TPTBT (The Place to Be Tonight): Friday, May 24

Kansas City Ballet

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Who: Dance St. Louis
What: The 6th annual Emerson Spring to Dance Festival
Where: The Touhill Performing Arts Center
When: Today and tomorrow starting at 6 PM
Why: Spring to Dance is Dance St. Louis's annual dance festival. This year it features 30 dance companies at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. Performances take place each night at 6 PM in the Terrace Lobby, at 7 PM in the Lee Theatre, and at 7:30 PM in the Anheuser-Busch Performance Hall. If you want to overdose on quality dance, this is the way to go; there are performances in the Lee Theater, the Anheuser-Busch Performance Hall, and even the lobby. For more information: dancestlouis.org.

Theatre quote of the day for Friday, May 24, 2013

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"Early British pop was helped tremendously by the writing of Bob Dylan who had proved you could write about political and quite controversial subjects. Certainly what we did followed on from what was happening with the angry young men in the theatre."

"What theatre started to look at much earlier than any other form was the internal operations of ordinary people, sometimes using mythic models in order to tell the story." - Pete Townshend

Yes, that Pete Townshend.  Who (ahem) knew?  The "angry young men" he's talking about are the mostly middle-class playwrights of the 1950s (John Osborne and Kingsley Amis, most prominently) who used their work to attack traditional English society.

The Cliburn Report 2: Preludes and Fugues

Image from cliburn.org
Ironically, only 5 of the 30 contestants are women

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[I will be covering the final round of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in June for 88.1 KDHX. Meanwhile I’m picking highlights of the current press coverage for your dining and dancing pleasure.]

The first notes are only now being played by the first pianists in the preliminary round of recitals, which began today at 11 AM central time (the order in which they’re playing having been determined by a lottery on Wednesday the 22nd), but there has already been plenty of press coverage. Here are a few interesting items.

Back on May 19th, Stephanie Allmon of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram assembled “14 Burning Facts About the 14th Cliburn Competition”, an article that is essentially a FAQ list for those attending in person.

The day before, Christopher Kelly of the New York Times did a brief piece on how the death of the competition’s namesake might affect it. He includes an overview of some of the controversies that have dogged the Cliburn over the years (including the high management turnover rate), which makes for interesting reading. A similar piece in the Idaho Statesman by Tim Madigan of the Star-Telegram is more sentimental and concentrates on memories of Cliburn by those who knew him.

Looking for a one-stop overview of the competition, including social media links? Dallas News music critic Scott Cantrell (who will be covering the entire event from start to finish) had a nice summary yesterday as does Katie Womack in The Dallas Observer today. The day before the Observer had a profile of hometown contestant Alex McDonald by Ms. Womack, a fellow Dallas Music Teachers Association member.

Can’t get to Dallas but curious as to what the concerts look and sound like? Never fear. The Van Cliburn Foundation is streaming the entire business live. You might want to bookmark that one.

More to come.

Chuck's Choices for the weekend of May 24th, 2013

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:

Opera Theatre of St. Louis presents Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance in rotating repertory with three other operas May 25-June 29. Performances take place at the Loretto-Hilton Center at 135 Edgar Road on the Webster University campus. All performances are sung in English with projected English text. The opening of Opera Theatre's season is always a gala night (and, as Groucho Marx says, "a gal a night is enough for me"). The fact that it a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta just makes it that much better. For more information, you may visit experienceopera.org or call 314-961-0644.

Photo: John Lamb

New Jewish Theater presents Shlemiel the First through June 9. "A joyous klezmer musical based on the tale by Isaac Bashevis Singer, follows the naive beadle Shlemiel from Chelm, a village of fools, on a pilgrimage to spread the wisdom of the local sages. His simple-minded folly turns an already absurd world hilariously upside down, and the play’s small cast, complete with a live klezmer band and a topsy-turvy set, amasses large measures of adoration from audiences nationwide." I'm not sure I'm the right audience for this show—the material has no real cultural resonance for me—but there's no denying the quality of this production and the talent of this cast. The storybook set by Margery and Peter Spack and Cristie Johnston is also a triumph. 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.

Margaret Jenkins Dance Company

Dance St. Louis presents the Spring to Dance Festival 2013, featuring 30 dance companies, Thursday through Saturday, May 23-25, at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. Performances take place each night at 6 PM in the Terrace Lobby, at 7 PM in the Lee Theatre, and at 7:30 PM in the Anheuser-Busch Performance Hall. If you want to overdose on quality dance, this is the way to go; there are performances in the Lee Theater, the Anheuser-Busch Performance Hall, and even the lobby. For more information: dancestlouis.org.

The Cliburn Report 1: Background Music

Van Cliburn in Moscow, 1958

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As some of you may know, I’ll be jetting down to Fort Worth, Texas, in June for the final round of the fourteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition as part of a team from the Music Critics Association of North America. Although my live on-site coverage doesn’t start until then, I’m doing my homework by scanning news coverage of the event right now and sharing here what I see as the highlights.

I’m going to start with some not-so-deep background.

For those of you not familiar with the event, here’s a very condensed and superficial overview. For more details and complete streaming media coverage of the competition, check out the Van Cliburn foundation web site. You can also check my favorite classical radio program, PRI’s Performance Today, which will broadcast competition highlights.

The Cliburn is an international piano competition held every four years in Fort Worth. It’s named after the famed concert pianist (and Fort Worth native) Van Cliburn, who stunned the world by placing first in the Tchaikovsky Competition at the age of 23 in 1958. It was seen as a major cultural victory in the Cold War since no non-Russian had ever placed first in the Tchaikovsky and, in fact, it was generally held that the entire business was rigged to guarantee that result.

Cliburn went on to a high-profile (if somewhat erratic) career. His victory sparked a determination to create an American equivalent of the Tchaikovsky competition. Heavily funded by Fort Worth’s movers and shakers, the Van Cliburn competition made its debut in 1962 and is now held every four years. It has not been without controversy. Probably the most notable of its critics is musician, artistic consultant, and teacher Joseph Horowitz, whose 1990 book about the Cliburn, The Ivory Trade, makes fascinating reading.

This year’s will, sadly, be the first one held without the public participation of its namesake; Mr. Cliburn died of bone cancer in February.

The first preliminary round recitals won’t begin until tomorrow (May 24th) at 11 AM, but the weeding-out process of hopeful pianists from around the world began back in January and February when a panel of five judges traveled to Hong Kong, Hannover, Moscow, Milan, New York City, and Fort Worth to hear the 133 applicants for this edition of the competition perform a 40-minute recital. Thirty from that pool were chosen to compete from; you can see a complete list, including pictures and profiles, at the TheaterJones web site.

That might seem like an unfair process since it eliminates any pianist who can’t get to one of that handful of cities, but there’s probably no way to do something like this in a completely fair manner. Past attempts to use audio and video recordings submitted by hopefuls have had their share of problems as well. At least this way the judges get to see the contestants in a real-world setting with an actual audience.

Texas and international media are already cranking out coverage. I’ll skim what I see as the cream and post it here.

Theatre quote of the day for Thursday, May 23, 2013

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"Acting is like painting pictures on bathroom tissues. Ten minutes later you throw them away and they're gone." - Shelley Winters

Well, heaven knows she's right, as any actor will tell you.  The same goes for musical performances, of course.  Even when the performance is captured electronically, it's still just a representation of what that performance looked like at that point in time.  On a different day it would have been different, even if only very subtly.

We performers are ultimately just writing love letters in the sand.

TPTBT (The Place to Be Tonight): Thursday, May 23

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Who: New Jewish Theatre
What: Shlemiel the First
Where: The Marvin and Harlene Wool Studio Theater at the Jewish Community Center, 2 Millstone Campus Drive in Creve Coeur
When: Tonight at 7:30 PM through June 9th; see the web site for times.
Why: "A joyous klezmer musical based on the tale by Isaac Bashevis Singer, Shlemiel the First follows the naive beadle Shlemiel from Chelm, a village of fools, on a pilgrimage to spread the wisdom of the local sages. His simple-minded folly turns an already absurd world hilariously upside down, and the play’s small cast, complete with a live klezmer band and a topsy-turvy set, amasses large measures of adoration from audiences nationwide."  I just saw this last night and was tremendously impressed by the talent of the cast, the smart direction, simple but effective choreography, and fine work by Henry Palkes and his small combo (three pieces, counting him).  The combination of clarinet, violin, and keyboard does, in fact, have a distinctly klezmer-like sound and the Robert Brustein/Arnold Weinstein does a nice job of channeling klezmer and traditional Yiddish theater elements.

I'm not sure I'm the right audience for this show—the material has no real cultural resonance for me—but there's no denying the quality of this production.  The storybook set by Margery and Peter Spack and Cristie Johnston is also a triumph.

To paraphrase an old advertising slogan, you don't have to be Jewish to love Shlemiel.  But, as the old joke punchline goes, it couldn't hurt.

TPTBT (The Place to Be Tonight): Wednesday, May 22

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Who: Tesseract Theatre Company
What: You Won't See Me
Where: The Regional Arts Commission, 6128 Delmar
When: Tonight through Saturday at 8 PM and Sunday at 4 PM
Why: "Mal has had an adventurous life, witnessing first hand the rise of the greatest band in rock n’ roll history. What should have been a life of happiness and fulfillment has turned into one of loneliness and abandonment. Now John, a young writer, has come to help Mal write his memoir, but Mal’s reluctancy to bring up old memories makes things get a bit out of hand. But isn’t that the way everything turns out when The Beatles are involved?" The play is by company playwright in residence Caitlin McCommis. Tesseract's mission is "to emphasize the diversity and significance of multiracial casting in the regional theatre spectrum of the Midwest through the art of ensemble performance and the ability to mix new writings from a company of local playwrights with existing works from the national canon." That's admirable, and local playwrights need all the encouragement they can get.

Theatre quote(s) of the day for Wednesday, May 22, 2013

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"My playground was the theatre. I'd sit and watch my mother pretend for a living. As a young girl, that's pretty seductive." - Gwyneth Paltrow

"As a child I was taken to the pantomime or the theatre and I would always, always fall in love with somebody on the stage. And want to have sex with them." - Ewan McGregor

So apparently the stage is an equal-opportunity seducer.

Theatre quote of the day for Tuesday, May 21, 2013

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"The most magical moment in the theater is a silence so complete that you can't even hear people breathe. It means that you've got them." - Hume Cronyn, quoted in Time magazine.

Even better, it means they're not coughing.

Theatre quote of the day for Monday, May 20, 2013

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This one is actually from the world of classical music, but I think it's relevant to theatre as well.

"When you go around the country and play with mediocre orchestras, the rehearsal circumstances are such that it's usually professionalism that carries the day, rather than optimum circumstances. It can be very painful. When you're playing a concerto, for instance, you actually have to avoid listening to the orchestra; you have to sort of protect yourself in order to play...In very few cases do you have orchestral players actually listening. When they do, it's a treat, but usually they don't." - André-Michel Schub, quoted by Joseph Horowitz in The Ivory Trade: Music and the Business of Music at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

Substitute "mediocre cast" for "mediocre orchestra" and you have summary of the dilemma faced from time to time by actors who find themselves playing opposite (or, worse yet, being directed by) people who are clearly out of their depth.  As Mr. Schub notes, it can be very painful.  Happily my own experiences in this regard have been relatively rare, but I've heard my share of War Stories form other actors that are a bit hair-raising, to say the least.

Blonde ambition

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Michelle Collier sings "Shaking the Blues Away" and
"Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry"
at The Cabaret Project open mic night
May 15, 2013

Who: Michelle Collier
What: A Tribute to the Hollywood Blondes
Where: The Bistro at Grand Center, St. Louis
When: May 16, 2013

If it were possible to bottle and resell whatever powers Michelle Collier's A Tribute to the Hollywood Blondes show, the nation would never experience an energy shortage.

An ebullient and engaging performer with a fine voice and impressive dance moves, Ms. Collier (a St. Louis native) got the hometown crowd on her side from the start with Maury Yeston’s “I Want to Go to Hollywood” (from Grand Hotel) and kept them there through her finale, Jule Styne and Leo Robin’s “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.” Along the way we got a cheerfully informative traversal of over a dozen songs associated with some of the brightest and (in some cases) brassiest blondes of the silver screen, from Ginger Rogers (Berlin’s “Let Yourself Go” from Follow the Fleet in 1936) to Renee Zellweger (“Roxie” from Chicago, 2002).

This was a show that pulled off the neat trick of maintaining a consistently high energy level while maintaining a nice sense of pacing and variety. The strategic placement of ballads like Burton Lane and Alan Jay Lerner’s “Too Late Now” (from Royal Wedding, where it was sung by Jane Powell) and Meredith Willson’s “Good Night, My Someone” (The Music Man, Shirley Jones) certainly helped in that regard, but mostly the credit goes to Ms. Collier’s ability to be energetic without ever seeming frenetic. A self-described “up-tempo gal,” Ms. Collier clearly knows her where her strengths lie and how to make the most of them.

Michelle Collier sings "Too Late Now"
at The Cabaret Project open mic
May 15, 2013

Perhaps the most obvious of those strengths is her comic ability, hilariously displayed in songs like Johnny Mercer and Victor Schertzinger’s “Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry” (which demonstrates that only a real dancer can be clumsy in a truly funny way) and “I’m Tired,” the classic Dietrich send-up from Blazing Saddles. Throw in what appears to be a genuine sense of sheer joy in the act of performing, and you have an irresistible combination.

I also appreciated the fact that Hollywood Blondes was informative as well as entertaining. I’m an unabashed fan of the cabaret act that focuses on the music, its creators, and its cultural context, so I found the biographical bits on the women who introduced these songs nearly as enjoyable as the songs themselves. Ms. Collier cannily gave a background sketch of each performer before naming her, turning each each one into a kind of trivia question. As an audience engagement technique, it was both effective and fun.

Accompanying Ms. Collier were the redoubtable Carol Schmidt on piano, Ric Vice on acoustic bass, and Clancy Newell on drums. They all had chances to shine in solos and as a combo played with a polish that was quite impressive, given the brief rehearsal period they had with Ms. Collier and her arrangements. There’s a reason you see the names of these musicians so often on cabaret programs; they’re quick studies and they pay attention to each other and to the star.

Thanks to Robert Breig’s Mariposa Artists for bringing Michelle Collier back to her old hometown. One hopes there will be more such visits in the future. Meanwhile, Mariposa’s next presentation is Palm Springs-based singer Jerome Elliot’s My Favorite Springs at The Chapel Venue on Saturday, June 29th; see brownpapertickets.com for details.

Song list for A Tribute to the Hollywood Blondes, including the actress who introduced each song:

1. Maury Yeston: I Want to Go to Hollywood (Grand Hotel, 1989; the only song not from a film)
2. Irving Berlin: Let Yourself Go (Follow the Fleet, 1936) (Ginger Rogers)
3. Harry Warren and Mac Gordon: Down Argentine Way (1940) (Betty Grable)
4. Johnny Mercer and Victor Schertzinger: Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry (The Fleet’s In, 1942) (Betty Hutton)
5. Burton Lane and Alan Jay Lerner: Too Late Now (Royal Wedding, 1951) (Jane Powell)
6. Cyril Mockridge and Leigh Harline: I’m Gonna Stake My Claim (River of No Return, 1954) (Marilyn Monroe)
7. Andre Previn and Comden and Green: Thanks a Lot But No Thanks (It’s Always Fair Weather, 1955) (Dolores Gray)
8. Irving Berlin: Shaking the Blues Away (Love or Leave Me, 1955; originally recorded by Ruth Ettig in 1927) (Doris Day)
9. Rodgers and Hammerstein: Honey Bun (South Pacific, 1958) (Mitzi Gaynor)
10. Meredith Willson: Goodnight My Someone (The Music Man, 1962) (Shirley Jones)
11. Mel Brooks: I’m Tired (Blazing Saddles, 1974) (Madeline Kahn)
12. John Farrar: Hopelessly Devoted to You (Grease, 1978) (Olivia Newton-John)
13. Shel Silverstein: I’m Checkin’ Out (Of This Heatrbreak Hotel) (Postcards from the Edge, 1990) (Meryl Streep)
14. Kander and Ebb: Roxie (Chicago, 2002) (Renee Zellweger)
15. Jule Styne and Leo Robin: Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, 1953) (Marilyn Monroe)

The St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of May 20, 2013

[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 Clueless through July 27. The Lemp Mansion is at 3322 DeMenil Place. For more information: lempmansion.com

The Bissell Mansion Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre presents Field of Schemes through July 27. The Bissell Mansion is at 4426 Randall Place. For more information: bissellmansiontheatre.com

Upstream Theater presents An Iliad May 24-June 9. Performances take place at the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 North Grand in Grand Center. "The inimitable Jerry Vogel returns to Upstream to play the poet who has come to enchant us, move us, and dare us to recognize ourselves as we peer into the bronze-tinged reflection of an ancient war...Featuring live music by longtime Upstream collaborator Farshid Soltanshahi." For more information, including show times: upstreamtheater.org.

Photo: John Lamb

Max and Louie Productions presents Jeffrey Hatcher's Mrs. Mannerly May 23 through June 2. "This irreverent, yet poignant comedy is inspired by the hilarious memories of a childhood etiquette class, wherein playwright Jeffrey Hatcher conjures up the world of a 10 yr. old studying manners. Set in 1967, Mrs. Mannerly is a demanding teacher, and no student in her thirty-six years of etiquette classes has ever achieved a perfect score. But, when he discovers her secret past, Young Jeffrey is determined to be the first to achieve this feat. This unique comic tale reveals truths about the face we present and the real selves that lie inside." Performances take place at COCA, 524 Trinity in University City. For more information, visit maxandlouie.com.

Opera Theatre of St. Louis presents Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance in rotating repertory with three other operas May 25-June 29. Performances take place at the Loretto-Hilton Center at 135 Edgar Road on the Webster University campus. All performances are sung in English with projected English text. For more information, you may visit experienceopera.org or call 314-961-0644.

The Sheldon Concert Hall presents The Poor Puppets of Paris, an evening of French songs with Elsie Parker and the Poor People of Paris with special guests Bob Kramer's Marionettes, on Tuesday, May 21, at 7:30 PM. The show features songs by Edith Piaf, Charles Aznavour, Josephine Baker as well as music of Michel Legrand. The Sheldon Concert Hall is at 3648 Washington. For more information: sheldonconcerthall.org.

The Fox Theatre presents the musical Rock of Ages Friday at 8 PM, Saturday at 2 and 2 PM, and Sunday at 2 PM, May 24-26. The Tony-nominated musical is “a hilarious, feel-good love story told through the hit songs of iconic rockers Journey, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Foreigner, Pat Benatar, Whitesnake, and many more”. The Fox Theatre is at 517 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information, call 314-534-1678

Photo: John Lamb

New Jewish Theater presents Shlemiel the First through June 9. "A joyous klezmer musical based on the tale by Isaac Bashevis Singer, follows the naive beadle Shlemiel from Chelm, a village of fools, on a pilgrimage to spread the wisdom of the local sages. His simple-minded folly turns an already absurd world hilariously upside down, and the play’s small cast, complete with a live klezmer band and a topsy-turvy set, amasses large measures of adoration from audiences nationwide." 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.

Dance St. Louis presents the Spring to Dance Festival 2013, featuring 30 dance companies, Thursday through Saturday, May 23-25, at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. Performances take place each night at 6 PM in the Terrace Lobby, at 7 PM in the Lee Theatre, and at 7:30 PM in the Anheuser-Busch Performance Hall. For more information: dancestlouis.org.

St. Louis Actors' Studio presents Alan Bennett's trio of monlogues Talking Heads through May 26 at the Gaslight Theatre, 358 North Boyle. For more information, call 314-458-2978 or visit stlas.org.

Shakespeare Festival St. Louis presents Twelfth Night nightly except for Tuesdays, May 22 through June 16. Performances take place in Shakespeare Glen next to the Art Museum in Forest Park. Curtain time is 8 PM. For more information, visit sfstl.com.

The Alpha Players of Florissant present the comedy Whodunnit through May 26 at The Florissant Civic Center Theater, Parker Rd. at Waterford Dr. in Florissant, MO. For more information, call 314-921-5678.

Tesseract Theatre Company presents You Won't See Me by company playwright in residence Caitlin McCommis Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30 PM and Sunday at 4 PM, May 22-26. “Joe Hanrahan portrays Mal Evans, Beatles road manager and friend in this new play that chronicles Evans' amazing life with the band and his tragic end.” Performances take place at the Regional Arts Commission on Delmar, across from the Pageant. Admission is free. For more information: tesseracttheatre.org.

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.

Theatre quote of the day for Sunday, May 19, 2013

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"People have pointed out evidences of personal feeling in my notices as if they were accusing me of a misdemeanor, not knowing that criticism written without personal feeling is not worth reading. It is the capacity for making good or bad art a personal matter that makes a man a critic." - George Bernard Shaw

I might add, as both a performer and critic, that one also needs to capacity to distinguish between one's personal preferences and artistic merit.  There plays, musical works, and performances that I might like while recognizing that they don't have a lot of artistic merit and others that I might recognize as Great Art even if they're not to my taste.

Theatre quote of the day for Saturday, May 18, 2013

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Two quotes this time, but I think you'll have to agree that they go together.

“If I wasn’t an actor, I think I’d have gone mad. You have to have extra voltage, some extra temperament to reach certain heights. Art is a little bit larger than life - it’s an exhalation of life and I think I you probably need a little touch of madness” — Sir Laurence Olivier

"Show me a great actor and I'll show you a lousy husband. Show me a great actress, and you've seen the devil." - W. C. Fields

TPTBT (The Place to Be Tonight): Saturday, May 18

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Who: The Gateway Men's Chorus
What: Cabaret Risque II
Where: The Rialto Ballroom at The Centene Center, 3547 Olive Street
When: Tonight at 7 PM
Why: "Every singer from last year’s unforgettable Cabaret Risqué is back with an all-new line-up of songs about love that lasts a lifetime… or just one night. Join Robert Breig, Alice Kinsella, Kay Love, Katie McGrath, Tim Schall, Deborah Sharn and Jeffrey M. Wright, and your hosts, Al Fischer and Ken Haller as they bring you songs that are both naughty and nice and that may just make you want to fall in love all over again!"  Having worked with every one of these artists in the past, I can guarantee that they'll have an entertaining collection of songs ready for you at this gala fund-raiser for the Gateway Men's Chorus.  There will also be an auction of appropriate collectibles and other surprises. For more information: gmcstl.org.

TPTBT (The Place to Be Tonight): Friday, May 17

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Who: St. Louis Actors' Studio
What: Talking Heads by Alan Bennett
Where: The Gaslight Theatre, 356 North Boyle
When: Tonight at 8 PM through May 26
Why: The work of the great British playwright and original Beyond the Fringe member Alan Bennett is always worth a look, and these three monologues star a trio of well-known local actors. You can even join the cast for High Tea after the matinee shows.

Theatre quote of the day for Friday, May 17, 2013

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“If the Met’s screaming Wagnerites standing on chairs in the 1890s are in fact unthinkable today, it is partly because we mistrust high feeling. Our children avidly specialize in vicarious forms of electronic interpersonal diversion. Our laptops and televisions ensnare us in a surrogate world that shuns all but facile passions; only Jon Stewart and Bill Maher share moments of moral outrage disguised as comedy.” - Joseph Horowitz, Moral Fire: Musical Portraits from America’s Fin-de-Siecle

Mr. Horowitz is, of course, using the word "moral" differently from the radical right, for whom the only acts with moral valence are sexual.  We seem determined to recreate the social and economic world of the 1890s these days while ignoring the intellectual climate that went with and somewhat ameliorated it.  It's as if we were determined to pick the best of the past century or so, throw it out, and concentrate on the worst.

Chuck's Choices for the weekend of May 17, 2013

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 Gateway Men's Chorus presents Cabaret Risque on Saturday, May 18, at 7 PM. Featured performers are Robert Breig, Alice Kinsella, Kay Love, Katie McGrath, Tim Schall, Deborah Sharn, and Jeffrey M. Wright. Ken Haller is master of ceremonies for the event, with music direction by Al Fischer. This second edition of this annual cabaret event by Gateway Men's Chorus should be fun, given the list of guest artists. The show takes place at the Rialto Ballroom, 3547 Olive in Grand Center. For more information: gmcstl.org.

The Presenters Dolan present a cabaret fundraiser for St. Louis Actors' Studio with Nancy Kranzberg and the Second Half on Thursday, May 16. The concert begins at 7:30, preceded by wine and hors d'oeuvres By Chef John and Entre at 6:00. The performance takes place at the Gaslight Theatre, 358 North Boyle. Nancy and Ken Kranzberg are famous for thie financial support of the local arts scene and 88.1 KDHX listeners will recognize Nancy as the host of a weekly arts interview show, but her work as a cabaret performer is less well-known. For more information: licketytix.com.

Magic Smoking Monkey Theatre presents Stupefy! The 90 Minute Harry Potter Thursday at 7:30 PM and 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.” "Good comedic acting shines in this production," says Tina Farmer In her review for 88.1 KDHX, "and the ensemble cast is engaging, skillfully drawing in all of the audience with a variety of interactions." Performances take place at the Regional Arts Commission, 6128 Delmar. For more information: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/343442

Mariposa Artists presents 2010 MAC Award Nominee Michelle Collier in A Tribute to the Hollywood Blondes on Thursday at 8 PM. “After a successful run at the Metropolitan Room and Don't Tell Mama in New York City, Mariposa Artists proudly presents Michelle Collier in “A Tribute To The Hollywood Blondes” featuring songs performed by the Golden Bombshell Legends of the Silver Screen, including: Ginger Rogers, Betty Grable, Betty Hutton, Jane Powell, Marilyn Monroe, Shirley Jones and more! Join this bubbly entertainer as she takes you on a journey through film history, including musical selections played by Carol Schmidt on piano and Ric Vice on bass.” The performance takes place at Jazz at the Bistro, 3536 Washington. For more information: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/344806. Doors open starting at 6:00 PM; dinner reservations are available at (314) 534-3663.

Held over:

HotCity Theatre presents the St. Louis premiere of Maple and Vine through Saturday. “Disgusted with today's SCANDALOUS society where vulgarity and obscenity are actually rewarded? Overwhelmed by computers, smart phones, tablets and the such? Well, forsake Reality TV and your electronic devices for the dry martinis and Tupperware parties of the 1950's, when the simpler life was much more wholesome. Or ... was it?” I saw the world premiere of this at the Humana Festival two years ago and was very impressed with it. Although HotCity is promoting this as a kind of egdy comedy, it's really a thought-provoking (and ultimately disturbing) comedy/drama that raises important questions about the nature of freedom and personal identity and how much of both you might be willing to give up for a good night's sleep. The current HotCity production isn't perfect, but on the whole it does well by the script, which is the important thing. 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 Black Rep presents the world premiere of Smash/Hit! through Sunday. “An Iraqi War vet fights to leave the battlefield behind, and make his way in the treacherous world of Hip Hop.” Performances take place at the Grandel Theatre, 3610 Grandel Square. "What makes the play work so well," writes Tina Farmer in her review for 88.1 KDHX, "is the combination of the actors' performances and the well-written, tightly connected script. The language used and situations presented speak directly to a contemporary audience". For more information, visit theblackrep.org or call 314-534-3810.

Theatre quote of the day for Thursday, May 16, 2013

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“Gus is the Cat at the Theatre Door.
His name, as I ought to have told you before,
Is really Asparagus. That's such a fuss
To pronounce, that we usually call him just Gus.
His coat's very shabby, he's thin as a rake,
And he suffers from palsy that makes his paw shake.
Yet he was, in his youth, quite the smartest of Cats —
But no longer a terror to mice or to rats.
For he isn't the Cat that he was in his prime;
Though his name was quite famous, he says, in his time.
And whenever he joins his friends at their club
(which takes place at the back of the neighbouring pub)
He loves to regale them, if someone else pays,
With anecdotes drawn from his palmiest days.
For he once was a Star of the highest degree”
― T.S. Eliot, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats

More and more these days, I find myself thinking of Gus and identifying with his nostalgia. I have a more realistic appraisal of my illustrious performing arts past, of course, but Eliot hits on something universal here: our tendency to selectively edit our past and hold on to the parts that are, in retrospect, the most pleasant. I think most humans would go quite mad if they didn't do that, really. The important thing is to be aware that you're doing it.