The St. Louis Black Repertory Companyhas named Brian McKinley as Director of Education and Community Programs. The actor, educator, and former intern assumes the role after serving 6 years in various positions at the Company.
“Brian is a talented emerging leader in our field,” said Ron Himes, Founder and Producing Director of The Black Rep. “I am very pleased that he has agreed to continue to bring his innovative and collaborative style to advancing our initiatives in the schools and community.”
Brian came to The Black Rep as an intern in 2017, directly after earning his BFA in Musical Theatre from Western Illinois University. Most recently he has served in the role of executive assistant to Producing Director Ron Himes, where he has coordinated the Black Rep’s Professional Fellow company, ensuring that thousands of local children gain access to quality theatre and engaging them in conversation and inquiry about the world around them.
As an actor, Brian’s talents have taken him to stages across the country. Recent credits include: Skeleton Crew; Sweat (The St. Louis Black Repertory Company), King Lear (St. Louis Shakespeare Festival), The Wizard of Oz (Theatre League, Inc.), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Minot State University Summer Theatre), and The Wiz (COCA-Center of Creative Arts). He was recognized in 2021 with an award for Outstanding Supporting Performance from the St. Louis Theatre Circle for his role in Spell #7 (The St. Louis Black Repertory Co.) and was among the early-career professionals selected for the Fall 2021 Focus-St. Louis cohort of Emerging Leaders.
As education and community engagement director, McKinley will continue to manage the company’s professional fellow company as well as oversee the Touring Show Productions and growing portfolio of programming for education and community partners.
“I’m excited to continue to spread my wings as an arts leader and to continue to build awareness and partnerships with The Black Rep,” said McKinley. “Thanks to the support of generous donors we are able to bring the arts to more of the St. Louis community and most importantly, to our growing list of school partners.”
McKinley won a St. Louis Theater Circle Award for his performance in “Spell #7” at The Black Rep.
About the Black Rep
The Black Rep, a 46-year-old legacy Black arts organization, is committed to producing, re-imagining, and commissioning work written by Black playwrights and creating opportunities for new voices and youth. Founded by Producing Director Ron Himes, the vision for The Black Rep continues: a more equitable distribution of opportunities and resources for Black professionals and students in the theatre; improved representation on and back-stage in the theatre industry; and a fostered community culture of support and mentorship for those who will follow. For more information: www.theblackrep.org
Focus Features and Cinema St. Louis are celebrating the upcoming release of MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 3 with a big fat free screening of the original comedy, MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING!
When: Tuesday, August 22 at 7:00pm Where: Hi Pointe Theatre (1005 McCausland Ave, St. Louis, MO 63117)
Trivia prior to the screening will offer the audience a chance to win gift cards from local Greek restaurants and more.
Tickets for this special screening are free and open to the public, while supplies last.
Click here for link to free tickets: https://hi-pointe.eventive.org/schedule/64d10fb4e9c86b00476902c1?mkt_tok=MTY4LVRIRy05NDkAAAGNuIyL7uF47Ubn8xuG-pzC58n3ZaZ6T5cUkktwdsK8HBLjLXCLNUB1gprJMt3LXyCOdNReVhYxMidQnfwDfM2F3mtUVIMxXI-3deC_Gl5_
The sleeper hit was a box office success, grossing $368.7 million worldwide and cost $5 million to make. It spawned a franchise, inspired a sitcom “My Big Fat Greek Life” in 2003, a movie sequel in 2016 and a third film is scheduled to be released on Sept. 8. It’s a joint production of Playtone, Gold Circle Films, HBO Films, and Focus Features. It is dedicated to Michael Constantine, who died on Aug. 31, 2021 at the age of 94. The plot is about the Portokalos family on a trip to Greece for a family reunion — and another wedding will be featured.
Michael Constantine as the Greek dad in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.”
2-part docuseries airs Aug. 20 and 27 at 9 p.m. CST on MGM+
By Robert Hunt It was in 1966 that word started to spread of a “San Francisco Sound,” a new kind of music that had popped up in the Bay area and created new ways of playing and experiencing music. But this was more than just a musical trend or a record label’s marketing ploy.
Sure, a few new bands were starting to attract attention – Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Moby Grape among them – but the music was just one part of a confluence of social movements and utopian ideas that came together in the Bay area. San Francisco in 1966 and the myth of Haight Ashbury were just a day-glo variant of the American Dream, and the “San Francisco Sound” – a mélange of rock, folk, blues, bluegrass, psychedelia and anything else you wanted to slip in the punchbowl – provided the soundtrack.
That’s the lesson stressed by many of the participants in “San Francisco Sounds: A Place in Time,” a lively two-part exploration of the social phenomenon that evolved in the mid-60s, told mostly through the musicians who spread its message. Directors Alison Ellwood and Anoosh Tertzakian have compiled a dizzying assortment of talking-head interviews, archive material, concert footage and inobtrusive recreations (including an inventive animated scene simulating the effects of a hallucinogen), deftly packing the sights and sounds of a mind-expanding era into an efficient 150-minute package. (Ellwood knows her way around both the music and the cultural context, having previously delivered the 2020 “Laurel Canyon” and co-directed “Magic Trip”).
Grace Slick and Marty Balin of Jefferson Airplane
In Part One, we see the San Francisco scene develop in an air of almost magical innocence. Strangers wander into each other, drawn by the sound of music playing, and end up forming a band. New styles of art, advertising, and theatrical display (light shows and Be-Ins!) are developed, more from a love of experimentation than for their commercial potential.
The sounds began to spread around the country (Jefferson Airplane hit the Top Ten in early 1967 with “Somebody to Love”), but most of the bands were simply content to keep playing locally. Part One ends with an extended look at the event that gave a national spotlight for many of the Bay area bands and even changed a few skeptical L.A.-based minds, the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967.
Although most known for Jimi Hendrix’s fiery performance and D. A. Pennebaker’s invaluable 1968 film, Monterey was a showcase for San Francisco acts, who made up nearly a quarter of the performers (Big Brother, the Dead, the Airplane, Steve Miller, Moby Grape and Quicksilver Messenger Service all performed) and left no doubt that Janis Joplin was only about a millimeter away from stardom. They came, they played, they conquered.
Sadly (spoiler alert!), it didn’t last. Part Two begins with the much-heralded “Summer of Love,” when the siren calls of Free Love, mind-altering chemicals and rock and roll brought thousands of young people (some reports claim 100,000) to the Bay area, most of them without the benefits of money, resources or much of a plan.
Dusty Street, the first female DJ on the west coast and one of the interviewees who provide observations on the past events, calls it “the Summer of the Death of an Idea.” The scene couldn’t last, but the musicians persisted.
Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company
The wide-ranging second installment follows the paths of the bands from Part One while also chronicling the new acts that continued to emerge: Sly and the Family Stone, Creedance Clearwater Revival, Santana, Tower of Power, Journey, and the Doobie Brothers. The 1969 Woodstock festival (and the enormously popular 1970 film) solidified Sly’s success and made a star of Carlos Santana- whose first album hadn’t even been released at the time. (Janis Joplin and the Dead also performed but declined to be in the film).
Unfortunately, the euphoria of Woodstock was quickly overshadowed by the despair of Altamont, the hellish December 1969 event (held 2000 miles away from San Francisco), where Airplane vocalist Marty Balin was beaten by Hell’s Angels and the Grateful Dead (who were instrumental in organizing the event – and according to some reports were responsible for hiring the Angels as security) flew away without performing.
“San Francisco Sounds” covers an enormous range of personalities and events, but they’re illuminated by new commentary from dozens of the musicians whose stories are included, as well as other veterans of the scene, like actor Peter Coyote, “Rolling Stone” journalist Ben Fong-Torres, artist Victor Moscoso and the aforementioned Dusty Street.
Curiously, in a directorial decision that ultimately makes emotional sense, we see only the last three on screen; We hear the voices – some slightly less steady today – of Steve Miller, most of the Airplane, Country Joe McDonald, and many others, but we see them only as they appeared 55 years ago: naïve, energetic and forever young.
Note: this review was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the docuseries being covered here wouldn’t exist.
Ambitious and intriguing, “Landscape with Invisible Hand” takes an absurd concept and revels in its strangeness as a suburban horror story.
It’s 2036. Most of the remaining Earthlings are impoverished and unemployed after an alien species, the Vuvv, has occupied the planet for five years. Their advanced technology was promising but their labor-saving ways and bureaucratic rule have wreaked havoc on the American way of life.
For their struggling families’ survival, 17-year-old artist Adam Campbell (Asante Blackk) and his classmate Chloe Marsh (Kylie Rogers) take their budding romance to a livestream reality dating show format that earns them cash and restores their families’ livelihood. But their love story hits a bump in the road, throwing them back into chaos and mounting debt, forcing life-altering changes.
How much is art and truth worth in a topsy-turvy world? What sacrifices would you be willing to make if aliens took over, nearly rendering everything that shapes our society obsolete? What is it about adversity that brings out the worst in some people?
These are big philosophical questions raised, yet on a small canvas, and while the Americans go through the motions, depicting a dreary way of life and adapting to a drab environment, the curiosity level never rises to compelling.
This quirky sci-fi hybrid should be funnier and more heart-tugging. The economic and environmental implications are damning, and yes, the blame is on us. And while it’s never predictable and always unusual, there is just something that prevents the film from totally clicking. I am not familiar with the book, though.
Yet, there are sharp, witty barbs and some amusing visuals in writer-director Cory Finley’s adaptation of M.T. Anderson’s 2017 young adult novel. The aliens are peculiar-looking – flesh-colored squishy rectangle blobs who have weird features, bordering on the grotesque. Everything, from their voices, vocabulary, and views are out of sync with humans, and the interactions are odd. The awkwardness is always played for laughs.
Yet, as good as this ensemble is, the plot’s constraints regarding the depressing behaviors of humans during colonization make it hard to connect with the characters, rather something to admire for its sharp criticism instead of an emotional response.
Finley centers the story on a pair of smart entrepreneurial teens, who fall in and out of love, and their vastly dysfunctional families at a time of great duress.
Now a New York-based playwright and filmmaker, Finley grew up in the Clayton suburb of St. Louis and graduated from John Burroughs School in 2007. Burroughs hosted their heralded alumnus last spring to speak to students, staff, faculty, and the community. The theatre department also produced his play, “The Feast,” in the black box. St. Louis Actors’ Studio had presented the horror-comedy-drama in 2017.
Finley, who went on to Yale, has made three feature films, demonstrating a flair for dialogue, a keen eye for detail, and an affinity for satire and dark comedy. While different, his projects have a common theme, focusing on high school students, and this one is by far the most bizarre.
His first film, “Thoroughbreds,” starred Olivia Cooke, Anya Taylor-Joy and Anton Yelchin, and became an arthouse darling that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017, earning him an Independent Spirit Award nomination for best first screenplay.
His next was the 2019 HBO movie “Bad Education,” based on a true story, and starred Hugh Jackman as a Long Island superintendent whose epic $112 million embezzlement was uncovered by a student reporter. It won the Emmy Award for best television movie in 2020.
In his third, which premiered at Sundance in January, Finley is willing to take risks, but perhaps the frustrations of this heartless story are too much of a dead end.to overcome.
Like last year’s “White Noise,” it has so many layers that it’s overly complicated. Although it’s worth investing the time to figure it out, mainly for its sheer audacity, but it does take a while to unpack.
A Vuvv
Production designer Sue Chan has given us an unsettling portrait of occupation and oppression, aided with meticulous work by art director Erik Louis Robert and set decorator Lynne Mitchell. Cinematographer Lyle Vincent matter-of-factly captures the situation’s bleakness, with editor Louise Ford focusing on the off-kilter aspects.
Promising young stars deliver solid performances – Blackk’s defiance and desire to push through all the hardship rings true. The young actor, first noticed on “This Is Us” as Randall’s daughter Deja’s boyfriend Malik, is one to watch.
So is Rogers, who plays the young Beth on “Yellowstone” and reminds me of a young Chloe Grace Moretz. Her financial motivations become apparent, and there is hell to pay for deceiving those aliens. The Vuvv may be incapable of love, but they can spot phonies easily.
Each has a surly sibling in this – Chloe’s sullen brother Hunter Marsh is portrayed by Michael Gandolfini, who doubles down on ‘doesn’t play well with others’, and Brooklynn MacKinzie is Natalie, a typically annoying sister, who finds fault with what Adam’s up to – usually drawing or painting.
Tiffany Haddish is credible as out-of-work attorney Beth Campbell, who is an exasperated but tough mother trying to hang on to her homestead as her world crumbles all around her/ Josh Hamilton has the most fun as a desperate dad willing to do whatever it takes to fit in with the Vuvvs and has some key scenes sucking up to the superiors.
Nevertheless, the laughs become intermittent and the points on race, class and gender seem less effective as the film winds down its 1 hour, 45-minute runtime. With all its flaws, it is still thought-provoking, but interest wanes. What started strongly as something with a different point of view doesn’t draw us in enough to satisfy.
“Landscape with Invisible Hand” is a 2023 sci-fi comedy-drama directed by Cory Finley and starring Asante Blackk, Tiffany Haddish, Kylie Rogers, Josh Hamilton, Michael Gandolfini, and Brooklynn MacKinzie. It is rated R for language and brief violent content and 1 hour, 45 minutes. It opens in theatres Aug. 18. Lynn’s Grade: C+
Note: this review was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist.
As shiny as a disco ball and as bouncy as a 1970s dance party, “Sister Act” overflows with heart and soul to end the Muny’s 105th season on a high note, the cherry on top of a sensational summer.
The upbeat Alan Menken score may not be as familiar as his Disney animation renaissance classics, but you’ll be humming a happy tune and leaving the Forest Park amphitheater giddily grinning with a spring in your step.
For this adaptation of the 1992 feel-good hit movie starring Whoopi Goldberg, composer Menken teamed up with lyricist Glenn Slater, who is known for “School of Rock,” “A Bronx Tale,” and the animated feature musical “Tangled.” All the songs are originals, no songs used in the movie are featured.
The screen-to-stage musical comedy made its debut in Pasadena in 2006, moved on to London’s West End starring Patina Miller in 2009, and opened on Broadway in 2011 with Miller in the lead role. It earned five Tony Award nominations, including best musical, book, and original score (losing those three to “The Book of Mormon”).
“Take Me to Heaven,” “Raise Your Voices” and “Spread the Love” are quite satisfying super-sized soul sister anthems.
.James T. Lane as Eddie Souther. Photo by Phillip Hamer
And the more intimate solos tug at the heartstrings – especially “I Haven’t Got a Prayer” by angelic-voiced Mamie Parris as Mother Superior and “I Could Be That Guy” by James T. Lane, touching as ‘Sweaty’ Eddie, both well-liked Muny veterans.
But it’s a star-making performance by wheelchair-user Meredith Aleigha Wells as postulant (pre-novice) Sister Mary Robert in her show-stopping “The Life I Never Led” that’s the most memorable moment.
The book by Bill and Cheri Steinkellner, two-time Emmy Award winners for “Cheers,” with additional material by Douglas Carter Beane, takes the movie screenplay by Joseph Henry and transfers the place from Reno and San Francisco to Philadelphia and the time to 1977-1978 from the movie’s contemporary (1992) setting, but keeps the story basically the same.
A lounge singer witnesses an informant executed by her thug boyfriend, then police hide her in a convent for witness protection until she can testify, where undercover as Sister Mary Clarence, she takes over a rough-sounding choir and transforms it into a vocal powerhouse.
She tussles with the Mother Superior while winning over the other nuns. Suddenly, their vivacious music numbers start attracting churchgoers, filling the pews, and becoming a local sensation. And she’s stayin’ alive (I couldn’t resist).
Bryonha Marie, Mamie Parris. Photo by Phillip Hamer.
A mash-up of a police procedural with a sitcom-y vibe (think that ‘70s chestnut “Barney Miller”), the plot’s routine, but the passion of the performers isn’t. They dive into Funkytown with glee.
What made the movie so fun – transforming Motown songs from romantic love to spiritual love by a cloistered convent choir – becomes contagious crowd-pleasing disco/R&B/gospel confections on the vast outdoor stage, including an exuberant “Sunday Morning Fever” – complete with gyrating altar boys and the nuns shaking their groove thing.
The City of Brotherly Love – and cheesesteaks — adds further meaning because of its “Philadelphia Sound,” popularized in the late ‘60s and ‘70s that laid the soul music foundations for disco, with funk influences, jazzier melodies, and lush arrangements.
Music Director Michael Horsley integrated the electric rhythms with such pizzazz, elevating the sweeping strings section (5 violinists, 2 viola/violinists, 2 cellos and 1 harp) along with the fabulous rich sound of 4 woodwinds, 3 keyboards, 2 trumpets, 2 French horns, 2 trombones, and 1 tuba, guitar, bass, drums, and percussion.
Bryonha Marie winningly plays Deloris Van Cartier with panache, sassy posing as a nun and silky in delivering such various sounds as “Fabulous, Baby!” and the poignant “Sister Act.” Memorable as the Mother Abbess in the Muny’s 2021 “The Sound of Music,” she plays a very different nun this time around. Deloris turns the beat around, inspires female empowerment, and makes their numbers into dance-floor type celebrations.
Michelle Burdette Elmore, Thom Sesma, Kaitlyn Maise, and Katie Geraghty. Photo by Phillip Hamer.
Katie Geraghty, breakout scene-stealer as a Little Red replacement in the acclaimed “Into the Woods” Broadway revival last year, is an ebullient Sister Mary Patrick, her naivete and chirpy personality a delight.
The supporting players brim with brio – especially the goofy trio of goons: Rob Colletti as Jack Black-like Joey, Brandon Espinoza as Pablo, and Darron Hayes as dim TJ in “Lady in the Long Black Dress” and with the imposing villain Curtis Jackson, played by a formidable Alan H. Green, who was memorable as the Cobra Kai sensei John Kreese in last year’s “The Karate Kid-The Musical” premiere at Stages St. Louis. Just listen to those words of “When I Find My Baby”!
Thom Sesma, as Monsignor O’Hara, is very funny as he watches his church go from impending closure to standing room only — and can bust a move as well.
The nuns are luminous, with Madeleine Dougherty, Rebecca Young and Michelle Burdette Elmore noteworthy as Sisters Mary Lazarus, Mary Martin-of-Tours and Mary Theresa respectively.
Photo by Phillip Hamer.
Director-choreographer Denis Jones’ trademark pep-in-the-step is present. When I see his name in the credits, I know he will endear with his crisp and snappy style, having earned St. Louis Theater Circle Awards for directing and choreographing “Chicago” (2021) and for his eye-popping work in “42nd Street” (2015) and “A Chorus Line” (2017), among others.
Besides the inherent comedy in nun-focused musicals as amusing entertainment, Jones has emphasized that cheerful bond like the 1979 disco anthem “We Are Family” throughout the show.
In elaborate costume designer Leon Dobkowski’s capable hands, the costumes are a time-capsule of Studio 54, conveying progression from standard nun garb to ultra-glam sequined habits, and the fantasy dancers are wildly adorned in sparkly attire, silver lame and over-the-top styles seen on Elton John and David Bowie. There’s also the garish fashions of that ’70s era, with eyesore checks and plaids and the god-awful polyester.
Wig designer Kelley Jordan has supplied appropriate big hair for the secular singers, dancers, and hitmen.
Meredith Aleigha Wells as Sister Mary Robert. Photo by Phillip Hamer.
Scenic Designer Edward E. Haynes Jr., who had so much fun with the flamboyant sets last year for “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” applies a heavy layer of kitsch – vintage Naugahyde! – on nightclub, neighborhood bar, and Eddie’s apartment while being ingenious on the open church design for the turntable.
Video designer Kevan Loney carries that retro flair onto the screens while lighting designer Shelby Loera effectively illuminated the moods.
The Muny premiere follows the regional premiere by Stages St. Louis in 2016, and the first national tour came to the Fox Theatre in 2013.
Laugh-out-loud funny throughout, this lighthearted romp gets the crowd on their feet with a rousing curtain call. Oh, what a jubilant late-summer night it was, complete with fireworks.
And “Sister Act” defines the faith, hope, and love St. Louisans have for this cultural institution and generational tradition.
And just like that, the Muny’s wonderful, celebrated summer comes to a dandy grand finale.
iDarron Hayes, Rob Colletti, Brandon Espinoza and Alan H. Green. Photo by Phillip Hamer.
Reflections on the Muny’s championship season of 2023
As the days lose their light and autumn looms, it’s time to rejoice, to revel in the communion that 11,000 people can share watching shining stars on stage, and to marvel at the never-ending joyful noise a St. Louis summer yields.
This has been a season marked not only by the major spectacle we have come to expect on the largest outdoor stage in the country, but also a seven-show arc of uncommon grace – a genuine depth of feeling in each well-executed production.
From premieres “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” and “Sister Act” bracketing a standout season that featured technically proficient creative teams mastering that elusive Muny magic and superior quality talent delivering the special moments we’ll remember deep in December: The transformative power of music – through musical theater – is the reason we flock to The Muny year after year.
In every performance, there was a palpable sense of yearning – a future Hall of Fame talent finding her voice, outsiders opening their hearts in a timeless fairy tale classic, of high-stakes gamesmanship and personal cost in a political arena, star-crossed lovers clinging to a dream, unearthing your worth and wish fulfillment in a flower shop, discovering love and nurturing friendship in a bleak place, and using your gifts to foster community.
Believe. Longing. Belonging. Overcoming. All were themes this summer, and you could feel the Muny audience lean in, the risks worth the rewards. We all shared something very special, this 105th year – it felt different. We could dream again, after coming out of the dark — all the drama of a public health emergency, global pandemic in pre-vaccine times, and the isolation that went with it.
And it sure was fun to be together. God willing, see you next year for 106.
Brady Foley, Bryonha Marie, Gordon Semeatu, Collin J. Bradley. Photo by Phillip Hamer.
The Muny presents “Sister Act” Aug. 14-20 at 8:15 p.m. at the outdoor stage in Forest Park. For tickets or more information, visit www.muny.org.
Fox Associates, LLC is thrilled to announce a multi-year agreement to present Broadway productions at Stifel Theatre in downtown St. Louis. “We are excited to bring more great Broadway entertainment to St. Louis” said John O’Brien, Fox Associates Vice President of Programming.
“While the Fabulous Fox will continue to be the home of our two-week Broadway season ticket series, having the ability to utilize another magnificent venue will allow us to book return and short run engagements that we would otherwise have to pass on due to a full calendar. St. Louis Broadway fans will now have a selection of even more national touring theatrical experiences to enjoy.”
“Stifel Theatre is thrilled to partner with Fox Associates, LLC, a fellow cultural gem in St. Louis’ vibrant arts landscape,” said Todd Mitchell, Enterprise Center and Stifel Theatre Vice President and General Manager. “Through this collaboration, Stifel Theatre and Fox Associates, LLC are elated to expand their commitment to present audiences bold, entertaining, and thought-stirring works. A delightful mix of classic and new, this inaugural Broadway at Stifel Theatre season promises to offer theatre-goers a wonderful night out in downtown St. Louis.”
The first season will include three outstanding Broadway shows at Stifel Theatre in the spring of 2024: Harper Lee’s TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD; HAIRSPRAY; THE CHER SHOW.
Richard Thomas played Atticus Finch on national tour of “To Kill a Mockingbird” that was at the Fox last winter.
Harper Lee’s TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD | January 9-10, 2024
All rise for Academy Award® winner Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork. The New York Times Critic’s Pick TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is “the most successful American play in Broadway history” (60 Minutes). Rolling Stone gives it 5 stars, calling it “an emotionally shattering landmark production of an American classic,” and New York Magazine calls it “a real phenomenon. Majestic and incandescent, it’s filled with breath and nuance and soul.” With direction by Tony Award® winner Bartlett Sher, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD — “the greatest novel of all time” (Chicago Tribune) — has quickly become “one of the greatest plays in history” (NPR). Emmy Award®-winning actor Richard Thomas plays the role of Atticus Finch in the National Tour.
HAIRSPRAY | February 8-9, 2024
You Can’t Stop the Beat! HAIRSPRAY, Broadway’s Tony Award-winning musical comedy phenomenon is back on tour! Join 16-year-old Tracy Turnblad in 1960s Baltimore as she sets out to dance her way onto TV’s most popular show. Can a girl with big dreams (and even bigger hair) change the world? Featuring the beloved score of hit songs including “Welcome to the ‘60s,” “Good Morning Baltimore” and “You Can’t Stop the Beat,” HAIRSPRAY is “fresh, winning, and deliriously tuneful!” (The New York Times). This all-new touring production reunites Broadway’s award-winning creative team led by Director Jack O’Brien and Choreographer Jerry Mitchell to bring HAIRSPRAY to a new generation of theater audiences.
Stephanie J. Block, center, won a Tony Award for her performance as Cher
THE CHER SHOW | April 10-11, 2024
Superstars come and go. Cher is forever. For six straight decades, only one unstoppable force has flat-out dominated popular culture – breaking down barriers, pushing boundaries and letting nothing and no one stand in her way. THE CHER SHOW is the Tony Award®-winning musical of her story, and it’s packed with so much Cher that it takes three women to play her: the kid starting out, the glam pop star, and the icon. THE CHER SHOW is 35 smash hits, six decades of stardom, two rock-star husbands, a Grammy®, an Oscar®, an Emmy®, and enough Tony Award-winning Bob Mackie gowns to cause a sequin shortage in New York City, all in one unabashedly fabulous new musical that will have audiences dancing in the aisles!
Performance times for all show dates is 7:30 pm. Single tickets will go on sale to the public Monday, October 2. More information about pricing and how to purchase will be available at a later date at www.stifeltheatre.com
Clunky and formulaic, but kept afloat by gripping performances and a vicious mean streak, director Andre Øvredal’s “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” is a fun albeit insubstantial vampiric bloodbath on the high seas.
Inspired from a single chapter of Bram Stoker’s 1897 Dracula titled “The Captain’s Log” and framed via flashback in epistolary fashion, “Demeter” recounts a grim tale of Count Dracula’s voyage from the Carpathian Mountains to London. He wreaks havoc upon a crew of hapless sailors who have absolutely no idea what they’re in for on an otherwise routine cargo-transporting trip across the Aegean.
Among the crew is Captain Elliot (Liam Cunningham of “Game of Thrones” fame), an aged shipman embarking on one last assignment before leaving his seafaring days behind him; his curious, enthusiastic grandson, Toby (Woody Norman); the severe First Mate, Wojchek (David Dastmalchian, mostly one-note with some shoddy ADR); an earnest, Cambridge-educated physician named Clemens (Corey Hawkins); the ship’s superstitious cook, Joseph (Jon Jon Briones); plus a foursome of sailors (Chris Walley, Stefan Kapicic, Martin Fururland, and Nikolai Nikolaeff) who, not by the actors’ faults, don’t have much time to distinguish themselves. There’s also a strange woman aboard who rolls out of a crate, Anna (Aisling Franciosi), who’s lost plenty of blood but is able to hold her own as a confident badass.
Oh, Dracula (Javier Botet) is aboard, skulking in the darkness and picking off unfortunate chaps in swift, jump-scare-laden attacks. It’s a battle for survival on the Demeter, as the crew try to vanquish the devil in their midst and make it to London alive before Dracula makes an all-you-can-drink buffet of their innards.
Javier Botet is Dracula
With hints of “Alien” and “The Thing,” “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” has the potential to be a taut, claustrophobic thrill ride with a horror icon uncaged. Unfortunately, Øvredal’s film doesn’t fully capitalize on its premise; rushed editing and trope-heavy frights hold it back, leaving its talented ensemble (especially Hawkins) to do the heavy-lifting, with reminders of a more emotional, immersive experience that could have been.
The ingredients are seemingly all there for a horror knockout: detailed production design, a claustrophobic atmosphere, committed actors putting in their all, and the opportunity to witness Dracula unleashing carnage on a fateful oceanic voyage — screams echoing through the ship’s winding corridors and stairways as waves crash against the hull under the cover of darkness.
Whether or not due to studio interference, however, “Demeter” refuses to slow down enough to allow its characters to develop, or allow its promising atmosphere to seep into viewers’ bones, turning the unpredictable to predictable through generic staging and framing.
It’s a shame that the film doesn’t spend more time fleshing out its characters (both human and vampiric) early on, as most are reduced to archetypes that, despite some colorful dialogue by Bragi Schut Jr. weaving in occasional dark humor, feel like a missed opportunity for more stakes and dramatic depth. Hawkins, Cunningham, and Franciosi are the standouts — bringing pathos and groundedness to their characters that the screenplay only fitfully provides.
Hawkins, in particular, brings a fierce rage, compassion, and courageousness to Clemens that leads to some poignant moments as the body count rises. Denied opportunities because of the color of his skin and underestimated by his peers — Wojchek reeks of prejudice — Clemens seeks to make sense of the world, encountering a creature that’s the ultimate test of his resolve as literal Evil incarnate.
Corey Hawkins as Clemens in The Last Voyage of the Demeter, directed by André Øvredal.
The film’s attempts to weave these themes into the narrative are heavy-handed, for sure, yet driven home by Hawkin’s commanding screen presence. Cunningham, to a lesser extent, conveys the Demeter’s world-weary Captain with tangible sadness, while Franciosi shines as a wronged heroine eager to fight back against fate.
Dracula himself, as portrayed by Botet, is creepily rendered as the spindly, lightning-fast creature — undergoing physical transformations over the runtime that present new challenges for the sailors to contend with — but is otherwise reduced to a fairly standard movie monster, put in repetitive situations where viewers well-versed in horror rhythms will know beat-for-beat when he shows up to chow down on whichever unlucky sap is in his sights.
Indeed, it’s a shame that Øvredal doesn’t put Dracula in more creative situations to torment the sailors, or take full advantage of the vessel’s enclosed spaces to ratchet up paranoia and suspense, although Tom Stern’s cinematography adds some stylistic flair though dutch angles and bird’s-eye-view shots that emphasize the feeling of always being watched.
The scare-factor is further lessened by Øvredal’s decision to show Dracula early on breaking from the crew’s perspectives to give away what they’re up against, appealing to short attention spans and not trusting viewers to use their imaginations, like the sailors, to speculate what lurks out of sight. Suffice to say, plot holes rear their heads too, as do illogical decisions (maybe Clemens and co. should fight back during the day, rather than at night when Dracula’s on the prowl).
Taken on its own, lower standards, “Demeter” is always watchable, and sometimes involving, thanks to some impressively grisly carnage (no animal or human is safe) and the aforementioned acting talent on display. There’s a comforting escapism in watching a gothic-inspired bloodbath unfold that doesn’t have high-minded ambitions and takes a cheekily confident approach in laying the groundwork for a future franchise, no matter whether it comes to fruition. Chills, suspense, and memorable characters are absent, but viewers could do much worse than “The Last Voyage of the Demeter,” and on a rainy day, it’s tempting to hop aboard.
LIam Cunningham is the Captain.
“The Last Voyage of the Demeter” is a 2023 horror film directed by Andre Ovredal and starring Corey Hawkins, Javier Botet, Liam Cunningham, Aisling Franciosi, David Dastmachian, Jon Jon Brionis and Woody Norman. It is rated R for bloody violence and runtime is 1 hour, 58 minutes. In opened in theaters Aug. 11. Alex’s Grade: B-.
Note: this review was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist.
Due to sold-out shows, The Midnight Company will present an encore presentation of YOU MADE ME LOVE YOU at The Blue Strawberry on Thursday, September 14, 7:30pm. Tickets are on sale now and can be reserved at BlueStrawberrySTL.com or by calling 314.256.1745.
YOU MADE ME LOVE YOU, written/directed by Midnight’s Artistic Director Joe Hanrahan,stars Jennelle Gilreath Owens. In the one woman show, Jennelle pays tribute to Judy Garland, telling her story and singing Judy’s greatest songs. Jennelle also reveals incidents from her own life, illustrating through Judy’s story and her own the challenges a woman faces in life and show business.
Jennelle is backed by a band led by Music Director John Gerdes (on bass), with Lea Gerdes on woodwinds, Paul Cereghino on piano, and Clarence Newell on drums. Featured guest singers,collaborating with Jennelle on some of Judy Garland’s historic duets, are Kimmie Kidd and Jeffrey Wright.
The Midnight Company continues its string of Cabaret Theatre presentations at The Blue Strawberry with two extended performances of JUST ONE LOOK on Wednesdays, August 16 and 30, 7:30. JUST ONE LOOK stars Kelly Howe as Linda Ronstadt in a rousing rendition of the life and times and spectacular music career of the singer. Also in the show is Hanrahan (who wrote/directed the show) as a veteran music industry reporter who finally gets his chance to interview his long unrequited love. The JUST ONE LOOK band is led by Music Director Curt Landes on piano, with Mark Rogers on drums/vocals and Tom Maloney on guitar/bass.
And Midnight will be introducing a new show, PROFESSOR SUNSHINE’S Traveling Post-Apocalyptic ROCK ’N ROLL REVIVAL at The Blue Strawberry, with performances on Wednesday September 20 at 7:30pm and Saturday September 23 at 8:30pm. The ROCK ’N ROLL REVIVAL is a modern version of the touring shows that roamed the Wild West. This show travels the new Wild West in a dark, burnt out world, as crumbling towns await the appearance of the show bringing with them a bit of song and temporary salvation. Hanrahan (who wrote/directed the show) will be your host, Professor Sunshine, and Kelly Howe will be Cheyenne, the show’s sultry, savory chanteuse, singing her patented version of savage, classic rock ’n roll. The House Divided Band will feature the same players as JUST ONE LOOK – Curt Landes, Mark Rogers and Tom Maloney.
Tickets for the extended JUST ONE LOOK shows and for the ROCK ’N ROLL REVIVAL are on sale now at BlueStrawberrySTL.com or by calling 314.256.1745.
Singer-actress Jennelle Gilreath Owens is an old soul. And we are fortunate to experience it in her labors of love.
For a cabaret-theater presentation this summer at the Blue Strawberry, she has assembled a personal tribute to Judy Garland –“You Made Me Love You,” and has put her heart and soul into it.
She plays herself and intertwines elements of her life’s challenges with Judy’s tough times. Judy died tragically at age 47.
The story is tinged with sadness. Yet the star’s luster doesn’t lose any power. Owens’ luminous talent and warm personality make it not just a sentimental journey, but a substantive presentation about our chosen paths. A big takeaway is how people affect us through their gifts, and how we decide to share our gifts matters.
Playwright Joe Hanrahan, artistic director of The Midnight Company, has written a script that hits the highs and lows of Garland’s career and life. He also smoothly directed the show.
“Dear Mr. Gable”
Owens starts off strong with the title song, the fan letter to Clark Gable that Garland sang at age 15 in the movie “Broadway Melody of 1938.”
A longtime fan of the acclaimed singer-actress-dancer, Owens talks about the connection that Garland had with her ardent fans. She was a much-loved star, known for her vulnerability, achingly tender, gorgeous voice, and beautiful spirit, soaring in the ‘30s and ‘40s, and trying to stay afloat in the ‘50s and ‘60s. She had man troubles, struggled with addiction, fragile mental and physical health, emotional trauma from abusive childhood, and career ups and downs.
Garland appeared in some of the most delightful movie musicals of all-time, including “Meet Me in St. Louis,” “The Harvey Girls,” “Easter Parade,” “Summer Stock,” “Girl Crazy,” “In the Good Old Summertime,” “Babes in Arms” and “The Pirate.”
Owens has selected signature songs from those and the Great American Songbook, ones that are strongly identified with Judy –including a bittersweet rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” from her most iconic role as Dorothy Gale in “The Wizard of Oz.”
Two accomplished guest singers joined her on stage for one number each. Jeffrey Wright endearingly sang the Gene Kelly part in “For Me and My Gal,” the 1942 vaudeville-centered musical in which Kelly made his film debut, and it was a lovely pairing.
For a heartfelt mash-up finale, Kimmie Kidd-Booker wistfully sang “Happy Days Are Here Again” while Owens added “Get Happy,” replicating the famous pairing when rising star Barbra Streisand appeared on “The Judy Garland Show” in October 1963.
What a fabulous snapshot and a grand way to end the evening.
In a retrospective of Garland’s career, touching on disappointments noted in the 2019 biopic drama “Judy,” which is based on the superior play, “End of the Rainbow,” Owens mentions Judy’s two Oscar nominations, in “A Star is Born”1954 remake and “Judgment at Nuremberg” in 1961. She sings the memorable torch song Judy delivered in her Oscar-worthy role (she was robbed): “The Man That Got Away.”
Judy and Barbra
Owens’ selections ran the gamut of jaunty (“The Trolley Song” – from “Meet Me in St. Louis”), vibrant (“Come Rain or Come Shine” – from Judy’s 1961 Carnegie Hall concert), silky (“Embraceable You” from “Girl Crazy”) and haunting (Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile” – from her memorable appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1963) – all sung with conviction.
On the small stage, she was supported by a mighty combo of stellar musicians, who helped make it a polished presentation. Music Director John Gerdes led Lea Gerdes on woodwinds, Paul Cereghino on piano, and Clarence “Clancy” Newell on drums/percussion.
Owens, who has appeared in regional professional theater and local community theater for the past 10 years, earning multiple award nominations, has two other passions as a performer. She travels the country to present a World War II immersive USO show, “Dixie D’s Canteen,” which captures the 1940s songs and spirit of the Greatest Generation.
She teared up talking about her experiences entertaining military veterans. She is also a performer, producer, emcee, and member of The Bon Bons Burlesque Troupe.
With her busy schedule, the Garland tribute was only scheduled for three nights – July 27, Aug. 2 and 9. It’s such a sincere, affectionate show that I hope it has an encore in its future.
Update: Sell-out crowds have prompted a new date — Wednesday, Sept. 14. More info: www.midnightcompany.com and bluestrawberrystl.com
Jennelle Gilreath Owens, in her Dixie D’s Canteen Show
Simple advice from Jonathan Larson, the musical genius behind the “Rent” phenomenon, whose tragic death on Jan. 25, 1996 – from an undiagnosed aortic aneurysm, after the final dress rehearsal, meant he never saw the impact his words and music had worldwide. He ran out of time, but his life’s work lives on forever.
Especially the part about how we can’t control our destiny. That underlying poignancy is part of the passion and the power of his landmark rock opera that finally graces the Muny stage 27 years after it produced a seismic shift in popular culture.
It’s time, and the Muny makes the most of those moments so dear in a grand staging that honors Larson’s compassionate vision with the dramatic operatic scale this modern take on Giacomo Puccini’s “La Boheme” deserves.
A celebration full of life, this touchstone production’s creative team is exactly the right fit, showcasing tender beauty and pure joy. Director Lili-Anne Brown, who brought us the exceptional “The Color Purple” last year, focuses on the humanity, dignity and acceptance that is such a potent part of this revolutionary musical.
Set in the “Alphabet City” part of New York City’s East Village, over the course of one year, impoverished young artists and outcasts live through the HIV/AIDS epidemic during the late 1980s, choosing to love over fear. This cast maintains the raw, realistic appeal, making sure it rings true.
The eight principal performers make an indelible impression, their vitality thrilling to witness, and their luxurious vocals a testament to their talent and technical skills. “You’ll See,” “No Day but Today,” and “Will I?” with strong supporting cast mates become earworms that will stay in your mind for days.
When their vocal prowess is spotlighted through Jermaine Hill’s vibrant music direction – what an exhilarating job the orchestra does! – it’s wondrous.
Hill was a part of the stellar “The Color Purple” collaborators, as were scenic designer Arnel Sancianco, who has fashioned a striking movable apartment building tower, and video designer Paul Deziel, whose work stands out, with Mark’s cinema verité footage and the humorous bits of celebrity minutia in the news scroll.
Vincent Kempski is a dynamic Roger, bringing the grit and rock musician edge to “One Song Glory” and “Your Eyes.” He and Lincoln Clauss, as documentary filmmaker Mark, are a comfortable pair of roommates, with effective bravado in “Rent” and “What You Own.” Clauss was a memorable Tobias in last summer’s “Sweeney Todd,” and leads as the pragmatic narrator here.
Sparks fly when Ashley De La Rosa, as drug-addicted exotic dancer Mimi, meets Roger, and their duets are superb: “Light My Candle” and “Without You” especially. She exhibits a confident demeanor, rocking the over-the-knee turquoise patent leather boots and smoothly gliding around the stage to choreographer Breon Arzell’s moves.
Adrian VIllegas as Angel. Photo by Phillip Hamer.
Adrian Villegas perfectly embodies the life force that is flamboyant one-of-a-kind drag queen Angel Dumott Schunard, delightful in “Today 4 U.” As scene-stealing as they are, what’s most remarkable is Terrance Johnson’s heart-is-full portrayal of philosophical tech-savvy activist-professor Tom Collins, who falls in love with Angel.
He was brought in to assume the role because the original cast member Evan Tyrone Martin took ill. Johnson and Villegas appear like they’ve been doing the show together for a long time, duet on a heartfelt “I’ll Cover You” and with others for a spirited “Happy New Year.” And Johnson’s vocals on “Santa Fe” and solo snippets in other songs are sumptuous.
Lindsay Heather Pearce, who played Elphaba in “Wicked” on Broadway, can belt with the best of them, and shows it on live-wire performance artist Maureen’s “Over the Moon” and “Take Me or Leave Me.” Tre Frazier has the thankless task of playing sellout Benjamin Coffin III, friend turned foe.
Special shout-out to ensemble-mates Julia Yameen (Mark’s mom), Shelby Brown (Joanne’s mom), Jhardon Dishon Milton (Joanne’s dad), and Erica Stephan (Roger’s Mom) as the parents heard on the voice mails.
Among the many highlights is “La Vie Boheme,” the ebullient, defiant Act 1 closer that features characters finding their voices in a number that defines community. And fun name drops! (Pee-wee Herman!).
Seasons of Love. Photo by Phillip Hamer.
After intermission, when you hear the iconic piano chords and the entire ensemble files out to present the signature song, “Seasons of Love,” it is delivered with tremendous strength and feeling, creating a sublime contemporary “Muny Moment.” I will admit to moist eyes. Just hearing the divine Anastacia McCleskey crush that power-ballad solo, her voice ascending into the stratosphere, is goosebumps-time.
As Celie in last summer’s “The Color Purple,” she won the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical Award from the St. Louis Theater Circle in April. She plays Maureen’s attorney girlfriend Joanne Jefferson with genuine charm.
Costume designer Raquel Adorno has outfitted the cast appropriately in era streetwear, but my only quibble is I miss Mark’s maroon and blue sweater with his striped scarf. At times, it was hard to keep Mark and Roger separate. But Angel’s glitzy attire was eye-popping.
The sound had issues when the music was louder than the performers, where I was sitting, but I wondered if it was better elsewhere in the amphitheater.
Those people not familiar with the show could have had trouble figuring out action, so I recommend reading up on the show beforehand. I finally saw Puccini’s opera a few years ago, and was struck at how closely it resembled the “Rent” characters, except in a different century and country – Paris in 1830. The life-and-death themes, nevertheless, are universal.
Roger and Mimi. Photo by Phillip Hamer.
While AIDS is no longer a death sentence, that period of uncertainty was harrowing and horrifying, and Larson’s stark look at loss – and homophobia — still resonates.
The show captured a specific time and place, but its pathos was always identifiable. After all, we’ve just been through several years of a devastating global health emergency and are currently losing thousands to an opioid crisis.
As a struggling artist for years, Larson knew the world he wrote about, based on a concept by Billy Aronson. Among his legacy, he urged us to cherish each of the 525,600 minutes we’re given every non-Leap year. Posthumously, Larson went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and three Tony Awards (musical, book, score).
“Rent” ran for 12 years on Broadway, has had countless touring shows for 25 years, a 2005 film adaptation, and a live television presentation in 2019.
No matter how many times I hear this score (and I know every word after heavy playlist rotation of the original Broadway cast double-CD recording), I am moved by how timeless each song is.
We are living in the Twilight Zone, only now America is well past the millennium. If we are fortunate, we know love and appreciate friends.
This exceptional cast makes us feel each emotion expressed, and I mean really feel the connections with an unmistakable chemistry and a reverence for the material.
The eight principals who moved to Broadway’s Nederlander Theatre April 29, 1996, were lightning in a bottle: Anthony Rapp as Mark Cohen, Adam Pascal as Roger Davis, Daphne Rubin-Vega as Mimi Marquez, Tony winner Wilson Jermaine Heredia as Angel, Jesse L. Martin as Tom Collins, Idina Menzel as Maureen Johnson, and the more ‘outsider’ characters –Fredi Walker as Joanne Jefferson and Taye Diggs as Benjamin Coffin III.
They caused a commotion, inspiring devotion. Their performances made the ordinary extraordinary and galvanized a generation. They changed their lives, and in the process, other Gen Xers.
They made it possible for others, especially ones who go against the grain, to be an “us” instead of a “them.”
Photo by Phillip Hamer.
Cut to 2023, and Gen Zers are now post-9/11 babies. Can “Rent” still strike a chord? It may no longer shock, but it can awe.
“Rent” still matters. It has the ability to connect on a personal level for all sorts of different reasons.
Take it from me, a Boomer Rent-head who saw it live on its first national tour, shared it with my oldest son as he entered his 20s, and consider the night I saw Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal reprise their roles in 2009 one of the best nights of live theater ever (the electricity and the energy was off-the-charts). I’ve seen it so many times, I’ve lost count. I think it’s 11, and until the Muny Saturday night, I hadn’t seen a professional company perform it since the 20th anniversary tour in 2016. That music still holds a spell.
The Muny production is a triumph in every way, giving oxygen to an eternal flame, and a rite of passage, moving the cultural institution forward. Watching it under a moonlit sky was glorious, a stirring shared experience with thousands of other Rent-heads and a captivated Muny audience.
As Larson reminds us, there really is no day but today, as life is ours to miss.
‘La Vie Boheme,’ Photo by Phillip Hamer.
The Muny presents “Rent” Aug. 4-10 nightly at 8:15 p.m. on the outdoor stage in Forest Park. For more information, visit www.muny.org.
(Notes: For more about Jonathan Larson, see the 2021 musical film “Tick, Tick…Boom!” currently streaming on Netflix. Directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who said “Rent” changed his life when he first saw it as a teenager, it features an Oscar-nominated performance by Andrew Garfield as the young songwriter trying to get noticed.
Anthony Rapp’s 2006 book “Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent” is a worthy read.)
