St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of December 31, 2012

[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.

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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 Saturdays at 9 PM at Maggie O'Brien's, 2000 Market Street. For more information, you may call 314-827-4185, email stlouis at byebyeliver.com, or visit byebyeliver.com/stlouis.

The Lemp Mansion Comedy-Mystery Dinner Theater presents The Christmas Killer through December 31, after which Murder in Mayberry runs through April 27. . The Lemp Mansion is at 3322 DeMenil Place. For more information: lempmansion.com

©Photo by Lon Brauer

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents Good People January 2 through 27. “You can't keep a good woman down - unless that woman is from Southie, the gritty, blue-collar Boston neighborhood that Margie Walsh has always called home. Down on her luck and facing eviction, Margie turns to Mikey, an old fling who made good and secured himself a new life in the ritzy suburbs. But is he strong enough to face his humble beginnings and give Margie a hand? Laughter is never far from heartache in this poignant look at the "haves" and "have-nots".” Performances take place at the Loretto-Hlton Center, 130 Edgar Road in Webster Groves, MO. For more information, call 314-968-4925 or visit repstl.org.

The St. Louis Symphony, conducted by David Robertson, presents the annual New Year's Eve Celebration on Monday, December 31, at 7:30 PM. The event takes place at Powell Hall, 718 North Grand, and will be broadcast live on St. Louis Public Radio 90.7 FM and HD 1. For more information: stlsymphony.org

The Bissell Mansion Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre presents Nursery Crimes through April 30th. The Bissell Mansion is at 4426 Randall Place. For more information: bissellmansiontheatre.com

The Florissant Fine Arts Council presents Luisa Marshall's Simply the Best: A Tina Turner Tribute on Sunday, January 6, at 7 PM. “Superstar Tina Turner, born Anna Bullock and a graduate of Sumner High School, got her 1956 start in St. Louis night clubs which began a life-long career landing her an award at the 2005 Kennedy Center Honors. Luisa Marshall captures Tina's life in this Tribute Show, developed over 16 years and now toured around the world. From Tina's days with Ike Turner to her breakthrough, Grammy-winning album Private Dancer, to her latest greatest hits collection, Luisa Marshall lends her unique and explosive style to this new, groundbreaking show.” The performance takes place at the Florissant Civic Center Theatre at Parker and Waterford in Florissant. For more information, call 314-921-5678.

The Fox Theatre presents the Broadway musical Wicked through January 6. The music and lyrics for Wicked are by Stephen Schwartz, with a book by Winnie Holzman, freely adapted from Gregory McGuire's novel. The Fox Theatre is at 527 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information, call 314-534-1678. Read the 88.1 KDHX review!

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.

Chuck's choices for the weekend of December 28, 2012

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

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New this week:

The St. Louis Symphony presents a showing of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl on Friday and Saturday at 7 PM and Sunday at 2 PM, December 28-30. The score will be performed live by the orchestra and the men of the St. Louis Symphony Chorus, conducted by Richard Kaufman. I've been to several of the symphony's movie events over the last few years and have enjoyed all of them. I remember the first Lord of the Rings movie with great fondness, for example, and wish they'd do the entire cycle at some point; I'll bet it would be a hit. The Pirates of the Caribbean: fllms are several notches below that trilogy, so the real attraction for me here is the Klaus Badelt score. No matter how good the sound system is in the theatre, you can't beat the sound of a live orchestra and chorus. The event takes place at Powell Hall, 718 North Grand. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

The St. Louis Symphony, conducted by David Robertson, presents the annual New Year's Eve Celebration on Monday, December 31, at 7:30 PM. No, it's not really a theatre event but it's always a festive end to the year's concert calendar and if you're not already committed for New Year's Eve you'll want to seriously consider spening the early part of it with the symphony. You can always catch a party afterwards, right? The event takes place at Powell Hall, 718 North Grand. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

Held over:

The Fox Theatre presents the Broadway musical Wicked December 12 through January 6. I haven't seen this particular tour, but in my review of the 2005 tour I noted that composer/lyricist Stephen Schwarts and book author Winnie Holtzman have done a remarkable job of simplifying and reducing the story of Gregory McGuire's original novel while still remaining true to the original characters and their relationships. The score is one of Schwartz's best, and that's saying something. In his review for 88.1 KDHX, Robert Mitchell writes that Wicked "is actually better than the hype! Now, I get why it won all those Tonys, and makes stars out of its leads." The Fox Theatre is at 527 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information, call 314-534-1678.

St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of December 24, 2012

[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.

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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 Saturdays at 9 PM at Maggie O'Brien's, 2000 Market Street. For more information, you may call 314-827-4185, email stlouis at byebyeliver.com, or visit byebyeliver.com/stlouis.

The Lemp Mansion Comedy-Mystery Dinner Theater presents The Christmas Killer through December 31. The Lemp Mansion is at 3322 DeMenil Place. For more information: lempmansion.com

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

The St. Louis Symphony presents a showing of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl on Friday and Saturday at 7 PM and Sunday at 2 PM, December 28-30. The score will be performed live by the orchestra and the men of the St. Louis Symphony Chorus, conducted by Richard Kaufman. The event takes place at Powell Hall, 718 North Grand. For more information: stlsymphony.org

The Fox Theatre presents the Broadway musical Wicked through January 6. The music and lyrics for Wicked are by Stephen Schwartz, with a book by Winnie Holzman, freely adapted from Gregory McGuire's novel. The Fox Theatre is at 527 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information, call 314-534-1678. Read the 88.1 KDHX review!

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.

Chuck's Choices for the weekend of December 21, 2012

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

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New this week:

The St. Louis Symphony, conducted by Ware Stare, presents A Holiday Celebration Friday and Saturday at 2 and 7 PM and Sunday 2 PM, December 21-23.  Debby Boone is the featured soloist, along with the Christmas Festival Chorus, directed by Kevin McBeth.  “See why thousands of St. Louis families have made this their annual holiday tradition. Powell Hall is transformed to a magical holiday destination, complete with hot chocolate and a visit from the North Pole's most famous resident! Enjoy the STL Symphony's rendition of your favorite holiday songs making the holiday season even brighter.” I realize some serious symphony fans tend to look down on these shows, but I've alwasy found them just right for the holidays. I'd call it a guilty pleasure except that I don't feel guilty about it. Performances take place at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

Held over:

©Photo by Jerry Naunheim, Jr.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents the comedy The Foreigner November 28-December 23. Performances take place on the main stage at the Loretto-Hlton Center, 130 Edgar Road in Webster Groves, MO. "In this wild and wacky comedy, Charlie Baker needs to get away, and his friend Froggy knows just the place - his favorite little fishing lodge in rural Georgia. To get Charlie some much needed peace, Froggy convinces the locals that his friend doesn’t understand English. But the plan backfires when all the lodge’s inhabitants start revealing deep secrets and diabolical plans in front of their quiet foreign guest." "There are too many very funny bits to list here," noted Robert Mitchell in his review for 88.1 KDHX, "just be assured that if you want a good laugh, that there is more than enough opportunity with The Foreigner." He's right; it's a pretty near perfect production of a brilliantly constructed farce. It has been a few decades since the Rep did this fast-paced and somewhat political comedy. Sadly, the satire of Southern bigotry is still relevant. For more information, call 314-968-4925 or visit repstl.org.

Photos by John Lamb

Stray Dog Theatre presents the one-man comedy Fully Committed, starring Greg Fenner, Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 PM through December 22. "Hired to answer reservation calls at Manhattan’s hottest celebrity restaurant during the holiday season, an unemployed actor must handle the incessant barrage of nightmarish demands. Coercion, threats, bribes, histrionics - a cast of desperate callers will stop at nothing in their zeal to land a prime reservation, or the right table. Written by a former restaurant worker, this one-man tour-de-force is hilarious, heartfelt, and dishy!" I've seen this twice (here at the Rep and in Chicago with Bronson Pinchot) and found it vastly entertaining both times. The characters in Becky Mode's script are deftly and convincingly drawn, which raises this above the level of a simple virtuoso acting display. "We need as many laughs as we can get right now," writes Andrea Braun in her review for 88.1 KDHX, "and Stray Dog, once again, proves it is doing some of the best work in St. Louis, and Greg Fenner is totally off the chain. Bravo!" Performances take place at The Tower Grove Abbey, 2336 Tennessee. For more information, visit straydogtheatre.org or call 314-865-1995.

Photo by John Lamb

New Jewish Theater presents Lanford Wilson's Talley's Folly through December 23. In his review for 88.1 KDHX, Gary Scott says that "a beautiful masala of cultures sparks spontaneously onstage in New Jewish Theatre’s current production of Talley’s Folly, directed with ruach (spirit) and naches (delight) by Deanna Jent." Performances take place in the Marvin and Harlene Wool Studio Theater at the Jewish Community Center, 2 Millstone Campus Drive in Creve Coeur. For more information: www.newjewishtheatre.org or call 314-442-3283.

The Fox Theatre presents the Broadway musical Wicked December 12 through January 6. I haven't seen this particular tour, but in my review of the 2005 tour I noted that composer/lyricist Stephen Schwarts and book author Winnie Holtzman have done a remarkable job of simplifying and reducing the story of Gregory McGuire's original novel while still remaining true to the original characters and their relationships. The score is one of Schwartz's best, and that's saying something. In his review for 88.1 KDHX, Robert MItchell writes that Wicked "is actually better than the hype! Now, I get why it won all those Tonys, and makes stars out of its leads." The Fox Theatre is at 527 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information, call 314-534-1678.

St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of December 17, 2012

[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.

Share on Google+

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 Saturdays at 9 PM at Maggie O'Brien's, 2000 Market Street. For more information, you may call 314-827-4185, email stlouis at byebyeliver.com, or visit byebyeliver.com/stlouis.

Your ho-ho-host

The Cabaret Project presents the gala holiday edition of its Cabaret Open Mic Night on Wednesday, December 19, from 7 to 10 PM at the Tavern of Fine Arts. “Drop by and enjoy a night of great music from St. Louis cabaret artists, backed up by the inimitable "Christmas" Carol Schmidt on the baby grand.” The master of ceremonies is 88.1 KDHX senior performing arts critic Chuck Lavazzi. If you're planning to sing, be prepared to do one or two songs and bring music, preferably in your key. It's also recommend that you have your song memorized. The Tavern of Fine Arts is at 313 Belt at Waterman in the Central West End. There's free parking in the lot right across the street. For more information, visit tavern-of-fine-arts.blogspot.com or call 314-367-7549.

©Photo by Jerry Naunheim, Jr.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents the comedy The Foreigner through December 23. Performances take place on the main stage at the Loretto-Hlton Center, 130 Edgar Road in Webster Groves, MO. "In this wild and wacky comedy, Charlie Baker needs to get away, and his friend Froggy knows just the place - his favorite little fishing lodge in rural Georgia. To get Charlie some much needed peace, Froggy convinces the locals that his friend doesn’t understand English. But the plan backfires when all the lodge’s inhabitants start revealing deep secrets and diabolical plans in front of their quiet foreign guest." For more information, call 314-968-4925 or visit repstl.org. Read the 88.1 KDHX review!

Photos by John Lamb

Stray Dog Theatre presents the one-man comedy Fully Committed, starring Greg Fenner, Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 PM, through December 22. "Hired to answer reservation calls at Manhattan’s hottest celebrity restaurant during the holiday season, an unemployed actor must handle the incessant barrage of nightmarish demands. Coercion, threats, bribes, histrionics - a cast of desperate callers will stop at nothing in their zeal to land a prime reservation, or the right table. Written by a former restaurant worker, this one-man tour-de-force is hilarious, heartfelt, and dishy!" Performances take place at The Tower Grove Abbey, 2336 Tennessee. For more information, visit straydogtheatre.org or call 314-865-1995. Read the 88.1 KDHX review!

(L to R): Alan Knoll as Leonard, Laurie McConnell as Agatha Tode
and Jerome Lowe as Timmy.
©Photo by Eric Woolsey.

The Rep's Imaginary Theatre Company presents A Gnome for Christmas through December 23. “ When Lulu's quirky father fails to sell yet another of his odd inventions, the pair must pack their bags and move to more meager accommodations. All they can afford is a rundown old farmhouse where the fence needs mending and the landlord's cranky, even at Christmastime! Lulu's about ready to give up, but when mysterious and magical things start happening, it seems that this farm might be home to more than meets the eye. This warm-hearted holiday musical reminds us of the importance of helping others and the happiness found in friends.” Performances take place at Heagney Theatre at Nerinx Hall High School, 530 East Lockwood Avenue in Webster Groves. For more information: repst.org or call (314) 968-4925.

The St. Louis Symphony, conducted by Ware Stare, presents A Holiday Celebration Friday and Saturday at 2 and 7 PM and Sunday 2 PM, December 21-23.  Debby Boone is the featured soloist, along with the Christmas Festival Chorus, directed by Kevin McBeth.  “See why thousands of St. Louis families have made this their annual holiday tradition. Powell Hall is transformed to a magical holiday destination, complete with hot chocolate and a visit from the North Pole's most famous resident! Enjoy the STL Symphony's rendition of your favorite holiday songs making the holiday season even brighter.” Performances take place at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

St. Louis Ballet presents The Nutcracker through December 23. Performances take place at the Touhill Performing Arts Center on the campus of the University of Missouri - St. Louis. For more information: touhill.org.

Photo by John Lamb

New Jewish Theater presents Lanford Wilson's Talley's Folly through December 23. "Talley’s Folly is the story of one night in the lives of two unlikely sweethearts, Matt Friedman and Sally Talley This sweet, funny and heart-warming play is set in a dilapidated Victorian boathouse on the Talley farm in Lebanon, Missouri on the Fourth of July in 1944. (Lebanon, MO, by the way is Wilson’s birthplace.)" Performances take place in the Marvin and Harlene Wool Studio Theater at the Jewish Community Center, 2 Millstone Campus Drive in Creve Coeur. For more information: www.newjewishtheatre.org or call 314-442-3283. Read the 88.1 KDHX review!

The Fox Theatre presents the Broadway musical Wicked through January 6. The music and lyrics for Wicked are by Stephen Schwartz, with a book by Winnie Holzman, freely adapted from Gregory McGuire's novel. The Fox Theatre is at 527 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information, call 314-534-1678.

Would you like to be on the radio? 88.1 KDHX 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.

A standing tradition

Apparently not everyone stands for the "Hallelujah"
(Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe)

In a recent post I looked at the way Handel’s Messiah got moved from Easter to Christmas. This time I’d like to take a look at an even more puzzling question: Why does everyone stand during the “Hallelujah” chorus that concludes Part 2?

The usual explanation is that King George the II stood when he first heard it at the London premiere in March of 1743 and everybody else followed suit because, hey, he was the king. It’s a great story with only one little flaw: there’s no evidence that George II ever attended a performance of Messiah at all. The story appears to come, not from a contemporary account, but (according to Matthew Guerrieri in a 2009 article for the Boston Globe, whence cometh the picture above) from a secondhand description in a letter written by James Beattie 37 years later (a classic example of how urban legends originate). The story is, in short, almost certainly apocryphal.

The tradition appears to go back a long way, though. When George Harris attended a Messiah performance in 1750 he observed that “[a]t some of the chorus’s the company stood up,” suggesting that the custom extended beyond just the “Hallelujah.” Six years later, another account mentions the audience standing for “grand choruses.” In his video series on Messiah Andrew Megill, Music Director of Masterwork Chorus, describes a letter written by a woman who attended a Messiah in Handel’s time complaining of audience members who weren’t standing during the appropriate choruses—suggesting that the practice was already fairly well established.

The bottom line, though, is that nobody really seems to know where the custom originated or, for that matter, why so many of us are still doing it. Like the Christmas performance tradition, it seems to be a meme that just won’t die. For anyone attending Messiah for the first time, it must seem just another example of the sometimes baffling and contradictory rules of etiquette that go with classical music concerts.

We could probably do without some of those, by the way; but that’s another post.

For unto us a meme is born

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The Christmas season in upon us. For those of us keeping track of the entertainment scene, that means an inevitable encounter with at least one performance of all of the following: a stage adaptation of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol (probably with music), Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, and Handel’s Messiah. In fact, we’ve already see all three here in St. Louis, including a nice Baroque-sized performance of the Handel by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Chorus (see my review at 88.1 KDHX for details).

The Dickens and Tchaikovsky make perfect sense since they’re both explicitly Christmas stories. But how did Messiah get in there? It was first performed on April 13th, 1742 in Dublin, repeated that same June, and then moved to London, where it was first presented on March 23, 1743. I can’t find any evidence that the work was in any way associated with Christmas during Handel’s life. In fact, as Christopher H. Gibbs points out in his program notes for a 2007 NPR broadcast of Messiah from Philadelphia , “Handel performed it some three dozen times—every time, it should be noted, around Easter, not Christmas.” As Jonathan Kandell notes in an article for the September 2009 edition of Smithsonian, however, “[b]y the early 19th century, performances of Messiah had become an even stronger Yuletide tradition in the United States than in Britain.”

An important piece of the puzzle is supplied is supplied by Luke Howard in his program notes for a 2009 Messiah performance by UMS Choral Union:

The tradition of performing Messiah at Christmas began later in the 18th century. Although the work was occasionally performed during Advent in Dublin, the oratorio was usually regarded in England as an entertainment for the penitential season of Lent, when performances of opera were banned. Messiah’s extended musical focus on Christ’s redeeming sacrifice also makes it particularly suitable for Passion Week and Holy Week, the periods when it was usually performed during Handel’s lifetime. But in 1791, the Cæcilian Society of London began its annual Christmas performances, and in 1818 the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston gave the work’s first complete performance in the US on Christmas Day—establishing a tradition that continues to the present.

It apparently took a while for the Christmas tradition to become well established, though. As Marie Gangemil of the Oratorio Society of New York writes in her program notes for their upcoming Messiah, the first December performance by that organization didn’t take place until 1874.

But are these events sufficient to explain why the tradition became so widespread? Might there also be a supply and demand issue here? As Laurence Cummings (director of the London Handel Orchestra) observed in the Smithsonian article cited above: “There is so much fine Easter music—Bach's St. Matthew Passion, most especially—and so little great sacral music written for Christmas. But the whole first part of Messiah is about the birth of Christ."

So there you have it. Boston and New York picked up the idea from London, and the rest of the USA, seeing a chance to fill a product gap, picked it up from them. It’s a reminder that memes were spreading long before the Internet, just a lot more slowly.

Chuck's Choices for the weekend of December 14, 2012

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

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New this week:

The St. Louis Symphony presents Circus Flora: A Child's Christmas in Wales Friday and Saturday at 7 PM and Sunday 2 PM, December 14-16. “Back by popular demand! Circus Flora returns to Powell Hall to collaborate with the STL Symphony in high-wire holiday fun for the family. We welcome back all your favorites including the gravity-defying Flying Wallendas Inspired by Dylan Thomas's heartwarming poem, it's Christmas, with a circus twist!” A Christmas circus show at Powell Hall, based on Dylan Thomas. What's not to like? For more details, check out my review for 88.1 KDHX.  Performances take place at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

The Randy Dandies, “St. Louis' Premiere Sketch Comedy Burlesque Troupe”, presents the Fa La La La Tits! Holiday Party and Show on Saturday, December 15, at 9 PM. The show “will feature local burlesque all-stars including Michelle Mynx of Mynx Academy of Pole Dance, Vera Valentina of the Hoochie Coochie Girls, and Bibi Dazzle of the Bon Bons. Guest cabaret artist Christy Strickland will also perform. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the St. Louis Red Cross Hurricane Sandy Fund.” Breathes there a man with soul so dead who never to himself has said, "you can't beat seeing good-looking women take their clothes off for a good cause." Or something like that. The show takes place at Plush, 3224 Locust Street. For more information, visit therandydandies.com.

New Jewish Theater presents Lanford Wilson's Talley's Folly through December 23. In his review for 88.1 KDHX, Gary Scott says that "a beautiful masala of cultures sparks spontaneously onstage in New Jewish Theatre’s current production of Talley’s Folly, directed with ruach (spirit) and naches (delight) by Deanna Jent." Performances take place in the Marvin and Harlene Wool Studio Theater at the Jewish Community Center, 2 Millstone Campus Drive in Creve Coeur. For more information: www.newjewishtheatre.org or call 314-442-3283.

The Fox Theatre presents the Broadway musical Wicked December 12 through January 6. I haven't seen this particular tour, but in my review of the 2005 tour I noted that composer/lyricist Stephen Schwarts and book author Winnie Holtzman have done a remarkable job of simplifying and reducing the story of Gregory McGuire's original novel while still remaining true to the original characters and their relationships. The score is one of Schwartz's best, and that's saying something. The Fox Theatre is at 527 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information, call 314-534-1678.

Held over:

HotCity Theatre presents Charles Busch's comedy The Divine Sister November 30 through December 15. "This hilariously irreverent tale tells the story of an indomitable Mother Superior (played 'in-drag') trying to cope with a young postulant experiencing 'visions', sexual hysteria among her nuns, a Da Vinci Code style mystery, and a 'well-endowed' former flame intent on luring her away from her vows." Busch's lunatic sensibility is always worth seeing, and this should be a nice antidote to all the Christmas Carol and Nutcracker performances we get around this time. "Everyone is the show is terrific and could teach master classes in comic timing," says Andrea Braun in her review for 88.1 KDHX. Performances take place at the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information, visit www.hotcitytheatre.org or call 314-289-4063.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents the comedy The Foreigner November 28-December 23. Performances take place on the main stage at the Loretto-Hlton Center, 130 Edgar Road in Webster Groves, MO. "In this wild and wacky comedy, Charlie Baker needs to get away, and his friend Froggy knows just the place - his favorite little fishing lodge in rural Georgia. To get Charlie some much needed peace, Froggy convinces the locals that his friend doesn’t understand English. But the plan backfires when all the lodge’s inhabitants start revealing deep secrets and diabolical plans in front of their quiet foreign guest." "There are too many very funny bits to list here," noted Robert Mitchell in his review for 88.1 KDHX, "just be assured that if you want a good laugh, that there is more than enough opportunity with The Foreigner." He's right; it's a pretty near perfect production of a brilliantly constructed farce.  It has been a few decades since the Rep did this fast-paced and somewhat political comedy. Sadly, the satire of Southern bigotry is still relevant. For more information, call 314-968-4925 or visit repstl.org.

Photos by John Lamb

Stray Dog Theatre presents the one-man comedy Fully Committed, starring Greg Fenner, Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 PM, December 6-22. "Hired to answer reservation calls at Manhattan’s hottest celebrity restaurant during the holiday season, an unemployed actor must handle the incessant barrage of nightmarish demands. Coercion, threats, bribes, histrionics - a cast of desperate callers will stop at nothing in their zeal to land a prime reservation, or the right table. Written by a former restaurant worker, this one-man tour-de-force is hilarious, heartfelt, and dishy!" I've seen this twice (here at the Rep and in Chicago with Bronson Pinchot) and found it vastly entertaining both times. The characters in Becky Mode's script are deftly and convincingly drawn, which raises this above the level of a simple virtuoso acting display. Performances take place at The Tower Grove Abbey, 2336 Tennessee. For more information, visit straydogtheatre.org or call 314-865-1995.

Magic Smoking Monkey Theatre presents Stupefy! The 90 Minute Harry Potter Friday and Saturday at 7:30 and 10:30 PM. “The 7:30pm performance is 'family friendly.' The late show is recommended for audiences 16 and over. Audience members should feel free to dress in their Hogwarts attire, if desired.” Well, how can you not love this idea? In his review for 88.1 KDHX, Robert Mitchell says that the company "have managed to hilariously desecrate yet another venerable Hollywood classic." Performances take place at the Emerson Black Box Theatre in the Scheidegger Performing Arts Center on the campus of Lindenwood University in St. Charles. For more information: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/290534

St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of December 10, 2012

Updated Saturday, December 15

[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.

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KTK Productions presents the comedy The Best Christmas Pageant Ever Friday and Saturday at 8 PM and Sunday at 2 PM. Performances take place at Southampton Presbyterian Church, 4716 Macklind. For more information, call 314-351-8984.

West County Family Y's Y-Rep Kids present The Best Christmas Pageant Ever Friday through Sunday, December 14-16. Performances take place at the West County YMCA, 16464 Burkhardt Place. For more information, call (636) 532-6515 Ext. 227.

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 Saturdays at 9 PM at Maggie O'Brien's, 2000 Market Street. For more information, you may call 314-827-4185, email stlouis at byebyeliver.com, or visit byebyeliver.com/stlouis.

The St. Louis Symphony presents Circus Flora: A Child's Christmas in Wales Friday and Saturday at 7 PM and Sunday 2 PM, December 14-16. “Back by popular demand! Circus Flora returns to Powell Hall to collaborate with the STL Symphony in high-wire holiday fun for the family. We welcome back all your favorites including the gravity-defying Flying Wallendas Inspired by Dylan Thomas's heartwarming poem, it's Christmas, with a circus twist!” Performances take place at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand. For more information: stlsymphony.org.
Read the 88.1 KDHX review!

Dance Project St. Louis presents Dances of Winter on Sunday, December 16 at 6 PM. The program will feature special guest artist classical guitarist Aaron Burlbaw and takes place at the Foundry Arts Center in St. Charles. For more information: brownpapertickets.com.

HotCity Theatre presents Charles Busch's comedy The Divine Sister through December 15. "This hilariously irreverent tale tells the story of an indomitable Mother Superior (played 'in-drag') trying to cope with a young postulant experiencing 'visions', sexual hysteria among her nuns, a Da Vinci Code style mystery, and a 'well-endowed' former flame intent on luring her away from her vows." Performances take place at the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information, visit www.hotcitytheatre.org or call 314-289-4063. Read the 88.1 KDHX review!

The Randy Dandies, “St. Louis' Premiere Sketch Comedy Burlesque Troupe”, presents the Fa La La La Tits! Holiday Party and Show on Saturday, December 15, at 9 PM. The show “will feature local burlesque all-stars including Michelle Mynx of Mynx Academy of Pole Dance, Vera Valentina of the Hoochie Coochie Girls, and Bibi Dazzle of the Bon Bons. Guest cabaret artist Christy Strickland will also perform. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the St. Louis Red Cross Hurricane Sandy Fund.” The show takes place at Plush, 3224 Locust Street. For more information, visit therandydandies.com.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents the comedy The Foreigner through December 23. Performances take place on the main stage at the Loretto-Hlton Center, 130 Edgar Road in Webster Groves, MO. "In this wild and wacky comedy, Charlie Baker needs to get away, and his friend Froggy knows just the place - his favorite little fishing lodge in rural Georgia. To get Charlie some much needed peace, Froggy convinces the locals that his friend doesn’t understand English. But the plan backfires when all the lodge’s inhabitants start revealing deep secrets and diabolical plans in front of their quiet foreign guest." For more information, call 314-968-4925 or visit repstl.org. Read the 88.1 KDHX review!

Photos by John Lamb

Stray Dog Theatre presents the one-man comedy Fully Committed, starring Greg Fenner, Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 PM, through December 22. "Hired to answer reservation calls at Manhattan’s hottest celebrity restaurant during the holiday season, an unemployed actor must handle the incessant barrage of nightmarish demands. Coercion, threats, bribes, histrionics - a cast of desperate callers will stop at nothing in their zeal to land a prime reservation, or the right table. Written by a former restaurant worker, this one-man tour-de-force is hilarious, heartfelt, and dishy!" Performances take place at The Tower Grove Abbey, 2336 Tennessee. For more information, visit straydogtheatre.org or call 314-865-1995.

(L to R): Alan Knoll as Leonard, Laurie McConnell as Agatha Tode
and Jerome Lowe as Timmy.
©Photo by Eric Woolsey.

The Rep's Imaginary Theatre Company presents A Gnome for Christmas December 15 through 23. “ When Lulu's quirky father fails to sell yet another of his odd inventions, the pair must pack their bags and move to more meager accommodations. All they can afford is a rundown old farmhouse where the fence needs mending and the landlord's cranky, even at Christmastime! Lulu's about ready to give up, but when mysterious and magical things start happening, it seems that this farm might be home to more than meets the eye. This warm-hearted holiday musical reminds us of the importance of helping others and the happiness found in friends.” Performances take place at Heagney Theatre at Nerinx Hall High School, 530 East Lockwood Avenue in Webster Groves. For more information: repst.org or call (314) 968-4925.

The Black Mirror Theatre Company presents Gonne/Yeats by local playwright and director Denis Corcoran Thursday at 7 PM, Friday at 8 PM, Saturday at 5:30 and 8 PM, and Sunday at 5:30 PM, December 13-16. “He, William Butlter Yeats, perhaps the world's greatest poet. She, Maud Gonne (McBride), an Irish patriot, feminist, ardent defender of Ireland's poor and homeless, said, in her day, to be the most beautiful woman in Ireland. He feel deeply in love with at their first meeting, a love which was the driving force behind so much of his poetry. Yet she preferred pike, pistol and politics to sweet words. In dialogue, verse and song, this is one of the most moving love stories, seldom told.” Performances take place at The Firecracker Press, 2838 Cherokee Street. Tickets are available at the door; a $10 donation is requested.

Clinton County Showcase presents Miracle on 34th Street through December 16. Performances take place at the Avon Theater, 525 North 2nd Street Breese IL. For more information, visit ccshowcase.com.

The Tesseract Theatre Company presents Mr. Marmalade, a “savage black comedy about what it takes to grow up in these difficult times” Wednesday through Saturday at 8 PM and Sunday at 4 PM, December 12 - 16. Performances take place at the Regional Arts Commission, 6128 Delmar (across the street from The Pageant). Visit www.tesseracttheatre.org for more info or email contact at tesseracttheatre.org.

St. Louis Ballet presents The Nutcracker December 14 through 23. Performances take place at the Touhill Performing Arts Center on the campus of the University of Missouri - St. Louis. For more information: touhill.org.

St. Louis Actors Studio presents Alan Ayckbourn's comedy Season's Greetings through December 16 at the Gaslight Theatre, 358 North Boyle. "Half a dozen friends and relatives are celebrating Christmas with Neville and Belinda. Various children are also there and, though unseen, their presence is always felt. Petty squabbles break out and some not so petty. The arrival of Clive, a young writer, leads to what momentarily appears to be a tragedy: Clive is shot by trigger happy Harvey who thinks he is a burglar. Hilarious highlights include a chaotically incompetent puppet show and a midnight love scene that sets off a fearful din among mechanical Christmas toys." For more information, call 314-458-2978 or visit stlas.org. Read the 88.1 KDHX review!

Magic Smoking Monkey Theatre presents Stupefy! The 90 Minute Harry Potter Friday and Saturday at 7:30 and 10:30 PM. “The 7:30pm performance is 'family friendly.' The late show is recommended for audiences 16 and over. Audience members should feel free to dress in their Hogwarts attire, if desired.” Performances take place at the Emerson Black Box Theatre in the Scheidegger Performing Arts Center on the campus of Lindenwood University in St. Charles. For more information: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/290534 Read the 88.1 KDHX review!

New Jewish Theater presents Lanford Wilson's Talley's Folly through December 23. Performances take place in the Marvin and Harlene Wool Studio Theater at the Jewish Community Center, 2 Millstone Campus Drive in Creve Coeur. For more information: www.newjewishtheatre.org or call 314-442-3283. Read the 88.1 KDHX review!

St. Charles Community College Young People's Theatre presents White Christmas December 14 through 16. Performances take place 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.

The Fox Theatre presents the Broadway musical Wicked December 12 through January 6. The Fox Theatre is at 527 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information, call 314-534-1678.

Chuck's Choices for the weekend of December 7, 2012

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

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New this week:

Topper Productions presents St. Louis native Craig Pomranz in The Break-Up Show on Friday and Saturday, December 7 and 8, at 8 PM. “Craig was named New York's Best Male Vocalist of 2012, and is a current BroadwayWorld.com nominee.” As I noted in my review of his appearance here last February, Mr. Pomranz combines impressive vocal technique with a self-deprecating sense of humor. Last year, for example, he was selling t-shirts emblazoned with the phrase “I Spent the Night With Craig.” Performances take place at the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information: www.brownpapertickets.com or call (314) 965-2526.

Mariposa Artists presents An Evening in December on Friday and Saturday, December 7 and 8, at 8 PM. An Evening in December is a Christmas-themed cabaret evening starring Bob Becherer and Merry Keller with special guests Robert Breig, Brian Derton, Katie McGrath, Shauna Sconce and Jeff Wright. Ron Bryant is pianist and music director for the show, which takes place at The Chapel, 6238 Alexander Drive. Twenty percent of all ticket sales will benefit the Ronald McDonald House, and audience members are encouraged to bring new toys to be donated to Toys for Tots. Some of St. Louis's best cabaret talent will be on display here. For more information: aneveningindecember.brownpapertickets.com.

Photos by John Lamb

Stray Dog Theatre presents the one-man comedy Fully Committed, starring Greg Fenner, Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 PM, December 6-22. "Hired to answer reservation calls at Manhattan’s hottest celebrity restaurant during the holiday season, an unemployed actor must handle the incessant barrage of nightmarish demands. Coercion, threats, bribes, histrionics - a cast of desperate callers will stop at nothing in their zeal to land a prime reservation, or the right table. Written by a former restaurant worker, this one-man tour-de-force is hilarious, heartfelt, and dishy!" I've seen this twice (here at the Rep and in Chicago with Bronson Pinchot) and found it vastly entertaining both times. The characters in Becky Mode's script are deftly and convincingly drawn, which raises this above the level of a simple virtuoso acting display. Performances take place at The Tower Grove Abbey, 2336 Tennessee. For more information, visit straydogtheatre.org or call 314-865-1995.

The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Christopher Warren Green, present Handel's Messiah Friday and Saturday at 8 and Sunday at 2 PM. Soloists are Tamara Wilson, soprano; Christopher Ainslie, countertenor; Daniel Montenegro, tenor; and Matthew Treviño, bass. Performances take place in Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand. Yes, I know that oratorio isn't technically theatre (although some are certainly overtly theatrical), but Handel was a man of the theatre who was already well-established as an opera composer when he wrote The Messiah in 1741. He only started writing oratorios because he realized there was a market for them in England. The presence of a countertenor in the list of soloists suggests this might be a more historically accurate Messiah than one sometimes sees at this time of year. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

Magic Smoking Monkey Theatre presents Stupefy! The 90 Minute Harry Potter Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 and 10:30 PM, December 7- 15. “The 7:30pm performance is 'family friendly.' The late show is recommended for audiences 16 and over. Audience members should feel free to dress in their Hogwarts attire, if desired.” Well, how can you not love this idea? Performances take place at the Emerson Black Box Theatre in the Scheidegger Performing Arts Center on the campus of Lindenwood University in St. Charles. For more information: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/290534

Photo by Meghan Moore Hires

Edison Theatre Ovations! Series presents the Reduced Shakespeare Company (RSC) production of The Ultimate Christmas Show (abridged) on Friday and Saturday, December 7 and 8, at 8 PM. “Learn how Santa saved Christmas, the origin of the term "Nutcracker," the truths behind some of our most beloved holiday traditions and more! And Christmas isn't the only holiday in on the laughs: Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Saturnalia are included, too.” The RSC can be relierd upon to produce smart rapid-fire comedy, so I'd be surprised if this wasn't a hoot. Performances take place at Edison Theater on the Washington University campus. For more information, edison.wustl.edu or call 314-935-6543.

Held over:

HotCity Theatre presents Charles Busch's comedy The Divine Sister November 30 through December 15. "This hilariously irreverent tale tells the story of an indomitable Mother Superior (played 'in-drag') trying to cope with a young postulant experiencing 'visions', sexual hysteria among her nuns, a Da Vinci Code style mystery, and a 'well-endowed' former flame intent on luring her away from her vows." Busch's lunatic sensibility is always worth seeing, and this should be a nice antidote to all the Christmas Carol and Nutcracker performances we get around this time. "Everyone is the show is terrific and could teach master classes in comic timing," says Andrea Braun in her review for 88.1 KDHX. Performances take place at the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information, visit www.hotcitytheatre.org or call 314-289-4063.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents the comedy The Foreigner November 28-December 23. Performances take place on the main stage at the Loretto-Hlton Center, 130 Edgar Road in Webster Groves, MO. "In this wild and wacky comedy, Charlie Baker needs to get away, and his friend Froggy knows just the place - his favorite little fishing lodge in rural Georgia. To get Charlie some much needed peace, Froggy convinces the locals that his friend doesn’t understand English. But the plan backfires when all the lodge’s inhabitants start revealing deep secrets and diabolical plans in front of their quiet foreign guest." "There are too many very funny bits to list here," noted Robert Mitchell in his review for 88.1 KDHX, "just be assured that if you want a good laugh, that there is more than enough opportunity with The Foreigner." It has been a few decades since the Rep did this fast-paced and somewhat political comedy. Sadly, the satire of Southern bigotry is still relevant. For more information, call 314-968-4925 or visit repstl.org.

Getting with the program

Who: Pianist Kirill Gerstein and The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Robertson
What: Music of Richard Strauss, Hindemith, and Thomas Adès
Where: Powell Symphony Hall, St. Louis
When: November 30 – December 2, 2012



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As anyone who has ever taken a “music depreciation” course will recall, “program music” is the label applied (sometimes dismissively) to any composition either inspired by or intended to depict something non-musical. That usually means the dramatic, literary, or visual arts, although history, nature, and even architecture figure prominently as well.

The weekend of November 30, 2012, the symphony offered an ambitious quartet of works that all qualify as “program music” but haven’t much in common otherwise—which just shows you how little that label really means. Richard Strauss’s Don Juan, for example, takes its inspiration from a poem by Lenau while his Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks harkens back to German folklore. Paul Hindemith’s Symphonie Mathis der Maler, written under the lengthening shadow of fascism, draws on the life and work of 16th century painter Matthias Grünewald who, like Hindemith, found himself caught up in violent political strife. And British composer Thomas Adès’s In Seven Days, written in 2008 and making its local debut, turns the seven mythical days of creation into a seven-movement virtuoso piece for piano and orchestra.

In Seven Days is the new kid on the block, so let’s spend a bit of time with it first.

In Seven Days is, essentially, a series of variations on a brief motif tossed around by skittering strings in the opening “Chaos—Light—Dark” section. As the piece progresses that little motif becomes the basis for an increasingly elaborate musical structure that reaches its peak in the fugue of the fifth and sixth movements (“Creatures of the Sea and Sky—Creatures of the Land”) which, as Mr. Robertson noted in his pre-performance comments, depicts the “amazing joy and wonder” of the newly minted animals in their home. In the final section, “Contemplation,” the main theme shows up in its original form and the music winds down into a silence that says, “to be continued”. Because creation isn’t an event, it’s a process.

Mr. Robertson noted that In Seven Days depicts “Genesis in its sophistication and childlike wonder,” but to my ears it worked just as well as a musical depiction of real-world creation, with complexity arising from very simple organisms. So maybe there’s ambiguity there and, so, just a bit more Art.

The piano is as much a part of the orchestra as it is a solo instrument here, although the writing is often very flashy and demanding. There is, for example, a particularly striking section in the fourth movement, “Stars—Sun—Moon,” where sparkling cascades of sound at the very top of the instrument’s register segue into brass fanfares, and another in the opening “Chaos” movement when the soloist bursts out of a cluster of bass notes into a duet with the congas. Mr. Gerstein, reading from an iPad rather than a printed score (first time I’ve seen that outside of a Parisian piano bar), navigated his way through this treacherous terrain with ease, as did the orchestra. This is my first exposure to In Seven Days, so while Mr. Gerstein's technique was impressive, I can’t say much about his interpretation. I will say that it sounded impressive and he appeared wholly caught up in the music.

It should be noted, by the way, that Mr. Adès’s work was apparently conceived as a multi-media piece. The original title was In Seven Days (Concerto for Piano With Moving Image), with projected video by artist Tal Rosner. More recent performances have apparently dropped the images but if the brief excerpts on YouTube are any indication, they add considerably to the experience. Without them, there were times when the music felt a bit repetitious.

Hindemith’s Symphonie Mathis der Maler isn’t a new work, but it does rather lie somewhat outside the core repertory of contemporary orchestras. It was last heard locally over fourteen years ago under Hans Graf. Hindemith intended it as a kind of preview for his opera Matis der Maler (Matthias the Painter), which he was working on at the time. The Symphonie was a popular success when Wilhelm Furtwängler premiered it in 1934, but Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels saw the anti-authoritarian subtext of both the Symphonie and the developing opera as suspiciously leftist and banned the composer’s “degenerate” music—starting a process the eventually led to Hindemith’s departure to Switzerland (where the opera finally had its first performance) and finally, his emigration to the United States.

Each of the symphony’s three movements refers to a panel of Matthias Grünewald’s “Isenheim Altarpiece”: “Angelic Concert,” “Entombment,” and “Temptation of St. Anthony”. Together, they constitute a striking blend of post-Romantic orchestral color and the neoclassical counterpoint that characterizes so much of Hindemith’s music. Mr. Robertson’s performance brought out all those orchestral details and did full justice to the work’s dramatic origins (the opening of the final movement, for example, was most striking) without sacrificing any of its clarity.

The two Strauss tone poems that opened the first and second halves of the concert were more familiar stuff. Till Eulenspiegel was last heard here in a nifty reading by JoAnn Falletta in March of 2009 and Don Juan was last performed by the symphony under Ward Stare just a month earlier. They are, of course, brilliantly showy works from a young composer who was just beginning to make his mark. Mr. Robertson’s interpretations favored bold strokes and strong contrasts. His Don Juan had swashbuckling flair, languorous romance (clearly, to quote a 1951 Dominoes lyric, a “sixty minute man”), and a poignant demise, while his Till Eulenspiegel played pranks that were not just merry but somewhat manic as well. The orchestral playing was first rate, with impressive solos from (among others) Diana Haskell on clarinet, Cally Banham on English horn, Roger Kaza on horn (the famous opening of Till Eulenspiegel), and concertmaster David Halen.

Next on the calendar: A series of holiday concerts begins with Christopher Warren-Green conducting Handel’s Messiah December 7 through 9. For ticket information: stlsymphony.org