Friday, February 28, 2014

Chuck's Choices for the weekend of February 28, 2014

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:

Dance St. Louis presents the acrobatic dance troupe Diavolo Friday and 8 and Saturday at 2 and 8 PM. "Diavolo—one of the West Coast’s most prominent dance companies and a designated cultural treasure of the City of Los Angeles—makes its way to St. Louis for a thrilling, playful and gravity-defying performance. Composed of modern dancers, athletes, gymnasts, ballet dancers, martial artists, actors and stunt performers, Diavolo pushes the boundaries of dance through its dynamic movement and signature use of colossal set pieces, including skateboard ramps, a 15-foot staircase, an 18-foot aluminum and steel spinning wheel and a giant cube that turns into a pyramid. Created in 1992 in Los Angeles by Artistic Director Jacques Heim, the Parisian innovator who choreographed Cirque du Soleil’s Las Vegas show KÀ, Diavolo cleverly mixes together dance, acrobatics and architectural engineering into a powerful, awesome and thought-provoking production." The performance takes place at the Touhill Performing Arts Center on the UMSL campus. For more information: dancestlouis.org.

My take: I've never seen the group before, but the promotional videos look pretty exciting—something of a mashup of dance, athletics, and circus. And the Touhill is a comfortable and well-appointed venue.

Photo: Joan Marcus
The Fox Theatre presents the musical Jersey Boys through March 2. The musical is based on the careers of Rock and Roll Hall of Famers The Four Seasons: Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi. "This is the story of how four blue-collar kids became one of the greatest successes in pop music history. They wrote their own songs, invented their own sounds and sold 175 million records worldwide - all before they were thirty!" The Fox Theatre is at 517 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information, call 314-534-1678.

My take: "There's a contemporary swagger present in the Fox Theatre's current production of 'Jersey Boys'," writes Tina Farmer in her KDHX review, "that slides smoothly into the history of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. The combination works well, resulting in a smart, snappy production that thoroughly entertains. Openly addressing the influence of perspective and self-interest, the show also avoids self-reverence, even as it keeps the conflict light." Note that this is not a musical revue but rather a legit book musical about the group's rise to fame and subsequent breakup, so you get some substance with the musical nostalgia.

The Presenters Dolan present Marissa Mulder: The Songs Of Tom Waits Thursday through Saturday, February February 27 - March 1, at 8 PM as part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival. " Marissa Mulder kicks off our Cabaret in a New Key shows, featuring performers who are pressing the edges of the form. With MD Jon Weber and her entire New York-based band, Marissa encounters the songs of Tom Waits, in a beautiful, crystalline distillation of their power and beauty. Will Friedwald of The Wall Street Journal says that Mulder projects and amplifies her soul through these songs, virtually defining what cabaret is supposed to be. Each of the souls lucky enough to hear the unmissable Ms. Mulder reaches the same end." The performances take place at the Gaslight Theater, 358 North Boyle. For more information: gaslightcabaretfestival.com.

My take: Both Ms. Mulder and her show—which premiered last March at New York's Metropolitan Room—come highly recommended. "Far and away the season's best cabaret show," wrote Stephen Holden in the New York Times, "it is everything the genre can be but almost never is." "Mulder's voice has a retro 1930s and '40s quality, but it al ranges from ethereal to unselfconsciously coquettish," wrote Stephen Hanks in Cabaret Scenes. "Her unaffected mezzo soprano sound is like sweet Tupelo honey dripping slowly off a spoon into a hot cup of tea." Note that the Gaslight Theatre does not have a parking lot, so showing up early is advised if you want to have a chance of finding a spot on Boyle near the theatre. You can always stop by the adjoining West End Grill for a drink or dinner before the show, after all. That's what I usually do.

The Performing Arts Department at Washington University presents the classic comedy You Can't Take it With You Friday and Saturday at 8 PM and Sunday at 2 PM through March 1. Performances take place in the Edison Theatre in the Mallinckrodt Student Center on the Washington University campus. For more information: pad.artsci.wustl.edu or call 314-935-6543.

My take: "The show breezes along, and right past, the bleak realities of the period with a joyful self-indulgence," writes Tina Farmer in her review for KDHX. "And, as pithy as the title may seem, there is, after all, a genuine truth hiding underneath the straightforward statement...The youthful and enthusiastic cast does a splendid job referencing the style and patter of the period, at least if the movies I've seen are any indication. They move confidently, with faced paced, clipped dialogue and an abundance of sight gags that kept the audience chuckling along." The script is one of Kaufman and Hart's best, an unabashedly sentimental hymn to all non-conformity. Few things are more fun than a good production of it, and this one sounds like a winner.

Held Over:

Photo: Jerry Naunheim, Jr.
The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents Other Desert Cities through March 9. “Things get bumpy when promising young novelist Brooke Wyeth returns home to Palm Springs to get her family's approval of her newest work - a tell-all memoir dredging up long-kept family secrets. Daring her conservative parents to oppose her, Brooke draws a line in the sand, and when it is crossed, the result threatens to undo them all. Politics, lies and regrets collide in this biting, sharp and fiercely funny Pulitzer Prize finalist.” Performances take place on the mainstage at the Loretto-Hlton Center, 130 Edgar Road in Webster Groves, MO. For more information, call 314-968-4925 or visit repstl.org.

My take: This production has gotten very good press so far. In her review for 88.1 KDHX, for example, Tina Farmer says it's "an intense and deeply personal examination of love and family loyalty that twists audience expectations and still manages to deliver a surprisingly satisfying resolution."

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Varied variations

Alberto Ginastera
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This weekend at the symphony, BBC Chief Conductor Juanjo Mena is on the podium for a series of variations on the theme of the theme and variations. Which is not as confusing as it looks. All three of the works on the program are examples of the "theme and variations" form, in which a single melodic thread is used to spin a complex tapestry of music.

The form has been a favorite of composers for centuries, from the Renaissance right up to the present day. "Beethoven was especially fond of it," writes Paul Schiavo in his program notes, "and cultivated it brilliantly. But Handel, Bach, Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, Copland, Schoenberg, and many other composers used it profitably." The three examples on this weekend's program are all by composers who wrote in the 20th century and cover a span of over fifty years, from 1898 to 1953.

The most recent work is the one that opens the concerts, the "Variaciones concertantes," op. 23 by the Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera. It takes the conventional theme and variations form and combines it with a concept that emerged mainly in the 20th century, the "concerto for orchestra"—a work in which each section of the ensemble gets an opportunity to take the spotlight. Bartok's "Concerto for Orchestra" (which the symphony did just last month, under Andrés Orozco-Estrada) is probably the most famous example. Benjamin Britten's "Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" is another.

Rachmaninoff in
California, 1919
Ginastera adds a bit of whimsy by giving each variation a descriptive title: " Variazione giocosa per Flauto" ("Playful variation for flute"), "Variazione drammatica per Viola" ("Dramatic variation for viola"), "Variazione in modo di Moto perpetua per Violino" ("Variation in perpetual motion style for violin"), and so on. "These variations have a subjective Argentine character," writes the composer in his notes for the Boosey and Hawkes edition of the score. "Instead of using folkloristic material, I try to achieve an Argentine atmosphere through the employment of my own thematic and rhythmic elements...All the instruments of the orchestra are treated soloistically. Some variations belong to the decorative, ornamental or elaborative type, others are written in the contemporary manner of metamorphosis, which consists of taking elements of the main theme and evolving from it new material." Should be a good workout for our "orchestra of virtuosos."

Next is one of the great virtuoso showpieces of the twentieth century, Rachmaninoff's flashy "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" from 1934. The Russian expatriate was one of the previous century's great virtuoso pianists and the "Rhapsody" served him well as he toured America and Europe. He played solo role in the premiere performance, of course—in Baltimore, Maryland, with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by another giant of 20th-century music, Leopold Stokowski.

The piece is a sort of mini-concerto, consisting of 24 variations on (appropriately) the twenty-fourth and last of Niccolò Paganini's "Caprices" for solo violin – a tune that has proved irresistible for composers from Liszt to Andrew Lloyd Webber. Listen for the quote of the Latin plainchant "Dies Irae" (a theme that crops up often on Rachmaninoff's music) about a third of the way through and note the extreme technical difficulty of the last variation. Even Rachmaninoff was said to have found it scary.

Benedetto Lupo
That brings us to the soloist, who appears to be well equipped to perform that scary music. Although Italian pianist Benedetto Lupo's career got a major shot in the arm when he took the bronze (now the crystal) medal at the 1989 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (where technical expertise is more or less a given), he was already a fairly seasoned pianist at the time, with nearly twenty concertos in his repertoire. By now he has played with prominent orchestras worldwide and has been a frequent recitalist as well. His recordings include the complete works for piano and orchestra by Robert Schumann as well as the "Concerto Soirée" by his mentor, the film composer Nino Rota. "He currently teaches at the Nino Rota Conservatory in Monopoli, Italy," according to the official biography at his agent's web site, "has several students who are enjoying a notable performing career, gives master classes worldwide and has been invited to be a jury member in several renowned international piano competitions."

Elgar, circa 1900
The evening concludes with a work that could probably be classed as one of Edward Elgar's greatest hits, the “Enigma Variations” from 1989-99. Effectively a musical family album, the fourteen variations are vivid little sound portraits of Elgar, his wife, and his friends. Even a pet bulldog puts in an appearance in a comical variation (number 11) that portrays the dog tumbling down a grassy bank into the river Wye and then, according to the composer, "paddling up stream to find a landing place (bars 2 and 3) and his rejoicing bark on landing (second half of bar 5."

The “Enigma” of the title, according to Elgar, refers to “another and larger theme” which is “not played”. The composer never revealed what that theme might be and speculation has been lively ("most convincingly Auld Lang Syne," according to the late British musicologist Robin Golding) but I'm inclined to go along with the school of thought that the “theme” to which Elgar referred wasn't musical at all but rather the common thread of friendship and good humor that pervades the music.

Juanjo Mena
A native of Vitoria-Gasteiz, the capital city of the province of lava and of the autonomous community of the Basque Country in northern Spain, guest conductor Mena has led orchestras throughout Europe. Here in the USA he has conducted in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Houston and Pittsburgh. This is his first appearance with the St. Louis Symphony, though, so it will be interesting to see what he does with this material. His Richard Strauss performances got enthusiastic reviews in Britain and his Mozart 40th with the Los Angeles Philharmonic was lavishly praised by the L.A. Times. Similar acclaim was heaped on his Shubert 9th with the Oslo Philharmonic. So he certainly comes highly recommended.

The essentials: Juanjo Mena conducts the St. Louis Symphony, with pianist Benedetto Lupo, in Alberto Ginastera's "Variaciones concertantes," Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini," and Elgar's "Enigma Variations (Variations on an Original Theme)" Friday and Saturday at 8 PM and Sunday at 3 PM, February 28-March 2, at Powell Hall in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org. The Saturday concert will be broadcast live on St. Louis Public Radio at 90.7 FM, HD 1, and streaming from the station web site. But, of course, it 's best heard live.

Monday, February 24, 2014

St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of February 24, 2014

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 Lemp Mansion Comedy-Mystery Dinner Theater presents its Bullets in the Bathtub through April 27. The Lemp Mansion is at 3322 DeMenil Place. For more information: lempmansion.com

The Touhill Performing Arts Center presents The Nebraska Theatre Caravan production of The Fantasticks on Sunday, March 2, at 3:00 PM. The Touhill Performing Arts Center in on the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus. For more information, you may visit www.touhill.org or call (314) 516-4949.

The Bissell Mansion Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre presents Flaming Saddles through April 27. The Bissell Mansion is at 4426 Randall Place. For more information: bissellmansiontheatre.com

The Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University presents The House of the Spirits by Caridad Svich, based on the novel by Isabel Allende, Wednesdays through Sundays through March 2. “The haunting best-selling novel by Isabel Allende comes to the stage in this fascinating adaptation, showing the struggles of a landed, privileged family in a South American nation as four generations of women face up to a powerful patriarch and dictatorship in the 20th century.” Performances take place in Emerson Studio Theatre at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University campus. For more information: www.webster.edu/fine-arts/departments/conservatory/index.html or call 314-968-7128

Photo: Joan Marcus
The Fox Theatre presents the musical Jersey Boys through March 2. The musical is based on the careers of Rock and Roll Hall of Famers The Four Seasons: Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi. "This is the story of how four blue-collar kids became one of the greatest successes in pop music history. They wrote their own songs, invented their own sounds and sold 175 million records worldwide - all before they were thirty!" The Fox Theatre is at 517 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information, call 314-534-1678.

The Presenters Dolan present Marissa Mulder: The Songs Of Tom Waits Thursday through Saturday, February February 27 - March 1, at 8 PM as part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival. " Marissa Mulder kicks off our Cabaret in a New Key shows, featuring performers who are pressing the edges of the form. With MD Jon Weber and her entire New York-based band, Marissa encounters the songs of Tom Waits, in a beautiful, crystalline distillation of their power and beauty. Will Friedwald of The Wall Street Journal says that Mulder projects and amplifies her soul through these songs, virtually defining what cabaret is supposed to be. Each of the souls lucky enough to hear the unmissable Ms. Mulder reaches the same end." The performances take place at the Gaslight Theater, 358 North Boyle. For more information: gaslightcabaretfestival.com.

St. Louis University Theatre presents Middletown by Will Eno through March 2. Performances take place in Xavier Hall, 3373 West Pine Mall. "Mary Swanson just moved to Middletown. About to have her first child, she is eager to enjoy the neighborly bonds a small town promises. But life in Middletown is complicated: neighbors are near strangers and moments of connection are fleeting. Middletown is a playful, poignant portrait of a town with two lives, one ordinary and visible, the other epic and mysterious. A tart play which captures life's absurd beauty via a steady stream of gorgeous little comments on big things." For more information, call (314) 977-2998 or visit www.slu.edu/theatre.

Brass Rail Players present Nunsense - the Mega Musical through March 2. The performances take place at The Turkey Hill Grange, 1375 Illinois Rte. 15 in Belleville, IL. For more information, visit brassrailplayers.org.

Photo: Jerry Naunheim, Jr.
The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents Other Desert Cities through March 9. “Things get bumpy when promising young novelist Brooke Wyeth returns home to Palm Springs to get her family's approval of her newest work - a tell-all memoir dredging up long-kept family secrets. Daring her conservative parents to oppose her, Brooke draws a line in the sand, and when it is crossed, the result threatens to undo them all. Politics, lies and regrets collide in this biting, sharp and fiercely funny Pulitzer Prize finalist.” Performances take place on the mainstage at the Loretto-Hlton Center, 130 Edgar Road in Webster Groves, MO. For more information, call 314-968-4925 or visit repstl.org. Read the 88.1 KDHX review!

Act Two Theatre presents the musical The Pajama Game throiugh March 2 in the St. Peters Cultural Arts Centre at 1 St Peters Centre Blvd, St. Peters, MO 63376. For more information: act2theater.com.

Dramatic License Productions presents the comedy Shirley Valentine February 27 - March 16. Performances take place at Dramatic License Theatre located at the upper level of Chesterfield Mall (near Sears and across from Houlihan's Restaurant). For more information, call 636-220-7012 or visit dramaticlicenseproductions.org.

The Performing Arts Department at Washington University presents the classic comedy You Can't Take it With You Friday and Saturday at 8 PM and Sunday at 2 PM through March 1. Performances take place in the Edison Theatre in the Mallinckrodt Student Center on the Washington University campus. For more information: pad.artsci.wustl.edu or call 314-935-6543.

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.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

1764 And All That

Bernard Labadie
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Who: The St. Louis Symphony conducted by Bernard Labadie with soloists Philip Ross (oboe), Andrew Gott (bassoon), Kristin Ahlstrom (violin), and Melissa Brooks (cello)
What: Music of Rameau, Haydn, and Mozart
When: February 21-23, 2014
Where: Powell Symphony Hall

[Find out more about the music with the symphony program notes and my Symphony Preview article.]

Unless you've been holed up on the dark side of the moon lately, you've probably noticed that 2014 is the 250th anniversary of the founding of St. Louis. As a glance at the STL250 web site clearly shows, local celebrations of the event are popping up all over. This weekend the St. Louis Symphony is doing its part with a program that includes works composed between 1763 and 1792, including a Haydn symphony that's almost exactly the same age as our fair city.

Under the expert baton of early music specialist Bernard Labadie, the concerts show just how much variety there can be in a relatively small span of time.

Rameau
The concerts open with a lively suite of dances from Jean-Philippe Rameau's 1763 tragédie en musique "Les Boréades". Rameau was in the final year of his long and productive life when he wrote it (he died in 1764 at the age of 81), so he never saw it performed. No surprise there. What is surprising, as Mr. Labadie points out in his fascinating pre-concert remarks, is that due in part to legal issues over the performance rights, nobody else got to see it either for well over two centuries. Happily, the issues were resolved a decade ago, allowing audiences to enjoy Rameau's tuneful and inventive score.

The suite got a crisp and polished reading from Mr. Labadie and the orchestra. The fanciful "Gavottes pour les heures" was especially fun, with Andrea Kaplan and Ann Choomack on piccolo joining Andrew Cuneo and Henry Skolnick on bassoon (the latter at the very top of their registers) to perfectly conjure up whirling clockwork. The suite is short—two of the dances listed in the program were cut, presumably because of the length of the concert overall—but nicely chosen and thoroughly entertaining.

Up next was Haydn's "Sinfonia concertante in B-flat major," Hob. I:105. A Classical-era revision of the Baroque concerto grosso, works in the sinfonia concertante mold featured an ensemble of solo players with orchestra instead of the single soloist that would later characterize the concerto form. In this case it's a solo quartet: violin, cello, oboe, and bassoon.

Haydn portrait by
Thomas Hardy (1757-c. )
It's the "newest" piece on the program, dating from 1792 and written for the composer's first trip to London, where he was embraced with open arms and open purses as well. A contemporary review raved about it, saying that it "combined with all the excellencies of music" and was "was profound, airy, affecting, and original." That's as good a description as any of this consistently engaging work, with its clear and concise structure (it clocks in at 22 minutes) and Haydn's characteristic good humor.

That good humor is especially apparent in the final movement, in which the violin has to restate the main theme three times before the orchestra "gets it." Symphony annotator Paul Schiavo sees it as a humorous portrayal of a music lesson, although to me it sounded more like an operatic recitative followed by an aria. Either way, the violin and cello get in the last word, with short flourishes at the very tops of their registers just before the final chords.

The solo quartet consists entirely members of the home team: Acting Co-Principal oboe Philip Ross, Associate Principal bassoon Andrew Gott, Associate Principal Second Violin Kirstin Ahlstrom, and Associate Principal cello Melissa Brooks. It's always good to see the local folks in the spotlight, especially when they play with such seemingly effortless grace. Their sound was perfectly balanced, both within the solo group and against the orchestra.

The second half of the concert features symphonies by the two giants of the Classical period, Haydn and Mozart. We begin with Haydn's 1764 "Symphony No. 22 in E-flat major." It's nicknamed "The Philosopher" for any number of reasons, depending on whom you ask. In his post-intermission commentary, Mr. Labadie opined that it refers to the way the dialog between the horns and English horns (the darker-toned cousins of the oboe) in the stately first movement imitates the Socratic "question and answer" style of teaching. To me, the entire movement has always conjured up the image of a thoughtful academic carefully laying out a mathematical proof or explaining a complex philosophical issue. Your mileage may vary.

Here, as in the rest of the program, Mr. Labadie drew fine performances from the orchestra, with tempi that felt historically right. The dialog between horns Thomas Jöstlein and Anna Spina and English horns Cally Banham and Michelle Duskey was right on the money and the third movement Menuetto had a "folk dance" feel that was, I expect, very much what Haydn had in mind.

Detail of Mozart portrait by
Johann Nepomuk della Croce
(1736-1819)
The final work on the program—Mozart's "Symphony No. 39 in E-flat major," K. 543—is the first of a set of three that the composer dashed off in a burst of creativity in the summer of 1788. It gets less attention than the other two, much as a normal human being would be less noticed standing next to a pair of NFL linebackers, but that doesn't make it any less a great composition, neatly melding Baroque counterpoint with Classical clarity.

Mr. Labadie conducted without a score, so it's obviously a work he knows intimately. He gave it a lean, energetic reading that made the most of the work's drama (especially in the Andante con moto second movement) without tipping over into exaggeration. The little Alpine waltz of the Menuetto: Allegretto third movement was most charming as well, lovingly rendered by Scott Andrews and Tim Zavadil on clarinets and answered by Andrea Kaplan on flute.

The concerts repeat today (Saturday) at 8 PM and Sunday at 3 PM, February 22 and 23. The Saturday concert will be broadcast on St. Louis Public Radio 90.7 and HD 1.

Next on the schedule: On Wednesday, February 26, at 7:30 PM David Robertson conducts members of the orchestra in a program of music by Steve Reich in a Pulitzer Series concert at the Pulitzer Center for the Arts, 3716 Washington. Then Juanjo Mena conducts the orchestra with piano soloist Benedetto Lupo in a program of music by Ginastera, Rachmaninoff, and Elgar on Friday and Saturday at 8 PM and Sunday at 3 PM, February 28 – March 2, at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

St. Louis classical calendar for the week of February 24, 2014

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The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra presents a brass quintet concert featuring symphony members on Monday, February 24, at 6 PM as part of the Symphony in Your College program. The concert takes place at 1 Hairpin Drive at on the Southern Illinois University campus in Edwardsville, IL. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra presents a Pulitzer Series concert on Wednesday, February 26, at 7:30 PM. David Robertson will conduct members of the orchestra in a program of music by Steve Reich. The performance takes place at the Pulitzer Center for the Arts, 3716 Washington. For more information: stlsymphony.org

Benedetto Lupo
Juanjo Mena conducts The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra with piano soloist Benedetto Lupo in a program of music by Ginastera, Rachmaninoff, and Elgar. Performances take place on Friday and Saturday at 8 PM and Sunday at 3 PM, February 28 – March 2, at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand. "Spanish conductor Juanjo Mena makes his STL Symphony debut leading Elgar 's Enigma Variations. Created by the composer as a musical puzzle, this work will astonish and delight with its unforgettable melodies including the famously noble 'Nimrod.' The centuries-old theme from Rachmaninoff 's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini comes to life as pianist Benedetto Lupo showcases an outstanding technical display against a gorgeous orchestral backdrop." For more information: stlsymphony.org.

The Sheldon Concert Hall presents St. Louis Symphony Concertmaster David Halen and folk singers Dave Para and Cathy Barton in a program of music of the Civil War era on Wednesday, February 26, at 8 PM. "Two cherished Missouri folk singers, Dave Para and Cathy Barton, join David Halen for music from the Civil War era. The folk duo are multi-instrumentalists and helped found the Missouri Folk Festival over 20 years ago. Halen and members of the Symphony perform classical music from the era and also 'Ashokan Farewell,' written for the PBS Civil War series." The Sheldon is at 3648 Washington in Grand Center. For more information: thesheldon.org.

The St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra presents a Next Generation Chamber Music Concert on Tuesday, February 25, at 7 PM. The performance takes place at the Tavern of Fine Arts, 313 Belt. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

The Snow Trio
The Tavern of Fine Arts presents The Snow Trio on Friday, February 28, at 8:00 PM. The Tavern of Fine Arts is at 313 Belt in the Debaliviere Place neighborhood. For more information: tavern-of-fine-arts.blogspot.com.

The Tavern of Fine Arts presents soprano Christine Johnson and pianist Jon Garrett on Saturday, March 1, at 2 and 8 PM. The Tavern of Fine Arts is at 313 Belt in the Debaliviere Place neighborhood. For more information: tavern-of-fine-arts.blogspot.com.

And that's how it's done

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Who: Ken Page
What: Old, New, Borrowed, and Blue
When: February 20 and 21, 2014
Where: The Gaslight Theatre

I've always maintained that actors in general and musical theatre actors in particular have something of a head start when it comes to cabaret.  They already know how to give meaning to a lyric and how to connect with an audience.  As evidence, I offer up Ken Page's "Old, New, Borrowed, and Blue," which kicked off The Presenters Dolan's Gaslight Cabaret Festival on February 20 and 21.

A veteran of stage and screen and a familiar figure at the Muny, the St. Louis-born actor has been on the cabaret circuit for many years now, including appearances at one of New York's newest and (I'm told) coolest venues, 54 Below.  His show at the Gaslight was almost a textbook example of How to Do Cabaret—perfectly paced, completely engaging, and nicely balanced.

To illustrate my point, let me tell you how the evening began.  It started with an upbeat instrumental version of the Temptations hit "Get Ready" by Mr. Page's talented combo: pianist/music director Henry Palkes, drummer James Jackson, and bassist Vince Clark.  Then, after a moment of silence, Mr. Page's voice was heard from house right singing the opening phrase of "Feelin' Good" (from "The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd")—a cappella and right on pitch.  Resplendent in basic black with a bright red scarf and pocket handkerchief, he came onstage singing, the band kicked in, and everything was off to a strong start.

But there was a problem.  Mr. Page's wireless mic had failed, so he interrupted the song to ask the sound tech to fix it while he used the wired mic on stage.  It was all done smoothly and with good humor.  The mic was fixed, the song ended, and Mr. Page chatted with the audience a bit.  He confessed, with mock shyness, that people had taken to calling him "Big Daddy" lately—a comically self-deprecating reference to Mr. Page's girth.  He then built an audience participation bit on that, getting everyone, on the count of four, to yell "Big Daddy!"  It took a few tries for us all to get the beat, but in the end the house rocked with the words "Big Daddy" and the audience was solidly on Mr. Page's side.  When he then launched into a cheerfully raunchy version of Howlin' Wolf's "300 Pounds of Heavenly Joy" he brought the house down.

And that, as Johnny Carson once said of another cabaret veteran, Marilyn Maye, is how it's done.  Within the space of five minutes or so, Mr. Page had established his vocal chops, shown he could deal gracefully with bumps in the road, and established a rock solid relationship with the audience.

As I said: textbook. 

Ken Page as Old Deuteronomy in "Cats"
The rest of the evening followed suit.  You can see the complete song list at the end of this review, but here is what struck me as some of the highlights.

About halfway through the show, Mr. Page introduced "Memory" from "Cats" (one of the many Broadway shows in which he has appeared) by dedicating it to all the friends he has lost over the years to HIV/AIDS.  His performance was hushed and almost reverential—utterly unlike the big "eleven o'clock number" approach most singers take.  He made it, as a result, completely his own and completely moving.

At the other end of the emotional spectrum was his set of songs from the "Fats" Waller tribute musical "Ain't Misbehavin'" (another of Mr. Page's Broadway triumphs).  "The Joint is Jumpin'" and "Your Feet's Too Big" were appropriately rollicking and "Ain't Misbehavin'" was nicely wistful.  His updated version of the Sonny and Cher chestnut "The Beat Goes On" was great fun and his powerfully soulful take on Count Basie's "Mr. Piano Man" was enhanced by great keyboard work from Mr. Palkes, replicating Basie's original.

One of the most winning moments of the evening was a tribute to the late St. Louis songwriter Fran Landesman.  Mr. Page recalled Ms. Landesman's importance as both a lyricist and a guiding light of the Crystal Palace nightclub during the heyday of Gaslight Square, the legendary St. Louis entertainment district that flourished around Olive and Boyle (just north and east of the Gaslight Theatre) back in the 1950s and early 1960s.  That served as the introduction to Ms. Landesman's best-known song, "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most" (music by Tommy Wolf).  The song was clearly a recent addition to the show, so Mr. Page used a lyric sheet because "this song has a great lyric and I don't want to get it wrong."  His performance was nevertheless tremendously effective.  Seated next to me, my friend Anna Blair—who knew Ms. Landesman well and has done a Landesman tribute show of her own—was fighting back tears.  That's how good it was.

The evening closed out with high-voltage renditions of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman's "They Just Keep Moving the Line" (I know the feeling…) from "Smash" and "Be a Lion" from the show that marked Mr. Page's Broadway debut, "The Wiz."  His encore, the poetic "Shambhala," was accompanied by overtly theatrical hand gestures that should have come across as artificial and affected but instead felt organic and completely right for the lyric and the mood.  Like everything else in this very solid show, it just worked.

The Gaslight Cabaret Festival continues through April 25th at the Gaslight Theatre, 358 North Boyle in the Central West End.  For more information: gaslightcabaretfestival.com.

Song List:
Get Ready (Smokey Robinson)
Feelin' Good (Anthony Newley / Leslie Bricusse)
300 Pounds Of Heavenly Joy (Howlin' Wolf)
The Beat Goes On (Sonny Bono)
Summertime Love (Frank Loesser)
Magic To Do / Corner Of The Sky (Stephen Schwartz)
The Joint Is Jumpin' (J.C. Jones / Andy Razaf / Fats Waller)
Your Feet's Too Big (Ada Benson / Fred Fisher)
Ain't Misbehavin' ("Fats" Waller)
Memory (Andrew Lloyd Webber)
Mr. Piano Man (Count Basie)
Betty and Dupree (Traditional)
Spring Can Reeally Hang You Up The Most (Tommy Wolf / Fran Landesman)
They Just Keep Moving The Line (Marc Shaiman / Scott Wittman)
Be A Lion (Charlie Smalls)
Shambhala

Friday, February 21, 2014

Chuck's Choices for the weekend of Februarty 21, 21014

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 Presenters Dolan present Ken Page: Old, New, Borrowed, and Blue on Friday, February 21, at 8 PM as part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival. "Star of stage and screen, Ken Page is newly added to the Gateway Cabaret Festival lineup! A veteran of Broadway's original casts of Cats, Ain't Misbehavin', The Wiz, Ain't Nothin' But The Blues, and Guys & Dolls, Ken is one of Broadway's and the MUNY's favorite players. Film audiences know Ken from Dreamgirls, Torch Song Trilogy, and as the voice of Mr. Oogie Boogie in the Tim Burton cult classic, The Nightmare Before Christmas. In Old, New, Borrowed & Blue, look for Ken to include a range of songs from Old Broadway, New Broadway, his favorite artists, and the blues." The performances take place at the Gaslight Theater, 358 North Boyle. For more information: licketytix.com.

My take: I saw this show Thursday night and all I can say is that if you want to see how a real master works a house, you'll definitely want to see the second and last show on Friday. He'll have you calling him "Big Daddy" before you know what hit you because (to paraphrase a lyric from "St. Louis Blues"), if his blues don't get you then his jazzin' must. It's a well-balanced collection of songs and reminiscences nicely turned out by an old pro.

Photo: Jerry Naunheim, Jr.
The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents Other Desert Cities through March 9. “Things get bumpy when promising young novelist Brooke Wyeth returns home to Palm Springs to get her family's approval of her newest work - a tell-all memoir dredging up long-kept family secrets. Daring her conservative parents to oppose her, Brooke draws a line in the sand, and when it is crossed, the result threatens to undo them all. Politics, lies and regrets collide in this biting, sharp and fiercely funny Pulitzer Prize finalist.” Performances take place on the mainstage at the Loretto-Hlton Center, 130 Edgar Road in Webster Groves, MO. For more information, call 314-968-4925 or visit repstl.org.

My take: This production has gotten very good press so far. In her review for 88.1 KDHX, for example, Tina Farmer says it's "an intense and deeply personal examination of love and family loyalty that twists audience expectations and still manages to deliver a surprisingly satisfying resolution."

The Presenters Dolan present Tim Schall: 1961 on Saturday, February 22, at 8 PM as part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival. " In 1961 the Beatles debuted at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, Bob Dylan entered the Greenwich Village folk scene, 19 year old Carole King wrote her first #1 hit, Moon River won the Oscar for Best Song and in February of that year Tim Schall was born! Join Tim as he celebrates his birthday in a show dedicated to the music of his natal year." The performance takes place at the Gaslight Theater, 358 North Boyle. For more information: licketytix.com.

My take: As this is being written the show is sold out, but you can always put yourself on the wait list for cancellations. Tim is one of my cabaret mentors and the head of The Cabaret Project St. Louis as well as a popular voice coach and actor locally. He's been doing cabaret in St. Louis longer than pretty much anyone and can always be relied upon for a great performance.

Held Over:

Mustard Seed Theatre presents Gee's Bend through February 23. The play “explores the affect of the Civil Rights Movement on a remote island in Alabama.” Performances take place 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.

My take: "The story of the community of Gee's Bend, Alabama, its origins and struggles, is an interesting and important square in the American quilt," writes Tina Farmer in her review for 88.1 KDHX. "That this small community also contributed to the American folk art movement in significant ways with their own quilts adds an amazing layer of beauty and warmth." She calls the production "thoughtful and affecting" and notes that "the show is grounded with memorable performances and dramatic tension." Mustard Seed often takes on unusual and challenging scripts, always with the focus on "issues of faith and social justice," so this is right up their alley.

Photo: John Lamb
Stray Dog Theatre presents Douglas Carter Beane's The Little Dog Laughed Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 PM through February 22, with an extra 2 PM matinee on the 22nd. “A devilishly hilarious Hollywood agent, a movie star with a recurring case of homosexuality, and a hustler and his ambitious girlfriend struggle to uncover the truth about what they really want. In the process, they trigger a non-stop stream of laughs in this Tony-award winning comedy. For MATURE AUDIENCES: In an effort to keep the selection of shows engaging and dynamic, this production may not be appropriate for all ages.” Performances take place at The Tower Grove Abbey, 2336 Tennessee. For more information, visit straydogtheatre.org or call 314-865-1995.

My take: I've done a number of shows with Stray Dog over the years and have been consistently impressed with their professionalism and with the care they take to make sure their actors get the best support possible. That shows in the quality of what they put on stage. Reviews for this show have been good. In his review for talkingbroadway.com, for example, Richard Green says "it's very funny, and you should definitely go see it." "Bell keeps the action moving between the twin levels of the set in parry-and-thrust fashion," writes Mark Bretz at Ladue News, "ensuring that pacing never lags. The Little Dog Laughed is written mostly for laughs, with a dollop of rueful rumination. Stray Dog’s rendition is faithful to that mixture, a tasty tonic on a cold winter’s night."

Symphonic downsizing

Bernard Labadie
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When guest conductor Bernard Labadie takes the podium this weekend, he'll be leading a noticeably downsized St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. But never fear; nobody has been sacked. It's just that he's conducting a program of music written between 1763 and 1792, back when both orchestras and the halls in which they played were substantially smaller than they are now.

Although only three decades separate the earliest work on the program (a suite from Jean-Philippe Rameau's 1763 opera "Les Boréades") from the latest one (Haydn's 1792 "Sinfonia concertante in B-flat major," Hob. I:105), the difference in style is striking. Rameau had a very long and productive life (he died just short of what would have been his 81st birthday in September of 1764) and continued composing in the Baroque style long after it was seen as outdated and unfashionable. The developments in symphonic style heard in the Haydn and Mozart works on this weekend's program largely passed him by. Nevertheless, he remained popular and prosperous right to the end.

Kirstin Ahlstrom
Given that it was written the year before he died, it won't surprise you to learn that Rameau never saw "Les Boréades" performed. What is a little surprising is that nobody who was alive at the time ever saw it performed either. For reasons which are not entirely clear, the first fully staged performance didn't occur until July 1982, at the Aix-en-Provence Festival with early music champion John Eliot Gardiner conducting. The piece is technically a tragédie en musique, which means it's based on a mythological subject and includes a lot of dances. You'll hear eight of them this weekend, including a fanciful "Gavottes pour les heures" in which, as Paul Schiavo writes in his program notes, the composer has the "piccolos whirring over a rhythmically steady accompaniment to imitate the workings of a clock."

Philip Ross
The Haydn "Sinfonia concertante" is next. It dates from a time when the form of the solo concerto was not as well established as it would later become, so works for multiple solo instruments and orchestra were common. Haydn wrote his for the first of his two visits to London, a city that embraced him both artistically and financially (“I made four thousand guilders this evening,” wrote Haydn after the 1795 premiere of his 104th symphony).

It was apparently dashed off quickly, possibly in response to a bit of rivalry. "Londoners had become accustomed to the sinfonia concertante due to the energy of Johann Christian Bach," wrote Scott Fogelsong in the San Francisco Examiner in 2009, "whose many examples stand as some of the finest of the genre. Thus Haydn tossed his hat into the ring with his Sinfonia concertante in B-flat for violin, cello, oboe, and bassoon... His own student Pleyel had been making waves in the London concert scene during the same season, and quite possibly Haydn's work was a direct response to Pleyel's popular works. One gets a sense of Haydn grinning slightly and murmuring OK, hotshot, let the old man show you how it's done."

Andrew Gott
And show them he did. The piece was a hit. "A new concertante from HAYDN combined with all the excellencies of music," enthused the Morning Herald the next day; "it was profound, airy, affecting, and original, and the performance was in unison with the merit of the composition. SALOMON particularly exerted himself on this occasion, in doing justice to the music of his friend HAYDN." The soloists playing those "excellencies" this weekend are all members of the home team: Acting Co-Principal oboe Philip Ross, Associate Principal bassoon Andrew Gott, Associate Principal Second Violin Kirstin Ahlstrom, and Associate Principal cello Melissa Brooks. It's always good to see the local folks in the spotlight.

Melissa Brooks
The second half of the concert features symphonies by the two giants of the Classical period, Haydn and Mozart. We begin with Haydn's "Symphony No. 22 in E-flat major," nicknamed "The Philosopher" possibly because of what the late Harold Truscott described as "the quizzical, semi-ponderous opening Adagio." The name first appears on a 1790 manuscript copy of the score found in Modena, according to Wikipedia, although we don't know who is responsible for it. To me, that opening movement has always conjured up the image of a thoughtful academic carefully laying out a mathematical proof or explaining a complex philosophical issue, so the sobriquet seems right.

Opening a symphony with an Adagio instead of a conventional fast movement with a slow introduction, by the way, was regarded as quite a novel idea when the piece was composed in 1764. "Nobody up to that time had thought of starting a symphony with a noble slow movement," writes Mark Elder in The Guardian, "nor had anybody ever thought of the extraordinary sound that the symphony begins with: a chorale played by two horns and two cor anglais against an incessant pattern of notes in the strings. It all gives this movement a strange, unexpected beauty."

The final work on the program—Mozart's "Symphony No. 39 in E-flat major," K. 543—is the first of a set of three that the composer dashed off in the summer of 1788. Nobody is really certain of the source of what Arthur V. Berger (in a New York City Symphony program note) called the "sudden efflorescence of inspiration" that produced Mozart's last and, in the estimation of many writers, greatest symphonies, but the results speak (or rather sing) for themselves.

K. 543 gets less attention than the other two, much as a normal human being would be less noticed standing next to a pair of NFL linebackers, but that doesn't make it any less a great composition. "This symphony," writes musicologist Andrew Firmer, "is...a prime example of the composer 's genius that he is not only able to conjure up melodies, but weave them with apparent contradictions that seem to connect with impossible ease." Those contradictions include Mozart's assimilation of the contrapuntal techniques he got from the music of Bach and Handel. "It was this synthesis of 'learned' style with the clean clarity of classicism," writes Brian Robins at allmusic.com, "that caused so much trouble for Mozart's contemporaries, to whom his late style became increasingly 'difficult.'" Today, with over two centuries of hindsight, it's clear that this "difficult" music is both ingeniously complex and wonderfully clear.

Labadie with Les Violons du Roy
Finally, a few words about guest conductor Bernard Labadie. The founder of early music ensembles Les Violons du Roy and La Chapelle de Québec, Labadie is widely regarded as a leading interpreter of music of the 17th and 18th centuries. Reviewing a concert by the former group at London's Barbican Center, the Telegraph called him "[A] fine instinctive musician. He moulds the phrases, plucks out all-important details in the texture and radiates an infectious joy in the music.” So we'll be hearing and expert's take on our Rameau, Haydn and Mozart.

The essentials: Bernard Labadie conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in a suite from Rameau's "Les Boréades," Haydn's "Sinfonia concertante in B-flat major" and "Symphony No. 22 in E-flat major," and Mozart's "Symphony No. 39" in the same key. Performances are Friday at 10:30 AM (a Krispy Kreme coffee concert, with free doughnuts), Saturday at 8 PM, and Sunday at 3 PM, February 21-23, at Powell Hall in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org. The Saturday concert will be broadcast live on St. Louis Public Radio at 90.7 FM, HD 1, and streaming from the station web site. But, of course, it 's best heard live.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

We'll always have Paris

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Who: The St. Louis Symphony conducted by Steven Jarvi
What: Casablanca
When: February 15 and 16, 2014
Where: Powell Symphony Hall

[Want to find out more about the music of "Casablanca"?  Check out my preview article!]

As often as I've seen the 1942 film "Casablanca," it wasn't until I heard Max Steiner's score performed live with the movie this past Saturday that I fully appreciated how important the music is in establishing the mood of key scenes and in advancing the story.

Everybody knows "As Time Goes By," of course.  Originally written by Herman Hupfeld for a 1931 Broadway show "Everybody's Welcome," the song is used in the film in various transformations to represent the ultimately impossible romance between Humphrey Bogart's embittered Rick and Ingrid Bergman's idealistic Ilsa.  Major, minor, fully realized or broken and fragmented, it haunts all their scenes and mirrors their thoughts.  It was always there in the background when I'd seen the film before, of course, but hearing it performed live made its importance that much clearer.

The same is true of the effective ways Steiner uses the Nazi anthem "Deutschland Über Alles" and the French national anthem "La Marseillaise" to symbolize the battle between the forces of fascism and the values fascists in general and Nazis in particular hated: liberté, egalité, fraternité.  The Nazi anthem, in one form or another, inevitably accompanies scenes in which the fascist threat is either on screen in the persona of the smirking Major Strasser (Conrad Veidt) or lurking as a presence in the plot.  "La Marseillaise" wins in the end, of course, as Rich and Louis (Claude Rains) stride off into the fog to carry on the fight.

And, of course, "La Marseillaise" figures prominently in one of the most famous scenes in the film.  A group of Nazi officers in Rick's Café have commandeered the piano and are giving voice to an aggressive version of the 1840s song "Die Wacht Am Rhein" ("Watch on the Rhine").  Sensing the rising anger in the room, Viktor Laszlo (Paul Henreid) signals the band to strike up "La Marseillaise" and the Nazis soon find themselves drowned out and silenced.  It's a powerful scene in its own right, but when backed up by the power of a live orchestra, it's simply overwhelming.

Many other moments in "Casablanca" take on added resonance when the music is heard this clearly.  American popular music figures prominently in all the scenes in Rick's Café Américain and Patrick Russ's ingenious live performing version of the score often has the live orchestra acting as a kind of back-up ensemble for the on-screen band, giving the music just a bit of extra punch.  I was particularly taken with the way the orchestra joined the "call and response" bits during M.K. Jerome and Jack Scholl's "Knock on Wood"—great fun.

Conducting for a live showing of a movie is, as I have noted before, a fairly specialized skill. It’s probably not part of the basic training of most classically educated conductors.  Nevertheless St. Louis Symphony Resident Conductor Steven Jarvi, aided by podium-mounted screens, did an excellent job and the musicians sounded as fine as always.  The expanded percussion battery—including multiple xylophones and marimbas along with piano and celesta—was kept especially busy.

If I have a criticism, it's that the balance between the voice tracks on the film and the live orchestra was rarely ideal, and important bits of dialog often got lost.  This seems to be a chronic problem with film events at Powell, either because of issues with the house sound system or hall acoustics, or both.  For people like my wife and me who practically have "Casablanca" memorized that probably didn't matter much, but I wonder if some of the younger folks knew what they were missing.

And that's a pity, because the dialog needs to be heard.  That's because, in my view, "Casablanca" is a film that still resonates today.  Nazi Germany may be a thing of the past, but home-grown fascist movements are flexing their muscles in far too many Western nations these days.  They hate liberté, egalité, and fraternité just as much now as they did in 1942.  Rod Serling said it best in the epilog to the 1963 "Twilight Zone" episode "He's Alive": "Where will he go next, this phantom from another time, this resurrected ghost of a previous nightmare - Chicago? Los Angeles? Miami, Florida? Vincennes, Indiana? Syracuse, New York? Anyplace, everyplace, where there's hate, where there's prejudice, where there's bigotry. He's alive. He's alive so long as these evils exist. Remember that when he comes to your town. Remember it when you hear his voice speaking out through others. Remember it when you hear a name called, a minority attacked, any blind, unreasoning assault on a people or any human being. He's alive because through these things we keep him alive."

The regular subscription season returns this weekend as Bernard Labadie conducts The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra with soloists Philip Ross (oboe), Andrew Gott (bassoon), Kristin Ahlstrom (violin), and Melissa Brooks (cello) in a program of music by Rameau, Haydn, and Mozart.  Performances take place on Friday at 10:30 AM, Saturday at 8 PM and Sunday at 3 PM, February 21-23, at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand.  For more information: stlsymphony.org.

Monday, February 17, 2014

St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of February 17, 2014

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 Lemp Mansion Comedy-Mystery Dinner Theater presents its Bullets in the Bathtub through April 27. The Lemp Mansion is at 3322 DeMenil Place. For more information: lempmansion.com

The Bissell Mansion Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre presents Flaming Saddles through April 27. The Bissell Mansion is at 4426 Randall Place. For more information: bissellmansiontheatre.com

Mustard Seed Theatre presents Gee's Bend through February 23. The play “explores the affect of the Civil Rights Movement on a remote island in Alabama.” Performances take place 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. Read the 88.1 KDHX review!

The Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University presents The House of the Spirits by Caridad Svich, based on the novel by Isabel Allende, Wednesdays through Sundays, February 19 - March 2. “The haunting best-selling novel by Isabel Allende comes to the stage in this fascinating adaptation, showing the struggles of a landed, privileged family in a South American nation as four generations of women face up to a powerful patriarch and dictatorship in the 20th century.” Performances take place in Emerson Studio Theatre at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University campus. For more information: www.webster.edu/fine-arts/departments/conservatory/index.html or call 314-968-7128

Lindenwood University presents Sondheim's Into the Woods February 20 - 22. Performances take place at the J. Scheidegger Center for the Arts on the Lindenwood campus in St. Charles, MO. For more information, call 636-949-4433 or visit lindenwood.edu/center.

Photo: Joan Marcus
The Fox Theatre presents the musical Jersey Boys February 19 - March 2. The musical is based on the careers of Rock and Roll Hall of Famers The Four Seasons: Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi. "This is the story of how four blue-collar kids became one of the greatest successes in pop music history. They wrote their own songs, invented their own sounds and sold 175 million records worldwide - all before they were thirty!" The Fox Theatre is at 517 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information, call 314-534-1678.

The Presenters Dolan present Ken Page: Old, New, Borrowed, and Blue on Thursday and Friday, February 20 and 21, at 8 PM as part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival. "Star of stage and screen, Ken Page is newly added to the Gateway Cabaret Festival lineup! A veteran of Broadway's original casts of Cats, Ain't Misbehavin', The Wiz, Ain't Nothin' But The Blues, and Guys & Dolls, Ken is one of Broadway's and the MUNY's favorite players. Film audiences know Ken from Dreamgirls, Torch Song Trilogy, and as the voice of Mr. Oogie Boogie in the Tim Burton cult classic, The Nightmare Before Christmas. In Old, New, Borrowed & Blue, look for Ken to include a range of songs from Old Broadway, New Broadway, his favorite artists, and the blues." The performances take place at the Gaslight Theater, 358 North Boyle. For more information: www.gaslightcabaretfestival.com/.

Alfresco Productions presents Ladies First Friday and Saturday at 7:30 PM and Sunday at 2:00 PM, February 21-23. Performances will be held at the Alfresco Art Center, 2041 Delmar Avenue in Granite City IL. For more information: www.alfrescoproductions.org

Photo: John Lamb
Stray Dog Theatre presents Douglas Carter Beane's The Little Dog Laughed Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 PM through February 22, with an extra 2 PM matinee on the 22nd. “A devilishly hilarious Hollywood agent, a movie star with a recurring case of homosexuality, and a hustler and his ambitious girlfriend struggle to uncover the truth about what they really want. In the process, they trigger a non-stop stream of laughs in this Tony-award winning comedy. For MATURE AUDIENCES: In an effort to keep the selection of shows engaging and dynamic, this production may not be appropriate for all ages.” 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!

Photo: John Lamb
The West End Players Guild continues their 103rd season with Brian Friel's Lovers Thursday through Saturday at 8 PM and Sunday at 2 PM. “Renowned Irish playwright Brian Friel spins the tales of hope and regret of two very different couples - one a pair of youngsters just beginning their love life, the other a couple entering the twilight of life together. Set in contemporary Ireland, Lovers offers hard lessons about Irish life and whether love can make a difference.” Performances take place at the Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 North Union at Enright in the Central West End. For more information, call 314-367-0025 or visit www.westendplayers.org. Read the 88.1 KDHX review!

KTK Productions presents A Love Story by Sherry Stryhal through February 23. Performances take place at Southampton Presbyterian Church, 4716 Macklind. For more information, call 314-351-8984.

St. Louis University Theatre presents Middletown by Will Eno February 21 - March 2. Performances take place in Xavier Hall, 3373 West Pine Mall. "Mary Swanson just moved to Middletown. About to have her first child, she is eager to enjoy the neighborly bonds a small town promises. But life in Middletown is complicated: neighbors are near strangers and moments of connection are fleeting. Middletown is a playful, poignant portrait of a town with two lives, one ordinary and visible, the other epic and mysterious. A tart play which captures life's absurd beauty via a steady stream of gorgeous little comments on big things." For more information, call (314) 977-2998 or visit www.slu.edu/theatre.

Brass Rail Players present Nunsense - the Mega Musical February 21 - March 2. The performances take place at The Turkey Hill Grange, 1375 Illinois Rte. 15 in Belleville, IL. For more information, visit brassrailplayers.org.

Photo: Jerry Naunheim, Jr.
The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents Other Desert Cities through March 9. “Things get bumpy when promising young novelist Brooke Wyeth returns home to Palm Springs to get her family's approval of her newest work - a tell-all memoir dredging up long-kept family secrets. Daring her conservative parents to oppose her, Brooke draws a line in the sand, and when it is crossed, the result threatens to undo them all. Politics, lies and regrets collide in this biting, sharp and fiercely funny Pulitzer Prize finalist.” Performances take place on the mainstage at the Loretto-Hlton Center, 130 Edgar Road in Webster Groves, MO. For more information, call 314-968-4925 or visit repstl.org. Read the 88.1 KDHX review!

Act Two Theatre presents the musical The Pajama Game February 21 - March 2 in the St. Peters Cultural Arts Centre at 1 St Peters Centre Blvd, St. Peters, MO 63376. For more information: act2theater.com.

St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley Theater Department presents Reasons to Be Pretty through February 22. Performances take place in the Fisher Theatre on the campus at 3400 Pershall Road. For more information, call 314-644-5522.

The Presenters Dolan present Tim Schall: 1961 on Saturday, February 22, at 8 PM as part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival. " In 1961 the Beatles debuted at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, Bob Dylan entered the Greenwich Village folk scene, 19 year old Carole King wrote her first #1 hit, Moon River won the Oscar for Best Song and in February of that year Tim Schall was born! Join Tim as he celebrates his birthday in a show dedicated to the music of his natal year." The performance takes place at the Gaslight Theater, 358 North Boyle. For more information: www.gaslightcabaretfestival.com.

The Performing Arts Department at Washington University presents the classic comedy You Can't Take it With You Friday and Saturday at 8 PM and Sunday at 2 PM, February 21 - March 1. Performances take place in the Edison Theatre in the Mallinckrodt Student Center on the Washington University campus. For more information: pad.artsci.wustl.edu or call 314-935-6543.

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.