Review: The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra celebrates a return to Powell Hall with a small but mighty Beethoven "Eroica"

The mood was muted but celebratory Thursday night (October 15th) as Music Director Stéphane Denève and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) took to the Powell Hall stage for the first time in almost seven months with the first in a series of chamber music and small-orchestra concerts scheduled to run through the first week of November.

A physically distanced tune-up

It was muted mostly because, due to pandemic concerns, the audience was kept small (100 people, around 3% of Powell's capacity) and physically distanced. The celebration came from the band's outstanding performances of music by Beethoven and contemporary violinist/composer Jessie Montgomery. Although the members of the SLSO haven't appeared together on the Powell Hall stage in what seems like ages, their playing Thursday night was accomplished and precise, and their teamwork as flawless as usual. For us, at least, it felt like a kind of homecoming.

Before the first note was played on stage, the party started with a video of Maestro Denève leading a quartet of SLSO trombones in the Part 5 of Joan Tower's six-part "Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman." The short piece built to a powerful conclusion, after which Mr. Denève took the stage with a heartfelt welcome message for the audience. "We are back," he said, "and you are, too!"

Jessie Montgomery
Photo by Jiyang Chen

He then led the symphony strings in a sparkling rendition of Ms. Montgomery's 2012 "Starburst." Originally composed for a nine-piece string ensemble and later arranged for string orchestra by Jannina Norpoth, "Starburst" is a delightful sonic explosion which, in the composer's words, refers to "the rapid formation of large numbers of new stars in a galaxy at a rate high enough to alter the structure of the galaxy significantly." To my ears, "Starburst" also calls to mind musical depictions of fireworks by composers like Stravinsky and Debussy while still speaking in a sonic voice that is entirely Ms. Montgomery's own.  Rapidly ascending motifs shoot up, expand into musical stars, and then start over again in what the composer describes as "a multidimensional soundscape" that constitutes "a play on imagery of rapidly changing musical colors."

When I interviewed Mr. Denève back in February of last year, he observed that, when it came to new music, "my preference is for music that is very emotional, that is often very tonal, and that has a lot of melodies." That has certainly been true of the newer works he has conducted thus far, including "Starburst." Performed with pinpoint accuracy by the SLSO strings, it was an invigorating way to herald the orchestra's return to live performances at Powell.

The hour-long concert continued and concluded with one of Beethoven's Greatest Hits: the Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, known as the "Eroica." It's a work that, as Mr. Denève points out in this weekend's program notes, is "a universal masterpiece. Something essential. The ‘Eroica’ is full of hope, and this is the right piece to begin making music together again." I couldn't agree more, especially with a performance as fine as the one we heard Thursday night.

The two big E-flat major chords that opened the symphony set the scene for a dramatic first movement that radiated energy and resolve. Here, as in the rest of the performance, clean, clear melodic lines and crisp articulation were the order of the day. The Marcia funebre second movement had dramatic heft, with especially plaintive oboe lines by Xiomara Mass and Cally Banham. That potent sense of tragedy made the contrast with the energetic Scherzo third movement that much more notable. The horn section under Thomas Jöstlein really distinguished themselves both here and throughout the performance. The triumphant finale, with its variations on what was apparently one of Beethoven's favorite themes, brought everything to a most satisfying conclusion.

Nobody does tragedy and triumph quite like Beethoven, and heaven knows the pandemic has brought us an ample sufficiency of both.

Stéphane Denève
Photo courtesy of the SLSO

One of the more remarkable things about this "Eroica" was the size of the orchestra. The need to provide safe physical distancing for the musicians limits the number of them who can be on stage at any one time—40 total, in this case.  That's about half the size of most contemporary orchestras, but fairly typical of the forces that would have been available to conductors back in Beethoven's day. As a result, some musical details that are sometimes lost in "big band" performances came through clearly here. I was thinking, for example, of the burbling clarinet arpeggios in the finale as well as the fugal passages in the second movement. Everything was very clear and transparent, but still with plenty of power.

The small audience size also changed the acoustics of the hall. With fewer bodies to absorb the sound, the acoustic fog that I have sometimes noticed at Powell was lifted, and everything could be heard in greater detail. Maybe I'm just looking for silver linings here, but I thought the overall result was a bit of a revelation.

Performances of "Starburst" and the Beethoven 3rd continue Saturday at 7:30 pm and Sunday at 3 pm, October 17th and 18th. With only 100 tickets available for each performance, I expect the remaining two concerts to sell out quickly. You can find more information and program notes at the SLSO web site, along with details on the many changes that have been made in seating, ticketing, and even the hall's infrastructure in response to the pandemic. To purchase tickets, though, you have to call the box office at 314-534-1700; they're not being sold on line.  Note that Saturday performances of this and other concerts in the "re-imagined" fall season will not be broadcast on St. Louis Public Radio, which continues to present rebroadcasts of earlier SLSO concerts every Saturday night at 8.

Next at Powell Hall: Maestro Denève conducts a program of Richard Strauss's "Metamorphosen for 23 Solo Strings," Takashi Yoshimatsu's "And birds are still...," and Dvorak's D-minor Serenade for winds Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 pm as well as Friday at 11 am, October 22-24. As with other programs in the fall series, the concerts will run around one hour with no intermission. 

This article originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

Symphony Preview: Heroics and starbursts

This weekend (Thursday through Sunday, October 15-18), Music Director Stéphane Denève and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) return to Powell Hall for the first time since the SARS-Cov-19 pandemic broke in March. For the audience, the experience will, as I noted in an earlier article, be a radical change from what used to be considered "normal." One of the two works on the abbreviated program, though, will be familiar.

Beethoven in 1803
Painted by Christian Horneman

That work is the Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, known as the "Eroica." First performed on April 7, 1805, at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna, the work was a radical departure from Beethoven's earlier compositions. Ironically for such a striking and ultimately triumphant work, that departure had its origins in a "dark night of the soul" brought on the composer's increasing deafness and tinnitus. I caused Beethoven to engage in a re-evaluation of his life, described in an 1802 document now known as the "Heiligenstadt Testament."

The "Testament," as most classical fans will recall, was a letter Beethoven wrote to his brothers Carl and Johann at the town of Heiligenstadt (now part of Vienna) in which he told of his despair over his hearing loss and his struggles with thoughts of suicide. The letter was never delivered (it was found among his papers after his death in 1827) and seems, in retrospect, to have acted as a kind of catharsis for the composer. Before the "Testament" he was a composer/pianist. Afterwards, he would be exclusively a composer.

But not just any early 19th-century composer. He would be Beethoven. Specifically, he would be the Beethoven we now often think of, in somewhat hyperbolic terms, as a heaven-storming, tormented genius. He would be the spark that ignited the Romantic movement in music. It's an attitude towards music that waned in the early 20th century in the face of dogged attacks by serialists and others who seemed to regard music as more of a mathematical exercise than an effort in communication, but it never really died. Indeed, the first work on this weekend's program sounds unquestionably Romantic to my ears.

But I digress.

The important point is that the Symphony No. 3 marked the beginning of the emergence of Beethoven's unique compositional voice. His first two symphonies were clearly in the mold of Haydn and Mozart. But with the "Eroica," as Paul Munro writes in his program notes, "his music decisively shifted to a bold, strange new direction."

You can hear that boldness in the first two big E-flat major chords. They're almost like a pair of gauntlets thrown down to challenge established notions of what a symphony should be, and they set the pattern for not only the first movement, but for the rest of the symphony as well. Indeed as Christopher H. Gibbs writes in an essay for NPR, "[t]he motivic, metric, and harmonic surprises continue throughout this movement of such extraordinary length, unprecedented for its time."

The bold drama continues with the heroic funeral march of the second movement, the restless energy of the third movement scherzo, and the towering finale-a set of elaborate variations followed by a powerful coda. It clocks in at around fifty minutes, which no doubt seemed absurdly excessive to audiences accustomed to symphonies half that length. "One early critic," writes Welsh musicologist David Wyn Morris, "described it as 'a very long-drawn-out daring and wild fantasia' which, at least, reveals a response to its emotive power."

The finale is also a classic example of musical recycling. The theme that serves as the basis for the variations was originally part of a set of twelve "Contredanses" Beethoven wrote between 1791 and 1802. It seems to have been a favorite of his, popping up again in (among other places) his score for the 1802 ballet "The Creatures of Prometheus." Composer and writer Derek Strahan has suggested that Beethoven saw it as a "hero" theme. It certainly becomes heroic in the course of the final movement of the "Eroica."

Violinist and composer
Jessie Montgomery

One aspect of this weekend's "Eroica" that will sound different to many listeners, by the way, will be the size of the orchestra. Physical distancing requirements limit the number of musicians that can be on the stage at any one time, so this "Eroica" will be performed by an ensemble of 40. Modern orchestras typically are much larger, but as Maestro Denève point out in this week's program notes, "when the ‘Eroica’ was premiered, it was in a very small hall, with a very small orchestra." So this is a chance to hear the work is much the way the composer's contemporaries would have heard it.

The concerts will open with a piece that, although composed back in 2012, will probably be unfamiliar to most of you since this is its first local performance. It's "Starburst" by contemporary violinist and composer Jessie Montgomery. Originally composed for a nine-piece string ensemble (and first performed in the format by the Sphinx Virtuosi in Miami in 2012), it was later expanded by Jannina Norpoth into the chamber orchestra version we'll hear this week.

The composer describes "Starburst" as "a play on imagery of rapidly changing musical colors. Exploding gestures are juxtaposed with gentle fleeting melodies in an attempt to create a multidimensional soundscape." Now that I've had the chance to listen to it a few times, I'd describe it as a sparkling and thoroughly delightful sonic explosion that calls to mind musical depictions of fireworks by composers like Stravinsky and Debussy while still speaking in a sonic voice that is entirely Ms. Montgomery's own. It's "program music" in the best Romantic tradition and great fun. I look forward to hearing what the SLSO players do with it this week.

If you want to sample it yourself in advance, there's a recording of it by the chamber ensemble The Knights on YouTube that's hard to beat. The recording was produced entirely on line last month (September 20th) and includes a lively and informative post-performance chat with the composer and Knights violinist Christina Courtin, who is also a co-producer of the video.

The Essentials: Stéphane Denève conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in the first of two special chamber orchestra concerts this Thursday and Saturday at 7:30 pm, Friday at 11 am, and Sunday at 3 pm, October 15-18. The program, which will run about an hour with no intermission, consists of Jessie Montgomery's "Starburst" and Beethoven's Symphony No 3 ("Eroica"). Audience size will be limited to 100 for each performance and tickets can only be purchased by calling the SLSO box office at 314-534-1700. Only two tickets can be purchased per household.

The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra makes a cautious return to Powell Hall

Powell Symphony Hall went dark in mid-March due to the rapidly spreading SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, but the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) quickly found multiple ways to stay in touch with its audience during the hiatus via its web site, its YouTube channel, rebroadcasts of previous SLSO concerts on St. Louis Public Radio, the monthly “Night at the Symphony”  series of concert highlights on Nine Network television, and the “SLSO Soundbites” podcast at Classic 107.3.

Stéphane Denève

Now, however, the orchestra is preparing to open Powell Hall for live concerts once again for a special two-concert series under the baton of SLSO Music Director Stéphane Denève. The experience, however, will be very different from what it was in the days before COVID-19, the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, had (as this is being written) killed over 214,000 Americans and infected at least 7.7 million, per the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

Working with a team of infectious disease specialists from Washington University, the SLSO developed a plan to insure the safety of both audiences and SLSO staff. You can find a complete rundown on the many upgrades and changes the SLSO has made to Powell at the SLSO Stories site, but perhaps the most obvious ones from your standpoint as an audience member will be the size of the house and the changes in the concert format.

For the two concerts in the fall series, which take place October 15-18 and October 22-24, the maximum audience size is limited to 100—less than 3% of Powell’s 2600-seat capacity. That means you and your concert companions will have nearly an entire row or dress circle box to yourselves and you won’t need to step over anyone to get to your seats. City health officials have actually approved a maximum of 300 seats, but the SLSO has elected to start with a more conservative approach.

The orchestra will be smaller as well. For the October 15-18 program, for example, there will be total of 40 players for Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony (around the size of a typical orchestra back in Ludwig’s day) and only 26 for the opening work (and the only other piece on the program), Jessie Mongomery’s “Starburst.” They’ll still take up the entire stage, though, because of physical distancing protocols. I’m not sure how that will affect the overall sound, but as I’ll be there opening night, I’ll give you a full report in my review.

Violinist and composer
Jessie Montgomery

The programs will be shorter as well. The “Eroica” runs around 45 minutes and “Starburst” clocks in at less than 5, resulting in a concert that will run only around an hour with no intermission.  There will be no concessions and no mingling in the lobby before the concert. Audience members will enter through separate doors, depending on where they’re sitting, and parties will be kept at least six feet apart both entering and leaving.

Needless to say, masks are mandatory, as are temperature checks. There will also be plenty of hand sanitizer stations, should you forget to bring your own.

In an effort to accommodate as many music lovers as possible, the symphony is presenting four performances of each program instead of the usual two or three: Thursdays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm, Fridays at 11 am, and Sundays at 3 pm. For these two special concerts, tickets are available only by calling the SLSO box office at 314-534-1700. The SLSO hopes to resume its regular season in January, but no formal announcement has been made and tickets are not yet available.

St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of October 12, 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.

Sir Stryker

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.

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, beginning on Saturday, October 17, with The Raven read by Gerry Love and part 1 of Murders in the Rue Morgue read by Laura Kyro. The readings will be available through the end of October at the company's web site at https://www.straydogtheatre.org.

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.

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.

St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of October 5, 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.

St. Louis playwright Nancy Bell's MUTE: A Play for Zoom, which was performed live via Facebook on April 5, 2020, is available as a live stream at vimeo.com. "In a world much like ours, there exists a video conference call. And in this call, there are academics, confusion, fire and...one hamster. An experimental theatre piece that steals rabidly from Ionesco, Beckett, real life and Chekhov. The play was for performance on Zoom by Nancy Bell and directed by Lucy Cashion."

Sir Stryker

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.

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

Angela Ingersoll
Photo by Steve Roby

Max and Louie Productions and Artists Lounge Live present Get Happy: Angela Ingersoll Sings Judy Garland on Sunday, October 11, at 6 pm via a live video stream. "In an Emmy Award-nominated performance, Angela Ingersoll celebrates Judy Garland with virtuosic vocals, passionate storytelling, and naturally winning humor. Angela Ingersoll won acclaim for her portrayal of Judy Garland in multiple productions of the play End of the Rainbow and was awarded Chicago's Jeff Award and LA Times Woman of the Year in Theatre. Angela appeared as Garland in the 2018 Max and Louie St. Louis production." For more information: maxandlouie.com

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

St. Louis University Theatre presents an on-demand video adaptation of Diary of a Madman, based on the short story by Nikolai Gogol, through Thursday, October 8. "The diary entries are reimagined by different groups of theatre-artists, filmed, and then curated into a final, single photodrama, creating a collage of insanity in isolation." The production is adapted and directed by Lucy Cashion. For more information www.metrotix.com.

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.

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.

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.

St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of September 28, 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.

St. Louis playwright Nancy Bell's MUTE: A Play for Zoom, which was performed live via Facebook on April 5, 2020, is available as a live stream at vimeo.com. "In a world much like ours, there exists a video conference call. And in this call, there are academics, confusion, fire and...one hamster. An experimental theatre piece that steals rabidly from Ionesco, Beckett, real life and Chekhov. The play was for performance on Zoom by Nancy Bell and directed by Lucy Cashion."

Denise Thimes

The Black Rep, The Organization for Black Struggle, Better Family Life, and Action STL present performances of Fannie Lou Hamer, Speak On It by Cheryl L. West at different times and locations Friday through Sunday, October 2-4. Fannie Lou Hamer, Speak On It tells us about an activist who spoke out about voter registration and civil rights in African American communities. It showcases songs and speeches that inspire and chronicle the story of Fannie Lou Hamer’s experience. This production will feature Denise Thimes in the role of Fannie Lou Hamer with accompaniment by Dennis Brock on guitar. On October 2nd in The Black Rep parking lot, 6662 Olive. Action St. Louis will provide voter registration tables at 5pm and preshow music will be provided by James Biko. The Summer Performing Arts students will also perform an excerpt from their final performance and the main performance of Speak On It will begin at 6pm. On October 3rd, The Organization for Black Struggle will have a Community Day at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. and Hodiamont.  This event will have COVID testing as well as health and job vendors. The performance of Speak On It will begin at 1pm. The final performance will begin at 2pm, on October 4th at Better Family Life located at 5415 Page Blvd. All three performances will be outdoors with voter registration tables available to the public. For more information: theblackrep.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.

Leslie Craig

The Blue Strawberry presents Standardish with singer Leslie Criag, along with Charlie Brown on piano and Rich Mendoza on basss, on Thursday, October 1, at 8 pm. "Songs made famous by Amy Winehouse, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra, Adele,  Barbra Streisand, Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli and Cyndi Lauper. A night of standards new and old." 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 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 Hawthorne Players present an online version of Echoes of Valhalla, a theatrical edition of the annual Voices of  Valhalla hayride event presented in the Florissant Civic Center Theatre in 2018, on Friday, October 2, and Saturday, October 3.   There will be no charge to view the show, but viewers will have the option to donate to Hawthorne’s scholarship program.  For more information or to request an email link for the presentation, visit www.hawthorneplayers.info.

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

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 beginning on Saturday, October 2, at 6:00 pm and 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

St. Louis University Theatre presents a video adaptation of Diary of a Madman, based on the short story by Nikolai Gogol, beginning at 8 pm on Monday, October 5. "The diary entries are reimagined by different groups of theatre-artists, filmed, and then curated into a final, single photodrama, creating a collage of insanity in isolation." Adapted and directed by Lucy Cashion, the production will remain available on demand through Thursday, October 8. For more information www.metrotix.com.

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.

The Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis presents Something Spoken: Tennessee Williams On the Air alternating Saturdays at 5 pm on Classic 107.3 FM. Each episode will air live and then be available for streaming at classic1073.org until the day before the next episode is broadcast. Episodes include a production of a Williams one-act play, followed by commentary from Williams scholar Thomas Mitchell.  Mister Paradise is available for streaming at the Classic 107.3 web site until October 2. For more information: www.twstl.org/something-spoken

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.

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.

St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of September 21, 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.

Arts For Life presents Diversity Is No Adversity, a Zoom webinar about diversity and inclusion in theatre, on Wednesday, September 23 at 7 pm. Panelists are Tiélere Cheatem, Michelle Dillard, Karen Fulks, Carmen García, Jon  Hey and Shane Signorino with AFL Board of Directors moderator Colin Dowd.  "With the goal of improving our performing arts community, we want to bring people together for a series spotlighting diversity and inclusion in theater.  Diversity Is No Adversity intends to establish a dialogue on systemic racism and how we can be inclusive and supportive as the nation addresses justice and equality. How did we get here? Where do we need to go? We will discuss these topics in three acts – a monthly program of webinars to take place via the Zoom platform in September, October and November." Attendees will be able to ask questions through the chat feature. Afterwards, the webinars will be available on the AFL You Tube Channel. The event is free and open to the public. To register and receive the link: us02web.zoom.us For more information: www.artsforlife.org.

St. Louis playwright Nancy Bell's MUTE: A Play for Zoom, which was performed live via Facebook on April 5, 2020, is available as a live stream at vimeo.com. "In a world much like ours, there exists a video conference call. And in this call, there are academics, confusion, fire and...one hamster. An experimental theatre piece that steals rabidly from Ionesco, Beckett, real life and Chekhov. The play was for performance on Zoom by Nancy Bell and directed by Lucy Cashion."

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.

Ken Haller

The Blue Strawberry presents a return engagement of Ken Haller's The TV Show on Friday, September 25, at 8 pm. " We’ve all been spending a lot of time getting reacquainted with television this year. In “The TV Show” Ken Haller brings you songs and stories from and about TV." 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 The Soul of Ray Charles with Chuck Flowers on Saturday September 26, at 8 pm. "Chuck does right by Ray. Hear many of the greatest hits, and some of the deeper cuts." The show features Charles Creath on piano and Demarius Hicks on drums. 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.

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

Metro Theatre Company presents After Dark: A Virtual Gala on Thursday, September 24, from 7-8 pm. "Join emcees Jamie McKittrick and Alicia Revé Like for an exciting hour-long virtual celebration including appearances from past and present Metro Theater Company artists, some fun video surprises, a great silent auction, and highlights from our past, our present, and a major announcement connected to our new strategic plan. All proceeds will benefit our programming, including our in-school arts integration residencies, violence prevention program, and theatrical productions." For more information: https://www.metroplays.org/after-dark

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.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis invites budding young writers throughout the nation to develop and submit plays to for inclusion in its all-new WiseWrite Digital Play Festival. “Through the incredible work of our education department, we've posted an online curriculum at repstl.org/wisewrite that teaches students how to construct plays and characters. We’re accepting submissions from students grades 4 through 12 from throughout the nation for inclusion in the festival, which will feature performances by professional actors.” Submissions will be accepted through August 31st. For more information:  repstl.org/wisewrite.

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.

Solid Lines Productions presents That's What She Said 2020, a virtual comedy showcase, on Thursday, September 24, at 8 pm via a live video stream. "That means double the entertainment is on the horizon on September 24th, 2020 at 8pm CST when a group of talented STL-based female performers will take to a virtual stage to showcase their humor-chops to the digital masses. From stand-up to burlesque to improv, music and everything in-between; the 1.5 hour event aims to challenge many of the preconceived notions about the status of the theatre industry in St. Louis in 2020." For more information: www.solidlinesproductions.com.

The Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis presents Something Spoken: Tennessee Williams On the Air alternating Saturdays at 5 pm on Classic 107.3 FM. Each episode will air live and then be available for streaming at classic1073.org until the day before the next episode is broadcast. Episodes include a production of a Williams one-act play, followed by commentary from Williams scholar Thomas Mitchell.  Mister Paradise will air on Thursday, September 24th, at 10 am and will then be available for streaming at the Classic 107.3 web site until October 2. For more information: www.twstl.org/something-spoken

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.

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.

St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of September 14, 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.

St. Louis playwright Nancy Bell's MUTE: A Play for Zoom, which was performed live via Facebook on April 5, 2020, is available as a live stream at vimeo.com. "In a world much like ours, there exists a video conference call. And in this call, there are academics, confusion, fire and...one hamster. An experimental theatre piece that steals rabidly from Ionesco, Beckett, real life and Chekhov. The play was for performance on Zoom by Nancy Bell and directed by Lucy Cashion."

Sir Stryker

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/

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

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.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis invites budding young writers throughout the nation to develop and submit plays to for inclusion in its all-new WiseWrite Digital Play Festival. “Through the incredible work of our education department, we've posted an online curriculum at repstl.org/wisewrite that teaches students how to construct plays and characters. We’re accepting submissions from students grades 4 through 12 from throughout the nation for inclusion in the festival, which will feature performances by professional actors.” Submissions will be accepted through August 31st. For more information:  repstl.org/wisewrite.

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.

The Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis presents Something Spoken: Tennessee Williams On the Air alternating Saturdays at 5 pm on Classic 107.3 FM. Each episode will air live and then be available for streaming at classic1073.org until the day before the next episode is broadcast. Episodes include a production of a Williams one-act play, followed by commentary from Williams scholar Thomas Mitchell.  Currently August at the Lake is streaming until September 18. Mister Paradise will begin streaming on September 19. For more information: www.twstl.org/something-spoken

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.

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.

The Voice of America: The SLSOs "Songs of America" project continues to celebrate American diversity

Like so many other performing arts organizations, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) has been obliged to increase its online presence to keep its work visible during the pandemic.  One of the most impressive products of that presence of is the “Songs of America” project.

Photo courtesy of the SLSO

“Songs of America” is a periodically updated YouTube playlist which, when I first watched it in mid-July, consisted of  six remarkable performances that, according to SLSO press materials, “celebrate the breadth of voices in American music, framed against a backdrop of St. Louis landmarks.”

Back then, I wrote that that description was completely on target.  I called it a tremendous collection of stellar performances of American tunes by SLSO musicians and area singers.

Two new additions to “Songs of America” in August have done nothing to change that assessment.

On August 8th, the SLSO added a cheerfully upbeat small-band arrangement of Charles A. Zimmerman’s “Anchors Aweigh,” the official song of the U. S. Navy. Created to celebrate the commission of the brand new USS St. Louis, the video intercuts shots of the ten SLSO musicians performing at Powell Hall with video of the new ship’s crew at local landmarks like the Soldiers Memorial, The Muny, and Busch Stadium.  It manages to be inspiringly patriotic without descending into jingoism, which is a welcome relief these days.

On August 28th, the SLSO honored the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous March on Washington in 1963 with an arrangement by SLSO viola player Michael Casimir of the spiritual “Deep River” for two violas and piano. The performance—by Mr. Casimir and Andrew Francis with Peter Henderson on piano—is a sensitive and moving one. The accompanying video combines archival footage from 1963 with contemporary scenes of Black Lives Matter marches. Both the old and new footage show Americans of every ethnicity united in a common cause. It’s inspiring (if sobering) stuff.

In all of the “Songs of America” performances, the musicians are clearly working at a safe distance from each other, and those who aren’t playing wind instruments or singing are masked. Kudos to the SLSO for setting such a good example.

The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s ongoing “Songs of America” project is available at the orchestra’s YouTube channel, along with a choice assortment of other music videos, interviews, and behind-the-scenes features. For information on this and other online offering, visit the SLSO Stories site.