St. Louis classical calendar for the week of November 16, 2015

Share on Google+:

The Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis presents The Vienna Boys Choir on Saturday, November 21, at 8 p.m. at the cathedral at 4431 Lindell. "The world's most beloved choir has been thrilling audiences young and old for over 500 years. Their eagerly anticipated tours play to sell out crowds around the world. Don't miss your opportunity to hear them in this special Holiday Concert at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis." For more information: www.cathedralconcerts.org.

The Chamber Project

The Chamber Project St. Louis presents Play on Saturday, November 21, at 8 PM. The program includes music for violin, cello, flute, harp, and percussion by Mozart and Poulenc as well as a world premiere by Christopher Stark. The performance takes place at the 560 Music Center, 560 Trinity in University City. For more information: www.chamberprojectstl.org.

The Missouri Chamber Music Festival presents Pro Jam for the ProAm Tuesday, November 17, at 6:30 p.m. "Join the Missouri Chamber Music Festival for a chamber music party celebrating MOCM's Pro-Am Intensive Workshop. Guaranteed fun, whether you join the chamber music readings with our Pros or just sit back and listen." 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.

The St. Louis Art Museum presents a high-definition video broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera's production Alban Berg's Lulu on Saturday, November 21, at 11:30 AM. "Acclaimed artist and director William Kentridge (The Nose) applies his unique theatrical vision to Berg's notorious femme fatale who shatters lives, including her own. Musically, the masterful score is in the sure hands of Met Music Director James Levine. Soprano Marlis Petersen has excited audiences around the world with her portrayal of the tour-de-force title role, a wild journey of love, obsession, and death. Susan Graham joins a winning cast, including Daniel Brenna and Johan Reuter." The live digital HD video broadcast from New York takes place in The Farrell Auditorium at the Art Museum in Forest Park. For more information: slam.org.

The St. Louis Symphony's Crescendo Circle presents Sips and Symphonies on Thursday, November 19, at 7:00 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. This month's discussion/presentation will be on Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf. 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.

David Robertson conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in Musical Flight, a program of popular classics, on Friday and at 8 p.m. November 20. The program includes music by Shostakovich, Rachmaninoff, and Rossini as well as Britten's Young People's Guide to the Orchestra. The concert takes place at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

David Robertson conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, with violinst Jack Liebeck, on Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m., November 21 and 22. The program features the Symphony No. 1 by Brahms. The concerts take place at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

Alan Pierson conducts
Alarm Will Sound

The Sheldon Concert Hall presents the contemporary chamber ensemble Alarm Will Sound on Friday, November 20, at 8 PM. “The ensemble performs the newest music being composed today with energetic virtuosity and a sense of adventure, creating programs that not only span a wide range of styles, but also transform the traditional concert experience itself.” The Sheldon is at 3648 Washington in Grand Center. For more information: thesheldon.org.

The Tavern of Fine Arts presents The Perseid String Quartet and pianist Diana Umali in a program of music by music by Dohnanyi and Beethoven on Saturday, November 21, 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 Washington University Department of Music presents Music of the Great War on Monday, November 16, at 5 p.m. "Members of the St. Louis Symphony join forces with applied faculty from the Department of Music to present a concert of chamber music influenced by World War I in partnership with the Mildred L. Kemper Art Museum's exhibition “World War I: War of Images, Images of War.” The concert will feature the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Edward Elgar, and Claude Debussy. Reception to follow." The performance takes place at The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum on the Washington University campus. For more information: music.wustl.edu.

Chuck's Choices for the weekend of November 13, 2015

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

Share on Google+:

New This Week:

The 39 Steps
Photo: Joey Rumpell

Slightly Askew Theatre Ensemble presents The 39 Steps, based on the classic Hitchcock thriller, through November 14. Performances take place at The Chapel Venue, 6238 Alexander Drive. For more information: slightlyoff.org.

My take: This is one of those shows that is as much about the acting as the script, since all the roles are played by just four performers. It takes a tongue-in-cheek approach to Hitchock's breezy adaptation of John Buchan's classic thriller (one of a series of novels starring Buchan's stalwart Everyman hero, Richard Hannay), turning it into an action comedy and quick-change festival. I saw the Rep's production a few years ago and found it tremendously entertaining. At the Belleville News-Democrat, Lynn Venhaus says that the show "is purely a silly romp, and the slipping into different characters doesn't have to be smooth, which adds to the laughs. The four performers carry it off splendidly." The Chapel is a very intimate performance space, which should add to the impact.

Rapture, Blister, Burn
Photo: John Lamb

The West End Players Guild continues their 105th season with Gina Gionfriddo's Rapture, Blister, Burn Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM and Sundays at 2 PM, November 13-22. "After grad school, Catherine and Gwen chose polar opposite paths. Catherine became a 'rock star' in the academic world and a go-to cable TV commenter, while Gwen built a home with her husband and children. Decades later, unfulfilled in polar opposite ways, each woman covets the other's life, commencing a dangerous game of musical chairs." There will also be a show on Thursday, November 19, at 8 PM. 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: This is a funny and perceptive script about the way so many of us wonder about what might lie down the road not taken, and the cast includes some of our finest local actors. As a member of both the board and the play reading committee at West End, I was a big supporter of this play. I'm glad to see WEPG presenting its local premiere as part of an entire season featuring plays with major roles for women.

Karen Oberlin

The Presenters Dolan presents Karen Oberlin in Secret Love: A Tribute to Doris Day on Friday and Saturday, November 13 and 14, at 8 PM as part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival. "Headliner at 54 Below, the Algonquin, Birdland, Feinstein's and Café Carlyle, Karen Oberlin encounters the work of this great American artist." The performances take place at the Gaslight Theater, 358 North Boyle. For more information: gaslightcabaretfestival.com.

My take: A big band vocalist who went on to a stellar career in films, Doris Day was also a crusader for the humane treatment of animals. Ms. Oberlin's tribute show, which has been around since 2002 or thereabouts, has garnered rave reviews from publications like Variety, which said that "Oberlin makes sunny musical statements without the help of 'golden wands and mystic charms.' She simply lays the allure at the listener’s feet."

Superman 2050
shawnentertainment.com

COCA presents the Theatre Unspeakable production of Superman 2050 Friday and Saturday, November 14 and 15. "Epic story, pocket sized proportions-seven actors share one tine platform (just 3-by-7 feet of space) and upon it an original Superman tale unfolds. Set in a fictional 2050 Metropolis with a remarkable resemblance to Chicago, this production highlight imaginative, resourceful cast member who use only their bodies and voices to create every prop, scene, sound effect and character in a battle between Superman and Lex Luthor." COCA is at 524 Trinity in University City. For more information, call (314) 725-6555 or visit www.cocastl.org.

My take: This looks like great fun, frankly, which is reason enough to recommend it. Superman 2050 is Theatre Unspeakable's signature piece. "Performed at a breakneck pace," writes Zachary Whittenburg in TimeOut Chicago, "Superman 2050 is a passionate argument for high-speed rail in the Midwest, disguised as a fastidiously executed, often hilarious work of physical theater."

Held Over:

I and You
Photo: Jerry Naunhiem, Jr.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents the drama I and You through November 15. "Anthony is an effortlessly popular "A" student; Caroline is a prickly cynic, homebound with a serious illness. This unlikely duo sits in Caroline's room, trying to cobble together a report on Walt Whitman overnight. As they work and procrastinate, argue and compromise, the teens begin to uncover each other's hidden depths. Full of surprising humor and emotion, I and You explores bravery in the face of an uncertain future and the unique, mysterious connections that bind us." Performances take place in the studio theater 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: As I write in my review, this play is a kind of dramaturgical magic trick. For most of its 85-minute length it looks like a conventional (but sharply written) buddy story about a pair of teens who find unexpected connections and friendship while working on a school project based on Walt Whitman's visionary poetry collection "Leaves of Grass." And then Ms. Gunderson pulls the rabbit out of the hat and shows us (to quote the Firesign Theatre) that "everything you know is wrong." The fact that she does this in a way that is entirely plausible and consistent with everything that has gone before is a testament to her strength as a dramatist. It's an intelligent script given a flawless presentation.

Act Two Theatre presents the satirical musical Urinetown through November 15. "Winner of three TONY Awards, three Outer Critic's Circle Awards, two Lucille Lortel Awards, and two Obie Awards, Urinetown is a hilarious musical satire of the legal system, capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, bureaucracy, corporate mismanagement, municipal politics and musical theatre itself! Hilariously funny and touchingly honest, Urinetown provides a fresh perspective of one of America's greatest art forms. In a Gotham-like city, a terrible water shortage, caused by a 20-year drought, has led to a government-enforced ban on private toilets. The citizens must use public amenities, regulated by a single malevolent company that profits by charging admission for one of humanity's most basic needs. Amid the people, a hero decides he's had enough, and plans a revolution to lead them all to freedom!" Performances take place in the St. Peters Cultural Arts Centre at 1 St Peters Centre Blvd, St. Peters, MO 63376. For more information: act2theater.com.

My take: Here's another recommendation based entirely on the show itself, since I haven't seen Act Two's production. Urinetown takes on a serious subject—water and the way we take it for granted—in an entertaining way. As climate change dries up glaciers and creates water shortages in glacier-fed rivers and lakes, this show's message is, if anything, even more relevant now than when I first saw it many years ago.

Symphony Preview: Nurturing nature with the St. Louis Symphony November 11-13, 2015

Beethoven, naturally
en.wikipedia.org

Share on Google+

Quick question: without looking out of a window or using Google, do you know what phase the moon is in tonight? If the answer is "no," don't feel bad; thanks to the ubiquity of electric light, most of us have lost our connection to the moon and stars. Indeed, a nearly complete disconnect from the natural world is both the blessing and the curse of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Back when most of the music we now call "classical" was written, though, nature was much more a part of everyday life. So it's hardly surprising that many of the great composers drew inspiration from the natural world.

This weekend, David Robertson and the St. Louis Symphony will offer two prime examples of that inspiration, beginning with Beethoven's "Symphony No. 6 in F major, op. 68" ("Pastoral"). With its five movements depicting, sometimes with surprising realism, scenes of country life, the symphony is filled with the joy Beethoven experienced wandering through the woods around Vienna. "How glad I am to be able to roam in wood and thicket, among the trees and flowers and rocks," he once wrote in a letter. "No one can love the country as I do...my bad hearing does not trouble me here. In the country every tree seems to speak to me, saying ‘Holy! Holy!’ In the woods there is enchantment which expresses all things."

It's common to think of the 6th as a kind of gentler respite from the more dynamic "Symphony No. 5", but the fact is that Beethoven worked on both of them simultaneously and even premiered them together in Vienna on December 22, 1808 in a four-hour concert that included the "Piano Concerto No. 4" and the "Choral Fantasy". Writing in The Guardian, Tom Service suggests that, in fact, the 6th is the far more radical of the two symphonies, creating "a new kind of symphonic rhetoric in the Pastoral, a universe in which lulling repetition rather than teleological development is what defines the structure, on the small and large-scales, and in which the patterns, continuities, and disturbances of the natural world that Beethoven knew (above all in music’s most violent storm, up to this point of world history, in the Pastoral’s fourth movement!) are transmuted into the discourse of a five-movement symphony."

Richard Strauss at age 74, photographed in his garden
at his country home at Garmisch-Partenkirchen,
Germany, in 1938
en.wikipedia.org

And, let's face it, he has a point. Parts of the symphony are almost minimalist in their simplicity while others, like the fourth movement's thunderstorm, have a cinematic vividness. It's music that is both abstract and descriptive. Beethoven even provided descriptive titles for each movement, but then hedged his bets by describing it as "more the expression of feeling than painting." "Regardless of Beethoven's declared intentions," wrote Christopher H. Gibbs for the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2006, "this music seems to function on both descriptive and expressive levels, therein fueling arguments about the issue ever since his time."

Nature imagery also pervades the other big work on the program this week, Richard Strauss's "Four Last Songs," written when the composer was 84 and contemplating his mortality. With texts by Hermann Hesse and the 19th-century poet Joseph von Eichendorff, the songs all deal with death in one way or another, but they do so in a way that is ultimately very life affirming. That's most obvious in the first song, "Frühling " ("Spring"), with its images of new life springing from a dream of "dämmrigen Grüften" ("shadowy crypts"), but there's a sense throughout the piece that death is not to be feared, but to be accepted and even embraced.

"O weiter, stiller Friede! / So tief im Abendrot. / Wie sind wir wandermüde-- / Ist dies etwa der Tod?" So run the final lines of the last song, "Im Abendrot" ("At sunset"). There are many translations out there, but I like this one by Robin Wallace: "What broad and silent peacefulness / In evening’s final breath. / How tired we are of wandering. / Might this perhaps be death?" Strauss includes a quote from his own youthful tone poem "Death and Transfiguration" under that last line. The quote is the "transfiguration" theme, suggesting that death is by no means the end, and might actually be the start of another journey.

Death is also lurking in the background of Anton Webern's "Six Pieces for Orchestra," Op. 6, which begins the second half of this weekend's concerts. Written in 1909 after the death of the composer's mother, this remarkably concise suite (it runs around thirteen minutes) consists of five very short movements (a minute or so each), flanking a funeral march that's as long as all the other movements put together. As a result, that fourth movement—marked Langsam ("slow") (marcia funebre)—packs a much stronger emotional punch than it would have as part of a longer and more expansive work.

Anton Webern in Stettin, October 1912
en.wikipedia.org

Essentially, Webern's suite takes all of the overheated yearning of late nineteenth century music and triple-distills it into the aural equivalent of Everclear. "What Mahler writes with an eternal melody," observes Zubin Mehta in a 2013 interview for the Arte television network, "Webern writes with three or four notes." It's both a reaction to and a reflection of the great orchestral edifices erected by Mahler and Strauss.

Webern's death is an especially poignant one, by the way. On September 15, 1945, the composer was living in Mittersill, Austria, which was under Allied occupation. "Webern was going outside to smoke a cigar while a sting operation was being carried out to arrest his son-in-law Benno Mattel, a former SS-member and black market operative," writes blogger Michael Stein. "Raymond Norwood Bell, company cook from North Carolina, was one of the soldiers participating in the action. Hearing some noises outside the room they were holding Mattel in, Bell went to investigate and apparently bumped into the composer and fired three shots. Bell later stated that he had been attacked. Ten years after the incident Bell died of acute alcoholism attributed to the guilt he felt over what had happened."

Webern's last words were, "it's over."

The essentials: David Robertson conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, with soprano Christine Goerke, on Friday and at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m., November 13-15. The program features Beethoven's Symphony No. 6 ("Pastoral"), Webern's Six Pieces for Orchestra, and Richard Strauss's Four Last Songs. The concerts take place at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

Dance Review: Nasville Ballet's "Carmina Burana" is even better the second time around

Photo: Marianne Leach

Share on Google+

Although usually presented as a concert piece, Carl Orff's 1936 "Carmina Burana" was always intended to be theatrical, with some mimed action and "magic tableaux." The first performance in Frankfurt in 1937 was fully staged, in fact, with dancers, sets, and costumes.

Photo: Heather Thorne

Nashville Ballet's "Carmina Burana," originally presented at the Touhill back in 2013, made an encore appearance there this past weekend, once again under the aegis of Dance St. Louis. With 40 dancers, 120 singers, and 60 musicians, including The University of Missouri-St. Louis Orchestra and Singers, The Bach Society of Saint Louis, and The St. Louis Children's Choirs, it was, once again, a stunning work of dance theatre that succeeded both as Spectacle and as Art.

The first (and least sexually explicit) of Orff's "Trionfi" trilogy of choral theatre works, "Carmina Burana" derives its title from an 1847 collection of secular poetry by anonymous authors from the 12th and 13th centuries that turned up in 1803 in the Benedictine monastery in Beuren, Germany. As befits their "vulgar" status, the poems celebrate not the theoretical joys of heaven but rather the practical ones of earth: spring, sex, food, sex, drink, gambling, and sex. They also recognize something that we moderns have lost track of, to our detriment: the heavy influence of blind chance on our lives. The setting of "Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi" ("Fortune, Empress of the World"), which opens and closes the work, reminds us that the wheel of fortune is always turning and that none of us should get too cocky, as the universe has a tendency to dope-slap the excessively smug.

Photo: Heather Thorne

Nashville Ballet Artistic Director and choreographer Paul Vasterling and visual designer Eric Harris emphasize that centrality of Lady Fortuna by making her a key character in the ballet. Fortuna begins and ends the evening surrounded by a massive, stage-filling "wheel of fortune" skirt that neatly establishes her dominance, but she also interacts with individual dancers to emphasize fate's capricious influence. Kayla Rowser was Fortuna in this revival, and she alternated beautifully between the faux-mechanical precision of the impersonal wheel and the seduction of Lady Luck.

This realization of "Carmina Burana" was, in fact, filled with striking images that beautifully complement the lyrics. Let me cite a few that will, I hope, give you a feel for the remarkable quality of what Mr. Vasterling, Mr. Harris, and the dancers accomplished.

Photo: Heather Thorne

For "In Taberna quando sumus" (labeled "The Drinking Song" here) the stage was filled with dancers in wine-red outfits reeling about in drunken but very precise abandon while the lyrics reeled off a list of the many types who come to the tavern to imbibe. The bird being roasted for dinner in "Olim lacus coleuram" (The Roasted Swan") was costumed all in white and danced entirely en pointe, as though trying to escape the flames. She was eventually surrounded in fiery red-on-white banners and carried off the stage by dancers in red. Katie Vasilopoulos danced the role this time with a sense of heart-rending distress.

The "Spring" section underscored the lyrical parallels between the awakening of the earth and the awakening of human desire with a succession of colorful and flirtatious dances. In "Floret silva nobilis" ("The Maypole"), for example, the dancers were costumed in spring-like pastels and, at one point, danced around a human Maypole. "Chramer, gib de varwe mir" ("More Joys of Spring") made the sex/spring parallel even more obvious with poses of adolescent sexual braggadocio and cheerful coupling.

Photo: Heather Thorne

I could go on, but you get the idea. The Nashville Ballet's "Carmina Burana" was a visual treat of the highest order.

Musically, "Carmina Burana" was noticeably more polished this time around than it was in 2013. Perhaps the best work came from the combined voices of the Bach Society and UMSL University Singers. Deployed on risers behind and to the sides of the dancers, they were powerful, to say the least. Elocution was quite impressive, given how widely separated the singers were, although I suspect audience members who were not familiar with the music might have benefited from projected text.

Soprano Stella Markou and tenor Tim Waurick repeated their roles from 2013. Ms. Markou had a bit of difficulty with that absurdly difficult coloratura moment in "Dulcissime" ("Sweetest One" in the program) but sounded great otherwise. And Mr. Waurick's roasting swan was, once again, one of the most dramatic I've heard. Baritone Adam Stefo turned in compelling performances of some very difficult music ("Dies, nox et omnia," with its rapid switch between falsetto and chest voice, is a real killer). His solo in "Ego sum abbas" ("The Bad Abbott") was a wonderful combination of skillful musicianship and theatricality, complete with drunken hiccups.

The St. Louis Children's Choir, deployed in box seats house right and left, were also most impressive, holding their own even through the tricky tempo changes towards the end of "Tempus est iocundum."

Photo: Heather Thorne

The UMSL University Orchestra, conducted by James Richards, sounded more robust and cohesive than they did back in 2013, a few minor brass intonation problems not withstanding. Orff's big brass and percussion sections had the proper impact, and more intimate moments like the "Round Dance" had just the right delicacy. Congratulations to them and Mr. Richards for a job well done.

The evening opened with "La Fontana," a new work choreographed by Dance St. Louis Artistic and Executive Director Michael Utoff to Bach's "Concerto for Violin and Oboe in C minor," BWV 1060, and performed by Saint Louis Ballet. As a choreographer, Mr. Utoff seems to have a remarkable affinity for Bach and an excellent eye for movement that creates visual analogs to the composer's musical structures. Four women costumed as classical Greek statues (ivory togas and coronets) suggested the fountain of the title, an image enhanced by their fluid movement. They were soon joined by three more colorfully costumed couples: the men in red-orange classical outfits and the women in flowing pastel gowns and long gloves. As the work progressed, the two groups began to interact, until, at the end, the couples became the fountain and the four women struck statuesque poses on the outside.

The movement enhanced and complemented Bach's music, in short, without trying to impose a story thread on it. It was a nice contrasting choice to the more literally narrative choreography of "Carmina Burana," just as Bach's chamber music was a well-chosen contrast to Orff's far more massive work.

Oboist Ann Homan and violinist Julia Sakharova were flawless in the solo roles, intertwining beautifully in Bach's elaborate counterpoint.

Dance St. Louis's Bach/Orff double bill will be over by the time you read this, of course, but I still want to congratulate them on bringing this crowd pleaser back for another appearance. Fully staged productions of "Carmina Burana" are rare, so the chance to see one of this quality was most welcome. The Dance St. Louis season continues with MOMIX in "Alchemia" at the Touhill January 29 and

St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of November 9, 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.

Share on Google+

The 39 Steps
Photo: Joey Rumpell

Slightly Askew Theatre Ensemble presents The 39 Steps, based on the classic Hitchcock thriller, through November 14. Performances take place at The Chapel Venue, 6238 Alexander Drive. For more information: slightlyoff.org.

The Muny presents musical theatre star Beth Leavel in a cabaret evening on Wednesday and Thursday, November 11 and 12, at 8 p.m. Performances take place at the Sheldon Concert Hall, 3658 Washington in Grand Center. For more information: muny.org.

The Bissell Mansion Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre presents A Christmas Sleigh-Ing November 6 through December 30th. The Bissell Mansion is at 4426 Randall Place. For more information: bissellmansiontheatre.com

The Monroe Actors Stage Company presents A Christmas Story, based on the stories of Jean Shepherd, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 and Sundays at 2:30 p.m., November 13-22, in the Historic Capitol Theatre in downtown Waterloo, Illinois. For more information, visit www.masctheatre.org or call 618-939-7469.

St. Louis University Theatre presents Beth Henley's Crimes of the Heart November 13-22. "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.'" Performances take place in Xavier Hall, 3373 West Pine Mall. For more information, call (314) 977-2998 or visit slumarketplace.slu.edu

The Lemp Mansion Comedy-Mystery Dinner Theater presents Dead! Like Me through November 14. The Lemp Mansion is at 3322 DeMenil Place. For more information: lempmansion.com.

St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley presents Decision Height through November 14. "Virginia Hascall has left her home and fiancee to become a Women Airforce Service Pilot, and do her part of help defeat the Axis powers in the Second World War. Through Triumph and tragedy, she and her sisters in plight suits learn as much about themselves as they do about airplanes." Performances take place in the Fisher Theatre on the campus at 3400 Pershall Road. For more information, call 314-644-5522.

The Theatre Guild of Webster Groves presents the thriller Dracula, adapted from the Bram Stoker novel by Balderston and Deane, through November 15. Performances take place in the Guild theatre at Newport and Summit in Webster Groves, MO. For more information: theatreguildwg.org or call 314-962-0876.

The Looking Glass Playhouse presents the drama The Elephant Man Wednesdays through Sundays through November 15. Performances take place at 301 West St. Louis Street in Lebanon, Ill. For more information, visit www.lookingglassplayhouse.com.

I and You
Photo: Jerry Naunheim, Jr.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents the drama I and You through November 15. "Anthony is an effortlessly popular "A" student; Caroline is a prickly cynic, homebound with a serious illness. This unlikely duo sits in Caroline's room, trying to cobble together a report on Walt Whitman overnight. As they work and procrastinate, argue and compromise, the teens begin to uncover each other's hidden depths. Full of surprising humor and emotion, I and You explores bravery in the face of an uncertain future and the unique, mysterious connections that bind us." Performances take place in the studio theater at the Loretto-Hlton Center, 130 Edgar Road in Webster Groves, MO. For more information, call 314-968-4925 or visit repstl.org. Read the 88.1 KDHX review!

MADCO (Mid American Dance Company) presents Liquid Roads on Friday and Saturday, November 13 and 14, at 8 p.m. " Returning after a successful debut in 2014, MADCO celebrates the music and dance of its hometown St. Louis in Liquid Roads. Infused with the music that flowed up the Mississippi and into our hearts, the show reaches beyond contemporary dance to pure entertainment as four musicians accompany the dancers onstage with original and familiar songs." The performance takes place at the Touhill Performing Arts Center on the University of Missouri at St. Louis Campus. For more information: touhill.org.

New Jewish Theater presents A Little Night Music, an evening of songs from Jewish Broadway and more with singer Johanna Elkana-Hale on Saturday, November 14, at 8 p.m. The performance takes place at the Jewish Community Center, 2 Millstone Campus Drive. For more information: newjewishtehatre.org.

The Performing Arts Department at Washington University presents the Moliere's comedy The Misanthrope, translated by Richard Wilbur, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM and Sundays at 2 PM, November 13-22. "Moliere's most enduringly modern comedy tells the story of Alceste, a scrupulous young man who despises the flattery and superficiality that prevails among the social elites of Paris. But Alceste is in love with Celimene, who embodies the duplicity that he can't stand in others. This stripped-down production, which imagines Moliere's story. Into the midst of a group of well-connected young people concerned with love, money and reputation, renews Moliere's fundamental questions: can someone of strong moral principles exist in a sophisticated social world?" Performances take place in the Hotchner Studio Theatre in the Mallinckrodt Student Center on the Washington University campus. For more information, visit pad.artsci.wustl.edu or call 314-935-6543.

Alton Little Theater presents the comedy A Nice Family Gathering Thursdays through Sundays, through November 15, at 2450 North Henry in Alton, IL. "A Nice Family Gathering is a story about a man who loved his wife so much, he almost told her. It's Thanksgiving Day and the first family gathering at the Lundeen household since Dad died. At the gathering, Dad comes back as a ghost with a mission; to tell his wife of 35 years that he loved her, something he neglected to tell her while he was alive. The problem is, she can't hear or see him. The trouble begins when Mom invites a date for dinner.... " For more information, call 618.462.6562 or visit altonlittletheater.org.

The Hawthorne Players present the musical Nunsense through November 15. "Nunsense is the story of how the Little Sisters of Hoboken discover that their cook, Sister Julia, Child of God, has accidentally poisoned 52 of the sisters, and they are in dire need of funds for the burials. The sisters decide that the best way to raise the money is to put on a variety show, so they take over the school auditorium, which is currently set up for the production of “Grease.” Featuring star turns, tap and ballet dancing, an audience quiz, and comic surprises, this show has become an international phenomenon. " 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.

The Emerald Room at The Monocle presents an open mic night every Monday from 8:00pm to 11:00pm" "Musical Theater actor? Cabaret singer? Balladeer? Beleter? Coloratura soprano? Crooner? Student? Teacher? Performer? Fan? Come on down and sing. All are welcome. Ron Bryant is your accompanist. Bring your sheet music"." The monocle is at 4510 Manchester in The Grove neighborhood. For more information: themonoclestl.com.

Rapture, Blister, Burn
Photo: John Lamb

The West End Players Guild continues their 105th season with Gina Gionfriddo's Rapture, Blister, Burn Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM and Sundays at 2 PM, November 13-22. "After grad school, Catherine and Gwen chose polar opposite paths. Catherine became a 'rock star' in the academic world and a go-to cable TV commenter, while Gwen gild a home with her husband and children. Decades later, unfulfilled in polar opposite ways, each woman covets the other's life, commencing a dangerous game of musical chairs." There will also be a show on Thursday, November 19, at 8 PM. 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.

Kirkwood Theatre Guild presents Neil Simon comedy Rumors through November 15. "The Deputy Mayor of New York and his wife are celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary. Guests arrive to find their unconscious host bleeding and his wife missing. Hoping to avoid a scandal, his lawyer concocts a story to hide what is assumed to be the truth. But as the rest of the guests arrive, the story grows awry with everyone complicit in a hilarious cover-up that no one even really understands." Performances take place in the Robert G. Reim Theatre of the Kirkwood Community Center, 111 South Geyer Road. For more information, call 314-821-9956 or visit ktg-onstage.org.

Karen Oberlin

The Presenters Dolan presents Karen Oberlin in Secret Love: A Tribute to Doris Day on Friday and Saturday, November 13 and 14, at 8 PM as part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival. "Headliner at 54 Below, the Algonquin, Birdland, Feinstein's and Café Carlyle, Karen Oberlin encounters the work of this great American artist." The performances take place at the Gaslight Theater, 358 North Boyle. For more information: gaslightcabaretfestival.com.

The Presenters Dolan present the duo Sleepy Kitty on Thursday, November 12, at 8 PM as part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival. "Sleepy Kitty draws inspiration from - and sometimes braids together - George Gershwin, 60's girl groups, surf rock, Broadway, Francoise Hardy, Velvet Underground and Nico. Paige Brubeck and Evan Sult composed and performed the strikingly successful music for Upstream Theater's superb production of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (which would have shone at any of the most artistically ambitious companies anywhere.)" The performance takes place at the Gaslight Theater, 358 North Boyle. For more information: gaslightcabaretfestival.com.

Karin Allyson
Photo: Reisig and Taylor

Jazz at the Bistro presents vocalist Karrin Allyson singing Something Wonderful: The Music of Rodgers and Hammerstein Wednesday and Thursday, November 11 and 12, at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. "Four-time Grammy nominee Karrin Allyson recently went back to the recording studio for an intimate look at the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein." Jazz at the Bistro is at 3536 Washington in Grand Center. For more information: jazzstl.org.

First Run Theatre presents the 2015 Spectrum One-Act Play Festival Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM and Sundays at 2 PM, through November 15. This year's plays are "Best Friends Forever" by KDHX theatre critic Steve Callahan, "American Dolls" by Rita Winters, "The Patty Duke Question" by Greg Baily, "Kibble" by David Hawley, "The Breeders" by Larry D. Quiggins, "The Hamburger Clown" by David Hawley, "Next" by Gerry Mandel, and "The Problem With Pamela" by Dan McGee. Performances take place at Southampton Presbyterian Church, 4716 Macklind. For more information, call (314) 352-5114 or visit www.firstruntheatre.com.

COCA presents the Theatre Unspeakable production of Superman 2050 Friday and Saturday, November 14 and 15. "Epic story, pocket sized proportions-seven actors share one tine platform (just 3-by-7 feet of space) and upon it an original Superman tale unfolds. Set in a fictional 2050 Metropolis with a remarkable resemblance to Chicago, this production highlight imaginative, resourceful cast member who use only their bodies and voices to create every prop, scene, sound effect and character in a battle between Superman and Lex Luthor." COCA is at 524 Trinity in University City. For more information, call (314) 725-6555 or visit www.cocastl.org.

Metro Theatre Company presents a free public performance of Talkin' Trash by Nicholas Kryah on Sunday, November 15, at 2 p.m. "Talkin' Trash tells the story of a young boy obsessed with trash and recycling who moves to a rundown neighborhood next door to an elderly woman who struggles with compulsive hoarding. Their unlikely intergenerational relationship touches on issues of community, responsibility and friendship." The performance takes place at Robinson Elementary School located at 803 Couch Avenue in Kirkwood, MO. For more information: metroplays.org.

Act Two Theatre presents the satirical musical Urinetown, through November 15. "Winner of three TONY Awards, three Outer Critic's Circle Awards, two Lucille Lortel Awards, and two Obie Awards, Urinetown is a hilarious musical satire of the legal system, capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, bureaucracy, corporate mismanagement, municipal politics and musical theatre itself! Hilariously funny and touchingly honest, Urinetown provides a fresh perspective of one of America's greatest art forms. In a Gotham-like city, a terrible water shortage, caused by a 20-year drought, has led to a government-enforced ban on private toilets. The citizens must use public amenities, regulated by a single malevolent company that profits by charging admission for one of humanity's most basic needs. Amid the people, a hero decides he's had enough, and plans a revolution to lead them all to freedom!" Performances take place in the St. Peters Cultural Arts Centre at 1 St Peters Centre Blvd, St. Peters, MO 63376. For more information: act2theater.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: Storm Large kicks out the jams at the Gaslight Cabaret Festival Friday, November 6, 2015

stormlarge.com

Share on Google+:

In cabaret's house (to paraphrase John 14:2) are many mansions. As anyone who has had the pleasure of seeing Portland, Oregon, based diva Storm Large and her band can attest, one of those mansions looks a lot like a West Coast rock club.

A one-woman entertainment conglomerate (rock star, author, actor, and songwriter) Ms. Large brought her latest show to the Gaslight Cabaret Festival this weekend, and there's no doubt that she kicked out the jams. Her performance was least as much rock as cabaret (especially in its attitude), but it was solidly theatrical as well.

Mostly, though, it was entertaining, raucously and bawdily funny, and entirely genuine. You can't hide in a cabaret show, even with a four-piece band behind you, so Ms. Large (to her credit) doesn't even try. Slinky sexy, and blessed with a powerful, seamless voice, she immediately grabbed the audience's attention with one of her own songs ("Call Me Crazy") followed by a wildly obsessive cover of "I've Got You Under My Skin" that sounded more like the sort of thing Lou Reed was writing during his "Rock and Roll Animal" period.

Which, as it turned out, pretty much set the tone for the rest of the evening.

If you saw Ms. Large's last Gaslight show "Taken by Storm" back in April of 2014, you probably recognized some of the numbers in this latest outing. She reprised her just-this-side-of-creepy version of Brel's "Ne Me Quitte Pas," for example, as well as her psychotic dominatrix version of the sappy "Hopelessly Devoted to You" in which the song is yanked from the film version of "Grease" and dropped into one of the movie's multiple adaptations of Stephen King's "Carrie." Couldn't happen to a more deserving ditty.

Ms. Large's songwriting talents were also on display once again. Her next to closing song, "Angels in Gas Stations," was a beautiful little slice-of-romantic-life poem ("God is every damn where tonight," runs the refrain), while her "8 Miles Wide" was a cheerfully upbeat and totally outrageous declaration of female empowerment. "My vagina is eight miles wide," goes the refrain to that one. "Absolutely everyone can come inside / If you're ever frightened, just run and hide."

The most remarkable original number in the evening, though, was probably "Charity Lamb," inspired by the story of Portland's first convicted axe murderess. Originally composed in 2008 for a compilation CD honoring Portland's Lone Fir cemetery, the song focuses on Lamb's victimization by her brutal husband and her need to take her own life back, however violently. "I'm damned if I'll suffer / Another long summer / Alone with no lover / And your brutal hands" runs the lyric. It's potent and searing stuff.

All of which means that, once again, Storm Large's show did not fit into any easy niches and was not for the easily offended (devotees of the political right wing, in particular, might not feel very comfortable). But the cabaret tent is a big one (maybe even eight miles wide...), so there's plenty of room for high-energy hijinks by performers like Storm Large and her band.

That said, I have to admit that over ninety minutes, Ms. Large's show was a bit long for the one-act cabaret format. And some of her patter, entertaining as it was, tended to get a bit discursive. A monolog about Ben Carson's gaffes, for example, was funny stuff, but it could have been trimmed easily. Still, only a dedicated Puritan or some other variety of killjoy could have failed to have a good time there.

Accompanying Ms. Large were pianist and music director James Beaton, guitarist Matt Brown, bass guitarist Scott Weddle, and drummer Greg Eklund. They all rocked the house and have all performed with Ms. Large often enough to be very comfortable with both her and with each other.

Storm Large and her band appeared Friday and Saturday, November 6 and 7, at at the Gaslight Theatre on North Boyle in the Central West End. The Gaslight Cabaret Festival continues through November 21st; visit the web site for details.

St. Louis classical calendar for the week of November 9, 2015

The Back Society of St. Louis

Share on Google+:

The Bach Society of St. Louis presents a chamber music concert on Sunday, November 15 at 2:30 PM at The Church of Saint Michael and Saint George, 6345 Wydown. “Concertmaster Lenora-Marya Anop is joined by members of the Bach Society Orchestra, including harpsichordist Charles Metz, cellist Ken Kulosa, flutist Catherine Edwards, and pianist Sandra Geary in an informal program of Bach instrumental works. Limited seating in the old-world ambiance of the Great Hall. Meet and chat with the performers over a glass of wine after the performance.” For more information: www.bachsociety.org.

The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra presents Pulitzer Concert 02 on Wednesday, November 11, at 7:30 p.m. David Robertson conducts members of the orchestra in music of Steve Reich. The concert takes place at the Pulitzer Foundation on Washington in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

David Robertson conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, with soprano Christine Goerke, on Friday and at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m., November 13-15. The program features Beethoven's Symphony No. 6 ("Pastoral"), Webern's Six Pieces for Orchestra, and Richard Strauss's Four Last Songs. The concerts take place at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

The St. Louis Wind Symphony and pianist Jennifer Lim-Judd perform Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and other wind band compositions on Friday, November 13, at 7:30 PM. The performance takes place at East Central College, 1964 Prairie Dell Road in Union, MO. For more information: stlwindsym.org.

The Tavern of Fine Arts presents a classical open stage night on Monday, November 9, 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 Chamber Project St. Louis

The Tavern of Fine Arts presents The Chamber Project St. Louis in A Very Open Rehearsal on Tuesday, November 10, at 7:30 PM. "What happens when a piece of music is rehearsed for the very first time? What happens when the piece of music is brand new? Find out when we work with composer Christopher Stark as we rehearse his new piece, written just for us! You get to be a part of the process as the reheasal is open for questions!" 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 Ingrid Popp in an evening of music for unaccompanied viola by Bach, Vieuxtemps, Reger, Lillian Fuchs, and John Corgliano on Saturday, November 14, at 5 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 Washington University Department of Music presents a program of German lieder by Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Weber on Sunday, November 15, at 7 p.m. "Esteli Gomez, a soprano with a 'floating, angelic voice and a powerful presence', Eric Hoeprich, the uncontested master of the classical clarinet, and Seth Carlin on the Graf fortepiano, perform Schubert's bucolic lied as well as other songs and sonatas of Mendelssohn and Weber." The performance takes place at the 560 Music Center, 560 Trinity in University City. For more information: music.wustl.edu.

Chuck's Choices for the weekend of November 6, 2015

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

Share on Google+:

New This Week:

Carmina Burana
dancestlouis.org

Dance St. Louis presents the Nashville Ballet production of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana Friday and Saturday at 8 PM and Sunday at 2 PM. The production features 120 singers, 60 musicians, and 40 dancers, including The University of Missouri-St. Louis Orchestra and Singers, The Bach Society of Saint Louis and The St. Louis Children's Choir. The opening act for Carmina Burana a world premiere performed by Saint Louis Ballet and choreographed by Dance St. Louis Artistic and Executive Director Michael Uthoff. Performances take place at the Touhill Center on the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus. For more information: dancestlouis.org.

My take: When this production first hit town back in February of 2013, I dubbed it "an impressive piece of dance theatre that succeeds both as Spectacle and as Art." The first (and least sexually explicit) of Orff’s Trionfi trilogy of choral theatre works, Carmina Burana derives its title from an 1847 collection of secular poetry by anonymous authors from the 12th and 13th centuries that turned up in 1803 in the Benedictine monastery in Beuren, Germany. As befits their "vulgar" status, the poems celebrate not the theoretical joys of heaven but rather the practical ones of earth: spring, sex, food, sex, drink, gambling, and sex. They also recognize something that we moderns have lost track of, to our detriment: the heavy influence of blind chance on our lives. The setting of "Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi" ("Fortune, Empress of the World"), which opens and closes the work, reminds us that the wheel of fortune is always turning and that none of us should get too cocky, as the universe has a tendency to dope-slap the excessively smug. While Carmina Burana has been a popular concert item at the St. Louis Symphony in recent years, chances to see a fully staged version are rare, and if 2013 is any indication this is one of the best.

I and You
Photo: Jerry Naunheim, Jr.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents the drama I and You through November 15. "Anthony is an effortlessly popular "A" student; Caroline is a prickly cynic, homebound with a serious illness. This unlikely duo sits in Caroline's room, trying to cobble together a report on Walt Whitman overnight. As they work and procrastinate, argue and compromise, the teens begin to uncover each other's hidden depths. Full of surprising humor and emotion, I and You explores bravery in the face of an uncertain future and the unique, mysterious connections that bind us." Performances take place in the studio theater 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: As I write in my review, this play is a kind of dramaturgical magic trick. For most of its 85-minute length it looks like a conventional (but sharply written) buddy story about a pair of teens who find unexpected connections and friendship while working on a school project based on Walt Whitman's visionary poetry collection "Leaves of Grass." And then Ms. Gunderson pulls the rabbit out of the hat and shows us (to quote the Firesign Theatre) that "everything you know is wrong." The fact that she does this in a way that is entirely plausible and consistent with everything that has gone before is a testament to her strength as a dramatist. It's an intelligent script given a flawless presentation.

Dom Thomas

The Kranzberg Center presents Love, a cabaret starring Dom Thomas, on Saturday, November 7, at 6 and 8 p.m. "Come see Saint Louis' own Dom Thomas in his new cabaret show Love. Featuring a full band; Dom will preform classic tunes from the American song book, as well as original music from his upcoming album 'Sweet Dreams'. Discover Dom's Love for life, family and music in his brand new cabaret!" The Kranzberg Center is at 501 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information: kranzbergartscenter.org

My take: I first saw Mr. Thomas shortly after he arrived in St. Louis last year at The Cabaret Project open mic night (which I host) . He impressed me (and everyone else who has seen him) with his smooth, charming song delivery, with its echoes of the great Nat "King" Cole and other classic crooners.

Mamma Mia!
Photo: Joan Marcus

The Fox Theatre presents the musical Mamma Mia!, based on the songs of ABBA, Friday through Sunday, November 6-8. The Fox Theatre is at 517 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information, visit fabulousfox.com or call 314-534-1678.

My take: Let me state, for the record, that I am not now nor have I ever been a fan of the 1970s pop quartet ABBA. When they were cranking out hits like “Dancing Queen”, I was sneering at them and listening to Elvis Costello and The Ramones. I say this not to make you think I'm a Cool Guy (^TM) but rather to reassure you that when I describe Mamma Mia! as a completely captivating evening of musical theatre, it's not because of any latent nostalgia for platform shoes and white spandex. No, it's because producer Judy Craymer, director Phyllida Lloyd and playwright Catherine Johnson (all from Britain, where this show began and where the population have in inexplicable love affair for the Swedish group) have put together a fast-paced, funny, and occasionally even touching show that can send even a die-hard ABBA hater like yours truly out of the theatre with a smile on his face and a handful of those bouncy, hook-laden melodies rattling around in his brain. We first saw this in London a few years after its 1998 opening and found it to be great fun. The American version changes everyone from English to American, which seems unnecessary, but it's still a hoot.

The COCA Theatre Company presents Jason Robert Brown's Songs for a New World, Friday and Saturday, November 6 and 7. "This contemporary pop/rock musical introduces the audience to an array of characters ranging from a young man who has determined that basketball is his ticket out of poverty to a woman standing on a ledge 57 stories above Fifth Avenue. What emerges is a world on the brink of change filled with extraordinary people moving it forward." COCA is at 524 Trinity in University City. For more information, call (314) 725-6555 or visit www.cocastl.org.

My take: Songs for a New World is an interesting hybrid of song cycle, musical revue, and book musical. There's narrative thread, but it's inferred from the lyrics rather than stated in dialog (of which there is none), which may explain why this remarkably rich show isn't done more often. I haven't seen COCA's production, so I'm recommending this strictly on the strength of the material.

Storm Large

The Presenters Dolan present Storm Large and Her Four-Piece Band on Friday and Saturday, November 6 and 7, at 8 PM as part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival. "A great singer, killer beauty and funny, fleshy truth teller, Storm has many lives. 1) She is a rock siren. 2) She fronts Pink Martini, a sophisticated pop symphony that tours all over the world. 3) She triumphed ("Sensational," said the NY Times) in a recent Brecht/Weil show at Carnegie Hall with Leonard Slatkin. 4) Best Selling Memoirist. She does it all supremely well. Very lucky to have her in St. Louis for the first time. Not to be missed. Definitely new key. With songs by Elvis Costello, Cole Porter, Willie Nelson, Cheap Trick, Olivia Newton-John and Storm Large." The performance takes place at the Gaslight Theater, 358 North Boyle. For more information: gaslightcabaretfestival.com.

My take: When I first saw Storm Large last spring at the Gaslight Cabaret Festival, I said she was a one-woman entertainment conglomerate: rock star, author, actor, songwriter, and creator of the much-praised one-woman show "Crazy Enough" (based on her memoir of the same name). She's a hypnotic, compelling, and energetic performer, and blessed with a powerful, seamless voice. So, yeah, you should definitely see her.

Act Two Theatre presents the satirical musical Urinetown, November 6-15. "Winner of three TONY Awards, three Outer Critic's Circle Awards, two Lucille Lortel Awards, and two Obie Awards, Urinetown is a hilarious musical satire of the legal system, capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, bureaucracy, corporate mismanagement, municipal politics and musical theatre itself! Hilariously funny and touchingly honest, Urinetown provides a fresh perspective of one of America's greatest art forms. In a Gotham-like city, a terrible water shortage, caused by a 20-year drought, has led to a government-enforced ban on private toilets. The citizens must use public amenities, regulated by a single malevolent company that profits by charging admission for one of humanity's most basic needs. Amid the people, a hero decides he's had enough, and plans a revolution to lead them all to freedom!" Performances take place in the St. Peters Cultural Arts Centre at 1 St Peters Centre Blvd, St. Peters, MO 63376. For more information: act2theater.com.

My take: Here's another recommendation based entirely on the show itself, since I haven't seen Act Two's production. Urinetown takes on a serious subject—water and the way we take it for granted—in an entertaining way. As climate change dries up glaciers and creates water shortages in glacier-fed rivers and lakes, this show's message is, if anything, even more relevant now than when I first saw it many years ago.

Held Over:

Angel Street
Photo: Eric Woolsey

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents the drama Angel Street through November 8. Mrs. Bella Manningham is going mad. Confined to an old and dark London home, her suave husband and caretaker, Jack, accuses her of playing wicked pranks and tricks that she can't recall, tormenting Bella and making her question her own sanity. Frightened, Bella believes everyone is against her, until one evening when a keen police inspector pays her a visit, shedding light on information that could save her life. Equal parts mystery, psychology and sin, Angel Street is one of Broadway's longest running plays. " 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: Sometimes a play's film adaptation will completely eclipse the original—just ask Murray Burnett and Joan Alison, whose 1940 drama Everybody Comes to Rick's would achieve fame as Casablanca. In the case of the 1938 thriller Angel Street, the 1944 film adaptation Gaslight (as the play was originally name in Britain) has become so familiar that the Rep adding it to the title. In any case, the original seems to have retained its suspense, despite the fact that pretty much everybody on the planet now knows the plot twists. "This is expertly crafted entertainment that will surely get you in the mood for the Halloween season," writes Chris Gibson at Broadwayworld.com, "and I highly recommend it!" At KDHX, Sarah Richardson says it's "an enjoyable, diverting show with a delightful cast and fantastic design." I agree about the cast, although it seems clear to me that the director has asked both leads to overact, especially in the final scene, with detracted from my enjoyment of what is, overall, a good production.

Symphony Preivew: All roads lead to Mozart

Share on Google+:

Nicholas McGegan, who is conducting the St. Louis Symphony in a program of (mostly) Mozart this weekend, is clearly a man who enjoys his work. When I've seen him conduct the orchestra, he practically bounds out to the podium, his face alight with a cherubic smile. His body language shouts: "this is going to be FUN!" And so it always is.

Mozart, party animal

That couldn't be more appropriate for Mozart, a fellow who certainly knew how to enjoy himself. The portrait of Mozart as a potty-mouthed party animal in Peter Shaffer's popular play "Amadeus" may be distorted, but it's a distortion based on reality. Even as a child, some of Mozart's letters home were, as Brockway and Weinstock write in "Men of Music," "so coarse (to our taste but not to that of the eighteenth century) that their editors have scarcely left on unbowdlerized. Mozart is often in high, and very often in ribald, spirits."

Those high spirits are clearly in evidence from the very beginning of the "Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat major," K. 271, that closes the first half of this weekend's concerts. "This is an astonishing and delightful opening," writes Charles Rosen of the Allegro first movement in "The Classical Style, "surprising not only for its use of the soloist at the very outset, but also for the wit with which he enters, as he replies to the orchestral fanfare." The second movement is dramatic and even tragic, but the Rondeau: Presto finale, with an unexpectedly graceful minuet in the middle, once again shows Mozart in jolly form.

The soloist for the concerto is Music Director David Robertson's wife, Orli Shaham. A frequent guest at Powell, Ms. Shaham is a versatile pianist, as comfortable with contemporary music as she is with the established classics. She also has a theatrical keyboard style that's fun to watch, which should mesh nicely with Mr. McGegan's exuberance.

The other Mozart music on the program is a bit more solemn: three entr'actes written in 1774 for the five-act drama "Thamos, King of Egypt" by Tobias Philipp, baron von Gebler. The play is filled with skullduggery and backstabbing in ancient Egypt, so Mozart's incidental music is appropriately dramatic. "Gebler’s play," writes John Henken in program notes for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, "is a Masonic allegory, and though not yet a Mason himself, Mozart gave it much of the expressive symbolism he later lavished on The Magic Flute. This is particularly apparent in the first Interlude, with its richly rhetorical chords, slippery chromaticism, muscular tension, and its contrast of light and dark." Whether or not Mozart ever saw a production of the play with his music is unknown.

Haydn in 1792
Artist: Joseph Hardy

Also on the bill this weekend is the "Symphony No. 98 in B-flat major," written in 1792 by Mozart's older contemporary (and admirer) Joseph Haydn. It was part of a dozen symphonies (the last ones he wrote, in fact) composed for a pair of trips to London in the last decade of the eighteenth century that were highly successful, both in terms of critical reception and income. It's notable for, among other things, a second movement that might contain a passing reference to the British national anthem. "The slow movement," writes Philip Huscher in program notes for the Chicago Symphony, "opens with a veiled reference to the first two phrases of 'God save the King,' which Haydn had heard played by a wind band 'in the street during a wild snowstorm' while he was putting the finishing touches on the symphony. Donald Tovey, the British critic and writer, thought that the slow movement, which toys with quoting from Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony, was Haydn’s way of paying homage to his friend. Whatever Haydn’s intent, this music is like a great hymn."

The symphony is also notable for its final movement. "At the very end," writes Mr. Huscher, "Haydn uncharacteristically takes the spotlight. Since it was still Haydn’s habit in 1792 to conduct his symphonies from the keyboard, where he would normally provide the unobtrusive harmonies of the continuo part, he wrote a few measures of rippling arpeggios for himself to play. Like all of Haydn’s inside jokes, it’s over in a flash. Apparently the London audience loved it, for, as Haydn’s journal boasted, in a newly learned English that would have impressed Mozart, 'the new Symphony in B-flat was given, and the first and last Allegros encort.'" Playing the role of Haydn this weekend will be Ms. Shaham. Somehow, I don't think she quite looks the part of a 60-year-old Austrian, but I expect her performance will make you forget that.

Gluck in 1775
Artist: Joseph Duplessis

The concerts open with thirteen dances from Christoph Willibald Gluck's 1761 ballet "Don Juan," as arranged by Mr. McGegan. As Paul Schiavo points out in his program notes, Gluck's ballet is based on Molière's play "Le Festin de pierre" ("The Stone Guest"), many elements of which would find their way into Lorenzo DaPonte's libretto for Mozart's "Don Giovanni" over two decades later. "The most arresting music," notes Mr. Schiavo, "comes at the end of the ballet, when the preternatural statue confronts Don Juan and effects his doom. Here furious scale figures, piercing harmonies and menacing tones of the wind instruments make for strong musical drama."

Compared to what Gluck's contemporaries were writing back then, those final movements are highly arresting and melodramatic. Audiences seem to have found it to be rather strong stuff, though. "Gluck’s audience," wrote David Hurwitz in a 2009 article for "Listen" magazine, "was fascinated by the work, as much for the dancing and decor as for the music itself. It exercised a certain horrid fascination — some listeners actually found the piece ugly, but still couldn’t resist it." He goes on to observe that "Gluck’s music inspired a whole new generation of composers. Mozart’s own 'hell scene' in Don Giovanni reveals the clear influence of Gluck’s earlier effort, and not just because it’s in the same key. It is the music’s expressive intensity that links the two composers."

This weekend, it seems, all roads lead to Mozart.

The Essentials: Nicholas McGegan conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, with piano soloist Orli Shaham, on Friday at 10:30 a.m. and Saturday at 8 p.m., November 6 and 7. The concerts take place at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.