Review: Memories are made of this

When I reviewed Dean Christopher's "Rat-Pack Christmas" show at the Blue Strawberry in December, I called it "90 minutes of rock-solid, raucous entertainment." The Dean Martin tribute show he did at that same venue last night (Friday, March 6) was shorter and less raucous but, yeah, still rock-solid entertainment.

Mr. Christopher is, as I noted back in December, a powerful singer and an amazingly talented impressionist. In that show he captured the stage personas of the core members of the Rat Pack as well as other period celebs, but for me his Dean Martin was the pick of the litter.

Dean Christopher
Photo by Chuck Lavazzi

Mr. Christopher looks nothing like the late singer/actor, but he has Martin's vocal quality and loose-limbed drunk act down pat. It took very little suspension of disbelief to accept him in the role Friday night, and the audience quickly began to respond as though he were Martin in the flesh. That's a neat bit of theatrical prestidigitation.

Mr. Christopher started the show in character, entering from behind the set (a large striped couch and the inevitable drinks table) introducing himself as Dean Martin and his pianist/music director Joe Dreyer as Kermit "Ken" Lane, who was the real Martin's pianist and music director on "The Dean Martin Show." He then quickly dropped out of character to talk about how he became fascinated with Dean Martin as a kid, listening to Martin's songs on the radio and watching his NBC TV show, which ran for nine seasons starting in 1965. "I didn't just like Dean Martin," he said, "I really wanted to BE Dean Martin."

Then he took out his one constant prop (a fake cigarette) and, in the blink of an eye (or swallow of "Jack Daniels" from the drinks table) he did, in fact, become Dean Martin. And credibly stayed that way for the next hour and fifteen minutes.

Dean Christopher and Joe Dreyer
Photo by Chuck Lavazzi

Personally, I always wanted to be Fred Astaire, but I can identify. I'm only a few years older than Mr. Christopher (Small World Department: we even went to the same high school) and I watched that show as religiously as he did. I grew up, after all, in an Italian-American family (my grandma's ravioli was to die for) where it was a weekly ritual. Regardless of what you might think of the rest of the "Rat Pack," I'd say that if you have any fond memories of ol' Deano, this would be your kind of show.

The show is jam-packed with Martin's hits and misses, including a trademark bit from Martin's TV nightclub act in which he'd start a familiar song and then turn it into a parody ("After you've gone / Who'll do the dishes?") in an effort to make his pianist crack up. Equally hilarious was a medley that turned classic tunes into paeans to alcohol ("Every time it rains it rains / Bourbon from heaven").

The hits included everything you'd expect: "Memories Are Made of This" (Martin's first number 1 single), "You Belong to Me" (first recorded in 1952 by Joni James), "Return to Me" (a big hit for him in the USA and Europe in 1968), Lee Hazlewood's "Houston" (the countrified hit from 1965) and, of course, "Everybody Loves Somebody," the theme song of Martin's TV show and the single that knocked The Beatles' "Hard Day's Night" out of the Billboard's #1 slot in 1964. They were all done with impeccable musicianship and in perfect Dean Martin style. An homage rather than a parody.

Dean Christopher and Joe Dreyer do Rio Bravo
Photo by Chuck Lavazzi

There were some audience participation numbers as well, like "That's Amore" and "Volare," both of which gave Mr. Christopher an opportunity to display his ability to work the crowd and ad lib in character (which he did throughout the evening). At one point, for example, he noticed a group at a table off to stage right in what had to be "limited view" seats. He joked with them about having the "cheap seats" and then made a gag out of looking back to the right periodically and asking Mr. Dreyer "are they still there?"

Through all of this, Joe Dreyer was a cheerful and elegant presence at the baby grand. Mr. Dreyer is a familiar figure on the local theatre and cabaret scene and has even done the occasional show himself with his wife, the singer Rosemary Watts-Dreyer. His arrangements were a perfect fit for Mr. Christopher, either as himself or as Martin. His voice blended well with Mr. Christopher's in a re-creation of the scene in the 1959 film "Rio Bravo," in which Martin sang "My Rifle, My Pony, and Me" in harmony with Ricky Nelson.

Judging from the SRO crowd at the Blue Strawberry, this is unlikely to be the last time you'll see Dean Christopher on that stage. When he returns, I'd say early ticket purchases are essential. Meanwhile, for information on upcoming shows at Jim Dolan's classy Blue Strawberry, visit their web site.

This article originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

Opera Review: Transporting miners

There are number of remarkable things about Puccini's 1910 drama "La fanciulla del west" ("The Girl of the West"), not the least of which is the fact that the excellent production Winter Opera is presenting this Friday and Sunday (March 6 and 8) is the St. Louis premiere.

Karen Kanakis
Photo by Riq Dilly

Commissioned by and first performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, "La Fanciulla del West" is, as far as I know, the only Italian opera set in a mining town in the American west in 1850. It's based on the 1905 melodrama "The Girl of the Golden West" by the American producer, director, and playwright David Belasco, whose "Madama Butterfly" was the basis for one of Puccini's greatest hits.

Performances of it have become pretty rare over the last few decades, possibly because the score, richly orchestrated and dramatic as it is, doesn't have the big, show-stopping numbers you find in Puccini's other operas. There's no equivalent of "Nessun dorma" ("Turnadot"), "Quando m'en vo" ("La Bohème), or "Visi d'arte" ("Tosca"), for example, although there is a rapturous love duet in the second act that I'd put up against some of the best stuff in the composer's other operas.

Or maybe it's the fact that this is, to the best of my knowledge, the only non-comic opera by Puccini that doesn't end with the death of the heroine. Indeed, nobody dies at all in "La fanciulla del west" and the villainous Sherriff Jack Rance just quietly slinks off stage in disgrace while the lovers walk off into the sunrise to start a new life together.

Jorge Pita Carreras, Karen Kanakis
Photo by Riq Dilly

Minnie, the girl of the title, is also not your usual long-suffering Puccini heroine, ready to die for love. In fact, she's a saloon owner with a shotgun who isn't afraid to use it in defense of her lover, the reluctant bandit Ramerraz (he inherited the business from his father and is looking for a way out). Mimi she ain't.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this opera, though, is that it works so well as drama. Once you get over seeing rough-hewn, gun-toting, cigar-smoking "forty-niners" singing in Italian and getting homesick for their mothers, this story of Minnie's heroic efforts to save Ramerraz from the noose is pretty entertaining stuff, complete with a last-minute rescue from the gallows by a rifle-toting Minnie.

There's also an especially tense scene in the second act, when Rance discovers that Minnie is hiding the wounded Ramerraz in her cabin. She challenges Rance, whose lust for Minnie is as strong as his desire to put an end to Ramerraz, to a game of poker. If he wins, he gets her and Ramerraz. If he loses, he leaves them both and says nothing about Ramerraz's whereabouts. Minnie cheats and wins, but it's a nail-biter of a scene anyway, with the action accompanied only by a short, ominous motif in the lower strings.

Mark Freiman, John Robert Green
Photo by Riq Dilly

Winter Opera has had its ups and downs over the years. This exceptional cast is definitely one of their "ups." Soprano Karen Kanakis whose Giannetta lit up the stage [n Winter Opera's "L'elisir d'amore" in 2018, is just perfect as Minnie, with a drop-dead gorgeous voice and acting that is never less than credible, even in Minnie's "too good to be true" moments (which, to be fair, are probably true to the libretto's origins).

As Ramerraz (a.k.a "Dick Johnson," a pseudonym that the Sheriff sees through almost immediately) Jorge Pita Carreras once again displays the powerful bel canto tenor voice that distinguished his roles in Winter Opera's "Il trovatore" and "Carmen". This time around I found his acting far more convincing, which is one of the things that made his big duet with Ms. Kanakis so ravishing.

NYC-based baritone John Robert Green makes an impressive Winter Opera debut as the morally flexible Sheriff Jack Rance, whose dedication to law and order doesn't prevent him from promising to abandon his wife if Minnie will just submit to his unwelcome advances. From the moment he swaggers on stage in the prologue, appropriately dressed in black and puffing on a stogie, there's little doubt that he's a marginally more honorable version of Scarpia from "Tosca" (unlike Scarpia, Rance's word is actually worth something). His powerful voice can seduce or snarl as required.

Other outstanding performances include Bass Mark Freiman's Ashby, the Wells Fargo agent tracking down Ramerraz; baritone Jason Mallory in the cameo role of the minstrel Jake Wallace; and bass Aleksandar Dragojevic as Jim Larkens, whose weepy plea for money to pay his passage back home brings out an unexpected burst of generosity among his fellow miners.

Tenor Marc Schapman is a sympathetic presence as Minnie's loyal bartender Nick, and mezzo Erin Haupt and bass-baritone Jeremy Gussin have a tender comic moment as Minnie's housekeeper Wowkle and her beau Billy Jackrabbit, who are getting hitched just in time to make their baby legitimate.

The chorus
Photo by Riq Dilly

The members of the Winter Opera chorus (all male, in this case) do their usual fine job of turning each of their characters into clear individuals, whether they have solos or not, and Dario Salvi conducts a powerful rendition of Puccini's unusually colorful score, with some first-rate playing from the musicians--some of whom will be familiar to regulars at St. Louis Symphony Orchestra concerts.
Stage Director Jon Truitt manages the large cast well and keeps the story moving. Scott Loebl's scenery (including an impressive mountainous backdrop) and Felia Davenport's period costumes help to enhance the powerful feel of time and place.

The bottom line is that Winter Opera's "La fanciulla del west" is one of the weekend's "must see" shows, and not just because this may be your only opportunity to see a live production of it locally. It's an opera that, at least for me, is actually more musically and theatrically coherent than some of Puccini's more popular works (I'm looking at you, "Turandot") and Winter Opera is doing it up in fine style. Performances, which are sung in Italian with English supertitles, are Friday at 8 pm and Sunday at 3 pm, March 6 and 8, at the Skip Viragh Center on the Chaminade campus. Visit their web site for ticket information.

This article originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

Chuck's Choices for the weekend of March 6, 2020

New this week: a rarely seen opera and play, plus cabaret at the Blue Strawberry.

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New This Week:

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Aphra Behn

Slightly Askew Theatre Ensemble presents The Aphra Behn Festival Friday through Sunday at 8 pm March 6-8. "Instead of producing original plays in its fourth year, this year's Aphra Behn Festival will consist of scenes from Aphra Behn's "The Rover", directed by Summer Baer, Taleesha Caturah, Miranda Jagels Félix, and Victoria Thomas. The Aphra Behn Festival is named for the British playwright, poet, translator, and fiction writer from the Restoration era. As one of the first English women to earn her living by writing, Aphra Behn broke cultural barriers and served as a literary role model for later generations of women. Founded in 2017, The Aphra Behn Festival was inspired by SATEs 2015 production of Or, a play by Liz Duffy Adams featuring Aphra Behn as a character." Performances take place at The Centene Center for the Arts and Education, 3547 Olive in Grand Center. For more information: slightlyoff.org.

My take: This is a rare chance to see a work by a neglected playwright which very likely has never been seen on a local stage. The fact that each act has a different director is also a rare chance to see multiple takes on the same material in the same evening.

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Dean Christopher

The Blue Strawberry presents Dean Christopher in A Dean Martin Tribute on Friday, March 6, at 8 pm. "First of all, there is no better or funnier Dean Martin impressionist on earth - talking or singing - than Dean Christopher, no one better at mixing it up with his audience, and no one with more affection or admiration for Dino. Cabaret? Theater piece? Vegas act? You decide as you journey through the music and humor of one of the most beloved entertainers of the 20th century - Dean Martin. Brought to life by award winning actor, singer, and impressionist Dean Christopher, featuring Joe Dreyer at the piano." The Blue Strawberry is at 364 N. Boyle in the Central West End. For more information: www.bluestrawberrystl.com.

My take: When I saw Dean Christopher's "Rat Pack Christmas" show back in December I was, frankly, bowled over by it. . More to the point, I wrote that his Dean Martin impersonation was especially impressive, completely nailing the singer's vocal quality and "drunk act" shtick . Needless to say, I can recommend this show without reservation (although I wouldn't try to see it without a reservation, as it is officially sold out). Call the Blue Strawberry and see if they can fit you in. You won't regret it.

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La fanciulla del west
Photo by Riq Dilly

Winter Opera St. Louis presents the St. Louis premiere of Puccini's La Fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West) Friday at 8 PM and Sunday at 3 PM, March 6 and 8. "Set in gold mining era California, the story includes rough outlaws, rowdy miners, and the 'take no flack' Minnie, owner of the local saloon. When bandit Dick Johnson rides into town, things get hairy between Johnson and Sheriff Jack Rance, with Minnie stuck right in the middle." Performances take place at The Skip Viragh Center for the Arts at Chaminade College Preparatory School, 425 S. Lindbergh. For more information, visit winteroperastl.org.

My take: As I write in my review for KDHX, this rarely seen Puccini melodrama is an unexpected pleasure. Rarely seen operas by major composers are often rare for good reasons, but La Fanciulla del West is, in many ways, a better piece of theatre than some of Puccini's more popular works. Winter Opera is doing a bang-up job with it as well.

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Uvee Hayes

The Blue Strawberry presents The True Facts of Life As Revealed by the Blues and Soul of Uvee Hayes on Saturday, March 7, at 8 pm. "A Macon, Mississippi native, Uvee Hayes was born and reared with the Blues. Her mom had a little country store where she would have Friday and Saturday night gatherings. People would come from all over to play, to sing, to listen, to dance. "You heard nothing but the blues,” says Uvee, "and those folks danced the dust up off the floor.” Join Uvee for a night of classic Blues straight from the source." The Blue Strawberry is at 364 N. Boyle in the Central West End. For more information: www.bluestrawberrystl.com.

My take: I have missed the previous appearances at the Blue Strawberry by Ms. Hayes, but what I have heard from those who have seen her leads me to believe I have missed a damn fine show. Hence the recommendation.

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Held Over:

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The Band's Visit
Photo by Matthew Murphy

The Fabulous Fox Theatre presents the musical The Band's Visit  running through March 8. "In this joyously offbeat story, set in a town that's way off the beaten path, a band of musicians arrive lost, out of the blue. Under the spell of the desert sky, and with beautiful music perfuming the air, the band brings the town to life in unexpected and tantalizing ways. Even the briefest visit can stay with you forever." The Fabulous Fox Theatre in on N. Grand in Grand Center. For more information: fabulousfox.com.

My take: In the era of the jukebox musical, the amusement park musical, the reverse revival musical rewrite , and similar extravaganzas, one occasionally encounters an intimate, small-cast show that stands out like a tiny diamond in a pile of costume jewelry. Reviews, including my own, have been uniformly positive. This is an intimate show that nevertheless fills the huge Fox with heart and warmth.

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Spell #7

The Black Rep presents Ntozake Shange's Spell #7 running through March 8. "This striking choreopoem by the author of For Colored Girls, Ntozake Shange, is set in a bar in St. Louis frequented by Black artists and musicians, actors, and performers. In a series of dreamlike vignettes and poetic monologues, they commiserate about the difficulties they face as black artist. The piece is framed by the narrator, Lou, a magician who wants to use his magic to help the artist come to terms with their blackness and rejoice in their identities. " Performances take place at the Edison Theatre on the Washington University campus. For more information: theblackrep.org.

My take: A St. Louis native who is best known for her "choreopoem" For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf, a work that combines theatre, dance, music and poetry to produce a unique hybrid art form. Her Spell #7 is less well known but, as Calvin Wilson writes at the Post-Dispatch, it nevertheless "conjures a mood of poetic enchantment." "Director Ron Himes and choreographer Heather Beal collaborate impressively," he notes, "coordinating words and movement with seeming effortlessness. And the performances are splendid, capturing the nuances of Shange&'s avant-garde sensibility."

Symphony Preview: Getting with the program

This weekend, four of the five works Stéphane Denève and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) will perform are unabashedly programmatic--what they used to refer to as "program music" in Music Appreciation classes. The fifth, by way of contrast, is by a guy who did his level best to insist that he only wrote "absolute" music.

Composer John Adams
Photo: Vern Evans

As I learned back when they still routinely taught music in the public schools (yes, I am a geezer) the difference between "absolute" music (your basic sonatas, concertos, symphonies, etudes, et al.) and "program music" (the "symphonic poem" and anything else with a descriptive title) was that the former had no specific external reference while the latter was inspired by or descriptive of something non-musical. That "something" can encompass anything from a literary classic (Schumann's "Manfred Overture") to a painting (Rachmaninoff's "Isle of the Dead") to a mountain-climbing expedition (Richard Strauss's "Alpine Symphony")--all of which have been heard on the Powell Hall stage recently.

The program this weekend opens a pair of short pieces of "program music" that involve being transported. Not in the emotional sense of being swept away, but in the far more mundane sense of being taken from one place to another by a machine.

Up first is John Adams's "Short Ride in a Fast Machine" from 1986. The work is described as a "fanfare for orchestra" on the composer's web site, where Mr. Adams explains the title by posing a question: "You know how it is when someone asks you to ride in a terrific sports car, and then you wish you hadn't?"

Running around four minutes, "Short Ride in a Fast Machine" is a headlong rush down narrow country roads. The woodblock, clarinets, trumpets, and synthesizer keep up a fast, steady beat while the rest of the orchestra races ahead, holding on for dear life. In his notes on Adams's web site, Michael Steinberg describes the piece as "joyfully exuberant," but to me it has always had a "how the hell do you stop this thing?" subtext.

And, yes, it's also great fun.

Arthur Honegger in 1928
By Agence de presse Meurisse -
Bibliothèque nationale de France,
Public Domain, Link

Up next is Arthur Honegger's "Pacific 231," a piece inspired by the composer's love of train travel. "I have always loved locomotives passionately," he once noted. For me they are living creatures and I love them as others love women or horses." Originally titled simply "Mouvement Symphonique No. 1" (the first of a series of three), the title "Pacific 231" was added later as an acknowledgement of its inspiration in the many hours he spent in train travel in his youth.

This is music so vividly descriptive of the experience of riding on a powerful locomotive that it eventually became the basis of a 1949 film that featured footage of locomotives synched up with the music. Not that the visuals are really necessary; you can hear the massive engine start up and begin to gather speed at the beginning in the percussion, low strings, and brasses. Soon other instruments join in as the momentum increases. The city and suburbs swirl past until, finally, you're flying through open fields with the woodwinds and higher strings. Finally there's a massive orchestral crash as the air brakes kick in and the mighty 231 slows to a stop at your destination.

If you have ever ridden on a high-speed intercity train of the type they have in Europe, you'll recognize the feeling.

Guillaume Connesson
Photo by Fanny Houillon

The inspiration for the next work, a saxophone concerto by Guillaume Connesson, is also inspired by a "train," but only in the homophonic sense. Titled "A Kind of Trane," it's a tribute to the virtuosity and frenetic energy of the late jazz saxophonist John Coltrane.

First performed at the World Saxophone Congress in 2015, "A Kind of Trane" is scored for two saxophones (soprano in the first and third movement and alto in the second) and, in fact, was played by three different soloists at its premiere. As Tim Munro writes in this week's program notes, the first two movements are inspired by specific Coltrane albums--"A Love Supreme" and "Ballads," respectively, while the final, wildly virtuosic movement (titled "Coltrane on the Dance Floor") "contrasts the freedom of Coltrane's playing with what he thinks is the 'robotic' nature of today's dance music."

That last movement really is a killer, demanding pretty much everything a player can give. Watch the performance by Nicholas Prost, who first performed it at the 2015 premiere, to see what I mean. The music builds to a wild climax until the solo line collapses into a few quiet toots, as though the exhausted Coltrane has collapsed into a chair and reached for a stiff drink.

For this performance, one soloist will tackle all three movements. Fortunately, that one performer is Tim McAllister, who has displayed the kind of superhuman virtuosity this music clearly needs in previous appearances with the SLSO.

Albert Roussel in 1913
Public Domain, Link

In contrast to those last three pieces, the next item on the bill of fare is Albert Roussel's Symphony No. 3 in G minor, Op. 42, from 1930. It has no programmatic subtitles. Indeed, Roussel, in a 1928 interview, declared that his goal as a composer was "to achieve...a music that is entirely self-contained, music that aims to free itself from any pictorial or descriptive element and completely removed from any geographical connection."

Did he succeed with his third symphony? There are certainly no descriptive titles to any of the four movements but, least to me, they all conjure up some fairly specific images.

The pounding rhythms of the Allegro vivo first movement, for example, suggest the kind of mechanical precision that characterizes the 1924 "Ballet Mécanique" of his contemporary George Antheil (an American composer living in Paris at the time), although that driving motion is tempered by lyrical passages. The Adagio second movement is a sometimes unsettling mix of the eerie and ominously dramatic. To me, it conjures up memories of the Catacombs and/or Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris, but your mileage could vary.

The third and fourth movements, in sharp contrast, suggest wild nights at a rowdy cabaret in Montmartre or maybe the more unbuttoned Quartier Pigalle, home of the Moulin Rouge. Or a lively jazz club anywhere, really.

That said, your reaction might be completely different. Which would, of course, reinforce Roussel's insistence that the Symphony No. 3 isn't "about" anything in particular.

I forgot to mention her, didn't I?
officialboderek.com

Wrapping things up is one of the most popular orchestral works ever written and certainly the best-known thing Maurice Ravel ever wrote: "Boléro." Composed originally on commission for the dancer Ida Rubinstein, "Bolero" was first performed by her at the Paris Opéra on 22 November 1928, with choreography by Bronislava Nijinska and designs by Alexandre Benois.

The scenario, as printed in that first program, describes a wild night in a Spanish tavern that gets wilder when a female dancer leaps on to a table as "her steps become more and more animated." The late New York Times music critic Louis Biancolli (quoted in the 1962 edition of Julian Seaman's "Great Orchestral Music: A Treasury of Program Notes") goes into greater detail, describing an increasingly erotic bacchanal, which ends in a knife-wielding brawl.

There will be no weapons at Powell Hall this weekend, fortunately, so you will be able to enjoy Ravel's Greatest Hit in safety.

There are many more fascinating facts to be had about "Boléro," including its sexual subtext. Actor/writer Albert Brooks had some fun with that aspect of the work on his subversively brilliant 1975 LP "A Star is Bought." Happily, that album is still available in digital form from Amazon and is mandatory listening for anyone who enjoys a good, smart laugh.

The Essentials: Stéphane Denève conducts The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, along with saxophonist Timothy McAllister on Friday at 10:30 am and 8 pm and Saturday at 8 pm March 6 and 7. Performances take place at Powell Symphony Hall in Grand Center.

This article originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

Symphony Review: Spring song

Judging from the weather forecast, spring is apparently just around the corner. Judging from the sunny and breezy St. Louis Symphony Orchestra program Sunday afternoon (March 1), it had already arrived.

[Find out more about the music with my symphony preview.]

Nicholas McGegan
Photo by Steve Sherman

Addressing the audience before the concert, guest conductor Nicholas McGegan noted that all three works on the program were "young men's music": Haydn's Symphony No. 31 (1765, age 32), Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2 (1795, age 25), and Schubert's Symphony No. 5 (1816, age 18). And, indeed, all three works radiate the confidence and exuberance of composers who probably felt (correctly or otherwise) that they had long and promising careers before them. They got correspondingly confident and exuberant performances from Mr. McGegan and the band.

When Haydn wrote his Haydn's Symphony No. 31 in D major, he was only a few years into what would prove to be a long and lucrative career as music director for the rich and powerful Esterházy family. Prince Nikolaus Esterházy was an enthusiastic music lover and hired Haydn to direct his court orchestra. The band had just brought its horn section back to full strength, and Haydn celebrated with a symphony that not only featured that section prominently but even included what Mr. McGegan referred to as "the call of the Austrian Post Office" as a theme in the first movement--hence the "Hornsignal" nickname that has become attached to it.

Haydn didn't just give the horns a large role, though. He also wrote small but important bits for the flute and oboes in the first and third movements, a duet for the Concertmaster (principal violin) and cello in the second movement, and capped it all with a final movement that included long solos for the principal cello, flute, violin, and bass as well as for the horns and oboes. One is left with the impression that Haydn was proud of the abilities of his players and wanted Prince Nick to see what he was getting for his money.

This was, needles to say, a golden opportunity for the principal players of the SLSO to show off their skills, and they did not disappoint. Sunday we got uniformly excellent playing from Principal Flute Mark Sparks, Second Associate Concertmaster Celeste Golden Boyer, Principal Cello Daniel Lee, Principal Bass Erik Harris, and Cally Banham and Tamara Winston on oboes. The five horn players under Principal Roger Kaza sounded like pure gold in all four movements--a good thing since, with an orchestra sized about the way it would have been in Haydn's day (around 20-25 players total), the horn section was the dominant voice.

As he has so often in the past, Mr. McGegan led a performance that was bracing and radiated an irresistible sense of joy. He is, as I have noted often in the past, a man who clearly loves what he is doing and communicates that affection to the audience. He's also one of those conductors who appear more interested in shaping phrases than in keeping time, relying instead on his musicians to keep in synch with only the periodic reminder from the podium. With this band, his confidence is entirely justified.

Seong-Jin Cho

Up next was the Beethoven concerto. It carries the number two because, while it was actually his first essay in the form, it was the second to be published. The concerto shows a cheerful insouciance that belies the composer's later reputation for what Stuart Isacoff, in his lively "A Natural History of the Piano," describes as "ferocious, string-snapping outbursts." This is music that dances and dreams, but never storms.

Working closely with Mr. McGegan, this weekend's soloist, young (b. 1994) South Korean virtuoso Seong-Jin Cho, captured all of the work's many moods to perfection and showed a remarkably wide range of expression and tonal variety. This was perhaps most apparent in the first movement cadenza, where he showed an ideal mix of virtuoso display and artistic sensitivity. The Adagio second movement was especially impressive, showing the kind of subtlety of tone color and dynamics that I associate with the work of the late Walter Gieseking.

The fact that this was the first time he had played the work in public just made his performance that much more impressive.

It all went down very well with the audience, who were rewarded with an encore: the Adagio second movement from the Piano Sonata No. 12 by Mozart. Given that encores are more usually stand-alone pieces, often quite flashy, this was a bold and, in my view, very successful choice. He made a similar choice on Saturday night, with the second movement from Beethoven's "Pathetique" sonata.

The Shubert Fifth concluded the concert with the brightest sunlight of the lot, despite some passing clouds in the Andante con moto second movement. Schubert was a master songwriter (he wrote over 600 in his short three decades on this planet), so it's not surprising that the work abounds in "ear worms" and, especially in the first movement, toe-tapping rhythms. Mr. McGegan's perfectly balanced reading let us hear the joy and occasional drama of this enchanting work.

It's been a few years since I really listened to the Shubert Fifth, so I had forgotten how prominent the flute is in nearly every movement. Kudos to Mark Sparks for his fine work Sunday afternoon.

Next at Powell Hall: Stéphane Denève conducts The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, along with saxophonist Timothy McAllister on Friday at 10:30 am and 8 pm and Saturday at 8 pm March 6 and 7. The program consists of Honegger's "Pacific 231," John Adams's "A Short Ride in a Fast Machine," Guillaume Connesson's saxophone concerto "A Kind of Trane," Roussel's Symphony No. 3, and Ravel's "Bolero." Performances take place at Powell Symphony Hall in Grand Center.

This article originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of March 2, 2020

Highlights this week include the the Aphra Behn Festival, the St. Louis premiere of a rarely-seen Puccini opera set in the American west, a new musical at New Line, and a Dean Martin tribute at the Blue Strawberry.

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Slightly Askew Theatre Ensemble presents The Aphra Behn Festival Friday through Sunday at 8 pm March 6-8. "Instead of producing original plays in its fourth year, this year's Aphra Behn Festival will consist of scenes from Aphra Behn's "The Rover", directed by Summer Baer, Taleesha Caturah, Miranda Jagels Félix, and Victoria Thomas. The Aphra Behn Festival is named for the British playwright, poet, translator, and fiction writer from the Restoration era. As one of the first English women to earn her living by writing, Aphra Behn broke cultural barriers and served as a literary role model for later generations of women. Founded in 2017, The Aphra Behn Festival was inspired by SATEs 2015 production of Or, a play by Liz Duffy Adams featuring Aphra Behn as a character." Performances take place at The Centene Center for the Arts and Education, 3547 Olive in Grand Center. For more information: slightlyoff.org.

The Band's Visit
Photo by Evan Zimmerman

The Fabulous Fox Theatre presents the musical The Band's Visit running through March 8. "In this joyously offbeat story, set in a town that's way off the beaten path, a band of musicians arrive lost, out of the blue. Under the spell of the desert sky, and with beautiful music perfuming the air, the band brings the town to life in unexpected and tantalizing ways. Even the briefest visit can stay with you forever." The Fabulous Fox Theatre in on N. Grand in Grand Center. For more information: fabulousfox.com.

Alpha Players present the Clybourne Park opening on Friday, March 6, at 8 pm and running through March 15. "Winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize and 2012 Tony Award for Best Play, Clybourne Park is a wickedly funny and provocative new play about the volatile intersection of race and real estate." Performances take place at The Florissant Civic Center Theater, Parker Rd. at Waterford Dr. in Florissant, MO. For more information: alphaplayers.org, call 314-921-5678.

CSZ St. Louis presents The ComedySportz Show on Saturday nights at 7:30 pm. The show is "action-packed, interactive and hilarious comedy played as a sport. Two teams battle it out for points and your laughs! You choose the winners the teams provide the funny!" Performances take place on the second floor of the Sugar Cubed, 917 S Main St. in St Charles, Mo. For more information: www.cszstlouis.com.

Dean Christopher

The Blue Strawberry presents Dean Christopher in A Dean Martin Tribute on Friday, March 6, at 8 pm. "First of all, there is no better or funnier Dean Martin impressionist on earth - talking or singing - than Dean Christopher, no one better at mixing it up with his audience, and no one with more affection or admiration for Dino. Cabaret? Theater piece? Vegas act? You decide as you journey through the music and humor of one of the most beloved entertainers of the 20th century - Dean Martin. Brought to life by award winning actor, singer, and impressionist Dean Christopher, featuring Joe Dreyer at the piano." The Blue Strawberry is at 364 N. Boyle in the Central West End. For more information: www.bluestrawberrystl.com.

Winter Opera St. Louis presents the St. Louis premiere of Puccini's La Fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West) Friday at 8 PM and Sunday at 3 PM, March 6 and 8. "Set in gold mining era California, the story includes rough outlaws, rowdy miners, and the 'take no flack' Minnie, owner of the local saloon. When bandit Dick Johnson rides into town, things get hairy between Johnson and Sheriff Jack Rance, with Minnie stuck right in the middle." Performances take place at The Skip Viragh Center for the Arts at Chaminade College Preparatory School, 425 S. Lindbergh. For more information, visit winteroperastl.org.

Flanagan's Wake
Photo by John Flack

The Playhouse at Westport Plaza presents the interactive comedy Flanagan's Wake running through March 21. "The hit show from Chicago, Flanagan's Wake, is the hilarious interactive show that brings Flanagan's Irish family to St. Louis where they will memorialize his passing. Audiences participate in this comedic memorial with plenty o' pints, crazy sing-a-longs, telling of witty tales and mourn the passing of one of their own: Flanagan. Audiences will pay their respects to glowering Mother Flanagan and to poor grieving fiancée, Fiona Finn. Listen to a eulogy written by County Sligo's best-known writer, Mickey Finn, and tip a pint with Brian Ballybunion, himself a weaver of tales. You can cross yourself with the blessings from St. Gregory's parish priest, Father Damon Fitzgerald, or cross your fingers that local pagan Kathleen Mooney doesn't cast a spell on you. Mayor Martin O'Doul will preside over the proceedings with an iron hand (and a parched throat)." The Playhouse at Westport Plaza is at 635 West Port Plaza. For more information: playhouseatwestport.com.

Head Over Heels
Photo by Jill Ritter Lindberg

New Line Theatre presents the musical Head Over Heels Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 PM, March 5-28. "HEAD OVER HEELS is the bold, sexy new musical comedy from the visionaries that rocked Broadway with American Idiot, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Avenue Q and Spring Awakening. Conceived by Jeff Whitty, with an original book by Whitty, adapted by James Magruder, originally directed by Michael Mayer, based on a novel from 1580 (not kidding!) and set to the music of the iconic 1980s all-girl rock band The Go-Go's, this subversive, high-octane, laugh-out-loud love story includes hit songs like, "We Got the Beat," "Our Lips Are Sealed," "Vacation," "Heaven is a Place on Earth" and "Mad About You." The wild story follows the escapades of a royal family who set out on a journey to save their beloved kingdom from extinction -- only to discover the key to their realm's survival lies within each of their own hearts. . . though not always in the way they expect. . . and in their willingness to let go of rigid tradition and change with the times." Performances take place at the Marcelle Theater, 3310 Samuel Shepard Drive, three blocks east of Grand, in Grand Center. For more information, visit newlinetheatre.com or call 314-534-1111.

The Theatre Guild of Webster Groves presents the comedy Love, Sex, and the IRS opening on Friday, March 6, at 8 pm and running through March 15. "The classic farce that everyone should be doing - especially around tax time! Jon Trachtman and Leslie Arthur are out of work musicians who room together in New York City. To save money, Jon has been filing tax returns listing the pair as married. The day of reckoning comes when the Internal Revenue Service informs the "couple" they're going to be investigated. Leslie masquerades as a housewife, aided by Jon's fiancée, Kate. Complicating matters further, Leslie and Kate are having an affair behind Jon's back, Jon's mother drops in unexpectedly to meet her son's fiancée, and Leslie's ex-girlfriend shows up demanding to know why Leslie has changed and won't see her anymore. Like a cross between I Love Lucy and Some Like it Hot." 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 Mystery of Irma Vep
Photo by John Gitchoff

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents Charles Ludlam's comedy The Mystery of Irma Vep running through March 8. "Classic horror, B-movie mysteries and wild farce get tossed into a blender in this feverish, supernatural sprint. On a dark and stormy night, the howls of a werewolf echo across the moors, a newly revived mummy stirs in its sarcophagus and a mysterious portrait holds the key to an ancient family curse. Two actors bring this diabolical tale to life, with the help of a few dozen costume changes and a lot of wigs." Performances take place at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University campus. For more information: repstl.org

St. Charles Community College presents Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap Wednesday through Sunday, March 4-8. "A group of strangers is stranded in a boarding house during a snowstorm, one of whom is a murderer. The suspects include the newly married couple who run the house, and the suspicions in their minds nearly wreck their perfect marriage. Others are a spinster with a curious background, an architect who seems better equipped to be a chef, a retired Army major, a strange little man who claims his car has overturned in a drift, and a jurist who makes life miserable for everyone. Into their midst comes a policeman, traveling on skis. He no sooner arrives, than the jurist is killed. Two down and one to go. To get to the rationale of the murderer's pattern, the policeman probes the background of everyone present and rattles a lot of skeletons. Another famous Agatha Christie switch finish! Chalk up another superb intrigue for the foremost mystery writer of her time." Performances take place in the FAB Theater in the Donald D. Shook Fine Arts Building on the campus at 4601 Mid Rivers Mall Drive in Cottleville, MO. For more information, call 636-922-8050 or visit stchas.edu/events.

The Grandel Theatre presents The Office: A Musical Parody Wednesday through Friday at 8 pm, Saturday at 3 and 8 pm, and Sunday at 2 pm, March 4-8. "It's a typical morning at Scranton's third largest paper company until, for no logical reason, a documentary crew begins filming the lives of the employees of Dunder Mifflin. Don't miss this hilarious, unauthorized parody of the hit TV show, The Office, featuring songs such as "Welcome to Scranton (The Electric City)," "That's What She Said," "The Dundies," "Marry Me Beesly," and more!" The performances take place at The Grandel Theatre, 3610 Grandel Square in Grand Center. For more information: www.kranzbergartsfoundation.org/the-grandel.

The Bissell Mansion Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre presents Phantom of the Grand Ole Opry through April 26. "Millions of people flock to the Grand Ole Opry House to see Tammy Whino's one woman show, "Stand By Your Man." Here, amid the fried chicken, line dancing and dinner theatre, Tammy is the Queen of the Grand Ole Opry. Or is she? When she is found murdered, many suspect the Phantom because everyone knows the house is haunted. Or could the murderer be Billy Ray Serious, Naomi Dudd, and we can't forget about Nelson Willy?" For more information: bissellmansiontheatre.com.

Spell #7

The Black Rep presents Ntozake Shange's Spell #7 running through March 8. "This striking choreopoem by the author of For Colored Girls, Ntozake Shange,is set in a bar in St. Louis frequented by Black artists and musicians, actors, and performers. In a series of dreamlike vignettes and poetic monologues, they commiserate about the difficulties they face as black artist. The piece is framed by the narrator, Lou, a magician who wants to use his magic to help the artist come to terms with their blackness and rejoice in their identities. " Performances take place at the Edison Theatre on the Washington University campus. For more information: theblackrep.org.

Uvee Hayes

The Blue Strawberry presents The True Facts of Life As Revealed by the Blues and Soul of Uvee Hayes on Saturday, March 7, at 8 pm. "A Macon, Mississippi native, Uvee Hayes was born and reared with the Blues. Her mom had a little country store where she would have Friday and Saturday night gatherings. People would come from all over to play, to sing, to listen, to dance. 'You heard nothing but the blues,' says Uvee, 'and those folks danced the dust up off the floor'." Join Uvee for a night of classic Blues straight from the source." Kapree Graves sings backup with a band consisting of James McKay on bass, Cornelius Davis on piano, Dennis Brock on lead guitar, Keith Robinson on drums, and Chris 'Iron Jaw' Taylor on harmonica. The Blue Strawberry is at 364 N. Boyle in the Central West End. For more information: www.bluestrawberrystl.com.

Under the Arch Incubator and Stray Dog Theatre present an evening of new musical theatre with cast members from the national tour of The Band's Visit on Monday, March 2, at 7:30 pm as part of Under the Arch Incubator's Collaborative Cabaret Series. A portion of the evening's proceeds will benefit the International Institute of Saint Louis. The event takes place at The Tower Grove Abbey, 2336 Tennessee. For more information, visit straydogtheatre.org or call 314-865-1995.

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 Calendar.

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.

St. Louis classical calendar for the week of March 2, 2020

From string quartets to machine-inspired music, there's a world of variety on concert stages this week.

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The Chamber Music Society of St. Louis

Monday, March 2, at 7:30 pm, The Chamber Music Society of St. Louis presents Baroque Brass. St. Louis Symphony guest conductor Nicholas McGegan leads a program of music for trumpet, horn and strings by Vivaldi, Telemann, and others. Baroque Brass takes place at the Sheldon Concert Hall in Grand Center. For more information: chambermusicstl.org.

The Kemper Art Museum presents The Darmstadt School as part of their Music at Kemper series on Thursday, March 5, at 6 pm. "Musicians Tracy Andreotti (cello), Henry Claude (percussion), Greg Mills (piano), and Henry Skolnick (bassoon) perform a selection of works by mid-20th-century experimental composers associated with the Darmstadt School. Karlheinz Stockhausen, Bruno Bartolozzi, Morton Feldman, and Earle Brown engaged with alternate forms of composition and notation, including serialism and graphic scores, that called for active interpretation by performers." The concert takes place at the Kemper Art Museum on the Washington University campus. For more information: kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu.

St. Louis Cathedral Concerts presents a concert by organist Dr. Lynn Trapp on Sunday, March 8 at 2:30 pm. "A consummate artist of the highest caliber, Dr. Lynn Trapp holds a distinguished career as a concert organist, pianist, conductor, composer and liturgist. From Carnegie Hall, NYC to Westminster Abbey, London his many concert appearances, more than 100 publications, academic awards, and clinician work has brought him great respect nationally and internationally. His career archives are established in perpetuity at the Hesburgh Library, University of Notre Dame." The concert takes place at the Cathedral Basilica in the Central West End. For more information: cathedralconcerts.org.

Timothy McAllister

Stéphane Denève conducts The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, along with saxophonist Timothy McAllister on Friday at 10:30 am and 8 pm and Saturday at 8 pm March 6 and 7. The program consists of Honegger's Pacific 231, John Adams's A Short Ride in a Fast Machine, Guillaume Connesson's saxophone concerto A Kind of Trane, Rousell's Symphony No. 3, and Ravel's Bolero. Performances take place at Powell Symphony Hall in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

The Touhill Performing Arts Center presents presents The Arianna String Quartet in American Fantasy on Friday March 6 at 8 pm. "In a program dedicated to the boundlessness of the American spirit, the Arianna Quartet performs three quartets that showcase distinct and diverse soundscapes inspired by American experiences. The ASQ leads this program with Frederick Tillis' Spiritual Fantasy No.12, an exultant and contemplative jazz and spiritual inspired work that embodies the sound of Tillis' unique American perspective. American composer Reena Esmail's mesmerizing string quartet “Ragamala” follows, exploring the layered textures of the Indian tradition of raags, where free explorations and elaborations of singular musical ideas evolve into transcendent expressions of time and space. Dvorak's celebratory “American” Quartet rounds out the evening with a fusion of sounds inspired by Native American drumming traditions, African American spirituals, twittering birdcalls from the American Midwest, and Czech folk music tradition." The Touhill Center is on the campus of the University of Missouri at St. Louis. For more information: touhill.org.

Chuck's Choices for the weekend of February 28, 2020

New this week: theatre at the Fox, the Black Rep, Webster Conservatory, West End Players Guild, and cabaret at the Blue Strawberry.

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New This Week:

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The Band's Visit
Photo by Matthew Murphy

The Fabulous Fox Theatre presents the musical The Band's Visit  running through March 8. "In this joyously offbeat story, set in a town that's way off the beaten path, a band of musicians arrive lost, out of the blue. Under the spell of the desert sky, and with beautiful music perfuming the air, the band brings the town to life in unexpected and tantalizing ways. Even the briefest visit can stay with you forever." The Fabulous Fox Theatre in on N. Grand in Grand Center. For more information: fabulousfox.com.

My take: In the era of the jukebox musical, the amusement park musical, the reverse revival musical rewrite , and similar extravaganzas, one occasionally encounters an intimate, small-cast show that stands out like a tiny diamond in a pile of costume jewelry. Reviews, including my own, have been uniformly positive. This is an intimate show that nevertheless fills the huge Fox with heart and warmth.

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Marissa Mulder

The Blue Strawberry presents Marissa Mulder in The John Lennon and Paul McCartney Songbooks on Saturday, February 29, at 8 pm. "Join extravagantly-praised singer Marissa Mulder as she dives into the songbook of two of the most prolific and beloved songwriting duos of all time, John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Backed by savant Jon Weber on piano, you will hear each song as you never have before." The Blue Strawberry is at 364 N. Boyle in the Central West End. For more information: www.bluestrawberrystl.com.

My take: When I last saw Ms. Mulder here she was presenting her compelling Tom Waits tribute at the Gaslight Theatre. Now she's just down the block at the Blue Strawberry, and if her Lennon and McCartney show is anything like that one, it will be well worth seeing. Her stage presence and sense of focus are flawless and, let's fact it, she's working with some pretty good material here to begin with.

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Picnic

Webster University's Conservatory of Theatre Arts presents William Inge's Picnic Saturday at 2 and 7:30 pm, and Sunday at 2 pm February 29 and March 1. "The play takes place on Labor Day weekend in the joint backyards of two widows. One house belongs to Flo Owens, who lives there with her two daughters, Madge and Millie, and a schoolteacher boarder. The other house belongs to Helen Potts, who lives with her elderly and invalid mother. Into this female atmosphere comes a young man named Hal Carter, whose animal vitality seriously upsets the entire group." Performances take place in the Stage III Auditorium on the Webster University campus. For more information, www.webster.edun or call 314-968-7128.

My take: The Webster Conservatory consistently produces some of the best student theatre you will ever see, and this appears to be no exception to that rule. "Doug Finlayson directs this lovely production," writes Steve Callahan at KDHX, "and it’s another gem added to his long record of beautiful work. It’s done with such respect for the script—and for the time which is portrayed."

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The Roommate
Photo by John Lamb

The West End Players Guild continues its 109th season with the St. Louis premiere of The Roommate  Saturday at 8 pm and Sunday at 2 pm, February 29 and March 1. "Sharon lives alone in a big old house in Iowa City, IA. Her husband has left her; her grown son has moved to New York and rarely calls; and Sharon looks somewhat fearfully ahead to the decades to come. She has a lot of life left to live but no idea what to do with it, and she is really, really bored with her life to date. She decides that a roommate might at least help with the constant loneliness and she posts an ad. Enter Robyn. Robyn turns out to be just about everything Sharon isn't. Sharon is small-town Iowa; Robyn is the big, bad Bronx. Sharon's diet is Iowa health food - porkchops, baked beans, corn on the cob, all with lots of butter; Robyn is a vegan (and has to explain to Sharon was a "vegan" is). Sharon is white wine; Robyn is recreational drugs, some of which she grows herself. Sharon is straight; Robyn is…. flexible. Sharon needs a new life; Robyn needs a place to hide." 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: I'll preface this by disclosing that I'm on the board of West End and did the sound design for this show. That said, I think it's clear, based on what I saw at last night's performance, that director Sean Belt's direction and the performances of cast members Jane Abling and Julie George-Carlson are all spot on. "The script is witty and insightful," writes Michele Kenyon, "and the relationship here is made all the more believable by the truly compelling performances of the two leads." At KDHX, Tina Farmer praises the "strong, engaging performances by Abling and George-Carlson" in this "thoroughly entertaining show." The script, as I noted when I saw the world premiere at the Humana Festival in 2015, it not without its issues, but it's still an entertaining piece with two very strong and well-developed characters for middle-aged women, and that's still a rare thing in theatre, I'm sorry to say.

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Spell #7

The Black Rep presents Ntozake Shange's Spell #7 running through March 8. "This striking choreopoem by the author of For Colored Girls, Ntozake Shange, is set in a bar in St. Louis frequented by Black artists and musicians, actors, and performers. In a series of dreamlike vignettes and poetic monologues, they commiserate about the difficulties they face as black artist. The piece is framed by the narrator, Lou, a magician who wants to use his magic to help the artist come to terms with their blackness and rejoice in their identities. " Performances take place at the Edison Theatre on the Washington University campus. For more information: theblackrep.org.

My take: A St. Louis native who is best known for her "choreopoem" For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf, a work that combines theatre, dance, music and poetry to produce a unique hybrid art form. Her Spell #7 is less well known but, as Calvin Wilson writes at the Post-Dispatch, it nevertheless "conjures a mood of poetic enchantment." "Director Ron Himes and choreographer Heather Beal collaborate impressively," he notes, "coordinating words and movement with seeming effortlessness. And the performances are splendid, capturing the nuances of Shange’s avant-garde sensibility."

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Held Over:

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Ghost
Photo by Jennifer A. Lin

Metro Theatre Company presents Ghost  Sundas at 2 pm, March 1. "Metro Theater Company presents the rolling world premiere of a new play adapted by Idris Goodwin from Jason Reynolds's award-winning best-seller for young readers. Running is all that Castle Cranshaw, a.k.a. "Ghost," has ever known, but he runs for all the wrong reasons until he meets Coach, who sees something in him: raw talent. The story follows Castle as he tries to stay on track, literally and figuratively, harnessing his aptitude for speed on an elite local track team while battling the difficult realities of his past and present. Ghost also highlights the importance of allyship. As his teammates become friends and Coach stands in as a father figure, Castle finds a place where he belongs " The performances take place at The Grandel Theatre, 3610 Grandel Square in Grand Center. For more information: metroplays.org.

My take: Metro has a long history of presenting children's theatre that can appeal to adults as well while still delivering powerful messages. Plus, the script is by Idris Goodwin, whose hip-hop play How We Got On so impressed me at the Humana Festival in 2012. At Ladue News, Mark Bretz calls this "enchanting, persuasive tale of a modern kid with contemporary problems."