Review: WEST SIDE STORY at The MunyJuly 17, 2023Ruggiero, his casting partner’s at Telsey & Co., and the Muny assembled an appropriately youthful, talented and beautiful cast. Every member of this young cast understands how to use lyrics plus subtext to tell story through song. Kanisha Feliciano’s (Maria) gorgeous soprano pierces the stratosphere.
Review: THE YEARS at The ChapelJuly 15, 2023Sisters Andrea (Alicen Moser) and Eloise (Summer Baer), and their first cousin Isabella (Ashley Bauman) are the trio of women who help one another cope with the hardships that life throws at them. Moser, Baer and Bauman access their character’s genuine feelings by tapping into the character’s emotional state. Each of the three actors realistically convey their character’s anger, love, sadness, fear and joy. It is in each of their emotional performances that make The Midnight Company’s production of THE YEARS compelling. There is such realness in their performances that the audience senses their familial ties.
Review: THE NERD at The Strauss Blackbox Theater At The Kirkwood Peforming Arts CenterJuly 9, 2023Moonstone Theatre Company’s production of THE NERD is a riotous fun time thanks to swift direction and the cast’s ability to execute on slapstick comedy with impeccable timing. Director Gary Wayne Barker juices ever last laugh from the script. His vision and blocking extracts performances of sharp physical comedy from each of his actors. His brisk pacing makes the 2-hour fly by in a flash, but it is the fearless performances of his cast, especially Ryan Lawson-Maeske (Rick) and Greg Johnson (Warnock) that make this comedy succeed.
Review: CHESS at The MunyJuly 7, 2023While this Muny production is more similar to the original West End production in London versus the Broadway rewrite, CHESS is still more of a concert-like production. While the actors, ensemble and orchestra perform this material masterfully, the story doesn’t fully capture the competitive nature of the Chess champions or the tensions of the cold war. The love story is slightly more compelling, but the lack of a well-written and emotional narrative does not allow the audience to fully connect to the story and softens the overall production. This production of CHESS is a must-see for those who love this score. This is not a musical that packs a powerful emotional wallop. If that is more of what you’re looking for then wait for WEST SIDE STORY or RENT.
Review: DISNEY'S BEAUTY AND THE BEAST at The MunyJune 24, 2023The Muny and director John Tartaglia have staged an enchanted and epic tale as old as time for the second show of the Muny’s 105th season. This production of Disney’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is like no other production you’ve experienced before. The opulent scenic design, the elegant set decoration, the stunning costumes, the intricate choreography, the magical orchestrations and vocal arrangements are produced on the grandest of scale crafting a multi-layered technical theatre experience to enhance the exceptional performances of a richly talented cast. Tartaglia’s vision and leadership allowed his actors and creative teams to produce a luxurious show that is a visual, auditory and emotional indulgence.
Review: BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL at The MunyJune 13, 2023The Muny’s production of BEAUTIFUL is a nostalgic delight. They have taken one of the best jukebox musicals, adapted to The Muny stage and elevated it with a large cast of exceptional performers who deliver the songbooks of two prolific and competitive songwriting teams of the 1960’s, Carole King/Gerry Goffin and Cynthia Weil/Barry Mann. The vast Muny stage comes alive with high energy vocal performances, exceptional choreography and colorful vintage inspired costumes.
Review: ABSENT FRIENDS at Kranzberg Black Box TheaterJune 11, 2023There are those rare instances when a director perfectly casts and directs a play. The actor in every role inhabits the playwright’s characters and delivers performances that transcend an exceptional script to further elevate the material. That is exactly what Robert Ashton has done with Albion Theatre’s second show of their inaugural season with his casting and direction of Alan Ayckbourn’s comical farce ABSENT FRIENDS.
Review: AIDA at STAGES St. Louis In The Ross Family Theater At The Kirkwood Performing Arts CenterJune 10, 2023Salgado, his company, and STAGES St. Louis delivers a touching story of fateful, forbidden and unrequited love with originality and panache. While Salgado’s choices are modernistic, it is his focus on the characters and their love story, told through Elton John and Time Rice’s score that allows this production to provide an emotional wallop. This may be different visually than what may be expected, but this performance has the impassioned heart of the original production.
Review: A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM at The Marcelle TheatreJune 3, 2023New Line Theatre’s production of A FUNNY THING HAPPENS ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM succeeds due to Scott Miller’s directorial vision and the comedic timing of Miller’s strong cast. There are plenty of laughs in the First Act, but the second act builds to a crescendo of complete hilarity. Miller’s blocking and the actors’ execution of the Second Act chase scene is downright madcap. Ann Hier Brown’s delivery of “That Dirty Old Man,” Kent Coffel and Chris Moore’s delivery of “Lovely,” and the Company’s collaboration on “Funeral Sequence” keeps the audience laughing nonstop following the intermission. The remaining cast Jason Blackburn, Danny Brown, Gary Cox, Robert Doyle, Nathan Hakenewerth, Brittany Kohl Hester, Aarin Kamphoefner, Ian McCreary and Sarah Wilkinson rely on their deadpan delivery and comedic timing to deliver big laughs throughout the show.
Review: GLORIA: A LIFE at Wool Sutdio TheatreJune 2, 2023Jenni Ryan gives a magnificent performance as Steinem. She paints Steinem with human vulnerability. Her characterization elicits audience empathy as she exposes the incertitude Steinem experienced in her early work. Ryan illustrates Steinem finding her voice and ultimately demonstrates Steinem’s maturation to a confident activist who raises issues without fear. It is commendable that Ryan stepped into the role just a week before opening night due to a last-minute casting change and delivered a solid performance.
Previews: YOU MADE ME LOVE YOU at Midnight Company at The Blue Strawberry Showroom and LoungeMay 20, 2023Midnight Company is following up their sensational hit JUST ONE LOOK, the Linda Ronstadt theatrical cabaret experience, with another narrative driven cabaret show YOU MADE ME LOVE YOU, featuring the songbook of the incomparable Judy Garland. YOU MADE ME LOVE YOU stars Jennelle Gilreath Owens and premiers at THE BLUE STRAWBERRY on Wednesday, July 26, 2023, with two additional performances on Wednesday, August 2nd and August 9th.
Interview: St. Louis Area Producers Mike Bosner, Mike Isaacson, Jack Lane, and Terry Schnuck Nominated for Tony AwardsMay 12, 2023Last week when the Tony Award Nominations were announced, four producers with ties to the St. Louis area figured prominently in the races for Best Musical and Best Musical Revival. Broadway World had the opportunity to sit down with St. Louis Native Mike Bosner, The Muny’s Mike Isaacson, STAGES St. Louis founder Jack Lane, and St. Louis based producer Terry Schnuck. Each of these theatre executives have enjoyed enormous success producing plays and musicals on Broadway. In fact, in previous years these four men have amassed over 30 nominations and 14-Tony wins among them.
This year, the Tony nominations again included nods for each of these gentlemen. Mike Isaacson is nominated for Best Revival of a Musical for PARADE. Jack Lane is nominated for Best Musical for & JULIET. Mike Bosner and Terry Schnuck are nominated for Best Musical for SHUCKED.
Review: WELCOME TO ARROYO'S at The ZackMay 7, 2023WELCOME TO ARROYO’S is the current production by The Tesseract Theatre Company that closed on May 7th. Brittanie Gunn directs a funny and mostly effective production of Diaz’s uneven play. There are plenty of genuine laughs, more resulting from the energy, physical acting choices and rapping ability of Kevin Corpuz (Nelson) and Jacob Schmidt (Trip) than from the actual script itself. Corpuz and Schmidt play two DJs who advance half of the narrative with their hip-hop performance and their story telling. These two are the heart and soul of the play and never fail to captivate the audience when they are front and center.
Review: EUBIE! at The Black Rep At The Edison Theater On The Washington University CampusMay 6, 2023Originally produced in the 1970s, EUBIE re-introduced audiences to Blake’s iconic career and his music with a 23-song musical review. The Black Rep's production has taken century old music giving it a current sound with choreography that is both traditional and contemporary. The vocally talented cast of high-kicking and toe-tapping dancers make the most of Beal’s complicated choreography while singing EUBIE’s score with beautiful ease.
Review: THE ABSOLUTE BRIGHTNESS OF LEONARD PELKEY at The Kranzberg Blackbox TheatreMay 5, 2023Midnight Company’s Joe Hanrahan performs all nine roles in the play that is narrated by detective Chuck Desantis as he tries to solve the mystery of what happened to Leonard. Along the way the audience is introduced to Leonard’s Aunt Ellen, his cousin Phoebe, one of his bullies, Tyler, and to about another half-dozen characters. Hanrahan again proves himself an adept storyteller in a one-actor show as he effortlessly transitions in-and-out of characters using physical acting choices as opposed to significant alterations in his voice. Hanrahan is at his best when portraying Leonard’s aunt as she emotionally confronts one of her nephew’s bullies, but all of his characterizations have the requisite depth to make each character real.
Review: WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME at The Marcelle TheatreApril 16, 2023Michelle Hand is mesmerizing as Heidi, driving nearly all of the play’s dialogue. Her indelible presence is captivating. She enters, introduces herself as Heidi and tells the audience about her mother’s vision to help her pay for college by winning VFW sponsored debates about what the constitution means to her. Throughout the play, Hand steps in and out of character as the adult Heidi, the 15-year-old Heidi, and as herself addressing the audience. As the play unfolds, she unpacks her thoughts on The Constitution, the Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments, and she tackles themes of women’s equality, reproductive rights, sexual assault, domestic abuse, immigration, and the decisions significant legal cases have had on women in the United States. Hand’s outstanding performance and her conviction for presenting Heidi’s dialogue is unforgettable. When she is playing Heidi, she completely disappears into the role and her electric oration of the subject matter is authentic and convincing.
Review: BROKE: THE GAME SHOW SHOW at The Westport PlayhouseApril 16, 2023Unfortunately, there are a lot of things broke with this production. The scripted part of the show is banal. There are too few laughs. The two songs written, one for each act, are forgettable. In fact, the only memorable thing about the production value of BROKE was the bright kelly green blazer and bold pink tie worn by Myers.
Previews: THE ABSOLUTE BRIGHTNESS OF LEONARD PELKEY At Midnight Company At The Kranzberg Blackbox TheaterApril 7, 2023The Midnight Company will present the THE ABSOLUTE BRIGHTNESS OF LEONARD PELKEY, by Celeste Lecesne from May 4-20 at The Kranzberg Black Box Theatre. Joe Hanrahan, Midnight’s Artistic Director, will play all the roles in this show including a detective, as well as the other characters, in a small New Jersey town as he unravels the story of Leonard Pelkey, a tenaciously optimistic and flamboyant fourteen-year-old boy who goes missing. A luminous force of nature whose magic is only truly felt once he is gone, Leonard becomes an unexpected inspiration as the town’s citizens question how they live, who they love, and what they leave behind.