Chuck's Choices for the weekend of July 3, 2015

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 Fantasticks

Insight Theatre Company presents the classic musical The Fantasticks July 2-18. "This long running show is a funny and romantic musical about a boy, a girl, two fathers, and a wall. The narrator, El Gallo, asks the audience to use their imaginations and follow him into a world of moonlight and magic. The young lovers do come to realize that, just as El Gallo had said, 'Without a hurt, the heart is hollow.'" Performances take place in the Heagney Theatre, 530 East Lockwood on the campus of Nerinx Hall High School in Webster Groves. For more information, call 314-556-1293 or visit insighttheatrecompany.com.

My take: I haven't seen this production yet, but the play itself is one of the great musicals of the past century, with a memorable score and a funny and literate book. Based on Rostand's The Romancers, the show has a very Gallic outlook on life and love that makes it unusual in American musical theatre and always worth seeing.

Grand Center presents the Grand Center Theatre Crawl on Friday, July 3, from 6 to 9 p.m. at various locations in the Grand Center Arts District. " It's a 'tasting menu' of the best of St. Louis theatre, and it's free! Every half hour, 6-9pm, you'll stroll to a different Grand Center venue for a short show from one of your favorite St. Louis theatre companies. See shows from nine St. Louis theatre companies, and yes, there will be prizes!" Featured theatre companies include Prison Performing Arts, West End Players Guild, St. Louis Actors' Studio, Insight Theatre Company, R-S Theatrics, and Union Avenue Opera. For more information: grandcenter.org

My take: Here's a chance to get sneak previews of some of what's coming up on local stages. I'll be there as part of the West End Players Guild team. We'll be presenting some readings from our first show, David Ives' Venus in Fur, and handing out (appropriately) licorice whips. Come on down!