A performing arts blog and occasional podcast of CD reviews, news and interviews from the world of stage, screen, cabaret, classical music, and related places.
[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 ArtsZipper site.
I'm now adding my own purely personal comments to events about which I think I have anything worthwhile to say. Because that's what bloggers do. If I have left your show out, please leave a comment with all the details.
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The Pub Theater Company presents Bye Bye Liver: The St. Louis Drinking Play, a comedic romp through the joys and pitfalls of The Gateway to the West's favorite pastime. Performances take place on “select Saturdays” at Maggie O'Brien's, 2000 Market Street, and on the first and third Friday of each month at The Fox Hole at The Atomic Cowboy, 4140 Manchester in The Grove. For more information, you may call 314-827-4185 or visit byebyeliver.com/stlouis.
Falling
Mustard Seed Theatre presents Falling, a world premiere written by Deanna Jent directed by Lori Adams. Performances take place Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 PM and Sundays at 2 PM, September 1 through 11, at the Fontbonne Fine Arts Theatre, 6800 Wydown Blvd. For more information, call (314) 719-8060 or visit the web site at www.mustardseedtheatre.com.
Blue Rose Stage Collective and RiverCity Theatre present the drama The Guys August 26 through September 11, 2011 at ArtSpace in Crestwood Court at the corner of Watson and Old Sappington Roads in Crestwood, MO. For more information, visit brownpapertickets.com and look for event 190245 or call 314-658-7200.
The Improv Trick hosts weekly Long Form Improv performances every Tuesday at 7:30 PM at Lemmons Restaurant, 5800 Gravois. Long form improv features 15 to 20 minute sketches based entirely on audience suggestions, with audience participation strongly encouraged. For more information, visit theimprovtrick.com.
The Midnight Theatre Company presents the St. Louis premiere of Craig Wright's Mistakes Were Made. “Spend 90 furious, fulminating, very funny minutes with producer Felix Afrtifex as he tries to talk movie stars, playwrights, agents, directors, designers, theatre owners, and a lot of bad unfriendly dudes in The Middle East with a lot of ordnance and no conscience into helping him get a production to Broadway - his first new, substantive, American play - Mistakes Were Made - a play about the French Revolution, with a cast of 50, a guillotine, a star drop and a horse.” Performances take place Thursdays and Fridays at 8 PM and Saturdays 7 and 9 PM through September 3 at The Kranzberg Center, 501 N. Grand. For more information call 314-487-5305 or visit www.midnightcompany.com.
Citilites Theatre presents actor/playwright Del Shores in his one-man show Sordid Confessions on Thursday, September 1, at 9 PM at the Grey Fox Pub and Cabaret, 3503 South Spring at Potomac in South City. Also appearing will be singer Jason Dottley. For more information, visit delshores.net.
Who: Union Avenue Opera
What: Dead Man Walking
When: August 19 through 27, 2011
Where: Union Avenue Christian Church
As I’ve noted in the past, Union Avenue Opera isn’t shy about tackling material that pushes the company’s artistic and physical limits. Sometimes, as with last month’s Turandot, the results have been mixed. With the local premiere of Dead Man Walking, the result is a searing and riveting presentation that is simply one of best local opera productions since Opera Theatre’s Glorianna back in 2005. Union Avenue couldn’t have chosen a better way to end their 2011 season.
Absolutely every aspect of Union Avenue’s work is spot on. The cast, headed by mezzo Elise Quagliata as Sister Helen Prejean, is first-rate both vocally and theatrically—as good a collection of singers and actors (some roles are non-singing) as you will find anywhere. Tim Ocel’s direction is clear and focused, assisted by Patrick Huber’s set, which makes smart use of large, mobile chain-link fence units to suggest the oppressive prison atmosphere and also enable fast and fluid scene changes. Artistic director and conductor Scott Schoonover holds Jake Heggie’s complex and evocative score together beautifully, despite the challenges presented by the large number of singers and the difficult acoustics of the Union Avenue space. Kaitlyn Breen’s lighting nicely delineates playing areas and Teresa Doggett’s costumes effectively capture the feel of rural 1980s Louisiana.
The libretto—by noted playwright Terrence McNally, based on Sister Helen Prejean’s memoir of her experiences ministering to convicted killers in the Louisiana prison system—is literate and imaginative. It might benefit for an edit here and there, especially in the long “driving to Angola” scene and during some moments in the second act that struck me a repetitive, but on the whole it’s a remarkably gripping and, for the most part, even-handed look at the difficult emotional and ethical questions raised by America’s justice, prison, and execution system. The character of convicted murderer Joseph de Rocher is, perhaps, less repellant and more willing to seek atonement than the real-life killers that Sister Helen counseled, but this IS fiction, after all. You can’t put real life on stage without considerable modification.
Baritone Jordan Shanahan doesn’t so much sing and act the role of de Rocher as inhabit it. Ditto for soprano Debra Hillabrand as de Rocher’s long-suffering mother. Their scenes neatly capture their characters’ tragic situation. David Dillard, Stephanie Tennill, Cecelia Stearman and Jon Garrett create a powerful quartet of murder victim parents. Robert Reed is a strong presence as the sympathetic Angola warden George Benton, nicely contrasting with Clark Sturdevant’s work as the callous prison chaplain, Father Grenville. Phillip Touchette has a charming cameo as a motorcycle cop who stops the speeding Sister Helen on her way to Angola, only to tear up the ticket as ask her to pray for his sick mother.
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Dead Man Walking, though, is the score. Mr. Heggie’s music is clearly “modern” without any of the deliberately off-putting clangor that characterizes a lot of the newer stuff in concert halls these days. Southern American folk, blues and popular music ideas are woven neatly and seamlessly into the aural fabric. It’s both accessible and smart, which is a neat trick.
Dead Man Walking is an emotionally draining and sometimes difficult work that is not for the faint of heart or mind, but it’s well worth seeing and hearing. No matter what your view of capital punishment might be, this opera will challenge it in much the same way that the real Sister Helen’s ministry challenges comfortable and complacent notions about Christ’s message. It’s good to know that serious, theatrically canny composers are still writing operas out there, and Union Avenue deserves hearty applause for bringing this work to St. Louis for the first time.
The opera runs through August 27 at the Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 Union at Enright in the Central West End. It’s sung in English with projected titles that are easily visible throughout the theatre. That’s a plus, given how unintelligible some of the lyrics are rendered by the acoustics, especially in the big choral scenes. For more information, you may visit unionavenueopera.org.
[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 ArtsZipper site.
I'm now adding my own purely personal comments to events about which I think I have anything worthwhile to say. Because that's what bloggers do. If I have left your show out, please leave a comment with all the details.
Share on Google+
RS Theatrics presents a fully staged reading of Born Bad, by Debbie Tucker Green Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 PM, August 25 through 27, in their art space at 426 Crestwood Court. For more information email RSTheatrics at yahoo.com or call 314-968-8070.
The Pub Theater Company presents Bye Bye Liver: The St. Louis Drinking Play, a comedic romp through the joys and pitfalls of The Gateway to the West's favorite pastime. Performances take place on “select Saturdays” at Maggie O'Brien's, 2000 Market Street, and on the first and third Friday of each month at The Fox Hole at The Atomic Cowboy, 4140 Manchester in The Grove. For more information, you may call 314-827-4185 or visit byebyeliver.com/stlouis.
Topper Productions presents Christy Simmons in Count Your Blessings: A Tribute to Rosemary Clooney on Saturday, August 27, at 7 PM. Joining Christy will be Mike Sissen on piano, Scott Alberici on clarinet and Clancy Newell on drums. The performance takes place at The Chapel Venue, 6238 Alexander Drive. For more information, visit brownpapertickets.com.
Dead Man Walking
Union Avenue Opera presents the Missouri premiere of Dead Man Walking Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM through August 27. Based on the novel of the same name by Sister Helen Prejean, Dead Man Walking has music by Jake Heggie and a libretto by Terrence McNally. Performances take place at the Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 Union at Enright in the Central West End. For more information, visit unionavenueopera.org or call 314-361-2881. Read the KDHX review!
Dramatic License Productions presents Tamara Tungate and Kevin Kurth in an evening of Duets from the Great American Songbook on Saturday, August 27, at 8 PM. For more information, visit kmkmusic.com.
Blue Rose Stage Collective and RiverCity Theatre present the drama The Guys August 26 through September 11, 2011 at ArtSpace in Crestwood Court at the corner of Watson and Old Sappington Roads in Crestwood, MO. For more information, visit brownpapertickets.com and look for event 190245 or call 314-658-7200.
The Improv Trick hosts weekly Long Form Improv performances every Tuesday at 7:30 PM at Lemmons Restaurant, 5800 Gravois. Long form improv features 15 to 20 minute sketches based entirely on audience suggestions, with audience participation strongly encouraged. For more information, visit theimprovtrick.com.
The Midnight Theatre Company presents the St. Louis premiere of Craig Wright's Mistakes Were Made. “Spend 90 furious, fulminating, very funny minutes with producer Felix Afrtifex as he tries to talk movie stars, playwrights, agents, directors, designers, theatre owners, and a lot of bad unfriendly dudes in The Middle East with a lot of ordnance and no conscience into helping him get a production to Broadway - his first new, substantive, American play - Mistakes Were Made - a play about the French Revolution, with a cast of 50, a guillotine, a star drop and a horse.” Performances take place Thursdays and Fridays at 8 PM and Saturdays 7 and 9 PM through September 3 at The Kranzberg Center, 501 N. Grand. For more information call 314-487-5305 or visit www.midnightcompany.com.
Soundstage Productions presents Spoon River Anthology Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM and Sundays at 7 PM through August 28. Performances take place at Crestwood Plaza ArtSpace, #214 Crestwood Plaza on Watson Road in Crestwood, MO. For more information, send email to soundstange at msn.com.
[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 ArtsZipper site.
I'm now adding my own purely personal comments to events about which I think I have anything worthwhile to say. Because that's what bloggers do. If I have left your show out, please leave a comment with all the details.
Share on Google+
The Tesseract Theatre Company will present a free reading of local playwright Joël Doty's 9-1-1 on August 18th at 7pm in the Regional Arts Commission Building, 6128 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63112 (across the street from The Pageant). Visit www.tesseracttheatre.org for more info or email contact at tesseracttheatre.org for any questions.
The Jewish Community Center presents Susan Tanner Meisel in her one-woman show Beyond Me: A Song Cycle In The Key Of Survival on Sunday, August 21, at 4 PM. The play “spotlights the courageous survival of St. Louisan Rachel Goldman Miller, a hidden child Holocaust Survivor”. The Jewish Community Center is at 2 Millstone Campus Drive. For more information, visit jccstl.com.
The Pub Theater Company presents Bye Bye Liver: The St. Louis Drinking Play, a comedic romp through the joys and pitfalls of The Gateway to the West's favorite pastime. Performances take place on “select Saturdays” at Maggie O'Brien's, 2000 Market Street, and on the first and third Friday of each month at The Fox Hole at The Atomic Cowboy, 4140 Manchester in The Grove. For more information, you may call 314-827-4185 or visit byebyeliver.com/stlouis.
The Black Mirror Theatre Company presents its premier production of The Conversation at the Focal Point, 2720 Sutton, Maplewood, on Friday at 7 PM and Saturday and Sunday at 5:00 and 7:30 PM, August 19 - 21. Tickets are available at the door. For more information, call 314-740-6514 or visit blackmirrortheatre.com.
Dead Man Walking
Union Avenue Opera presents the Missouri premiere of Dead Man Walking Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM, August 19 through 27. Based on the novel of the same name by Sister Helen Prejean, Dead Man Walking has music by Jake Heggie and a libretto by Terrence McNally. Performances take place at the Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 Union at Enright in the Central West End. For more information, visit unionavenueopera.org or call 314-361-2881.
Debbie Does Dallas
the Musical
The NonProphet Theater Company presents Debbie Does Dallas - the Musical by Erica Schmidt, Andrew Sherman and Susan L. Schwartz Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 PM and Sundays at 5 PM through August 20. For more information, call 636-236-4831 or visit nptco.org. Read the KDHX review!
The Improv Trick hosts weekly Long Form Improv performances every Tuesday at 7:30 PM at Lemmons Restaurant, 5800 Gravois. Long form improv features 15 to 20 minute sketches based entirely on audience suggestions, with audience participation strongly encouraged. For more information, visit theimprovtrick.com.
The Wine Press presents piano bar legend Margrit Miller on Tuesday, August 16, at 7:30 PM. “Please join Margrit and her friends on this special night. Sing along, try a solo, or just relax and enjoy listening to the many talented vocalists who will be there.” The Wine Press is at 4436 Olive. For more information, call 314-289-9463 or visit stlwinepress.com.
The Midnight Theatre Company presents the St. Louis premiere of Craig Wright's Mistakes Were Made. “Spend 90 furious, fulminating, very funny minutes with producer Felix Afrtifex as he tries to talk movie stars, playwrights, agents, directors, designers, theatre owners, and a lot of bad unfriendly dudes in The Middle East with a lot of ordnance and no conscience into helping him get a production to Broadway - his first new, substantive, American play - Mistakes Were Made - a play about the French Revolution, with a cast of 50, a guillotine, a star drop and a horse.” Performances take place Thursdays and Fridays at 8 PM and Saturdays 7 and 9 PM, August 18 through September 3, at The Kranzberg Center, 501 N. Grand. For more information call 314-487-5305 or visit www.midnightcompany.com.
The Secret
Garden
Stages St. Louis presents the musical The Secret Garden through August 21. Performances take place in the Robert G. Reim Theatre at the Kirkwood Community Center, 111 South Geyer Road in Kirkwood. For more information, visit stagesstlouis.org or call 314-821-2407. Read the KDHX review!
The Ethical Society of St. Louis presents a staged reading of A Shot Away, personal accounts of Military Sexual Trauma written by Donna Fiumano-Farley, on Friday and Saturday at 8 PM, August 19 and 20. This is the first national stage reading of the play, which is also a fundraiser for the St. Louis Regional Sexual Assault Center. The Ethical Society is at 9001 Clayton Road. For more information, call 314-531-1115.
Soundstage Productions presents Spoon River Anthology Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM and Sundays at 7 PM, August 19 through 28. Performances take place at Crestwood Plaza ArtSpace, #214 Crestwood Plaza on Watson Road in Crestwood, MO. For more information, send email to soundstange at msn.com.
I’ve spent some electrons here in the past commenting on the how Masterworks Broadway has been releasing a lot of material that disappeared from the catalogs when everything went digital many years ago. They’re available as downloads through all major digital service providers and as disc-on-demand, with the original cover art and liner notes, via Arkivmusic.com and Amazon.com. All releases are accompanied by new album pages and photos on MasterworksBroadway.com.
The August 9th releases are: the Original Broadway Cast Recording of Say, Darling; the Original Off-Broadway Cast Recordings of The Mad Show (a musical inspired by Mad Magazine and probably best remembered now for the song Stephen Sondheim wrote for it, "The Boy From..."), Ernest in Love (a musical version of The Importance of Being Ernest), Now Is the Time for All Good Men,The Nervous Set; and the studio concept album of archy and mehitabel: a back-alley opera (later retitled Shinbone Alley for Broadway).
Coming up on August 23rd is a real oddity: Half-Past Wednesday, the Off-Broadway musical from 1962. A modern take on the classic fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin, it starred Dom DeLuise, who was hailed by The New York Times as “a comic genius,” for his performance as the King. In a 2009 interview, the late DeLuise recognized this show as the catalyst for finding his first agent. Featuring music by Robert Colby and lyrics by Robert Colby and Nita Jonas, Half-Past Wednesday was re-titled Rumpelstiltskin for the recording.
The Nervous Set has, of course, has particular resonance for those of us in St. Louis since it written, in part, by St. Louisans Jay and Fran Landesman. The show was first produced at the Crystal Palace in our own Gaslight Square entertainment district in 1959. New Line Theatre produced a much-admired revival a few years back, and director Scott Miller’s article on the show makes interesting reading. It’s good to have the OCR available again.
The real gem in this batch of releases, at least for me, is archy and mehitabel: a back-alley opera. The show is based on the newspaper columnist Don Marquis’s irresistibly whimsical stories about archy, a literary cockroach hopelessly in love with the free-spirited cat mehitabel. The stories are told in first person by archy, who can only type by jumping on the typewriter keys – hence the lack of capitalization and the quixotic punctuation.
The casting of Eddie Bracken as archy and Carol Channing as mehitabel was sheer genius and the album has been a prize for collectors for decades. Until this release, my only copy was a somewhat shopworn LP inherited from a friend just before he took his final curtain call on this planet. It’s good to have a nice, new digital version.
As promised in my last post, here’s everything you need to know about auditing sessions at the St. Louis Cabaret Conference this week. Attending as an auditor doesn’t allow you to perform but it does let you watch other performers work and get valuable feedback from faculty members Andrea Marcovicci, Jason Graae, Shelly Markham and Rick Jensen. And the price is substantially less than the cost for the full conference. This is a great way to familiarize yourself with the process of cabaret performance and benefit from the sharp insights of four certified Big Names in the cabaret business.
Auditions sessions are Friday and Saturday, August 12 and 13, from 9 AM to 1 PM and 2:15 to 6:15 PM. The cost is only $50 for one session or $75 for a whole day. Reserve your spot by calling conference organizer and St. Louis cabaret guru Tim Schall at 314-359-0786 or sending email to tjschall at sbcglobal.net
If you follow this blog at all (c’mon – there must be somebody who does), you probably have read about the St. Louis Cabaret Conference at some point. This year’s conference takes place August 11 through 14, culminating in a participant showcase on Sunday, August 14, at the Bistro at Grand Center.
What has changed is that sessions have been added for those who can’t commit to the money or time for the full Monty.
To begin with, an extra session on Putting It Together: A Introduction to Creating, Producing and Marketing Your Cabaret Show has been added on the Sunday, August 7, from 1:00 to 3:30 PM. The session takes place at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis’s Old Orchard Rehearsal Halls, 17 Old Orchard in Webster Groves, MO. Admission is a mere $15, payable at the door. The panel includes Tim Schall, Dionna Raedeke, Ken Haller and Jeff Wright - all of whom have experience in the trenches, so to speak, of cabaret show production. For more information, call 314-359-0786.
Personally, I’m glad to see this. It’s a bit late for yours truly, of course, since I’ve already done my own show Just a Song at Twilight: The Golden Age of Vaudevilletwice at the Kranzberg Center and will be presenting it again October 6 through 16 at the Missouri History Museum (just had to get that plug in), but I know a number of local performers who are putting their own acts together right now. It’s bound to benefit them, and might even encourage other local talents who haven’t taken the plunge yet.
The conference is also offering auditing sessions on Friday and Saturday, August 12 and 13. More about them tomorrow. For more information about the conference, check out their web site or send an email to conference organizer Tim Schall at tjschall at sbcglobal.net.
[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 ArtsZipper site.
I'm now adding my own purely personal comments to events about which I think I have anything worthwhile to say. Because that's what bloggers do. If I have left your show out, please leave a comment with all the details.
Share on Google+
Last Minute Productions presents Neil Simon's Biloxi Blues as a fundraiser for the Lindbergh High School Theatre Department. The cast consists of Lindbergh alumni. Performances take place on Friday and Saturday at 7:00 PM, August 12 and 13, at Lindbergh High School. For more information, you may call 314-657-5488.
The Muny presents the musical Bye, Bye Birdie nightly at 8:15 PM August 8 through 15 in the outdoor theatre in Forest Park. For more information, visit muny.org or call 314-361-1900.
The Pub Theater Company presents Bye Bye Liver: The St. Louis Drinking Play, a comedic romp through the joys and pitfalls of The Gateway to the West's favorite pastime. Performances take place on “select Saturdays” at Maggie O'Brien's, 2000 Market Street, and on the first and third Friday of each month at The Fox Hole at The Atomic Cowboy, 4140 Manchester in The Grove. For more information, you may call 314-827-4185 or visit byebyeliver.com/stlouis.
The St. Louis Cabaret Conference presents a Closing Night Showcase on Sunday, August 14, at 7 PM. “Twenty four singers take to the stage in an original performance showcasing the work spent over the past four days of The St. Louis Cabaret Conference, one of the nations top cabaret professional development programs.” The performance takes place at The Bistro at Grand Center, 3536 Washington Avenue The evening is produced by Tim Schall and directed by Andrea Marcovicci and Jason Graae, with music direction by Shelly Markham and Rick Jensen. For more information, visit https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/172572. Performers include 88.1 KDHX's (and Stage Left's) own Chuck Lavazzi.
Debbie Does Dallas
the Musical
The NonProphet Theater Company presents Debbie Does Dallas - the Musical by Erica Schmidt, Andrew Sherman and Susan L. Schwartz Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 PM and Sundays at 5 PM, August 4 through August 20. For more information, call 636-236-4831 or visit nptco.org. Read the KDHX review!
Take Two Productions presents the musical Hairspray through August 13. Performances take place at Bayless High School Theater, 4530 Weber Road. For more information, visit taketwoproductions.org.
The Improv Trick hosts weekly Long Form Improv performances every Tuesday at 7:30 PM at Lemmons Restaurant, 5800 Gravois. Long form improv features 15 to 20 minute sketches based entirely on audience suggestions, with audience participation strongly encouraged. For more information, visit theimprovtrick.com.
Andrea Marcovicci
The Cabaret Project presents Andrea Marcovicci in Marcovicci Sings Movies II, with pianist and music director Shelly Markham, on Wednesday, August 10, at 7:30 PM at The Kranzberg Center, 501 North Grand in Grand Center. The performance is a benefit for The Cabaret Project. For more information visit thecabaretproject.org.
St. Louis Shakespeare presents Edward Bond's drama Restoration through August 14. Performances take place at the Grandel Theatre, 3610 Grandel Square. For more information, call 314-361-5664 or visit stlshakespeare.org
The Secret
Garden
Stages St. Louis presents the musical The Secret Garden through August 21. Performances take place in the Robert G. Reim Theatre at the Kirkwood Community Center, 111 South Geyer Road in Kirkwood. For more information, visit stagesstlouis.org or call 314-821-2407. Read the KDHX review!
She Loves Me
Insight Theatre Company presents the musical She Loves Me through August 14. Performances take place in the Heagney Theatre, 530 East Lockwood on the campus of Nerinx Hall High School in Webster Groves. For more information, call 314-556-1293 or visit insighttheatrecompany.com.
Max and Louie Productions presents the musical Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story, a two-man musical about Chicago's infamous “thrill killers”, through August 14. Performances take place at The Gaslight Theatre, 358 North Boyle in the Central West End. For more information, visit maxandlouie.com or call (314) 795-8778.
