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Review of Wedding Band at The Black Rep

The Black Rep’s current offering is Wedding Band, a profoundly moving outcry against intolerance and oppression by Alice Childress. Written in the 1960s, the play retains all its dramatic and emotional power in the outstanding Black Rep production.

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Review of Jacey’s Jazz Joint at Blue Strawberry

On the second Wednesday in March, the Midnight Company presented its second premiere of month at Blue Strawberry. The delightful new show is Jacey’s Jazz Joint, another collaboration of performer Eileen Engel and writer-director Joe Hanrahan.

Arts

U.S.-Mexico Border Wall Photographer, Griselda San Martin

Griselda San Martin photographs families along the U.S.-Mexico border focusing on issues of immigration, deportation, inequality and violations of human rights.

play

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Review of Movie Music at Blue Strawberry

The songs and the stories about them are a joy to hear. Engel has a lovely voice and endearing personal charm. Hanrahan has disarming enthusiasm and a convincing way with a song. Colin Healy is the ever-supportive musical director on piano and guitar.

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Review of Company at the Fox Theatre

The production at the Fox, with the female lead, was developed for a London revival directed by the brilliant British director Marianne Elliott, who worked closely with Sondheim in revising it.

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Review of Dreaming of Lear at Saint Louis University

The third production of the season at Saint Louis University was Dreaming of Lear: A Devised Work Based on Shakespeare’s King Lear. It was produced in collaboration with the Prison Performing Arts Alumni Theatre Company. The work is difficult to describe, but it was easy to enjoy in the recent staging in the Kranzberg, Black Box Theatre.

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Review of Naughty Marietta at Winter Opera Saint Louis

Winter Opera Saint Louis concluded its 2023-24 season with a delightful production of Naughty Marietta. Local audiences are indebted to Winter Opera not only for presenting Victor Herbert’s classic operetta but also for making it presentable.

Arts

Central Print: The Art of Letterpress

Central Print in St. Louis’s old North St. Louis neighborhood keeps alive the historic art of letterpress, a hands on printing technique using movable type.

play

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Review of Prelude to a Kiss at Alpha Players

Sometimes in a folk tale or a fairy tale, one character will switch bodies with another. I don’t know if one soul abandons one body and takes over the other, or if it’s the brains that make the switch, or how it works exactly. But in fairy tales, anything is possible, so we’ll believe it.  […]

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Review of The Winter’s Tale at Washington University

The Winter’s Tale is a play I know very well, but I was inspired to think about it differently at the memorable staging by Washington University’s Performing Arts Department.