tonight at 7:30 PM through June 9th; see the web site for times.
Why: "A joyous klezmer musical based on the tale by Isaac Bashevis Singer, Shlemiel the First follows the naive beadle Shlemiel from Chelm, a village of fools, on a pilgrimage to spread the wisdom of the local sages. His simple-minded folly turns an already absurd world hilariously upside down, and the play’s small cast, complete with a live klezmer band and a topsy-turvy set, amasses large measures of adoration from audiences nationwide."  I just saw this last night and was tremendously impressed by the talent of the cast, the smart direction, simple but effective choreography, and fine work by Henry Palkes and his small combo (three pieces, counting him).  The combination of clarinet, violin, and keyboard does, in fact, have a distinctly klezmer-like sound and the Robert Brustein/Arnold Weinstein does a nice job of channeling klezmer and traditional Yiddish theater elements.

I'm not sure I'm the right audience for this show—the material has no real cultural resonance for me—but there's no denying the quality of this production.  The storybook set by Margery and Peter Spack and Cristie Johnston is also a triumph.

To paraphrase an old advertising slogan, you don't have to be Jewish to love Shlemiel.  But, as the old joke punchline goes, it couldn't hurt.

TPTBT (The Place to Be Tonight): Wednesday, May 22

Share on Google+

Who: Tesseract Theatre Company
What: You Won't See Me
Where: The Regional Arts Commission, 6128 Delmar
When: Tonight through Saturday at 8 PM and Sunday at 4 PM
Why: "Mal has had an adventurous life, witnessing first hand the rise of the greatest band in rock n’ roll history. What should have been a life of happiness and fulfillment has turned into one of loneliness and abandonment. Now John, a young writer, has come to help Mal write his memoir, but Mal’s reluctancy to bring up old memories makes things get a bit out of hand. But isn’t that the way everything turns out when The Beatles are involved?" The play is by company playwright in residence Caitlin McCommis. Tesseract's mission is "to emphasize the diversity and significance of multiracial casting in the regional theatre spectrum of the Midwest through the art of ensemble performance and the ability to mix new writings from a company of local playwrights with existing works from the national canon." That's admirable, and local playwrights need all the encouragement they can get.

TPTBT (The Place to Be Tonight): Friday, May 17

Share on Google+:

Who: St. Louis Actors' Studio
What: Talking Heads by Alan Bennett
Where: The Gaslight Theatre, 356 North Boyle
When: Tonight at 8 PM through May 26
Why: The work of the great British playwright and original Beyond the Fringe member Alan Bennett is always worth a look, and these three monologues star a trio of well-known local actors. You can even join the cast for High Tea after the matinee shows.

TPTBT (The Place to Be Tonight): Thursday, May 16

Share on Google+

Who: Michelle Collier with Carol Schmidt (piano), Ric Vice (bass) and Clancy Newell (drums)
What: A Tribute to the Hollywood Blondes
Where: The Bistro at Grand Center
When: 8 PM (door open for dinner at 6 PM)
Why: "After a successful run at the Metropolitan Room and Don't Tell Mama in New York City, Mariposa Artists proudly presents Michelle Collier in A Tribute to the Hollywood Blondes, featuring songs performed by the Golden Bombshell Legends of the Silver Screen, including: Ginger Rogers, Betty Grable, Betty Hutton, Jane Powell, Marilyn Monroe, Shirley Jones and more! Join this bubbly entertainer as she takes you on a journey through film history." Ms. Collier, a St. Louis native, is a 2010 MAC Award Nominee for Best Female Debut.  Note that dinner is not included in the ticket price. If you want to make a dinner reservation, call the Bistro at (314) 534-3663. For more information, visit the brownpapertickets.com event page.

TPTBT (The Place to Be Tonight): Wednesday, May 15

Michelle Collier

Share on Google+

Who: The Cabaret Project and 88.1 KDHX
What: Cabaret Open Mic Night First Birthday Party
Where: The Tavern of Fine Arts
When: 7-10 PM

Carol Schmidt

Why:  A year ago Cabaret Project Poobah Tim Schall, pianist and music director Carol Schmidt and I decided that the Tavern of Fine Arts was the ideal place for a regular open mic night that would give local singers a chance to try out new material or polish existing songs.  We hoped it would offer cabaret veterans a chance to expand their range of material as well as bring give new singers a chance to get some experience in front of an audience in a welcoming environment.  One year later it has all exceeded our wildest expectations.  Join us, along our special guest, MAC Award-winning singer Michelle Collier (who brings her show A Tribute to the Hollywood Blondes to the Bistro on Thursday), for an evening of fun, songs, surprises, and free birthday cake.

And, yes, I will probably do some Tom Leher songs.

TPTBT (The Place to Be Tonight): Saturday, May 11

Share on Google+:

Who: Dances of India
What: The 14th Annual St. Louis Dance Festival
Where: The Edison Theatre on the Washington University Campus
When: Tonight at 7:30 PM
Why: "Come and experience the best dance St. Louis has to offer at the 14th Annual St. Louis Dance Festival! Sponsored by Dances of India, this amazingly eclectic event features Ballet, Contemporary, Russian, Middle Eastern, Indian, Flamenco, among other dazzling styles of dance. You'll see both established companies and rising stars on the dance scene. Companies include Diva La Tap, Big Muddy Dance Company, Viva Flamenco, Dances of India, among many others."  I think that says it all; variety would definitely appear to be the spice of this evening.  For more information: (314) 997-0911

TPTBT (The Place to Be Tonight): Friday, May 10

Share on Google+:

Who: The Kirkwood Theatre Guild
What: Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun
Where: The Reim Theater at the Kirkwood Community Center, 111 South Geyer
When: Tonight and Saturday at 8 and Sunday at 2 PM
Why: Berlin's musical is a classic and word on the street is that this is a very solid production.  Community theatre groups often do very well by classic musicals, in part because they often have a large volunteer base that allows them to put a large chorus on stage and build very impressive sets.  I've done a couple of shows at Kirkwood over the years and was very impressed with the professional look of much of their work.

(TPTBT) The Place to Be Tonight : Thursday, May 9, 2013

Share on Google+:

Who: The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Chorus conducted by David Robertson with soloists Susanna Phillips, soprano; Kelley O'Connor, mezzo-soprano; Joseph Kaiser, tenor; and Corey McKern, baritone
What: Music of Bruckner, Berg, and Beethoven
Where: Powell  Symphony Hall
When: Tonight through Saturday at 8 and Sunday at 3 PM
Why: "Beethoven’s monumental Symphony No. 9 is a truly inspirational piece celebrating the highest aspirations of humanity as a whole. Combining the forces of the STL Symphony and Chorus paired with vocal soloists under one baton, David Robertson leads this certain to be memorable season finale that crescendos into the magnificent choral finale, “Ode to Joy.”"

Franz Hawlata as Wozzeck and
Joel Sorensen as Andres
in San Diego, 2007

All true, but what's really interesting is what makes up the first half of the program: Bruckner's motet "Christus Factus Est" and the third act of Alban Berg's unsettling and bizarre opera Wozzeck, composed between 1914 and 1922 and first performed in 1925.  Its nihilistic brutality stands in stark opposition to the spiritual joy of the motet and the secular joy of the Beethoven.

Immediately following the Friday evening performance,  Maestro Robertson holds an informal Q and A on the Orchestra Level. This should provoke some discussion.