St. Louis classical calendar for the week of April 20, 2015

The Bach Society at St. Stanislaus Church

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The Bach Society of St. Louis presents Faire is the Heaven on Sunday, April 26, at 3:0 p.m. at Second Presbyterian Church, 4501 Westminster Place. "Post-Dispatch critic Philip Kennicott hailed Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G minor, as "a summit of the 20th-century choral repertoire" when we performed it in 1997. This magnificent mass for double chorus will be performed again by our chorus and is sure to leave a lasting impression as it did 18 years ago. Music from the English choral tradition, including works by Philips, Byrd, Stanford, Tallis, Howells and Harris is also included on the program." For more information: www.bachsociety.org.

The Chamber Music Society of St. Louis presents Brasstravaganza on Monday and Tuesday, April 20 and 21, at 7:30 p.m. "Chamber Music Society of St. Louis presents an evening of fanfares and antiphonal brass, performing chamber music of the highest quality in a relaxed, informal, cabaret style where audiences can have an entertaining evening as they sit at a table with friends, share a bottle of wine and light snacks while enjoying beautiful music performed by some of the finest musicians in St. Louis." The performance takes place in The Sheldon Concert Hall at 3648 Washington. For more information: chambermusicstl.org.

The Chamber Project St. Louis

The Chamber Project St. Louis presents Vernacular, featuring works by Tower, Beaser, Ozgen, Allison, and Schubert on Wednesday, April 22, at 7:00 PM. The performance takes place at the World Chess Hall of Fame, 4652 Maryland Avenue. For more information: www.chamberprojectstl.org

Gateway Opera presents Mozart's The Impresario Friday and Saturday, April 24 and 25, at 7:00 p.m. "In this hilarious hour-long show, an entrepreneur struggles to hold together an opera company filled with affairs, feuding singers, and a strained budget. This new expanded English edition commissioned by Gateway Opera features favorites from other Mozart operas including Così fan tutte, The Magic Flute, Idomeneo and more!" Performances take place at the Kranzberg Center 501 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information: 1-800-838-3006 or gatewayopera.org.

The Missouri History Museum presents The Seven Deadly Sins, a concert by CHARIS, the St. Louis Women’s Chorus, on Friday, April 24, at 8 p.m. in the Lee Auditorium. "Pride. Envy. Wrath. Gluttony and Lust. Sloth and Greed. Join CHARIS for a tongue-in-cheek look at the weird and darkly comic world of sin, as told through song." The Missouri History Museum is at Skinker and DeBaliviere in Forest Park. For more information: mohistory.org.

Emanuel Ax

David Robertson conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra with pianist Emanuel Ax on Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m., April 25 and 26. Ax will be the soloist in Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2. The concerts will include music by Elgar and Glanert. The concerts take place at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

The Tavern of Fine Arts presents Wanda Becker, violin; Andrew Rubin, cello; and Daniel Schene, piano on Tuesday, April 21, at 8 p.m. They will perform Schubert's Trio in B-flat Major, Op. 99. Daniel Schene will also Schubert's Piano Sonata in A Major, Op. 120. The Tavern of Fine Arts is at 313 Belt in the Debaliviere Place neighborhood. For more information: tavern-of-fine-arts.blogspot.com.

The Tavern of Fine Arts presents pianist Mike Ring on Wednesday, April 22, at 8 p.m. "Pianist Mike Ring presents his first solo recital in over two years. He will perform Impressionistic music and piano works of Brazilian composer Hietor Villa-Lobos as well as Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin, Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue by J.S. Bach, Piano Sonata No. 3 by Sergei Prokofiev. Piano Sonata No. 1 - First Movement by Rodion Shchedrin, and a few short collaborations with friends." The Tavern of Fine Arts is at 313 Belt in the Debaliviere Place neighborhood. For more information: tavern-of-fine-arts.blogspot.com.

Alan Mohammed and Chad Pleasant

The Tavern of Fine Arts presents violinists Chad Pleasant and Alan Mohammed with Daniel Fry on piano performing music by Massenet, Gluck, Bach, Beethoven, and Mendelssohn on Thursday, April 23, at 8 p.m. The Tavern of Fine Arts is at 313 Belt in the Debaliviere Place neighborhood. For more information: tavern-of-fine-arts.blogspot.com.

The Tavern of Fine Arts presents a concert performance of Giuseppi Verdi's comic opera Falstaff featuring Jeffrey Heyl as Falstaff and Rebecca Drury as Alice Ford on Friday, April 234 at 8 p.m. The performance is part of the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival's Shake38 event. The Tavern of Fine Arts is at 313 Belt in the Debaliviere Place neighborhood. For more information: tavern-of-fine-arts.blogspot.com.

The University of Missouri—St. Louis presents a University Piano Alumni Concert on Tuesday, April 21, at 7:30 p.m. "UMSL Piano Alumni Concert. In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the renowned pianist Sviatoslav Richter. David Doran, Tzu Hwa Ho and Daniel Kuehler will share the stage with Alla Voskoboynikova, Director of Keyboard Studies. They will perform music by Scarlatti, Schumann, Scriabin, Medtner and Kapustin. Meet the artists in the lobby of the Lee Theater after the concert." The performance takes place at The Touhill Performing Arts Center on the University of Missouri at St. Louis campus. For more information: touhill.org.

Symphony Review: A pair of threes is a winning hand for the SLSO, Friday and Saturday, April 17 and 18

Simon Trpčeski
Photo: imgartists.com

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Who: The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra conducted by Vasily Petrenko
What: Music of Rachmaninoff and Scriabin
Where: Powell Symphony Hall, St. Louis
When: April 17 and 18, 2015

[Find out more about the music with my preview and the SLSO program notes.]

A pair of threes may not be a winning hand at the casino, but it paid off handsomely at Powell Hall Friday night with virtuoso performances by the St. Louis Symphony and guest conductor Vasily Petrenko of Scriabin's "Symphony No. 3", Op. 43 (1902-04) and, with soloist Simon Trpčeski, Rachmaninoff's "Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 (1909) ."

The Rachmaninoff Third—"Rach 3" to its friends, of whom I am one—is widely regarded as one of the most challenging concerti out there.  Fiercely difficult, it’s a reminder of what a prodigious pianist Rachmaninoff was.  For many years after its premiere, its only real advocate was the composer himself. 

These days it's a part of the standard repertoire.  Even so, it's a hell of a workout.  By the time Mr. Trpčeski banged out those four final chords that Rachmaninoff often used as his musical signature—one long note and three short, corresponding to “RACH-man-in-off”—he looked like he had run a marathon.

Which, in a way, he had, since his performance had both the virtuoso flash and musical sensitivity that the concerto demands.  He threw himself into this work, displaying a breathtaking energy in the first movement's extended cadenza and getting every ounce of hallucinatory intoxication out of the Intermezzo second movement—one of the best performances I've heard of it, in fact.  This was at least as good as the excellent Rach 3 we got from Stephen Hough and Peter Oundjian three years ago.  It was a nearly ideal combination of passion and poetry—which is probably what you should expect from a pianist who sings Yves Montand's "Les feuilles mortes" ("Autumn Leaves" to us Anglophones) in an interview.

Mr. Trpčeski recorded the concerto for the Avie label with Mr. Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic back in 2010 (copies of it are for sale in the lobby), so both performers obviously know the work well and are comfortable playing it together.  Mr. Petrenko's interpretation was richly expressive, bringing out every bit of Rachmaninoff's dark romanticism without sacrificing a sense of momentum.  The last movement, in particular, was a bit on the brisk side, but the tempo proved to be completely comfortable for both the orchestra and Mr. Trpcheski.

The Rach 3 is the kind of thing guaranteed to get a standing ovation when it's played this well, so you won't be surprised to learn that it got one Friday night.  The audience was rewarded with, first, words of praise for the orchestra from Mr. Trpčeski, followed by a charming encore: Chopin's "Waltz in A minor, B. 150 (Op. Posth.)," written in the mid-1840s but not published until 1955.  It was a nice mental palate cleanser after the Rachmaninoff.

Vasily Petrenko
Photo: imgartists.com

"Moderation," Oscar Wilde once quipped, "is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess."  He could well have been referring to the life and work of Aleksandr Scriabin (1872-1915). Although a close friend and contemporary (they were born only a year apart) of Rachmaninoff, Scriabin was a far more eccentric (not to say insane) person.  And although he died young, his compositions—especially his solo piano works—anticipated the twentieth century's near-total collapse of conventional notions of harmony (at least among "classical" composers) in ways that those of his longer-lived friend did not.

First performed in 1905, his "Symphony No. 3" (subtitled "Le Poème divin," "The Divine Poem") has an ambitious program.  The work, according to a note presumably written by Scriabin and distributed at the work's 1905 Moscow premiere,  "represents the evolution of the human spirit, which, freed from the legends and mysteries of the past that it has surmounted and overthrown, passes through pantheism and achieves a joyful and exhilarating affirmation of its liberty and its unity with the universe."

The symphony consists of a short introduction and three movements, all played without pause and running around fifty minutes.  Scriabin titled the movements "Struggles," "Delights," and "Divine Play."  The piece is a richly orchestrated, wildly excessive hymn to excess that makes great demands on the players.  The expanded brass section, in particular, has a lot to do.  And, on Friday night, they did it awfully well. 

And they weren't alone.  The orchestral playing was remarkable for its consistently high quality—impressive, given that the SLSO hasn't performed this music in nearly four decades.  Scriabin is especially fond of the first trumpet here—he seems to have regarded the instrument as his personal voice—so Karen Bliznik deserves a shout-out for her work although, as I say, everybody deserves praise.

Mr. Petrenko had his work cut out for him with this piece.  Scriabin's notions of symphonic construction can sometimes feel repetitious, and there are so many big, swooning climaxes in this music that I think it might be easy to let them become distorted.  But Mr. Petrenko kept Scriabin's big, hyperkinetic musical machine running in top condition.  He allowed the piece to breathe when appropriate (in those delicate passages for the first violins and flutes in the second movement, for example) while still giving full vent to those big, heaven-storming moments.

It was all tremendously exciting, in short, and the audience responded enthusiastically with another standing ovation.  Yes, St. Louis audiences do tend to stand far too easily (and not just at Powell Hall, either), but in this case it was entirely justified.

Next at Powell Hall: David Robertson conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra with pianist Emanuel Ax on Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m., April 25 and 26.  Ax will be the soloist in Brahms' "Piano Concerto No. 2".  The concerts will include music by Elgar and Glanert. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

Chuck's Choices for the weekend of April 17, 2015

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

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New This Week:

The Cockfighter
Photo: John Lamb

The West End Players Guild concludes their 104th season with the drama The Cockfighter Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM and Sundays at 2 PM, April 10-19. "At once elegant and brutal, this coming-of-age story is set against the savage backdrop of professional cockfighting. The gift of a fighting bird of his own sets a young boy on a journey to adulthood and to choices that will change him - and his family - forever. Based on the novel by acclaimed southern author Frank Manley and adapted for the stage by Vincent Murphy, it is another St. Louis premiere." There will also be a show on Thursday, April 16, at 8 PM and the playwright will conduct a special talkback session with the audience after the April 18th performance. Performances take place at the Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 North Union at Enright in the Central West End. For more information, call 314-367-0025 or visit www.westendplayers.org.

My take: Honesty compels me to point out that I am on the board at West End. That said, this production would be worth recommending no matter where it was being done. The script treats its characters with honesty and respect and asks hard questions about the choices we make in life. "A lyrical coming-of-age work," writes Lynn Venhaus at the Belleville News-Democrat, “'The Cockfighter' is tinged with hope and regret, imbued with a captivating sense of place, and enhanced by heartfelt performances." In his review for KDHX, Robert Nickles says the show "goes for the heart," and so it does. The script is not without its issues, but this generally strong production carries it well and features some first-rate performances.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Photo: ProPhotoSTL

Upstream Theater presents The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge adapted for the stage and directed by Patrick Siler with live music composed and performed by Sleepy Kitty, through April 19. Performances take place at the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information, including show times: upstreamtheater.org.

My take: Coleridge probably never intended his poem for theatrical use and, while it was required reading when I was young (back during the Roman Empire), it has probably receded from popular consciousness over the decades. How many people today would even recognize the image of having an albatross around one's neck—much less know where it came from? Still, as Judy Newmak writes in her review for the Post-Dispatch, "he avant-garde stage version playing at Upstream Theater feels completely fresh, a “dream theater” piece that blends art forms old and new. Adapted and directed by Patrick Siler, the hourlong piece uses poetry, drama, music and modern dance to wind through a story that — like a dream — coheres eloquently without constraint of logic." "The vivid imagery of this haunting sea voyage is orchestrated sublimely by Patrick Siler," says the St. Louis Theater Snob, "who adapted and directed the piece, with Jerry Vogel at the helm as the nameless title character. Vogel's commanding presence is palpable -- as heavy in grief, anxiety and remorse as he is buoyant in joy and realization." Upstream in unafraid to take chances and it looks like this is a winner.

Telegraph
Photo: Whitney Curtis

The Performing Arts Department at Washington University presents Telegraph by Will Jacobs, winner of the 2014 A.E. Hotchner New Play Festival, April 16-19. "A peculiar telegraph operator, Mr. Rivers, looks for lost love in the lyricism of electrical impulse. His search is disrupted by the arrival of the very determined Mrs. Emily Stone, who brings light to the darkened corners of his Pennsylvania home. Together, they grapple with love and laughter within the abstractions of language and the rhythms of dots and dashes. Winner of the 2014 A.E Hotchner Playwriting Competition." The performances take place in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theater in the Mallinckrodt Student Center on the Washington University campus. For more information, call 314-935-6543 or visit pad.artsci.wustl.edu.

My take: When this play was still in development last fall, it was presented as part of the Hotchner Festival at Washington University. Back then, KDHX critic Steve Callahan was very taken with it. "It's a magical and engaging play," he wrote. "And it is going to receive a full production next April. I recommend it."

Held Over:

The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Photo: John Lamb

Stray Dog Theatre presents the musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Rupert Holmes Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 PM through April 18. "This raucous show within a show kicks off when a hilariously loony Victorian musical troupe 'puts on' its flamboyant rendition of an unfinished Charles Dickens mystery. Each performance ends differently depending on how the audience chooses to finish the story that Dickens didn't!" Performances take place at The Tower Grove Abbey, 2336 Tennessee. For more information, visit straydogtheatre.org or call 314-865-1995.

My take: This clever show-within-a-show musical has always been a favorite of mine. If your only exposure to Holmes' music has been his big tacky hit "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)," you're in for a surprise with this show with it's clever mock-Victorian score and witty lyrics. There's a good reason why it won the 1985 Tony Award. Reviews have described it as a rowdy good time. Typical is Mark Bretz's review at Ladue News, which describes this as "a clever, ingratiating production that is filled with verve and panache."

Symphony Preview: The SLSO deals a pair of threes Friday and Saturday, April 17 and 18, 2015

This weekend's St. Louis Symphony Orchestra concerts offer a pair of threes: Rachmaninoff's "Piano Concerto No. 3" and Scriabin's "Symphony No. 3" ("The Divine Poem"). Both were written during the first decade of the 20th century when their creators were in their thirties. Both composers were Russian Romantics who were prodigious pianists. And both made significant contributions to the literature for both piano and orchestra.

Aleksandr Scriabin
en.wikipedia.org

(They both also experienced synaesthesia—the association of specific colors with certain musical keys—but that's another story.)

The personalities, however, of Serge Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) and Aleksandr Scriabin (1872-1915) were radically different, even though they were close friends from their days at the Moscow Conservatory. Rachmaninoff, famously, was so stung by the harsh criticism of his "Symphony No. 1" that he spiraled into a depression that was cured only after extensive hypnotherapy. Scriabin, on the other hand, was a raging egomaniac unacquainted with self-doubt. Rachmaninoff was a stable family man. Scriabin was an eccentric who fathered illegitimate children while separated from his wife. Rachmaninoff was a member of the Russian Orthodox Church with strong moral beliefs. Scriabin was a Theosophy-addled mystic who began to see himself as divine.

Basically, Rachmaninoff was sane while Scriabin, as Paul Schiavo writes in his program notes, "was, by any measure, quite mad."

How mad? Well, he became convinced that he could levitate and walk on water, for one thing. "I am the apotheosis of world creation," he said of himself. "I am the aim of aims, the end of ends." And at the time of his death in 1915 at the age of 43 (brought on by septicemia stemming from a sore on his upper lip), Scriabin was working on a "Universe Symphony". It would be a multi-media experience that would be performed in the Himalayas and would result in "a grandiose religious synthesis of all arts which would herald the birth of a new world." "The universe," as Scriabin's biographer Faubion Bowers wrote, "would be completely destroyed by it, and mankind plunged into the holocaust of finality." All we have are sketches of the first part, titled "Mysterium". Which might be just as well.

The intent behind the "Symphony No. 3," while less apocalyptic, was certainly ambitious. "The Divine Poem," ran a note presumably written by Scriabin and distributed at the work's 1905 Moscow premiere, "represents the evolution of the human spirit, which, freed from the legends and mysteries of the past that it has surmounted and overthrown, passes through pantheism and achieves a joyful and exhilarating affirmation of its liberty and its unity with the universe."

"The Divine Poem," writes Philip Huscher in his program notes for a Chicago Symphony Orchestra performance from this January, "is the longest work Scriabin wrote. It is scored for a very large orchestra, handled with the care and imagination of a much more experienced orchestrator. It is also the first of his works to be called a poem, signaling the shift from abstract symphony to a new, unnameable [sic] kind of music."

The symphony consists of a short introduction and three movements, all played without pause and running around fifty minutes. Scriabin titled the movements "Struggles," "Delights," and "Divine Play." Mr. Schiavo has a nicely detailed analysis of it in his notes for the SLSO program as does Mr. Huscher in his notes for the CSO. The former is heavier on musical detail while the latter includes fascinating quotes by the composer (Scriabin found few subjects more worthy of comment than Scriabin). They're both worth reading.

Although Scriabin died young, his compositions—especially his solo piano works—anticipated the twentieth century's near-total collapse of conventional notions of harmony (at least among "classical" composers) in ways that those of his longer-lived friend did not. He did it, however, in ways that were completely idiosyncratic, creating his own personal notions of harmony, including his famous "Mystic chord"—C, F♯, B♭, E, A, D. 

That failed to endear him to the serialists and others looking for a more rational and mathematical system.  "The strength of Alexander [sic] Scriabin," wrote Vladimir Horowitz for a 1956 recording of his sonatas, "…was unashamed Byronic romanticism.  It is one of those peculiar ironies that this strength in an earlier era may have turned out in retrospect to be his weakness in the age in which we live.  Today, in a more material age, unfortunately the tendency is to regard romanticism in any form with indulgent tolerance."

By the time Rachmaninoff got around to writing his "Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor," Op. 30, in 1909 he had fully recovered from the crippling depression brought on by the failure of his "Symphony No. 1" over a decade earlier and had achieved international recognition as both a virtuoso pianist and a composer. He wrote the concerto at his family's country estate, Ivanovka, in the summer of 1909 for a concert tour of the USA. The concerto's first two performances took place that November with the New York Symphony Society conducted by Walter Damrosch (the premiere) and Gustav Mahler (several weeks later).

Rachmaninoff in 1900
en.wikipedia.org

The Rachmaninoff Third is the K2 of piano concerti. Fiercely difficult, it's a reminder of what a prodigious pianist Rachmaninoff was. For many years after its premiere, its only real advocate was the composer himself. Even the virtuoso to whom the piece is dedicated, Josef Hofmann, never attempted to perform it in public. It wasn't until the great Vladimir Horowitz recorded it in 1930 and began to actively promote it that it started to rise in popularity. These days it's so much a part of the standard repertoire that two of the finalists in the 2013 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (Fei-Fei Dong and Sean Chen) picked it for their final-round concerts.

Still, it's not the sort of thing a pianist takes on lightly. Our soloist this weekend, Macedonian pianist Simon Trpcheski, is no stranger to the work, having recorded it for the Avie label with this weekend's guest conductor, Vasily Petrenko (who conducted a very impressive Rachmaninoff "Isle of the Dead" here in October, 2011). It also can't hurt that the orchestra played the work as recently as May of 2012 (under Peter Oundjian, with Stephen Hough as the keyboard).

An interesting local note: when the concerto had its St. Louis premiere on January 27, 1928, the soloist was Horowitz (the "young Russian pianist," to quote Post-Dispatch critic Thomas B. Sherman). The pianist had arrived in the USA just two weeks previously and had already created a sensation with the New York Philharmonic under Sir Thomas Beecham. Mr. Sherman loved Horowitz ("a powerful tone and a sparkling and expertly controlled technique") but hated the concerto, calling it "as dull a thing as the noted Muscovite expatriate has ever done". History has rather overruled him that one.

The essentials: Vasily Petrenko conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra with pianist Simon Trpcheski in Rachmaninoff's "Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor" and Scriabin's Symphony No. 3, "Le Poème divin," on Friday and Saturday, April 17 and 18, at 8 p.m. The concerts take place at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of April 13, 2015

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

For information on events beyond this week, check out the searchable database at the Regional Arts Commission's events web site.

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Tesseract Theatre Company presents The Age of Bees April 17-28. "It's the year 2098. The bees are gone and the world struggles to keep up with the resulting ecological and economic changes. In the midst of this, we meet Mel, a young woman who has found sanctuary on an agricultural compound, where there's food and safety. She works alongside other girls, also orphans or castoffs. Sarah and Zed, who run the farm, hope that their next child will be a boy; Sarah is at the end of her fertility, however, and, to her dismay, Mel stands next in line to carry children for Zed. Into this uncertain sanctuary steps Jonathan, an independent field researcher who collects samples of plants to forestall additional ecological devastation. Meeting Mel provides a glimmer of other kinds of scientific riches on this compound, and he is determined to take her with him. Zed's history of violence makes any escape a dangerous proposition. Still, there's the hope that something new can grow, that something good can come from the ruined world they struggle to make theirs." Performances take place at the Regional Arts Commission, 6128 Delmar. For more information: tesseracttheatre.org.

St. Louis Actors' Studio presents Yasmina Reza's comedy Art Aprll 17-May 3 at the Gaslight Theatre, 358 North Boyle. "How much would you pay for a white painting? Would it matter who the painter was? Would it be art? One of Marc's best friends, Serge, has just bought a very expensive painting. It's about five feet by four, all white with white diagonal lines. To Marc, the painting is a joke, but Serge insists Marc doesn't have the proper standard to judge the work. Another friend, Ivan, though burdened by his own problems, allows himself to be pulled into this disagreement. Eager to please, Ivan tells Serge he likes the painting. Lines are drawn and these old friends square off over the canvas, using it as an excuse to relentlessly batter one another over various failures. As their arguments become less theoretical and more personal, they border on destroying their friendships. At the breaking point, Serge hands Marc a felt tip pen and dares him: “Go on.” This is where the friendship is finally tested, and the aftermath of action, and its reaction, affirms the power of those bonds." For more information, call 314-458-2978 or visit stlas.org.

The Cockfighter
Photo: John Lamb

The West End Players Guild concludes their 104th season with the drama The Cockfighter Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM and Sundays at 2 PM, April 10-19. "At once elegant and brutal, this coming-of-age story is set against the savage backdrop of professional cockfighting. The gift of a fighting bird of his own sets a young boy on a journey to adulthood and to choices that will change him - and his family - forever. Based on the novel by acclaimed southern author Frank Manley and adapted for the stage by Vincent Murphy, it is another St. Louis premiere." There will also be a show on Thursday, April 16, at 8 PM and the playwright will conduct a special talkback session with the audience after the April 18th performance. Performances take place at the Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 North Union at Enright in the Central West End. For more information, call 314-367-0025 or visit www.westendplayers.org. Read the 88.1 KDHX review!

The Hawthorne Players present the Beth Henley's Crimes of the Heart April 17-26. "Crimes of the Heart is filled with humanity and humor as it examines the plight of three young Mississippi sisters betrayed by their passions. In the end, the play is the story of how its young characters escape the past and seize the future-but the telling is so true and touching and consistently hilarious that it will linger in the mind long after the curtain has descended. This winner of the 1981 Pulitzer Prize will be directed by Ken Clark, who says, "If you think your family has issues, wait until you visit the Magrath household. As my grandmother once said, Southern hospitality can't fix crazy."" The performances take place at the Florissant Civic Center Theatre at Parker and Waterford in Florissant, MO. For more information, call 921-5678 or visit hawthorneplayers.com.

St. Louis Community College at Forest Park presents Discipline 17/2 April 16-19. This is the premiere of a play from Bob Mielke (milky), a poet, author and professor of English as well as a longtime fan of the Sun Ra Arkestra which has a ever-changing, flexible lineup. Performances take place in the Bastian Theatre on the campus at 5600 Oakland. For more information: stlcc.edu/FP under Bastian Theatre or call 314-644-9100.

Family Musical Theater presents the Stephen Sondheim musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum April 17-28 at the Ivory Theatre, 7622 Michigan. For more information, visit familymusical.org or call 314-571-9579.

Peabody Opera House presents the I Love Lucy Live On Stage Friday through Sunday, April 17-19. "It's 1952 and you are a member of the studio audience awaiting the filming of two hilarious and oh-so-familiar I LOVE LUCY® episodes. Imagine stepping back in time onto the Desilu Playhouse soundstage where a charming host entertains and enlightens you to the behind-the-scenes filming process, the 1950s hi-fidelity technology and this brand-new thing called “television.” The episodes begin and you witness, firsthand, the side-splitting antics of that crazy redhead in the Ricardo's New York apartment and thrill to the Cuban sounds of “The Ricky Ricardo Orchestra” at the famed Tropicana Nightclub. In-between scenes? The Crystaltone Singers perform live advertising jingles of the show's newest sponsors in perfect 50s style harmony." For more information, visit peabodyoperahouse.com or call 314-622-5420.

Shaulee Cook

Mustard Seed Theatre presents An Invitation Out by Shaulee Cook April 17-May 3. "In this world-premiere comedy of manners, a young man searches for “truth” while living in virtual reality and explores the “reality” of life offline." Performances take place at the Fontbonne Fine Arts Theatre, 6800 Wydown Blvd. For more information, call (314) 719-8060 or visit the web site at www.mustardseedtheatre.com.

Over Due Theatre presents the musical Little Shop of Horrors Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM and Sundays at 2 PM, through April 19. Performances take place at the Olivette Community Center, 9723 Grandview Drive, in Olivette, MO. For more information, call 314-210-2959 or visit overduetheatrecompany.com.

The Lemp Mansion Comedy-Mystery Dinner Theater presents Muuurder in Maaaybury through April 25. The Lemp Mansion is at 3322 DeMenil Place. For more information: lempmansion.com.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Photo: John Lamb

Stray Dog Theatre presents the musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Rupert Holmes Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 PM through April 18. "This raucous show within a show kicks off when a hilariously loony Victorian musical troupe 'puts on' its flamboyant rendition of an unfinished Charles Dickens mystery. Each performance ends differently depending on how the audience chooses to finish the story that Dickens didn't!" Performances take place at The Tower Grove Abbey, 2336 Tennessee. For more information, visit straydogtheatre.org or call 314-865-1995. Read the 88.1 KDHX review!

Lindenwood University presents Shakespeare's Pericles, Prince of Tyre April 17-25. "This action-packed production is a tempest-tossed hero's quest-a magical mystery tour spanning decades and continents, culminating in one of the most joyous reunions in the Shakespearean canon. Featuring pirates, goddesses, jousting knights, and a lost princess, Pericles, Prince of Tyre is a theatrical journey you don't want to miss!" Performances take place at the J. Scheidegger Center for the Arts on the Lindenwood campus in St. Charles, MO. For more information, call 636-949-4433 or visit lindenwood.edu/center.

The Bissell Mansion Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre presents Phantom of the Grand Ole Opery through April 26. The Bissell Mansion is at 4426 Randall Place. For more information: bissellmansiontheatre.com

The Monroe Actors Stage Company presents Prescription Murder Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 and Sundays at 2:30 p.m., through Aprl 19, in the Historic Capitol Theatre in downtown Waterloo, Illinois. For more information, visit www.masctheatre.org or call 618-939-7469.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Photo: ProPhotoSTL

Upstream Theater presents The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge adapted for the stage and directed by Patrick Siler with live music composed and performed by Sleepy Kitty, through April 19. Performances take place at the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information, including show times: upstreamtheater.org. Read the 88.1 KDHX review!

St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley presents Steel Magnolias April 17-25. Performances take place in the Fisher Theatre on the campus at 3400 Pershall Road. For more information: stlcc.edu/FV under Fischer Theatre or call 314-644-5522.

Clinton County Showcase presents The Sting through April 19. “This show takes place in Chicago many years ago in a world of small-time hustlers and their girls, their money nonexistent but their ingenuity abundant. Johnny Hooker joins a friend in a successful con of a 'runner.' Unfortunately for them, the runner works for a powerful, vindictive rackets boss, Doyle Lonnegan, who is infuriated and arranges the killing of Johnny's friend. Hoping to avenge this senseless murder, Johnny enlists the aid of the master con man Henry Gondorf. Together they decide to try the big con called 'The Wire.'” Performances take place at the Avon Theater, 525 North 2nd Street Breese IL. For more information, visit ccshowcase.com.

Telegraph
Photo: Whitney Curtis

The Performing Arts Department at Washington University presents Telegraph by Will Jacobs, winner of the 2014 A.E. Hotchner New Play Festival, April 16-19. "A peculiar telegraph operator, Mr. Rivers, looks for lost love in the lyricism of electrical impulse. His search is disrupted by the arrival of the very determined Mrs. Emily Stone, who brings light to the darkened corners of his Pennsylvania home. Together, they grapple with love and laughter within the abstractions of language and the rhythms of dots and dashes. Winner of the 2014 A.E Hotchner Playwriting Competition." The performances take place in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theater in the Mallinckrodt Student Center on the Washington University campus. For more information, call 314-935-6543 or visit pad.artsci.wustl.edu.

St. Louis Community College at Meramec presents Christopher Marlowe's The Tragedy of Doctor Faustus Wednesday through Sunday, April 15-18. Performances take place in the theatre on the campus at 11333 Big Bend Road. For more information, call 314-984-7500.

Curtain's Up Theatre presents the courtroom drama Twelve Angry Men April 17-19. Performances take place at the Alfresco Art Center, 2401 Delmar in Granite City, IL. For more information, visit curtainsuptheater.com.

Would you like to be on the radio? KDHX, 88.1 FM needs theatre reviewers. If you're 18 years or older, knowledgeable in this area, have practical theatre experience (acting, directing, writing, technical design, etc.), have good oral and written communications skills and would like to become one of our volunteer reviewers, send an email describing your experience and interests to chuck at kdhx.org. Please include a sample review of something you've seen recently.

Cabaret Review: An auspicious debut by Gina Otto

Who: Gina Otto
What: The Lovers, the Dreamers, and Me
Where: The Gaslight Theatre, St. Louis, MO
When: April 9, 2015

Our town's newest cabaret headliner, Gina Otto, made an auspicious debut at the Gaslight Cabaret Festival with "The Lovers, the Dreamers, and Me." Although not without its issues, the show was well received by a sold-out house that clearly included a lot of Ms. Otto's fans from the local country club circuit, where she performs regularly.

The evening was distinguished by intriguing song choices, including one I'd never heard before: "You Don't Love Me," from Dutch jazz singer Caro Emerald's 2010 album "Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor." It's an upbeat, verbally inventive little number along the lines of The Cherry Poppin' Daddies (or, for those of you from my generation, Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks) that suited Ms. Otto's light voice well in one of many smart arrangements by pianist and music director Carol Schmidt.

There were other songs that I thought worked especially well. A lyrical "Hopelessly Devoted to You," for example, was enriched by Ms. Otto's memories of singing with her father. "I Can Cook Too," a rarely heard comic number from "On the Town," was amusingly prepped as relationship advice, and the way it segued into a parody version of "McArthur Park" was a nice touch. I've never been able to take those lyrics with a straight face anyway, and Ms. Otto had some well-deserved fun with them.

Throughout the evening Ms. Otto was engaged and charming with the audience. I found the overall emotional range of the evening a bit limited, though. She did not often delve deeply into lyrics, and the overall tone seemed more suited to a supper club environment, where the singer is not so much in focus for the audience. When Ms. Otto really connected with a lyric at a deeper level—as she did in a torchy "The Man I Love"—she was more compelling. I wished she had done that more often.

I also wished she had not held the mic directly in front of her mouth quite so much. It partly blocked the view of her expressive face.

That said, it was a lively first show and the audience was clearly entertained. The local cabaret scene continues to grow and new faces are always welcome.

Gina Otto's appearance conclud the spring edition of producer Jim Dolan's Gaslight Cabaret Festival at the Gaslight Theater on North Boyle, which concluded on April 11th. For information on upcoming shows: gaslightcabaretfestival.com.

Symphony Review: Sunshine and shadow with Mozart and Shostakovich

Hannu Lintu

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Who: The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hannu Lintu
What: Music of Mozart and Shostakovich
Where: Powell Symphony Hall, St. Louis
When: April 10 and 11, 2015

[Find out more about the music with the SLSO program notes and my symphony preview.]

There was something vaguely disconcerting about leaving Powell Hall Friday morning after hearing the SLSO and guest conductor Hannu Lintu perform Shostakovich's harrowing 1943 "Symphony No. 8" in C minor. Walking out into that bright spring morning was a bit like suddenly waking up from a nightmare. For just a moment, the light seemed a little dimmer.

The eighth symphony is the kind of thing that prompted British critic Robert Layton to somewhat dismissively label Shostakovich a "documentary composer, far more bound up with this time" than some of his contemporaries. He wasn't entirely wrong. Certainly understanding the twin horrors of Hitler and Stalin that lie behind the scarred face of this work can enhance one's appreciation of it. In Russian musicologist Solomon Volkov's 1979 "Testimony," allegedly based on Shostakovich's memoirs, the composer is quoted as saying: "I feel eternal pain for those who were killed by Hitler, but I feel no less pain for those killed on Stalin's orders... That is what my symphonies are about, including Number Eight." But I think the Shostakovich Eighth is no more inextricably bound up with World War II than the Beethoven "Eroica" is with the Napoleonic wars.

Jonathan Chu
stlsymphony.org

In any case, Mr. Lintu and the orchestra gave us an awfully good account of the music Friday morning. This was a beautifully and precisely calibrated performance that honored the composer's every intention. Mr. Lintu is, as I have noted before, a commanding and visually compelling figure on the podium. His big gestures are striking, but he can also coax delicate sounds with a minimum of physical display. He displays, in short, a nearly ideal mixture of romantic intensity and intellectual control—a winning combination for a work as complex as this one.

The gradually building tension of the long first movement was handled just right, so that the shattering climax and violent, mechanistic parody of a march that come about halfway through had maximum impact. The Allegretto second movement, which combines a march with a slightly demented dance, had a nice sarcastic edge.

The Allegro Non Troppo third movement is essentially "perpetual motion" music from Hell driven by what Mark Wigglesworth calls a "machine-like ostinato." It came across as appropriately driven without sounding frantic. The trumpets and trombones executed the weird little "oom-pah" dance interlude towards the end with impressive precision.

Strong dynamic contrasts underscored the despair of the fourth movement passacaglia, and the fifth movement's slow journey towards the light was beautifully paced. The final, luminous measures on flutes and strings were breathtakingly lovely. Mr. Lintu gave it a good ten count before lowering his baton at the end, so we could all appreciate the silence.

Beth Guterman Chu
stlsymphony.org

Although scored for a massive orchestra (around ninety players), the Shostakovich Eighth is filled with solo and small ensemble passages that put all of the principal players in the spotlight at some point. Mr. Lintu gave them all a chance to stand at the end and they all deserved it. I was especially impressed by the horns this time around—Shostakovich often drives them up to the top of their register—but the truth is everyone played flawlessly.

The concert opened with the "Sinfonia concertante" in E-flat major for Violin, Viola, and Orchestra, K. 364, by Mozart—music so different it might as well be from another planet. Conducting without a baton and gracefully sculpting phrases from the air, Mr. Lintu gave us another finely tuned and classically balanced reading.

The soloists—both members of the SLSO string section—were the wife and husband team of Beth Guterman Chu on viola and Jonathan Chu on violin. As you might expect, their playing had the special kind of warmth and camaraderie that come from musicians who know each other well and anticipate each other's moves. They seemed to be having a wonderful time, which meant that we in the audience did as well.

Next at Powell Hall: Vasily Petrenko conducts Scriabin's "Symphony No. 3" and Rachmaninoff's "Piano Concerto No. 3" and with soloist Simon Trpceski on Friday and Saturday, April 17 and 18, at 8 p.m. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

St. Louis classical calendar for the week of April 13, 2015

The Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis presents a concert by Blue Heron on Wednesday, April 15, at 8 p.m.  "The vocal ensemble Blue Heron has been acclaimed by The Boston Globe as ‘one of the Boston music community’s indispensables’ and hailed by Alex Ross in The New Yorker for the ‘expressive intensity’ of its interpretations. Combining a commitment to vivid live performance with the study of original source materials and historical performance practice, Blue Heron ranges over a wide and fascinating repertoire, including 15th-century English and Franco-Flemish polyphony, Spanish music between 1500 and 1600, and neglected early 16th-century English music, especially the rich and unique repertory of the Peterhouse partbooks, copied c. 1540 for Canterbury Cathedral."  The Cathedral is at 4431 Lindell in the Central West End.  For more information: cathedralconcerts.org.

The Collegium Vocale of Saint Louis

First Congregational Church of Webster Groves presents The Triumphs of Oriana: Music Fit for a Queen on Sunday, April 19, at 2:30 p.m. "The Collegium Vocale of Saint Louis will perform a concert of madrigals and lute songs from England’s Golden Age by Morley, Weelkes, Dowland, Bennet, Cavendish, Norcome, Robert Jones & Hilton the Elder. Accompaniment by harpsichord, lute and other period instruments. Introductory lecture by Artistic Director, Dr. Bruce Carvell, at 2:30 pm."  First Congregational Church of Webster Groves is at 10 West Lockwood in Webster Groves.  For more information:  cvsl.wordpress.com.

The St. Louis Symphony’s Crescendo Circle presents Sips and Symphonies on Thursday, April 16, at 7:30 PM.  “What is Sips and Symphonies? It is a great way to learn about music in a fun, casual environment.”  A special cocktail is created for each event to accompany the music.  The subject of this month's discussion/presentation is Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3.  The event takes place at The Tavern of Fine Arts, 313 Belt in the Debaliviere Place neighborhood.   For more information: tavern-of-fine-arts.blogspot.com.

Simon Trpčeski
imgartists.com

Vasily Petrenko conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra with pianist Simon Trpčeski on Friday and Saturday, April 17 and 18, at 8 p.m.  "Considered more rhapsodic and sophisticated than his other piano concertos, Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 is filled with dramatic and expressive themes.  It’s cascading and leaping octaves and massive chords demand extraordinary technical skill and Simon Trpčeski is perfectly suited for the challenge. For those less familiar with Scriabin’s symphonic works, you’ll be impressed by the richness and emotion of his Symphony No. 3." The concerts take place at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand in Grand Center.  For more information: stlsymphony.org.

Steven Jarvi conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in Forces of Nature on Sunday, April 19, at 3 p.m.  "Pairing images with music, audiences will be in awe at how the power of nature and various phenomena on Planet Earth have inspired famous works, including Beethoven’s Thunderstorm from his “Pastorale” Symphony, John Williams’ Main Them from Star Wars and more!" The concert takes place at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand in Grand Center.  For more information: stlsymphony.org.

Kate Glass

The Tavern of Fine Arts presents a classical open stage night on Monday, April 13, from 7:30 – 9 PM.  “Come by yourself or bring your quartet. Sight read through a Beethoven quartet or use this as an opportunity to put the finishing touches on that Hindemith Viola Sonata you have been working on. All ages and skill levels are welcome. We have a 6' grand piano and an accompanist.”  The Tavern of Fine Arts is at 313 Belt in the Debaliviere Place neighborhood.   For more information: tavern-of-fine-arts.blogspot.com.

The Tavern of Fine Arts presents soprano Kate Glass and pianist Jon Garrett in a program of songs by Brahms, Strauss, Wolf, Faure, Rorem, Barber, and Floyd on Friday, April 17, at 8 p.m.  The Tavern of Fine Arts is at 313 Belt in the Debaliviere Place neighborhood.   For more information: tavern-of-fine-arts.blogspot.com.

Symphony Preview: Mozart and Shostakovich offer stark contrasts at the SLSO Friday and Saturday, April 10 and 11, 2015

Dmitri Shostakovich
shostakovich.hilwin.nl

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In the introduction to his chapter on Shostakovich in the 1967 Penguin Books edition of "The Symphony," British musicologist Robert Layton described the Russian symphonist somewhat dismissively as a "documentary composer, far more bound up with this time than...Prokofiev, or any other of his Soviet contemporaries."

That's probably not the prevailing view of Shostakovich these days, but I do think that a full appreciation of his "Symphony No. 8 C minor," op. 65, which the SLSO is performing this weekend, requires some understanding of the time and place of its origin.

Shostakovich wrote the work in a little over two months, during the summer of 1943 (although he probably had it sketched out in his head long before that). It was a time when the tide of the war was turning against Germany. Leningrad was still under siege but the Germans had been defeated at Stalingrad earlier that year, and the overall mood was more optimistic. Official composers were expected to reflect that in their music.

But Shostakovich was unable to comply. Yes, he was glad to see the Nazis lose, but he could take no joy in seeing Stalin win. He recalled all to clearly the Soviet dictator's reign of terror. In Russian musicologist Solomon Volkov's 1979 "Testimony," allegedly based on Shostakovich's memoirs, the composer is quoted as saying: "I feel eternal pain for those who were killed by Hitler, but I feel no less pain for those killed on Stalin's orders. I suffer for everyone who was tortured, shot, or starved to death. There were millions of them in our country before the war with Hitler began. The war brought much new sorrow and much new destruction, but I haven't forgotten the terrible pre-war years. That is what my symphonies are about, including Number Eight."

Stalin in 1943
en.wikipedia.org

"Between 1937 and 1939 alone," wrote Mark Wigglesworth in his notes for the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra recording the Shostakovich Eighth, "one and a half million Russians were liquidated. People were forced to inform on each other and in one region a quota was even established whereby everyone needed to inform on five people. If you could only name four, you had to be the fifth. In addition, Stalin's policy of agricultural collectivism led to such poverty and famine that there were even reports of parents eating children."

Against such a backdrop, only a memorial would suffice

Laid out in five movements—the last three of which are played without pause—and running just over an hour, the "Symphony No. 8" can sometimes feel overwhelming in its intensity. This is especially true of the long (just under 30 minutes) first movement. Marked Adagio, Allegro Non Troppo, it begins with a dramatic three-note theme in the lower strings, variations of which recur throughout the piece, and rises to a shattering climax in a violent, mechanistic parody of a march before fading out in a despairing lament for solo trumpet and strings. It's reminiscent of the opening movement of Shostakovich's "Symphony No. 5," which was probably the composer's intent.

That would be powerful enough all by itself, but Shostakovich follows it with a grotesquely martial Allegretto and a propulsive Allegro Non Troppo which, as Mr. Wigglesworth writes, "seems to go the whole hog in expressing the total crushing of an individual. The relentlessness of its machine-like ostinato shows no pity at the human shrieks that ride above it". It's fast and, like the mechanized warfare that seems to have inspired it, relentlessly loud.

A final blast of winds and percussion leads to the Largo fourth movement. It's a passacaglia with a repeating bass line that rises only to repeatedly fall back again. Higher instruments try—and fail—to escape the pull of its gravity. Blogger Paul Serotsky calls this movement "static, chilled, drained, the frozen heart of the symphony."

But nothing stays frozen forever. As the Allegretto final movement begins, that plodding bass line yields to what Mr. Serotsky calls "the first friendly sound in the entire symphony": a little phrase on the bassoons that sounds almost jaunty. Like the first movement, this one also builds to a massive orchestral outburst. But instead of falling into despair at the end, it yields to soft, hauntingly beautiful music in the flutes and strings. Maybe it's hope. Maybe it's just resignation. It is, in any case, in C major. And it's the end.

The Mozart family, c. 1780
en.wikipedia.org

The concerts will open with a work so different from the Shostakovich that it might as well have been composed on another planet. It's the "Sinfonia concertante" in E-flat major for Violin, Viola, and Orchestra, K. 364, by Mozart. Written when the composer was touring Europe in 1779, the work is generally considered to be Mozart's most successful experiment in this form, which is essentially a symphony with a group (a pair, in this case) of instrumental soloists.

There's no horror here, but there is around a half-hour of great music. That includes a Presto finale that begins with what New York Philharmonic program annotator James M. Keller calls "a tune of ineluctable charm" and then moves on to a theme which is "the perfect expression of late-18th-century mores. For a moment we are transported to the drawing room of an 18th-century aristocrat. The conversation is clever and cultured, but suddenly all heads turn as one of the assembled eminences—a Voltaire, perhaps, or a Franklin—imparts an observation that towers above the surrounding babble, and then brings the proceedings back to earth with an irrepressible chortle."

Which seems only right, as Mozart was a fellow much given to irrepressible chortles, musical or otherwise.

The soloists for the Mozart are both members of the band: Assistant Principal Viola Jonathan Chu (playing violin this time around) and Principal Viola Beth Guterman Chu. They're also married to each other, a fact which has at least the potential to add an air of intimate communication to their performance.

At the podium will be Hannu Lintu. When I saw him here in October 2013 I found his style on the podium to be a nearly ideal mixture of romantic intensity and intellectual rigor—fire combined with ice. For a program with contrasts as stark as this one, that could be a good fit.

The Essentials: Hannu Lintu conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra with violinist Jonathan Chu and violist Beth Guterman Chu on Friday at 10:30 a.m. and Saturday at 8 p.m., April 10 and 11. The program features Mozart's "Sinfonia concertante," K. 364 and Shostakovich's "Symphony No. 8." The concerts take place at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

Chuck's Choices for the weekend of April 10, 2015

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

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New This Week:

Kay Love

The Presenters Dolan present Kay Love in Girls Just Want to Have Fun (the women who wrote the songs) on Saturday, April 11, at 8 PM as part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival. "Kay does cabaret at its purest. The shows of this wonderful singer are completely put together." The performance takes place at the Gaslight Theater, 358 North Boyle. For more information: gaslightcabaretfestival.com.

My take: I see cabaret as a form of musical theatre, and Kay is an accomplished musical theatre actress of long standing locally. I don't see how you can go wrong with her show.

The Presenters Dolan present Gina Otto in The Lovers, the Dreamers, and Me on Thursday, April 9, at 8 PM as part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival. "Jazzy standards segue into pop, Broadway and sassy, Western Swing. An accomplished local singer, sharp and funny and endearing, steps into the cabaret scene." The performance takes place at the Gaslight Theater, 358 North Boyle. For more information: gaslightcabaretfestival.com.

My take: Gina Otto is new to the local cabaret scene, but I've been hearing good things about this show.

Ken Haller

The Presenters Dolan present Ken Haller in a return engagement of his show Mama's Boy on Friday, April 10, at 8 PM as part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival. "Charmer Dr. Haller comes back with Mama's Boy after a sold-out success last fall. He just does good shows. Ken got love of music from his Irish-Catholic mom who would sing standards while keeping house and raising five kids. You won't want to miss this heartwarming, hilarious, moving show from one of St. Louis's foremost cabaret artists!" The performance takes place at the Gaslight Theater, 358 North Boyle. For more information: gaslightcabaretfestival.com.

My take: Ken's musical tribute to his late mother is a charming show, filled with great songs and memories. And, yes, there will be Sondheim. Reviewing the premiere of this show last November for KDHX, Katie McGrath praised it as "touching, over-too-soon glimpse into his history with stories about small moments that had huge impact on his life."

The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Photo: John Lamb

Stray Dog Theatre presents the musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Rupert Holmes Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 PM through April 18. "This raucous show within a show kicks off when a hilariously loony Victorian musical troupe 'puts on' its flamboyant rendition of an unfinished Charles Dickens mystery. Each performance ends differently depending on how the audience chooses to finish the story that Dickens didn't!" Performances take place at The Tower Grove Abbey, 2336 Tennessee. For more information, visit straydogtheatre.org or call 314-865-1995.

My take: This clever show-within-a-show musical has always been a favorite of mine. If your only exposure to Holmes' music has been his big tacky hit "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)," you're in for a surprise with this show with it's clever mock-Victorian score and witty lyrics. There's a good reason why it won the 1985 Tony Award. Reviews have described it as a rowdy good time. Typical is Mark Bretz's review at Ladue News, which describes this as "a clever, ingratiating production that is filled with verve and panache."

Stephen Peirick and Maggie Conroy
in Off the Record

OnSite Theatre Company presents Off the Record by Alec Wild Fridays at 8 PM, and Saturdays at 7 and 9 PM, through April 11. "The timely comedy, Off the Record, follows the gubernatorial campaign of a promising candidate as a surprising scandal puts him and his staff on their toes and forces them into damage-control mode. As the audience takes on the role of the press corps following the candidate, pieces of information about the candidate and his wife leak to the audience bit by bit via cellphone." Audiences will board the bus at Tavolo, 6118 Delmar. For more information: www.OnSiteTheatre.org.

My take: OnSite has an unusual mission: site-specific theatre. "From hotels to public restrooms," says their web site, "site-specific theatre takes the theatergoers out of their seats and thrusts them into the setting of the play. This form of theatre emphasizes stories and events that reveal the relationship between our physical environment and us." The site in this case is a bus; specifically, a school bus that plays the role of the campaign bus on which the play takes place. "Director Tom Martin masters the several unique technical difficulties of the venue," writes Steve Callahan at KDHX, "and leads his cast to a brisk and bright performance."

Held Over:

Jeremy Webb in Buyer and Cellar
©Photo by Jerry Naunheim Jr.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents Buyer and Cellar through April 12 (extended from March 29). "Inspired by Barbra Streisand's coffee table book, My Passion for Design, this uproarious fictional account of celebrity eccentricity takes us into Babs' basement, where she houses her unique collections in a small street of shops. An underemployed actor becomes the caretaker, interacting with Barbra in moments both hilarious and surprisingly tender. A runaway hit in New York, this one-man show takes us into the ultimate fantasy of a star-struck dreamer as he fills the oddest of odd jobs." 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: 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."

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
©Photo by Jerry Naunheim Jr.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents Christopher Durang's Vanya And Sonia And Masha And Spike through April 12. "Stuck in their family home in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Vanya and his adopted sister Sonia live a quiet existence until their lives are thrown into comic upheaval with the arrival of their B-list celebrity sister, Masha, and her 20-something boy toy, Spike. Add to that a soothsaying housekeeper, a star struck young neighbor and a rather odd costume party, and the stage is set for mayhem and hilarity in this present-day homage to Chekhov. Winner of the 2013 Tony Award for Best Play." Performances take place on the mainstage 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: This starts out as a broad, noisy parody of Chekov but finishes as something much more deep and satifying. "Playwright Christopher Durang," writes Tina Farmer at KDHX, "won a Tony Award for this insightfully hilarious look at aging and modern life through a lens tinted with Chekhov and Greek tragedy. The actors in The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis' production of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike bring these characters to life convincingly, emphasizing their quirks, vanities and flaws in a production layered with humor and pathos, second questions and, perhaps, second chances." I couldn't agree more. Director Michael Evan Haney can be proud of this one.