Symphony Preview: The swans of Ainola

Twentieth century American composer William Grant Still (1985–1978) has been getting a fair amount of long-overdue attention in recent years. His one-act opera “Highway 1, USA” got an exceptional production at Opera Theatre of St. Louis in 2021. Just last month on his “Sticky Notes” podcast, conductor Joshua Weilerstein did a detailed analysis of Still’s 1931 Symphony No. 1 (“Afro-American”)— the most popular of all American symphonies until 1950. Search for him on Spotify and you will find an impressive list of recordings of his music. And yet for decades after his death his work was routinely ignored.

William Grant Still
By Carl Van Vechten/ Adam Cuerden
Public Domain

[Preview the music with the SLSO's Spotify playlist.]

I mention all of this because the local premiere of Still’s 1965 “Threnody: In Memory of Jean Sibelius” opens the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) concerts this weekend (Friday and Sunday, November 22 and 24). Guest conductor Jonathon Heyward (last seen here in 2022) will be on the podium and Yeol Eum Son will make her SLSO debut in a program that includes the Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16, by Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953) and (not surprisingly) the Symphony No. 5 by Jean Sibelius (1865–1957).

What motivated Still to honor Sibelius? To begin with, there was the fact that, as Matthew Mendez wrote in program notes for the Boston Symphony, “during the 1920s, when Still was discovering his musical voice, Sibelius’s scores were in considerable vogue in the English-speaking world” and his symphonies “were viewed by many as outstanding achievements with which any young composer would need to come to grips.”  There’s also the fact that Sibelius, like Still, insisted on composing in his own voice, regardless of what particular school was in vogue at any given moment.

The ”Threnody” is short but intense, opening with a dramatic declaration from the brass section followed by a sustained elegy that alternates between lament and funeral march. It’s intensely moving and yet comforting at the same time.

Prokofiev in New York, 1918
Photo by Bain News Service

The Prokofiev concerto that follows sounds like something of a lament at first, possibly because the composer’s friend pianist Maximilian Schmidt had committed suicide just a few months before the concerto's first performance in 1913. Then fate dealt the composer a second blow in the form of a fire that incinerated the original manuscript along with the composer’s apartment.

The rebirth of the concerto took place in 1923, when Prokofiev completely rewrote the piece from memory. By then, however, his approach to composition and orchestration had changed significantly and he had written another concerto (his Third, in C major). "I have so completely rewritten the Second Concerto," he wrote to a friend "that it might be considered the Fourth."

Number it how you will, the G minor concerto is, as I wrote in a 2019 preview, a testament to Prokofiev's skill at the keyboard. It's a wildly difficult piece, with four movements in which the tempo never falls below Allegro and a stunningly challenging first movement cadenza that, at around five minutes, takes up almost as much time as the rest of the movement. In fact, as David Nice wrote in BBC Music Magazine, even Prokofiev “got into a terrible mess trying to perform it with [Ernest] Ansermet and the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the 1930s, when it had gone out of his fingers."

Finally, a few words about the Sibelius Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 82. Originally composed in 1914 and 1915 and first performed on the composer’s 50^th birthday in 1915, the Fifth went through several subsequent rewrites, reaching its final form in 1919. Having heard both the original four-movement 1915 version and final three-movement 1919 version, I have to say that the composer saved the best for last.

Ainola, photographed in 1915 By Unknown author
Public Domain

Slightly shorter and more structurally compact that it was the first time around, the final version of the symphony covers a vast swath of emotional territory.  From the first movement’s mellow horn quartet, swirling woodwind figures, and mysterious bassoon solo over pianississimo strings, to the grand sweep of the Allegro molto final movement, this is music that overflows with both the light and darkness of Finland’s wild beauty. Possibly the most glorious example of that comes at the very end of that movement with the famous “swan theme”—so called because Sibelius wrote it after witnessing a flight of sixteen swans, which he described as “one my greatest experiences”:

Lord God, what beauty! They circled over me for a long time. Disappeared into the solar haze like a gleaming silver ribbon… Strange to learn that nothing in the whole world affects me—nothing in art, literature, or music—in the same way as do these swans and canes and wild geese.

In fact, before he turned thirty Sibelius had already left urbanity to live closer to the soil. From 1892 until his death in 1957, Sibelius lived and worked in Ainola, a home he had built entirely of wood (he didn't want to hear the sound of rain in metal gutters) on Lake Tuusula in the Finnish forest, where he often went for long walks. That love of nature informs every bar of the both the first and final versions of the Symphony No. 5. This weekend, you’ll hear the latter. Done well, it will be inspiring.

The Essentials: Jonathan Heyward conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and piano soloist Yeol Eum Son in William Grant Still’s “Threnody: In Memory of Jean Sibelius,” Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2, and Sibelius’s Symphony No. 5. Performances are Friday at 10:30 am and Sunday at 3 pm, November 22 and 24, at the Touhill Performing Arts center on the UMSL campus. A recording of the Friday morning concert will air on Saturday, November 23, at 7:30 pm on St. Louis Public Radio and Classic 107.3.

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 November 18, 2024

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

The Blue Strawberry presents singer Laura Lee Kyro and pianist Paul Cereghino in Judy and Others on Thursday, November 21, at 7:30 pm. “Many female singers are known by single names, but one of the best was known, simply, as, “Judy.” St. Louis actor and singer Laura Lee Kyro will take on personal stylings of songs once sung by Judy, as well as songs made famous by others, in a tribute to musical numbers from stage and screen.”  The performance takes place at The Blue Strawberry, 356 N. Boyle. For more information: bluestrawberrystl.com.

Peter Pan
Photo: Matthew Murphy

The Fabulous Fox presents the musical Peter Pan through November 24. “This high-flying musical has been thrilling audiences of all ages for close to 70 years and is now being brought back to life in a new adaptation by celebrated playwright Larissa FastHorse, directed by Emmy Award winner Lonny Price and choreography by Lorin Latarro. The adventure begins when PETER PAN and his mischievous sidekick, Tinker Bell, visit the bedroom of the Darling children late one night. With a sprinkle of fairy dust and a few happy thoughts, the children are taken on a magical journey they will never forget. “ The Fabulous Fox is on North Grand in Grand Center. For more information: fabulousfox.com.

Elephants' Graveyard
Photo: John Lamb

First Run Theatre presents Elephants' Graveyard by St. Louis playwright Marjorie Williamson Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm through November 24. "Over the course of one year, Smitty and Margaret, two elderly life-long friends with vastly different life-styles meet for alcohol-fueled tea parties where they reminisce, argue, trade insults, and hash over the questions we all torment ourselves with: how should we live; how will we die: and how the heck did we end up here?" Performances take place at the Kranzberg Black Box Theatre in Grand Center. For more information: firstruntheatre.org.

The Midnight Company presents Just One Look by Joe Hanrahan, starring Kelly Howe as Linda Ronstadt, on Wednesday, November 23,  at 7:30 pm. “Linda Ronstadt ruled the pop charts and filled stadiums in the 70’s and 80’s. The reigning rock goddess of her era, she later took on light opera - Gilbert and Sullivan on Broadway - and The Great American Songbook with Nelson Riddle. Her involvement in social issues accelerated during her relationship with California Governor Jerry Brown, then running for President. But for Linda, it was always a search for the next great song. Kelly Howe will portray Linda Ronstadt and sing her sensational songs.” Performances take place at The Blue Strawberry, 356 N. Boyle. For more information: bluestrawberrystl.com.

First Date
Photo: Sarah Rogers

New Jewish Theatre presents the musical First Date Thursdays at 7:30 pm, Saturdays at 4 and 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm, November 21 through December 8. “When blind date newbie Aaron is set up with serial-dater Casey, a casual drink at a busy St. Louis restaurant turns into a hilarious high-stakes dinner. As the date unfolds in real time, the couple quickly finds that they are not alone on this unpredictable evening. In a delightful and unexpected twist, Casey and Aaron’s inner critics take on a life of their own when other restaurant patrons transform into supportive best friends, manipulative exes and protective parents, who sing and dance them through ice-breakers, appetizers and potential conversational land mines. Can this couple turn what could be a dating disaster into something special before the check arrives?”  Performances take place at the SFC Performing Arts Center, 2 Millstone Campus Drive. For more information: jccstl.com/arts-ideas/new-jewish-theatre/current-productions.

Anastasia: the Musical
Photo: FF

Tesseract Theatre presents the musical Anastasia: the Musical Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 and Sundays at 4 through November 24. “Inspired by the beloved film, Anastasia transports us from the twilight of the Russian Empire to the euphoria of Paris in the 1920s, as a brave young woman sets out to discover the mystery of her past. Pursued by a ruthless Soviet officer determined to silence her, Anya enlists the aid of a dashing conman and a lovable ex-aristocrat. Together, they embark on an epic adventure to help her find home, love, and family.” Performances take place at the Marcelle Theatre in Grand Center. For more information: www.tesseracttheatre.com.

The Washington University Performing Arts Department presents The Thanksgiving Play Thursday and Friday at 7:30 pm, Saturday at 2 and 7:30 pm, and Sunday at 2 pm, November 21 through 24.  “A small group of abundantly earnest teaching artists devise a Thanksgiving pageant that attempts to celebrate both Turkey Day and Native American Heritage Month. While striving to be culturally sensitive, the angst-ridden thespians find themselves wrestling with history, myth, and their own biases as they descend into a hilarious cornucopia of political correctness.” Performances take place in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre on the  Washington University Campus. For more information: https://pad.wustl.edu/events.

The Butcher of Baraboo

West End Players Guild presents The Butcher of Baraboo by Marisa Wegrzyn, through November 24. “Butcher Valerie’s husband is missing, her daughter is skirting the law, and her sister-in-law is testing her own boundaries. In this mixture of goofiness and menace who will figure out what really happened?” Performances take place at the Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 Union in the Central West End. For more information: westendplayers.org.

Wolf Kings

YoungLiars present Wolf Kings, a new play written and directed by Chuck Harper, Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 pm, through November 23. “As an antidote to their dystopian daily lives, five women meet weekly to divert, distract, and delight each other at a clandestine theatrical soiree. But tonight, the mood grows menacing as the line between oppressor and oppressed gets murky. Part Victorian Drag Show, part Parisian Literary Salon, and part Fairy Tale Resistance Rally, Wolf Kings blends witty conversation, savage karaoke, ecstatic dance, and vicious fortune-telling into an original YoungLiars spectacle. Join us as we stray from the well-worn path into the deep dark forest, where hooded maidens, diabolical beasts, and morally-compromised grannies inevitably converge at that tiny cottage in the woods.” Performances take place at The Chapel, 6238 Alexander Drive in Clayton, MO. For more information: www.youngliarstheatre.org.

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

To get your event listed here, send an email to chuck at kdhx.org Your event information should be in text format (i.e. not part of a graphic), but feel free to include publicity stills.

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.

Symphony Preview: Sous le ciel de Paris

This weekend (November 15 and 16) Stéphane Denève conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in the second of two programs devoted almost entirely to the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791). It’s all Mozart all the time—except for the 12 minutes or so that will be Anna Clyne (b. 1980).

[Preview the music with the SLSO's Spotify playlist.]

An English-born composer now residing in the USA, Clyne’s name is one that should be familiar to SLSO regulars. The orchestra has played a number of her works over the last decade or so, usually to appreciative (and well-deserved) applause. In fact, the Clyne work we’ll hear this weekend was the first of her compositions that the SLSO played.

That work is “Within Her Arms” for string orchestra. Written as an elegy for the death of the Clyne’s mother in 2008, the piece is (as I wrote back then) a kind of memory play. Its somewhat mysterious music, which at times seems to harken back to Vaughn Williams or even Thomas Tallis, rises from a whisper to a roar before finally fading away, slowly, into nothingness. “The rest,” as Hamlet says, “is silence.”

Anna Clyne
Photo by Christina Kernohan courtesy of the SLSO

“Within Her Arms” is the only work on the program that’s missing from the SLSO’s Spotify playlist. Which is a bit surprising since there’s quite a splendid performance of it there by the adventurous chamber orchestra The Knights. When you listen to the SLSO’s playlist, just pause it and play “Within Her Arms” right before Mozart’s Symphony No. 31 (“Paris”) for the full effect.

The concerts open with Mozart’s Symphony No. 1 in E-flat major, K. 16, penned when Mozart was eight years old and known primarily as a piano prodigy. It’s a modest and charming three-movement piece that sounds more like work of Johann Christian Bach (1735–1782) than Mozart. Still the somewhat enigmatic second movement does include, according to the anonymous program annotator for the Kamuela Philharmonic Society Orchestra, “a four-note motif that also appears in several later Mozart compositions, including his Symphony No. 33, and the finale of his Jupiter Symphony.” And it does end with a jolly little Presto.

Up next is the more substantial Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466. It was, I believe, last presented by the SLSO in 2017, at which time I described it as engrossing, menacing, and filled with the kind of high drama that audiences would come to love so much in the ensuing decades of the 19th century. Beethoven, for one, loved this concerto, performing it often and composing two cadenzas for it, Mozart's own having been lost to history. It is, in fact, sufficiently "modern" for its time that Viennese audiences might have been put off by it, had it not been the work of a man who was at the peak of popularity.

Mozart, age 6
Painter unknown

The soloist this weekend will be the talented young (born in 1990) pianist Behzod Abduraimov. I last saw him in 2018 when he played the Grieg Concerto with Gemma New on the podium. At the time, I praised the ideal mix of technical flash and sensitivity in his performance. Which bodes well for this weekend.

Next, it’s the overture to Mozart’s early opera “Mitridate, re di Ponto” (“Mithridates, King of Pontus”), which is filled with engaging tunes that belie the work’s tragic finale. First performed at the Teatro Regio Ducale in Milan, it was something of a hit despite the fact that the composer was only 14. Mozart’s more mature operas have overshadowed it since then and revivals are rare.

The concerts will close with the Symphony No. 31 in D Major, K.297 (300a) ("Paris") composed in the City of Light in June, 1778. Mozart and his ailing mother Anna Maria had arrived there after a concert tour in search of additional professional opportunities, but the pickings were slim, and the pair soon found themselves in debt. The arrival of a commission for a new symphony from Jean LeGros, the director of the high-profile Concert Spirituel, was therefore a welcome development.

The audience at the symphony's June 18th public premiere was enthusiastic, if Mozart's account is accurate. The work was interrupted by applause several times (both between and within movements) and the composer was ebullient. "I was so happy," he wrote to his father, "that as soon as the symphony was over, I went off to the Palais Royal, where I had a large ice, said the Rosary as I had vowed to do—and went home.”

His joy was short-lived. Although Anna Maria was at first invigorated by the weather and the attentions of old friends like the tenor Anton Raaff and horn player Franz Joseph Heina and his wife, even small outings tired her out. A day at the Jardin du Luxembourg with the Heinas on the 10^th left her exhausted and her health began to worsen.

Behzod Abduraimov
Photo: Evgeny Eutykhov courtesy of the SLSO

As Mozart scholar and conductor Jane Glover relates in “Mozart’s Women” (Harper-Collins, 2006), by June 26th the situation was grave enough that Mozart “was told that she should make her final confession, which she did on the 30^th. At 10:21 on the evening of 3 July, with a nurse and Heina and her beloved Wolfgang beside her, Anna Maria died.” She was only 58.

You won’t hear any of the mental anguish Mozart must have felt as he watched his mother’s health deteriorate, though, in this vigorous and graceful three-movement work. Instead, you hear the Parisian sunshine and revel in the composer’s use of what the BBC’s Tom Service calls “the biggest orchestra Mozart had used in a symphonic context.” Service’s article includes an excellent analysis of the piece, in fact, and I highly recommend it as a bit of pre-concert reading.

The Essentials: The SLSO’s Mozart celebration concludes this weekend (Friday and Saturday, November 15 and 16, at 7:30 pm) with Mozart’s Symphony No. 1 in E-flat major, Symphony No. 31 (“Paris”), and Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466. Behzod Abduraimov will be the soloist. Performances take place at the Touhill Performing Arts Center at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. Saturday’s concert will be broadcast live on St. Louis Public Radio and Classic 107.3.

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

Symphony Review: An optimistic universe in Mozart's "Requiem"

“The universe is optimistic.” Thus spake Music Director Stéphane Denève at the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra this past Saturday (November 9). The inspiration for that declaration, he said, was the fact that the final chord in the score of Mozart’s “Requiem” (the major work on the program) is ambiguous. It could be either major or minor, but the overtones suggest the former.

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

I see the Universe as being indifferent myself, but I can hear what he means in the music, especially in a performance as good as the one I witnessed Saturday night.

Erin Freeman
Photo courtesy of the SLSO

Under the direction of its new director Erin Freemen the SLSO Chorus sang with a mix of power and clarity that was a joy to hear. The latter was especially apparent in, for example, the contrapuntal sections of the “Kyrie” and “Sanctus,” in which the individual lines were lucidly delineated. Newly installed baffles behind the singers might have helped project their sound a bit more effectively than in the past, but that was just icing on the proverbial cake. This was and is a splendid group of singers of whom Freeman is clearly proud.

Mozart’s “Requiem,” like Verdi’s (which the SLSO performed back in April), is unabashedly theatrical but not in the same way. Verdi was all about heaven-storming drama while Mozart was more interested in consolation here on earth. That’s not to say that he neglected the drama entirely—the “Dies Irae” and “Rex Tremendae” can be pretty intimidating. But Mozart—and his pupil Franz Xaver Süssmayr (1766–1803), who completed the “Requiem” after Mozart’s death—tempered the cataclysmic with the comforting.

That means that a good “Requiem” must bring us the tenderness along with the terror, and Denève’s performance certainly did that. His uncanny knack for highlighting interesting details and finding nuances that aren’t always apparent in the work stood him in good stead here. When Mozart and Süssmayr called for drama, it was there, but so was the compassion. This was a finely tuned reading that got equally fine playing from the orchestra.

Dashon Burton
Photo by Hunter Hart

Kudos are also due to the soloists, both individually and as members of the quartet.  Bass-baritone Dashon Burton and tenor Josh Lovell made a strong impression in the “Tuba mirum” duet with trombonist Jonathan Reycraft, although Burton seemed to falter a bit on the cadenza. Soprano Joélle Harvey and mezzo Kelly O’Connor displayed the deepest connection with both the audience and the text. All four were extremely moving in the heartfelt “Benedictus.”

The evening opened with Mozart’s 1788 Adagio and Fugue in C minor, K. 546, for strings. This is a stark and emotionally charged work consisting of a newly composed Adagio followed by an arrangement of the Fugue in C minor, K. 426, for two pianos from 1783. It was a genuine showpiece for the rich, full-bodied sound of the SLSO strings. Articulation was clean and the lines of the fugue were clearly laid out.

Somber as the mood was at that point, it became a bit darker with the next work, the "Vier Präludien und ernste Gesänge" ("Four Preludes and Serious Songs") by Detlev Glanert (b. 1960). Published in 2005, the work is an arrangement/expansion for baritone and orchestra of the last thing Brahms wrote, the Op. 121 "Four Serious Songs."  The songs are pure Brahms, but the preludes that separate them are a mix of the two composers. It’s not difficult to hear the transitions, but even so they are handled tastefully and complement rather than detract from the original songs.

The texts, adapted from the Lutheran Bible but stripped of any explicitly religious content, are meditations on death as sometimes bitter, sometimes comforting, and always inevitable. It’s not until the final song, “Wenn ich mit Meschen und mit Engleszugen redete” (“If I could speak with the tongues of men and of angels”), that the tone becomes consoling. Based on I Corinthians 13, it delivers a message that some alleged Christians these days are ignoring: “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.”

This was all beautifully sung by Burton. He captured the mood of each song, from authoritative to soothing, with emotional honesty and vocal power. The orchestra did justice to Glanert’s demanding preludes, and Denève brought it all together in a poignant interpretation that included a long moment of silence at the end—a perfect choice.

The SLSO’s Mozart celebration concludes this weekend (Friday and Saturday, November 15 and 16, at 7:30 pm) with Mozart’s Symphony No. 1 in E-flat major, Symphony No. 31 (“Paris”), and Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466. Behzod Abduraimov will be the soloist. Performances take place at the Touhill Performing Arts Center at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. Saturday’s concert will be broadcast live on St. Louis Public Radio and Classic 107.3.

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 November 11, 2024

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

Paul McKnight

The Blue Strawberry presents Paul Returns with Love with singer Paul McKnight and pianist/music director Carol Schmidt on Friday, November 15, at 7:30 pm. “The lovely and talented Carol Schmidt and I have created a nice collection of some of our favorite tunes with a love theme. We include our own arrangements of Ellington, Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Rodgers and Hammerstein, and a nice mix of Beatles, Fogelberg, Bacharach and Jimmy Webb. Our songs range from jazz standards to contemporary and, of course, Broadway. ” The performance takes place at The Blue Strawberry, 356 N. Boyle. For more information: bluestrawberrystl.com.

Christy Simmons

The Blue Strawberry presents singer Christy Simmons and pianist Joe Dreyer on Sunday, November 17, at 6:00 pm. “Christy Simmons brings her zest for The Great American Songbook, singing with frequent musical collaborator, Joe Dreyer, and her best friends…the audience, to The Lounge at Blue Strawberry. A frequent performer on the St. Louis Cabaret Scene, Christy has also worked in musical theatre, including at That Uppity Theatre Company, New Jewish Theatre, The Missouri History Museum, Magic Smoking Monkey Theatre, The Goldenrod Showboat, among others.” The performance takes place in the lounge at The Blue Strawberry, 356 N. Boyle. For more information: bluestrawberrystl.com.

Peter Pan
Photo: Matthew Murphy

The Fabulous Fox presents the musical Peter Pan November 13 - 24. “This high-flying musical has been thrilling audiences of all ages for close to 70 years and is now being brought back to life in a new adaptation by celebrated playwright Larissa FastHorse, directed by Emmy Award winner Lonny Price and choreography by Lorin Latarro. The adventure begins when PETER PAN and his mischievous sidekick, Tinker Bell, visit the bedroom of the Darling children late one night. With a sprinkle of fairy dust and a few happy thoughts, the children are taken on a magical journey they will never forget. “ The Fabulous Fox is on North Grand in Grand Center. For more information: fabulousfox.com.

First Run Theatre presents Elephant’s Graveyard by St. Louis playwright Marjorie Williamson Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm, November 15 through 24. "Over the course of one year, Smitty and Margaret, two elderly life-long friends with vastly different life-styles meet for alcohol-fueled tea parties where they reminisce, argue, trade insults, and hash over the questions we all torment ourselves with: how should we live; how will we die: and how the heck did we end up here?" Performances take place at the Kranzberg Black Box Theatre in Grand Center. For more information: firstruntheatre.org.

First Run Theatre Playwright’s Workshop presents a reading of the new play Pinwheels for Peace by Dennis Fisher at 6:30 pm on Monday, November 11. “A 40 something couple goes to a party for old college friends. On the ride home they have to take a detour. What a detour it is . . .”  The reading takes place at Square One Brewery and Distillery in Lafayette Square.  For more information: firstruntheatre.org.

The Grandel Theatre presents Girls Night: the Musical on Saturday, November 16th, at 7 pm. “This touching and hilarious 'tell-it-like-it-is' musical takes audiences on a journey into the lives of a group of female friends. Audience members can’t help but laugh, cry and sing and dance in the aisles! Follow five friends as they visit their past, celebrate their present, and look to the future on a wild and hilarious night out ... and you'll recognize yourself in each of them!” The Grandel Theatre is across from Powell Hall in Grand Center. For more information: www.metrotix.com/venues/detail/grandel

Tim Schall

The Kirkwood Performing Arts Center presents singer Tim Schall in Music That Transcends Time on Tuesday, November 12, at 10:30 am. “Good music transcends time! The ever-changing Great American Songbook began with standards of the 30s and 40s, and has evolved into the great singer/songwriters of the 60s and 70s. Join Tim Schall as he spans an array of great songs from Cole Porter to Carole King and The Beatles to Billy Joel - with a lot in between. Coffee and donuts sponsored by Dunkin' Donuts.” The Kirkwood Performing Arts Center is on East Monroe in Kirkwood, MO. For more information: www.metrotix.com/events/detail/kpac-tim-schall

Prison Performing Arts Alumni Theatre Company presents As Told by Us, an evening of two one-act plays by PPA Alumni Theatre Company members, Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 pm and Sunday at 2 pm, November 14 through 17.  The plays are Don’t Be a Hero, Thank You by Katie Leemon and Go Before I Do by Hazel McIntire. Performances take place at the Greenfinch Theater and Dive, 2525 S. Jefferson in Benton Park. For more information: www.greenfinchstl.com.

The Roommate
Photo: Jon Gitchoff

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents the dark comedy The Roommate through November 17. “In the quietest corner of the Midwest, middle-aged Sharon, recently divorced and seeking a sensible roommate, opens her home to Robyn, a mysterious woman with a murky past. Entwining this unlikely duo's lives in shared dish-duty and shady business, Jen Silverman takes us on an uproarious journey of self-discovery, secrets and revelations. Challenge societal norms, embrace the unexpected, and revel in the reinvention that only true friendship can spark in this dark comedy that proves coming of age can happen anytime, anywhere- even your own kitchen table!” Performances take place in the Emerson Studio Theatre of the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University campus. For more information: www.repstl.org.

Tesseract Theatre presents the musical Anastasia Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 and Sundays at 4, November 14 through 24. “Inspired by the beloved film, Anastasia transports us from the twilight of the Russian Empire to the euphoria of Paris in the 1920s, as a brave young woman sets out to discover the mystery of her past. Pursued by a ruthless Soviet officer determined to silence her, Anya enlists the aid of a dashing conman and a lovable ex-aristocrat. Together, they embark on an epic adventure to help her find home, love, and family.” Performances take place at the Marcelle Theatre in Grand Center. For more information: www.tesseracttheatre.com.

West End Players Guild presents The Butcher of Baraboo by Marisa Wegrzyn, October November 15 - 24. “Butcher Valerie’s husband is missing, her daughter is skirting the law, and her sister-in-law is testing her own boundaries. In this mixture of goofiness and menace who will figure out what really happened?” Performances take place at the Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 Union in the Central West End. For more information: westendplayers.org.

Wolf Kings

YoungLiars present Wolf Kings, a new play written and directed by Chuck Harper, Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 pm, through November 23. “As an antidote to their dystopian daily lives, five women meet weekly to divert, distract, and delight each other at a clandestine theatrical soiree. But tonight, the mood grows menacing as the line between oppressor and oppressed gets murky. Part Victorian Drag Show, part Parisian Literary Salon, and part Fairy Tale Resistance Rally, Wolf Kings blends witty conversation, savage karaoke, ecstatic dance, and vicious fortune-telling into an original YoungLiars spectacle. Join us as we stray from the well-worn path into the deep dark forest, where hooded maidens, diabolical beasts, and morally-compromised grannies inevitably converge at that tiny cottage in the woods.” Performances take place at The Chapel, 6238 Alexander Drive in Clayton, MO. For more information: www.youngliarstheatre.org.

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

To get your event listed here, send an email to chuck at kdhx.org Your event information should be in text format (i.e. not part of a graphic), but feel free to include publicity stills.

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.

Opera Review: "That infernal nonsense 'Pinafore'" gets a colorful staging at Winter Opera

I don’t know about you, but I could sure use some good laughs right about now. Fortunately, Winter Opera is serving up a heaping helping of them this weekend (Friday and Sunday, November 8 and 10) with a jolly good production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “H.M.S. Pinafore or The Lass That Loved a Sailor.” It’s impeccably sung, credibly acted, and smartly turned out in an ensemble of colorful costumes (Jen Blum-Tatara) and cheerfully cartoonish set (the ubiquitous Scott Loebl).

Gary Moss and ensemble
Photo: ProPhotoSTL

Yes, Stage Director John Stephens has the Sight Gag Meter turned up to 11, which I occasionally found annoying when I saw the final dress rehearsal Wednesday night. But perhaps that was partly due to the psychic hangover from Tuesday night. It is, in any case, no reason for you not to go and enjoy this tasty little pre-Thanksgiving treat—especially if, like me, you find yourself perpetually starving for more Savoyard silliness here in Mound City.

Winter Opera has been at the forefront of bringing back operetta classics for several years now, and while a couple of the works in question have definitely passed their “sell by” dates, most of them have been delights. And the combination of Sullivan’s irresistible music and Gilbert’s pointed (and sometime still startlingly relevant) satire never fails to amuse.

As is often the case, Winter Opera has assembled a stellar cast of (mostly) WOSTL regulars.

As Sir Joseph Porter, the First Lord of the Admiralty who firmly believes that his privileged birth makes him a stable genius who women find irresistible (the “startlingly relevant” part), baritone Gary Moss demonstrates once again the vocal and comedic strengths that have made him a familiar face at WOSTL. Baritone Jacob Lassetter, whose stentorian tones distinguished Union Avenue Opera’s “Pinafore” in 2018, is a proper mix of authority and befuddlement as Captain Corcoran.

Brian Skoog and Brittany Hebel
Photo: ProPhotoSTL

Brian Skoog makes an impressive WOSTL debut as Ralph Rackstraw, the sturdy sailor in love with Corcoran's daughter Josephine. His clear tenor and relentlessly cheerful approach to the role could not be better. Soprano Brittany Hebel, who was utterly winning in WOSTL’s “Naughty Marietta” back in March, scores another hit as Josephine. The lead soprano in fin de siècle operetta, as I wrote back then, was typically a role that called for solid top notes and vocal flexibility. Hebel has all that along with a fine comic sense. Much as I hate to suggest yet another production of G&S’s “Pirates of Penzance,” I sure would like to see what she’d do with the role of Mabel.

In another fine WOSTL debut, mezzo Emily Harmon has given the role of Little Buttercup (whose Deep Secret is one of the most shamelessly ludicrous examples of Gilbert’s “topsy-turvy” plot devices) a lively sense of playfulness, particularly in her “Things are seldom what they seem” duet with Lassetter in Act II.

Jacob Lassetter (C), Joel Rogier (R) and chorus
Photo: ProPhotoSTL

Bass-baritone Tyler Putnam punches out the ineptly villainous Dick Deadeye’s low notes with ease. Joel Rogier, a familiar face and voice on local stages, gets a welcome chance to show off his powerful lower register as the stalwart Bill Bobstay. And the multi-talented Janelle Pierce (composer, conductor, educator, and more) proves that she’s also a solid singing actress as Cousin Hebe.

Scott Schoonover—best known as the Artistic Director and Conductor of Union Avenue Opera—leads the 20-piece orchestra in a crisp if (at least to my ears) strangely re-orchestrated version of the score. As is often the case, he’s also the chorus master, and the quality of his work shows in the musical power of the small but mighty chorus. Sullivan loved to write interlocking counter melodies for the chorus (my favorite is still “When the foeman bears his steel” in “Pirates”) and these singers delivered them with wonderful clarity.

Emily Harmon and chorus
Photo: ProPhotoSTL

In fact, “wonderful clarity” describes all of the singing in this “Pinafore.” The English supertitles are there if you need them, but based on what I heard Wednesday night it’s not likely that you will. How nice to hear all of Gilbert’s wonderfully elaborate jokes so well.

Performances of “H.M.S. Pinafore” are Friday, November 8, at 7:30 pm and Sunday, November 10, at 2 pm at the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center. It’s a shame that Winter Opera’s runs are so brief, but that’s all the more reason to catch them when you can. Check out their website for more information.

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

Symphony Preview: The final problem

This weekend (November 9 and 10) Stéphane Denève conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in the first of two programs devoted almost entirely to the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791). Think of it as a mini-version of the fabled Mostly Mozart Festival at New York City’s Lincoln Center, which featured the work of Mozart along with other classical-era composers as well as contemporary composers inspired by the period.

[Preview the music with the SLSO's Spotify playlist.]

The two contemporary composers featured in our mini-festival weren’t directly inspired by 18^th-century music, but they have been cannily chosen to fit the mood and theme of each concert. Indeed, this week’s composer, Detlev Glanert (b. 1960), cites Mahler and Ravel as his primary influences. But in an evening that will feature Mozart’s last work, the Requiem in D minor, K. 626, Glanert’s "Vier Präludien und ernste Gesänge" ("Four Preludes and Serious Songs") is a perfect fit.

Published in 2005 and last heard here a decade ago, the work is an arrangement for baritone and orchestra (the original is for baritone and piano) of the last thing Brahms wrote, the Op. 121 "Four Serious Songs." The songs are pure Brahms, but the preludes that separate them are a mix of the two composers. Quoted in the program notes from its 2014 local premiere, Glanert says of the original music: "...I tried to use it and transform it like a stylistic muscle, so that the music starts in his world, is sliding slowly into our world, and then falling back again." Check out the SLSO’s Spotify playlist to find out what that sounds like.

Detlev Glanert
Photo: Bettina Stoess
Courtesy of the SLSO

Before Glanert, though, there will be Mozart: the Adagio and Fugue in C minor, K. 546, for strings. Described on the SLSO web site as “a dark and almost mystical vision,” the piece is a bit of an enigma in that it’s not clear why Mozart wrote it. “Perhaps,” writes Martin Pearlman in a program note for Boston Baroque, “it was a way of taking a brief time-out from symphony writing. But one might also wonder whether it may have been a way of immersing himself briefly in his old counterpoint studies before turning to his last symphonies and the intricate counterpoint that ends the ‘Jupiter.’”

Like Glanert’s “Four Preludes and Serious Songs,” the work is a mix of the old and new. The Fugue is an arrangement of Mozart’s Fugue in C minor, K. 426, for two pianos from 1783. Mozart composed a new Adagio to act as a prelude and, on June 26, 1788, entered the new work in his catalogue as “a short Adagio for two violins, viola, and bass for a fugue I wrote a long time ago for two pianos."

While the fugue was somewhat out of fashion by Mozart’s time, the work of German Baroque masters like Bach and Handel was still highly respected, especially by diplomat and enthusiastic musical amateur Baron Gottfried von Swieten. A patron of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven, it was von Swieten who encouraged Mozart to study the music of Bach and Handel. By 1782, Mozart was a regular guest at the von Swieten household. As he wrote to his father Leopold that April, “I go every Sunday at twelve o'clock to the Baron van Swieten, where nothing is played but Handel and Bach.”

The results of that exposure to Baroque musical forms can be found in many of Mozart’s works other than the C minor Adagio and Fugue. The Symphony No. 41 (“Jupiter”), for example, concludes with a multi-voice fugato. More to the point, though, is Mozart’s use of counterpoint in the “Requiem”—most prominently in the “Kyrie” fugue but also in the opening “Requiem aeternam” and the “Recordare” sections.

Last heard here in 2022 under the baton of Houston Grand Opera’s Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers, the “Requiem” must surely be one of the most controversial of all Mozart’s major works. Setting aside, for the moment, the raft of apocryphal stories surrounding its composition—of which there were many, even before Peter Shaffer’s play and film “Amadeus” added to the pile—it is, to begin with, only partly a Mozart composition.

The “Requiem” was written in the last year of Mozart’s life, 1791—the same year he composed not only “La Clemenza di Tito” but also “Die Zauberflöte” (“The Magic Flute”) and his K. 622 Clarinet Concerto. Maybe that’s why (as I wrote back in 2022) Mozart died before he could complete it—his creative spirit was just too strong for a body weakened by poverty and illness.

Indeed, the only part Mozart completed in its entirety was the opening “Introitus—Requiem.” The following “Kyrie” was mostly finished, but the rest was in various stages of completion when the composer died. What happened after that has been in dispute ever since.

We know that Mozart’s pupil and copyist Franz Xaver Süssmayr (1766–1803) was there right to the end to write down the music Mozart’s mind could create but that his dying body, racked with fever and with hands too swollen to hold a pen, could not commit to paper. Süssmayr’s completion, which included some of his own music along with Mozart’s, has long been the version most often encountered in concert halls and on recordings.

Choral director Duain Wolfe, Yannick
Nézet-Séguin, Philadelphia Orhcestra
and Colorado Symphony Orchestra Chorus
in the Mozart Requiem in 2023 
Photo courtesy Bravo! Vail

But at least two other completions were done in the early 19th century and many musicologists have produced their own over the last four or five decades. Last year at the “Bravo! Vail” festival, for example, Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra in a 1971 edition by German violinist and musicologist Franz Beyer (1922–2018).

Perhaps the most extreme revision was published in 1988 by British mathematician and musicologist Richard Maunder (1937–2018), who jettisoned everything Süssmayr had done and substituted his own work. If you’re wondering what that sounds like, Christopher Hogwood’s 1983 recording of it with the Academy of Ancient Music is available on Spotify.

I have no idea which version Maestro Denève will be using this weekend but given that the SLSO’s playlist includes Herbert von Karajan’s very traditional recording with the Berlin Philharmonic, I’d lay odds on some version of Süssmayr. The only way to know for sure is to attend one of the concerts.

The Essentials: Stéphane Denève conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Saturday at 7:30 pm and Sunday at 3 pm, November 9 and 10, in Mozart’s Adagio and Fugue in C minor, K. 546; Detlev Glanert’s “Four Preludes and Serious Songs”; and Mozart’s Requiem in D minor, K. 626. Bass-baritone Dashon Burton is the soloist for the Glanert. For the Requiem he’s joined by soprano Joélle Harvey, mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor, and tenor Josh Lovell. Performances take place at the Stifel Center downtown. 

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