Chuck's Choices for the weekend of August 15, 2014

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

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Photo: Phillip Hamer

The Muny presents the classic musical Hello Dolly Monday through Sunday at 8:15 PM, August 11-17, in the outdoor theatre in Forest Park. "Mrs. Dolly Levi makes her grand Muny return in the classic musical, Hello, Dolly!. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of its Broadway opening, this award-winning musical features the irresistible story of matchmaker extraordinaire Dolly Levi as she “meddles” her way from Yonkers to New York City. Full of familiar tunes and plenty of big dance numbers, Hello, Dolly! promises an evening of classic Muny fun!" For more information, visit muny.org or call 314-361-1900.

My take: As I write in my review for OnSTL.com, this is a big, flashy, polished production of a good, old-fashioned Broadway musical comedy. It's the sort of thing the Muny has always done well, and it's a tremendously entertaining finale for a generally very strong season. Go see it and smile. Doll's lookin' swell and the Muny's got her.

Held Over:

Photo: Peter Wochniak

Stages St. Louis presents the musical Always..Patsy Cline through August 31. "Jacqueline Petroccia and Zoe Vonder Haar star in the return engagement of the show critics called 'exceptional, must see entertainment.' The touching and true story of Country music legend Patsy Cline and her friendship with Texas housewife Louise Seger returns to STAGES this spring. Combining down home country humor, heartache and 27 of Patsy Cline's unforgettable hits such as 'Crazy,' 'Walkin' After Midnight,' and 'Sweet Dreams,' Always... Patsy Cline endures as a piece of genuine Americana." Performances take place at The Playhouse at Westport Plaza. For more information, visit stagesstlouis.org or call 314-821-2407.

My take: Call this a qualified recommendation. If you're a lover of Patsy Cline or country music in general, I think you'll have a great time at this show, which is really more of a celebrity impersonation review than a book musical per se. Jacqueline Petroccia captures Cline's voice and manner so accurately it's eerie and Zoe Vonder Haar is a hoot and a half as Louise Seger, the real-life Houston fan who became a close friends and correspondent of Cline. With over two dozen Patsy Cline hits performed to perfection by Ms. Petroccia and a six-piece band, the show is a real feast for fans. See my KDHX review for more information.

Photo: Peter Wochniak

Stages St. Louis presents the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying through August 17. "Big business means big laughs in this delightfully clever lampoon of life on the corporate ladder. A tune-filled comic gem that took Broadway by storm winning both the Tony Award for Best Musical and a Pulitzer Prize, How to Succeed...boasts an exhilarating score by Frank Loesser including “I Believe in You,” “Brotherhood of Man,” and “The Company Way.” Bustling with humor, romance and song, this swingin' 60s send-up of Madison Avenue charts the spectacular rise (in record time!) of an ambitious young window washer to VP of Advertising!" Performances take place in the Robert G. Reim Theatre at the Kirkwood Community Center, 111 South Geyer Road in Kirkwood. For more information, visit stagesstlouis.org or call 314-821-2407.

My take: It's a sad commentary on the state of the nation that the cheerfully cynical satire of the mendacity, mediocrity, and Machiavellian backstabbing of corporate America that makes up the book of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" is as relevant now as it was when the show opened back in 1961. The Stages production is, as I write in my review for KDHX, a big, bright, hilarious technicolor cartoon that keeps the action firmly in the "Mad Men" era, so its sexism feels funny rather than creepy. The cast is wonderful, headed by Ben Nordstrom as perhaps the ideal J. Pierrepont Finch.

Photo: John Lamb

Max and Louie Productions presents Doug Wright's Quills through August 17. “This wickedly witty, erotically charged play is about the conflict between the imprisoned Marquis de Sade (infamous, irreverent literary bad boy of 18th Century France) and the keepers entrusted with silencing the perverse tales that drip from his ink-laden quill. De Sade's only sword is his pen; his opponents are armed with far deadlier weapons. Quills explores the delicate and often malleable line between morality and personal freedom, while satirizing the hypocrisy and convenience of censorship and sexuality.” Performances take place at the Wool Studio Theatre at the JCC, 2 Millstone Campus Drive. For more information, visit maxandlouie.com.

My take: If this sounds like in intriguing idea, that's probably because it is. In her review for 88.1 KDHX, Tina Farmer says "Quills" is "a deliciously inventive play weighing our decidedly human fascination with social and sexual mores against the lengths society will go to in the attempt to stifle the works of artists who push the envelope or in other ways make us nervous...Brooke Edwards' direction is clear and small details, such as having the stage crew dress as patients in the asylum, show a thoughtful approach to storytelling. When accompanied by as talented and committed a cast as in this current production, the result in an engaging, thought-provoking play."

Joe Hanrahan

The Midnight Company
presents Eric Bogosian's Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll through August 17. "Bogosian's solo shows, which also include DRINKING IN AMERICA, WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE and POUNDING NAILS IN THE FLOOR WITH MY FOREHEAD, are scorching social commentaries on the urban and suburban scene - presenting portraits of contemporary men, from the homeless to possession-crazed millionaires to fading rock stars - “scabrously funny ” (Boston Phoenix) and “combustibly funny” (Newsday) monologues exposing their hidden fears, hypocrisy and rage." The performances take place at Herbie's Vintage 72, 405 N. Euclid in the Central West End. A special pre/post-theatre menu will be available before or after the show, cocktails will be available for the performance, and live music will follow Sunday performances. For more information: midnightcompany.com

My take: Joe Hanrahan has become the king of the one-man show locally and has quite an affinity for Bogosian's dark, funny, edgy work. The location has a lot going for it as well; Herbie's has been a Central West End institution for decades (I recall going there fairly often back in the 70s and 80s), with a high-end food and wine list and a French bistro atmosphere.

'Hello, Dolly' at the Muny: You're lookin swell

Photo: Eric Woolsey

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The Jerry Herman/Michal Stewart musical “Hello, Dolly” turned fifty this year and The Muny is closing out their summer season with one hell of a birthday party.

The original “Hello, Dolly,” opened on Broadway in January, 1964, after some rocky out-of-town previews and several revisions. It ran for 2,844 performances, considerably raising the bar for the definition of “blockbuster.” It's not hard to see why. Herman's score is one of his best (not that he ever wrote a bad song anyway) and the book retains all the humanitarian humor of the Thornton Wilder play on which it's based.

Running nightly through this Sunday, August 17th, the Muny's “Hello, Dolly” (the company's seventh since 1968) is something of a blockbuster itself—a big, flashy, polished production of a good, old-fashioned Broadway musical comedy. It's the sort of thing the Muny has always done well, and it's a tremendously entertaining finale for a generally very strong season.

Photo: Phillip Hamer

A lot of actresses of a certain age have sashayed down that big staircase in the Act II Harmonia Gardens scene, beginning with the most famous Dolly of them all, Carol Channing. Fortunately there's plenty of room for interpretation in the character, and Beth Leavel uses it to make this Dolly entirely her own. Ms. Leavel's Dolly is big, bawdy, and a bit earthy—slightly reminiscent of Channing's performance in the 1995 revival but far more in control and completely endearing. Her big Act I closer, “Before the Parade Passes By,” was a real showstopper. Yes, it helped that the massive Muny stage was filled to the brim with singers, dancers, and the O'Fallon Township High School Marching Band, but the blitzkrieg charisma was all hers.

The wonderful supporting cast is headed by the remarkably fleet-footed Rob McClure and Jay Armstrong Johnson as Cornelius Hackl and Barnaby Tucker, respectively; Mamie Parris as a warm and winning Irene Molloy; Eloise Kropp as the comically perky Minnie Fay; and John O'Hurley as the crotchety Horace Vendergelder. There's also fine work from Daniel Berryman as artist Ambrose Kemper, smitten with Vendergelder's comically lachrymose niece Ermengarde, and April Strelinger as Mrs. Rose and the hilariously coarse Ernestina.

Photo: Phillip Hamer

The choreography by Ralph Perkins appears to pay homage to Gower Champion's original work without simply copying it, and it's executed with impressive precision by the ensemble. The athletic “Waiters' Galop” was remarkable enough to be repeatedly interrupted by applause. Director Rob Ruggiero's sure hand makes the intimate scenes as precise and finely shaped as the big crowd numbers.

With pleasant temperatures and no rain in the forecast until Saturday, this is pretty much a perfect week to take in a pretty much perfect show at the Muny.