St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of October 19, 2020

Now including both on-line and live events during the pandemic. To get your event listed here, send an email to calendar [at] stageleft.org.

The Blue Strawberry presents a Pop-Up Piano Bar with Sir Stryker, "Piano Bar Star of the Holland America Cruise Line," Tuesdays through Sundays from 6 to 10 pm. There is no cover or minimum and sidewalk seating is available. The club is operating under a "COVID careful" arrangement with restricted indoor capacity and other precautions. The Blue Strawberry is at 364 N. Boyle. For more information: bluestrawberrystl.com.

Rick Jensen

The Blue Strawberry presents an open mic night with singer/songwriter Rick Jensen on Wednesday, October 21, at 7 pm. "Singer, songwriter and musical-director Rick Jensen is an 8-time M.A.C. award winner and 2-time Backstage Bistro Award recipient. Rick also  recently received  a lifetime achievement award from A.S.C.A.P. honoring his work as a songwriter.  He has played for and provided musical direction and arrangements for countless theater and cabaret artists  for over 40 years."  The club is operating under a "COVID careful" arrangement with restricted indoor capacity and other precautions. The Blue Strawberry is at 364 N. Boyle. For more information: bluestrawberrystl.com.

The Blue Strawberry presents an Steve Brammeier in 68: Then and Now on Friday, October 23, at 8 pm. "Steve explores his journey from graduating Senior to (ahem) senior.  The stories, headlines and the music of '68; how that year shaped my life and maybe yours....even if you graduated in '78, '88, '98 or later."  Rick Jensen is pianist and music director for the show. Tickets are available both for the in-person performance as well as for a live video stream of the event. The Blue Strawberry is at 364 N. Boyle. For more information: bluestrawberrystl.com.

Beverly Brennan

The Blue Strawberry presents an Beverly Brennen in Teach Me Tonight on Saturday, October 24, at 8 pm. "The fabulous Beverly Brennan takes us on a tour of her longtime, award-winning professional life as a teacher, with funny and poignant stories about substituting and teaching kindergarten through college.  Songs range from Gershwin to Alice Cooper, from Musical Theater to The Beatles. And can she belt! Come and put some rhythm in your nursery rhymes!"  Rick Jensen is pianist and music director for the show. The club is operating under a "COVID careful" arrangement with restricted indoor capacity and other precautions. The Blue Strawberry is at 364 N. Boyle. For more information: bluestrawberrystl.com.

The Blue Strawberry presents an John McDaniel in Home for the Holidays (...does Halloween count?) on Sunday, October 25, at 7 pm. "St. Louis's own Grammy & Emmy winner is back singing songs of hope, love, family, and maybe a goblin or two.  We had to scurry to find more chairs last time John was here, and we had twice as many then as we do now."  Rick Jensen is pianist and music director for the show. The club is operating under a "COVID careful" arrangement with restricted indoor capacity and other precautions. The Blue Strawberry is at 364 N. Boyle. For more information: bluestrawberrystl.com.

Gateway to Cabaret stars

The Cabaret Project presents Gateway to Cabaret: A Star-Studded Virtual Event streaming live on Saturday, October 24th, at 7 pm. The evening features appearances by Broadway, TV, film, and cabaret stars Norm Lewis, Faith Prince, Brandon Victor Dixon, Alexandra Billings, Sidney Myer, Christine Andreas, Tony DeSare, Capathia Jenkins, Billy Stritch, and Steven Brinberg (noted for his Barbara Streisand tribute show Simply Barbara). "Gateway To Cabaret celebrates the rich past, present and future of the art of cabaret and song performance in the Gateway City. Going back to the Gaslight Square days of rooms like the Crystal Palace to today’s multiple offerings, St. Louis has played a wonderful role in the art form of cabaret. All proceeds will benefit The Cabaret Project of St. Louis upcoming 2020-2021 (Virtual) Season of Tributes – featuring tribute shows to Mel Torme, Edith Piaf and Frank Sinatra & Ella Fitzgerald. Proceeds also benefit The Cabaret Project of St. Louis’ two flagship performance training programs: Sing Center Stage, our summer program for talented teens and The St. Louis Cabaret Conference, our nationally renowned performance training programs for adults." Tickets are $25 for a household streaming pass. Other support opportunities are available, including a complete evening with a dinner from Dominic’s on The Hill, the event’s food sponsor. For more information: thecabaretproject.org.

The Fabulous Fox Theatre presents the return of its popular Ghost Tours during the month of October. Fox Ghost tours include both Fox Theatre history provided by Fox tour guides and 'ghost' stories from the St. Louis Paranormal Society following their investigation and analysis of the theatre’s “hot spots” of paranormal activity. Tours begin on Sunday, October 4, and will continue at a variety of dates and times through October 26. Tours and will be limited to 15 people per departure time. In order to provide the best possible safety measures for Fox guests and to comply with the city health department requirements, the following protocols will be in place. Tours will cover 3 levels of the auditorium and the stage, but will not include the narrow underground tunnels this year. Tours will move in one direction and not cross paths with other tour groups. Tour participants will be required to wear a mask and observe social distancing. Each tour will be accompanied by a Fox tour guide and a monitor to assure adherence to mask-wearing and social distancing. Hand sanitizer stations will be available throughout the tour. For more information: www.fabulousfox.com.

Fly North Theatricals presents three new free digital series. Their new digital line up includes The Spotlight Series, the Grown-Up Theatre Kids Podcast, and Gin and the Tonic. The Spotlight Series highlights the Fly North family of students and actors performing songs from previous FNT shows. In the Grown-Up Theatre Kids podcast you can join Colin Healy and Bradley Rohlf every other Friday as they explore life after drama club and what it means to make a living in theatre far from the lights of broadway. Gin and the Tonic is a "reckless unpacking of music history’s weirdest stories hosted by Colin Healy.” The Spotlight Series and Gin and the Tonic are available at the Fly North Theatricals YouTube channel and the Grown-Up Theatre Kids podcast can also be found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Sticher, other podcast platforms. All three are updated on a bi-weekly (every other week) basis.

The Lemp Mansion Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre presents Death of a Blackheart through November 7th. "Ahoy Matey! Join us for an exciting evening of murder, mystery and pirates at the best comedy dinner theater show in town. Don your favorite pirate gear and join us on a high seas adventure fraught with peril! What part will you play in this hilarious show full of fair maidens, lost boys, rival pirates and wenches? Whichever character you acquire, beware of that famous pirate Captain Jack Blackheart! Aye, he's a scurvy seadog if my eye ever seed one! Gee, I hope no one kills him off!" The Lemp Mansion is at 3322 DeMenil Place in south city. For more information: www.lempmansion.com

And in This Corner: Cassius Clay

Metro Theatre Company presents the streaming version of their critically acclaimed 2016 production of And In This Corner: Cassius Clay by Idris Goodwin for online classrooms, homeschools, learning pods, and other educational settings. "And In This Corner: Cassius Clay is the story of the young man who would become Muhammad Ali. From his relationship with a white police officer who introduced him to boxing as a kid in Jim Crow-era Louisville to his gold medal-winning performance in the 1960 Rome Olympics, Cassius holds onto the faith that his potential is unlimited. But it is the friends from his childhood who are becoming Freedom Riders who ultimately challenge him to understand that there is more to life than personal success: he must use his gifts to work for the good of his community." All tickets include a virtual lesson plan connected to Missouri curricular standards, along with additional resources to help address the topics of civil rights, racial equity, and social justice. For more information: www.metroplays.org/virtual-field-trips.

The Muny presents Attuned: Cast Me at the Muny, a nine-part podcast that "showcases audition tips and funny stories, while offering an inside look at what makes casting a Muny show so challenging." The series is available on demand at the Classic 107.3 web site. For more information: classic1073.org/podcasts

Opera Theatre of St. Louis presents its 2020 Digital Festival with a variety of streaming content, including Opening Night Spotlights and the Spring Artists in Training Recital, available at www.opera-stl.org/season-and-events/thisisotsl-digital-festival as well as on its YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/OperaTheatreSTL.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, in collaboration with Baltimore Center Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, The Public Theater and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, present Play at Home, a series of micro-commissioned short plays from some of the American theatre's most exciting and prominent playwrights. These new plays – which all run 10 minutes or less – are available for the public to download, read and perform at home for free at playathome.org.

Adena Varner and family

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents a live video stream of the WiseWrite Digital Play Festival running until the end of the Rep's 2020-2021 season. “Step into the imagination of three young playwrights as The Rep presents professional readings of their new plays.” The production is directed by Adena Varner, the Rep's Director of Learning and Community Engagement. For more information: repstl.org.

Come Together

The St. Louis Shakespeare Festival presents streaming videos from the SHAKE20 festival, including re-imagined, condensed versions of classic Shakespeare plays and new takes on old favorites like Joe Hanrahan's Come Together, at the Shakespeare Festival Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pg/STLShakesFest/videos

The St. Louis Writers Group streams live recordings of previous play reading sessions at their Facebook page. For more information: facebook.com.

SATE, in collaboration with COCA and Prison Performing Arts, presents Project Verse: Creativity in the Time of Quarantine. Project Verse presents two new plays: Quatrains in Quarantine by e.k. doolin and Dream On,Black Girl: Reflections in Quarantine by Maxine du Maine. The performances are streamed free of charge on SATE’s website and Facebook page. For more information: slightlyoff.org.

Stray Dog Theatre presents POEtober, a series of online streamed readings of stories by Edgar Allan Poe. The Raven read by Gerry Love and part 1 of Murders in the Rue Morgue read by Laura Kyro are streaming now. On October 24th they will be joined by The Tell-Tale Heart read by David Wassilak and part 2 of Murders in the Rue Morgue read by Laura Kyro. All the readings will be available through the end of October at the company's web site at https://www.straydogtheatre.org.

Karen Kanakis and Jacob Lassetter

Union Avenue Opera offers Sneak Peeks of its 2021 season operas Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville), Les Contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann) and The Cradle Will Rock on its YouTube channel.

Union Avenue Opera concludes its Garden Concert Series on Sunday, October 25th at 5 pm with an afternoon of grand opera arias and duets from St. Louis "musical power couple" – husband/wife duo Jacob Lassetter and Karen Kanakis. The concert will take place in the garden of Dr. Kenneth and Marjorie Smith in the Compton Heights neighborhood of St. Louis. For more information: unionavenueopera.secure.force.com

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

For information on events beyond this week, check out the searchable database at the Regional Arts Commission's Events Calendar.

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.