By Lynn Venhaus Demonstrating the healing power of the arts, the disarming “Ghostlight” is a deeply moving and affectionate examination of how community can get us through tough times.
When a construction worker (Keith Kupferer) unexpectedly joins a local community theater’s production of “Romeo and Juliet,” the drama onstage starts to mirror his own life.
Co-directors Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson won over the Sundance Film Festival audience in January with their gentle comedy-drama that elicited both laughter and tears. Since that triumph, this unpretentious indie film has gradually built a following through its deft blending of art and reality.
Perceptively written by O’Sullivan and skillfully filmed in Chicago, three actors of a well-known thespian family, who operate a flourishing theater in the suburbs, smoothly fill the principal roles. In addition, “Ghostlight” has a bevy of performers involved in the Windy City’s thriving theater scene.
Through its naturalistic low-key setting, it conveys an organic quality that engages. You may not be familiar with the Kupferer-Mallens, but after watching this, you won’t forget them.
Keith Kupferer plays Dan Mueller, the sullen and distracted head of an anguished family. His trigger temper at his day job – a city road worker with a short fuse, is causing problems. (Fans of “The Bear” may recognize him as Sugar’s doctor in the Season 3 episode “Ice Chips.”)
He is distant from his wife Sharon, an elementary school music teacher, who is tenderly played by his actual spouse Tara Mallen. They are the exasperated parents of a hostile, troubled teen Daisy, who is shrewdly portrayed by their accomplished actress daughter Katherine Mallen Kupferer.
Their distress is clear, although the backstory is slowly revealed, which illuminates their suffering and eventually resonates with anyone who has experienced grief. Their walls of pain dissolve into a heart-tugging narrative enhanced by its found family setting. (Theater geeks, assemble!)
Dan wanders into a rehearsal of “Romeo and Juliet,” and is drawn to this idiosyncratic ragtag ‘tribe,’ so he comes back. His therapeutic response carries over to his family too, and their situation begins to parallel Shakespeare’s 16th century tragedy.
You begin to imagine what the Capulets and Montagues were feeling in the aftermath of the teen deaths in Verona – the anger, despair, denial, depression and hurt. Grief is such a personal journey but viewers will respond to this family’s predicament.
The eccentric supporting characters are amusing, and ultimately, compassionately teach Dan about the satisfaction of losing yourself in a fictional part. He discovers the bonus of experiencing camaraderie between the players.
For those who have been involved in theater at any level, the meta moments are laugh-out-loud funny – especially if you have done warm-up and breathing exercises, a table-read, or just dealt with prickly personalities. OK, some of the characters can come across as caricatures but are grounded.
Stealing every scene that she is in, diminutive Dolly De Leon is delightful as blunt-talking Rita. De Leon was a standout in the Oscar-nominated “Triangle of Sadness” in 2022.
She plays a former actress with actual professional credits, unlike the amateurs surrounding her. But the cast is all committed to the production, and assists Dan, who is far from natural at this, stumbling through iambic pentameter.
As he opens up, so do they. The assured direction by O’Sullivan and Thompson, partners in real life, give this a cozy true-to-life feel. It’s modestly staged but rich with its very human, relatable moments expressed in its nearly two-hour runtime.
The movie reminds us that only through connection can we understand and carry each other, and that makes for a memorable soul-soothing encounter.
“Ghostlight” is a 2024 comedy-drama directed by Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson and starring Keith Kupferer, Tara Mallen, Katherine Mallen Kupferer, and Dolly DeLeon. It is rated R for language and its runtime is 1 hour, 55 minutes. In select theaters, including Cinema St. Louis’ Hi-Pointe Theatre Aug. 2-8; available Video on Demand on various platforms July 30, and will be streaming on AMC+ Aug. 30.Lynn’s Grade: B+.
Slashy and trashy, “MaXXXine” falls short of the thrills that made Ti West’s “X” and “Pearl” superior horror films in 2022.
The time is 1985 and the place is TinselTown. Adult film star Maxine Minx (Mia Goth), flush with success from the porn video biz, finally gets her big break in a horror movie. But the fame she craves can be snuffed out quickly because a mysterious killer stalks Hollywood starlets, and she wants to find out who is trying to thwart her crossover career by revealing her sinister past.
Despite West’s flair for retro genre pieces, this third installment starring Mia Goth lacks a compelling and cohesive story. For someone who pushes horror movies forward with an unmistakable style, this doesn’t offer anything fresh and feels forced.
Sure, there’s more money, more star power, excessive blood and gore, and heaps of chutzpah – but homages to schlocky 1980s horror movies can only sustain West’s sprawling plot so far.
It’s too large of a canvas to get invested in any of the ‘decent’ characters, although the elegant and statuesque Elizabeth Debicki adds class as a ruthless female director trying to make her mark in a misogynous industry.
Not only is it the weakest in the trilogy, but do we want to continue beyond the final frame? As it turns out, the big reveal is lame, and its sanctimonious angle took a long time limping to its ridiculous conclusion even for an hour and 44-minute runtime.
Moses Sumney as Leon, Maxine’s best friend.
Of course, with horror movies, logic goes out the window. Oh sure, purposely strut down a creepy pitch-black alley and walk into a dark mansion for the first time where you know nobody, and it sure doesn’t sound like a party is going on!
We experience the all-too-familiar tropes, but we have plot threads that leave us hanging, and there should have been a more satisfying turn, especially with all of West’s bag of tricks.
The self-righteous morality police have always been squeaky wheels, and seem like an easy, predictable target. Oh, religious zealots are offended by Hollywood smut?
The buddy cop dynamic of Bobby Cannavale and Michelle Monaghan was sadly under-used, the very real Night Stalker serial killer slayings wound up to be a red herring, and Maxine’s friends and colleagues were picked off in alarming fashion without much reason to care.
With Goth, you have a fascinating leading lady – a cold-blooded narcissistic sociopath that is so focused on fame that her moves are jaw-dropping (and ultimately made me too queasy to root for her success or redemption or comeuppance). Yay to cruelly chopping off man parts and crushing skulls?
Mia Goth as Maxine Minx
The violence is gruesome – and to be fair, there were ‘eyes-closed’ moments in the first two, too, but it was horrifyingly presented. (I know it’s a horror movie, duh, but sometimes restraint is more effective.)
To see such deviant behavior from a young girl so sick and twisted in “X” and “Pearl,” you wanted to know how she got that way. Here it seems like a contest – how sleazy and disgusting can we get? And did anyone else get a “Scream 3” vibe as well as throwbacks to Brian DePalma’s “Dressed to Kill” and “Body Double”?
In this installment, preacher’s daughter Maxine is just as self-absorbed and demented as she was before, a continuation of her character’s evil nature, a la “The Bad Seed” and Damian in “The Omen.” There is nothing new to add. If you’re making her into a Scream Queen, then shouldn’t it be scarier?
Nevertheless, West has surrounded his muse with a fine cast of characters. Kevin Bacon chews the scenery as a scummy private detective from Louisiana that underestimates what a disturbing lethal weapon she is. Giancarlo Esposito, in a goofy toupee, is hilariously over-the-top as her bulldog agent-lawyer.
The use of cocaine, such a part of hedonistic Hollywood, is omnipresent, but there are no consequences? Everyone who succumbed back then finally had to pay the piper, but we don’t get anywhere near that cause-and-effect.
While being very entrenched into that ‘80s mindset, the film’s intention does resemble the current ‘I wanna be a star’ social media influencer and celebrity culture obsessions.
In the West universe, there is no such thing as “be careful what you wish for,” only rewards, which makes Maxine even more terrifying. In “X,” she survived a Texas-chainsaw type massacre in the ‘70s, and “Pearl” was a grotesque backstory of a hyper-sexed homicidal maniac.
However, West being a master at atmosphere, his setting much of the action on a Hollywood backlot, specifically the Universal Studios tour – that ‘Psycho’ house! – is fabulous eye candy, thanks to production designer Jason Kisvarday (“Everything Everywhere All At Once”).
Kevin Bacon as Louisiana private detective.
And the seedy Hollywood Boulevard scenario from that period is realistic, especially embodied by Moses Sumney’s Leon, who works at a video store.
Perhaps it’s a little too on-the-nose, as is the soundtrack’s use of “Bette Davis Eyes.” However, the soundtrack is one of the more pleasant notes here, and so is composer Tyler Blake’s eerie score.
West’s skillful use of visual styles is another strong suit, collaborating with his “X” and “Pearl” cinematographer Eliot Rockett, and he edited the film too. And his wit is undeniable – clever use of comic relief, particularly pop culture jabs of the day.
I never thought of West as someone who played it safe. He offers this Bette Davis quote at the start: “Until you’re known in my profession as a monster, you’re not a star.”
OK, point taken. Let’s move on. I think this story has run its course.
“MaXXXine” is a 2024 horror film directed by Ti West and starring Mia Goth, Elizabeth Debicki, Kevin Bacon, Giancarlo Esposito, Bobby Cannavale, Michelle Monaghan, Moses Sumney, Halsey, Lily Collins, and Simon Prast. It is rated R for strong violence, gore, sexual content, graphic nudity, language and drug use, and has a 1 hour, 44-minute runtime. It opened in theatres July 5. Lynn’s Grade: C-.
The St. Louis High School Musical Theatre Awards (SLHSMTA) winners Theo Rickert and Will Kinsella recently returned from an exhilarating 12-day trip to New York City, where they competed with 100 other high school students from across the country at the prestigious Jimmy Awards®/National High School Musical Theatre Awards®.
The unforgettable experience highlighted the exceptional abilities of St. Louis’ young performers, who had the opportunity to engage with Broadway professionals, participate in intensive workshops, and be part of the vibrant theatrical community in the heart of Broadway. Rickert and Kinsella showcased their talents on a national stage at the Jimmy Awards® on Monday, June 25 at the Minskoff Theatre in New York City.
Theo and Will also had the opportunity to attended the illustrious Tony Awards® on Sunday, June 24 at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, hosted by Academy Award winner and Tony Award® nominee Ariana DeBose.
The Jimmy Awards® are presented by The Broadway League Foundation and the Pittsburgh CLO. With 102 nominees from 51 regional awards programs, the evening was hosted GRAMMY Award-nominated singer, songwriter, and actor Josh Groban.
Will Kinsella
2024 O’Fallon Township High School graduate, Will Kinsella, performed in the Feature number. “Jimmy Awards® week was a total blast! We were able to meet so many important people in the industry and got to experience the magical world of Broadway,” says Kinsella. “A big highlight was that we were surprised with a trip to the Tony’s dress rehearsal, and then surprised again when we went to see the actual Tony Awards®! We saw MJ the Musical, toured the Museum of Broadway, and embarked on so many other epic New York adventures. We finished out the once in a lifetime journey by making our Broadway debut after rehearsing the week prior. I will never forget the feeling when I walked out onto the Minskoff Theatre stage for the first time: complete awe.” Kinsella reflects.
Theo Rickert, a rising senior at Belleville West High School, performed “(Just A) Simple Sponge” from the musical The SpongeBob Musical in thecharacter medley #4. “The Jimmy Awards® was one of the best weeks of my life! It was so much fun and such a great educational opportunity,” says Rickert. “This experience was too impactful to put into words and I am so grateful for the honor of being able to participate. I will always cherish the friendships made with my wonderful peers and the life changing opportunities and experiences at the Jimmy Awards®.”
Theo Rickert
About The St. Louis High School Musical Theatre Awards
About The Jimmy Awards® / National High School Musical Theatre Awards®
The Jimmy Awards®/The National High School Musical Theatre Awards® (NHSMTA®) program impacts more than 100,000 students who participate in high school musical theatre competitions sponsored by presenters of Touring Broadway productions throughout the United States. Presented by the Broadway League Foundation, the program sends a Best Actress and Best Actor winner from each of these competitions to New York for a week-long theatre intensive of coaching and rehearsals with industry professionals in preparation for a one-night-only talent showcase on Broadway. Named for Broadway impresario James M. Nederlander, the program has been the catalyst for more than $2,000,000 in educational scholarships. The fourteenth annual Jimmy Awards® will take place on Monday, June 26, 2023 at the Minskoff Theatre on Broadway. Coaching and rehearsals for this one-of-a-kind event will be held Monday, June 19, 2023 through Monday, June 26, 2023 in New York City. For more information, please visit www.JimmyAwards.com.
About Carol B. Loeb
Carol B. Loeb has a great passion for educating young people. A career mathematician and educator, Carol believes passionately that all areas of study contribute to a student’s success – including the arts and musical theatre. Through her intellect and generosity, she has impacted an untold number of students at all levels of education. She is honored to serve as the presenting sponsor of the St. Louis High School Musical Theatre Awards.
Theo Rickert and Will Kinsella. Photo provided by Fox Performing Arts Charitable Foundation.
Still terrifying and unnerving, the third chapter of this durable horror science fiction franchise presents a smart origin story, “A Quiet Place: Day One.”
That’s no small feat, given the popularity of the first two films that were co-written, directed and starred John Krasinski. He contributed to the story here, is a producer, and will be back with a Part 3 to continue the Abbott family saga.
“A Quiet Place” in 2018 set up a chilling post-apocalyptic world, where the Abbotts are trying to survive – dad Lee (Krasinski), mom Evelyn (Emily Blunt) and children, deaf daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds), son Marcus (Noah Jupe) and toddler Beau. They live in a small, tight-knit community in Millbrook, New York, in the Hudson Valley, and action commences about 89 days after the June 18, 2020, attack.
The sequel in 2021 saw the remaining Abbotts expand their horizons beyond their farm. That’s when family friend Emmett (Cillian Murphy) and Henri (Djimon Hounsou), known as “Man on the Island,” are introduced, and it’s been about 474 days since the monsters wreaked havoc on Earth. Henri shows up in the prequel, adding a nifty thread.
They have discovered the creatures can’t swim, so escaping to water is a safe bet, and for the Abbotts, they find out another weakness, and use high-frequency audio feedback from Regan’s cochlear implant as a weapon.
“A Quiet Place: Part 2” gave us a glimpse of the aliens’ arrival, but this prequel takes place in the first four days of the chaos and moves the action to hustling and bustling noisy New York City.
A prickly cancer patient, Samira (Lupita Nyong’o) is on a group trip to New York City with fellow hospice residents and their nurse Reuben (Alex Wolff) when an alien invasion sends the world into silence.
That’s because the blind ‘Death Angel’ marauders have super-sensitive hearing and will brutally swoop in for the kill when hunting by sound. Sam gets separated, and on a quest for her childhood favorite pizza — she’s determined to get to Patsy’s in East Harlem, she encounters law student Eric (Joseph Quinn), and they help each other fight for survival.
There’s added dread, reminiscent of the shock of 9-11, as the panic-stricken populace struggles to escape grisly deaths. And to see the subways paralyzed, skyscrapers danger zones as those swift aliens crawl lightning-fast over every surface, and an anxious, shell-shocked humanity is unsettling.
Every car alarm, luggage wheel traveling over city streets, stepping delicately on crunchy debris, and general urban cacophony is magnified, and when people forget that silence is golden, calling out to loved ones or having an emotional meltdown, they’re goners.
Now one would think using this clever device of sound being death’s calling card would grow tiresome, but it doesn’t. I was still on the edge of my seat with every snap, crackle and pop after the three films, and eager for Part 3.
The best thing about this franchise is the thrilling communal movie-going experience it provides. I have fond memories of being in a very still crowd watching the first six years ago, where every soda slurp and popcorn munch was magnified, and the cathartic release that came when Evelyn had the baby, by herself, in the bathtub. The tension was practically unbearable– and Blunt vanquished those evil marauders in fine fierce form.
The sequel was the first movie I saw in a theater post-pandemic shut down, in May 2021, and it was such a celebratory event that even the jump scares were welcome.
Cut to a warm June night last week where I joined fellow fans collectively holding our breaths as the engaging new characters tried to outsmart the creatures. The jump scare is a doozy, and the crowd loved it. Sharing suspense is such a pleasurable big-screen experience!
Those critters are ugly! The CGI is remarkably seamless and the sound design, always the movie’s strongest suit, is at another state-of-the-art level.
While the first film was stingy in its reveal of the grotesque beasts, and the second time, lengthier in full view, this time we get various looks – a particularly terrifying one is when they scatter, like spiders, over all the tall buildings. Wisely, director Michael Sarnoski refrained from too much gore.
But the personal emotional connection of the characters has always been key to this franchise’s commercial success. Original co-screenwriters Scott Beck and Bryan Woods had helped create memorable characters that we cared about and Sarnoski does the same here.
Stand-offish Sam might be initially an unlikable lead character, but as you learn her backstory, sympathy builds, especially with her service cat Frodo. Lost soul Eric, a guy from England unfamiliar with America, is a stranger in a strange land angle that works, particularly his compassion.
How they cling to each other to make it through each hour keeps focus on the ferocious fight to stay alive, whether Sam is scribbling in a journal, or Eric makes a treacherous trek to get her thermal fentanyl patches for her Stage 4 cancer pain.
Lupita Nyong’o, Oscar winner for “12 Years a Slave,” has found a good niche in horror films, as her memorable turn in Jordan Peele’s “Us,” indicated. Like the best silent film actresses, she conveys so much with a glance.
Equally expressive is Joseph Quinn, mostly known as Eddie in “Stranger Things,” who will be in the upcoming “Gladiator 2.” He is convincing as an earnest guy dazed by the predicament but one who finds practical solutions to situations they find themselves in as they roam the city. He’s resourceful, and that comes in handy.
Their unlikely, but touching, bond is the reason this series remains compelling, but also handing this project off to Sarnoski was a bold and wise move. With fresh characters and a new location, he maintains the tension.
Sarnoski scored big with a small drama he directed and wrote, “Pig,” in 2021. He resuscitated Nicolas Cage’s reputation, giving him one of his best roles as a grieving former gourmet chef (St. Louis Film Critics Association’s Best Actor). It’s now streaming on Hulu, worth seeing. And Alex Wolff, a prominent brash character in “Pig,” is the kind hospice nurse Reuben in “Day One.” Wolff, who has made his mark in horror movies, including “Hereditary,” “Old,” and “My Friend Dahmer,” is a calming presence here.
Sarnoski’s different approach, while honoring the origin’s intentions, keeps its zing. The lurking destroyers remain very creepy, and the goal of a safe haven means all hope is not lost.
Each movie has offered its own well-crafted tone and tempo, and this runtime is 100 minutes, compared to the original’s 90 minutes, and Part 2’s 97 minutes.
“A Quiet Place: Day One” takes us on a familiar course in frightening fashion, touching on tender moments that make life worth living while dealing with a dystopian future no one saw coming. Challenge met.
“A Quiet Place: Day One” is a 2024 horror sci-fi drama directed by Michael Sarnoski and starring Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff and Djimon Hounsou. It is rated PG-13 for terror and violent content/bloody images and the run time is 1 hour, 40 minutes. It opened in theatres June 28. Lynn’s Grade: B+.
Let’s cut to the chase. Tiffany Mann’s electrifying rendition of the signature song, “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” is everything you want it to be and more, exceeding the highest expectations.
If The Muny had a roof, she would have smashed it to smithereens. She met her Muny moment by unleashing a torrent of fury, hurt, pain and devotion with such ferocity – and control – that the only one not breathless after listening was Ms. Mann. She was stunning in her range and vocal reservoirs.
It was truly one of the most spectacular powerhouse performances in my 60 years of attending Muny shows. She received thunderous ovations throughout, with some of us leaping to our feet as we applauded at the finish.
It’s no wonder she took us to church, for she’s been doing that for a long time. Her parents are nationally renowned gospel singers and actors David and Tamela Mann. You may recall Tiffany bringing the house down in “Smokey Joe’s Café” in the Muny’s first post-pandemic show in 2021.
Tiffany Mann in the 2024 Muny production of “Dreamgirls.” Photo by Phillip Hamer
That “Dreamgirls” showstopping first act closer has been thrilling audiences since its debut in 1981 and was ranked the no. 1 rhythm-and-blues song of 1982 on the Billboard chart. It’s an intimidating one to master, even for the most gifted vocalists.
Tony winner Jennifer Holliday’s career took off after originating the role of Effie White on Broadway, winning a separate Grammy for best vocal performance, and Jennifer Hudson won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress for the 2006 movie adaptation.
This rags-to-riches showbiz musical stands out because it delves into the complexities of gender and race at a time when pop music was going through a seismic cultural shift, with changing times and tastes.
Black singers were breaking down racial barriers with ‘crossover’ music, yet often compromised in a live music and recording business hierarchy.
These are subjects explored in such crowd-pleasing jukebox musicals as “Motown: The Musical,” “Memphis,” and “Tina – The Tina Turner Musical,” but “Dreamgirls” was among the first, marked by its style and sophistication.
The book and lyrics by Tom Eyen and music by Henry Krieger focuses on an all-girl singing group – think Diana Ross and the Supremes, the Shirelles, Martha and the Vandellas, and the Chiffons — as they rocket to superstardom in the 1960s and 1970s.
From left: Charl Brown, Courtnee Carter, Aramie Payton, Nick Rashad Burroughs, Tiffany Mann, Aisha Jackson and Ron Himes in the 2024 Muny production of “Dreamgirls.” Photo by Phillip Hamer
They must learn the ins and outs of a cutthroat system while not having much control over their contracts or lives. The soul sounds recall the Motown music trajectory of 1962-1976 in a peppy upbeat score, with meaningful emotional ballads to reflect character transitions.
It’s the kind of big splashy production that lends itself well to the glitz and glamour that the Muny can dazzle us with – and the creative team worked its customary magic to generate.
The look is super-sleek, with chic fashions from indomitable costume designer Leon Dobkowski, trendy wig designs from master stylist Kelley Jordan, ritzy set designs from ever-sharp Edward E. Haynes Jr., and perceptive bygone era video design from clever Elaine J. McCarthy.
Now in his 12th season, lighting designer extraordinaire Rob Denton enhances the in-vogue parade of fashions, glittery nightclub settings and mod TV appearances.
In 2012, the Muny staged a robust production featuring Holliday as Effie – and future “Hamilton” star Christopher Jackson as unscrupulous manager Curtis Taylor Jr.
Tiffany Mann and Ron Himes in the 2024 Muny production of “Dreamgirls.” Photo by Phillip Hamer
In this dynamic reprise, Mann makes Effie her own – and the high-spirited ensemble comes together seamlessly as a family along to an effervescent pulsating rhythm.
The principal characters are an impressive gathering of seasoned pros who’ve made a name for themselves on Broadway.
Immensely likable performers Aisha Jackson is classy Deena Jones and Courtnee Carter is flashy Lorrell Robinson, with the later addition of Effie’s replacement, Natalie Kaye Clater as charming Michelle Morris. They bring a lot of sparkle and pizzazz to the ambitious and naïve rising trio The Dreamettes.
They beautifully blend harmonies, and you root for them and their big dreams. Making their Muny debuts, Jackson was the first black woman to play the role of Anna in the Broadway production of “Frozen” and Carter was recently in the Tony-winning revival of “Parade.”
And the male leads are equally strong – silky-smooth Charl Brown is again impressive as the ethically challenged Curtis Taylor Jr., the Svengali manager-producer, after his memorable turn in the aforementioned “Smokey Joe’s Café” the summer of 2021. He was Tony nominated as pioneering Smokey Robinson in “Motown: The Musical.”
From left: Aisha Jackson, Nick Rashad Burroughs, Tiffany Mann, Courtnee Carter and the company of the 2024 Muny production of “Dreamgirls.” Photo by Phillip Hamer
With the theatricality and bluster of James Brown and Little Richard, Nick Rashad Burroughs is on fire as live-wire star Jimmy “Thunder” Early. He quickly won over the audience with his brash charm and high energy.
Burroughs originated the role of Ike Turner in “Tina – The Tina Turner Musical” on Broadway and was recently seen as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in the touring production of “Moulin Rouge” that came to the Fox this spring.
Aramie Payton is warm and personable as the talented songwriter C.C. White, Effie’s brother. He was the original Michael Jackson standby in “MJ – The Musical.”
Local treasure Ron Himes is a formidable Marty, an early mover and shaker who helps the group navigate the biz and tries to keep Curtis in check.
They are a tight-knit unit gliding through the ups and downs of fame.
Director Robert Clater makes sure we feel the heart along with the soul as a whirlwind rise marks Act One. His vivacious staging of the Apollo Amateur Night line-up opening and a supercool “Steppin’ to the Bad Side” gets us off to a rousing start.
The company of the 2024 Muny production of “Dreamgirls.” Photo by Phillip Hamer
The momentum keeps going with “Dreamgirls” and “Party Party,” followed by the serious “Heavy” and that soul-stirring rafter-shaking hit song.
Highlights also include the ironic white milquetoast rendition of “Cadillac Car” by Dave and the Sweethearts – really hammering a serious point with humor – and one of the most poignant numbers, “Family.” That is the enduring theme that ultimately saves some of them from themselves.
Choreographer Lesia Kaye keeps the dancers moving while music director/conductor Anne Shuttlesworth ensures everybody’s grooving, although I did feel at times the orchestra overpowered the vocals..
The late great legend Michael Bennett, fresh from the phenomenon that was “A Chorus Line,” directed and choreographed the original “Dreamgirls” 43 years ago, and Kaye honors that legacy with vigor.
Because of the heady mix of achieving their dreams in Act One, there is a believable joy throughout – until Effie’s heartbreaking personal and professional betrayal, although her erratic unprofessionalism and off-putting diva behavior precipitates her inevitable downfall.
Aisha Jackson and the company of the 2024 Muny production of “Dreamgirls.” Photo by Phillip Hamer
The cool and refined Deena becomes the more ‘presentable’ leader of the group, now known as Deena Jones and the Dreams, and is everything hot-headed Effie lacks, so Act Two interjects more of the pitfalls of fame and personal strife as fortunes run high and low.
While the cliched backstage drama also features Effie’s redemption, karma for Curtis, and Jimmy’s career tumbles, the girls’ can’t stop the detrimental cracks in their upward direction.
The consequences of single-minded success are obvious, and the book isn’t as strong in this snapshot, and the pacing sags midway.. You can see the strain of having everything tied up neatly on the page, yet the resolution feels earned for the principals, if rushed..
“And I Am Telling You…” isn’t Mann’s only slam dunk, for her contrite “I Am Changing” and her pensive “One Night Only” soar.
And darn if that long-time-coming reunion doesn’t produce a lump in the throat!
Among noteworthy elements to emphasize, Dobkowski’s elegant interpretations of retro fashions deserve their own standing ovation. His work always suits the characters perfectly, and he’s won two St. Louis Theater Circle Awards, for “Seussical” and “The Wiz.” He is in his 11th season, and brings out a shiny, happy vibe to everything he produces. Remember his jubilant “Sister Act” from last season?
From left: Courtnee Carter, Aisha Jackson, Natalie Kaye Clater and the company of the 2024 Muny production of “Dreamgirls.” Photo by Phillip Hamer
And Haynes’ scenic design is so fluid, one must salute his depth – briskly moving scenes in Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, Miami, Las Vegas, and other cities with remarkable dexterity. Theater Circle winner for “Smokey Joe’s Café,” he created the landmark set for last season’s “Chess.”
One doesn’t achieve this slick sense of time and place with its distinctive sound and fury without prioritizing collaboration. That is what sets this show apart from a typical “Behind the Music” documentary, with a cast and crew determined to razzle dazzle us in a most exuberant triumph.
Come for THE SONG, stay for the teamwork.
From left: Courtnee Carter, Aisha Jackson and Natalie Kaye Clater in the 2024 Muny production of “Dreamgirls.” Photo by Phillip Hamer
The Muny presents “Dreamgirls” at 8:15 p.m. nightly June 27 – July 3 on the outdoor stage in Forest Park. The run time is nearly 2 hours and 30 minutes, including intermission. Tickets are available at muny.org, by calling MetroTix at (314) 534-1111 or in person at the Muny Box Office, 9 a.m.-9 p.m. daily.
A raw and real portrait of Native American life on an Oklahoma reservation, “Fancy Dance” is a haunting, heartbreaking missing-person drama from an interesting little-seen perspective.
It’s a slow-build from writer-director Erica Tremblay and co-writer Miciana Alise that turns into a slow burn.
A serious-minded Lily Gladstone plays Jax, a gruff and tough hustler living on the Seneca-Cayuga Reservation, trying to survive and help care for her 13-year-old niece Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson). On the outside, she appears cold-hearted, but deeply cares about keeping her family intact.
She resorts to desperate measures when her sister Tawi, an exotic dancer, disappears, and their white father Frank (Shea Wigham) and his second wife Nancy (Audrey Wasilewski) are granted temporary custody of Roki once the Department of Family Services gets involved. Jax has a criminal record and is not allowed to have contact, let alone be guardian.
Tawi and Roki were preparing to dance at a big-deal annual powwow in Oklahoma City. Jax wants that happy experience for her niece, so she kidnaps the girl from her grandparents and goes on the run while an Amber Alert is launched.
Jax and her father, never close, have been estranged since her mother’s death and his move from the reservation.
Gladstone, all pent-up rage, and the pain of loss hangs heavy. While she seemingly does not want to abandon hope, she outwardly shows the strain of anguish taking its toll. Nevertheless, she is a fighter and summons every ounce of bravery she has.
While Jax attempts to get answers about her sister’s whereabouts and urge police to investigate, a stacked deck about the rough road for indigenous women and the justice system that fails them also unfolds. Their half-brother JJ (Ryan Begay) is part of the tribal police force, and he claims he can’t do much with the feds involved.
The tension is mild and the story meanders, but the film’s earnestness eventually gets it back on track. The acting is lived in, and the young actress Deroy-Olson gives a precious portrayal of an innocent girl having to grow up much faster because of her circumstances.
Wigham, a longtime character actor, isn’t given much to do in an underdeveloped role, but his Frank is not a villain, and seems sympathetic. After all, he is reluctant to get authorities after Jax.
Tremblay, who belongs to the Seneca Cayuga Nation, has written for the TV series “Reservation Dogs” and directed documentaries, but this is her first feature film as director. She is attentive to details regarding her tribal nation’s way of life. Along with production designer Charlotte Royer and cinematographer Carolina Costa, they have created an authentic atmosphere.
A sorrowful mood permeates this slice-of-community and culture because of how marginalized these characters have been treated their entire lives. Samantha Crain’s evocative score has melancholic tones but also joyous native rhythms.
The sobering realization of systemic racism and the entrenched colonialism makes this naturalistic piece stand out. However, the ending is abrupt and seems rushed. Yet, it ends on such a joyful, hopeful note of togetherness that you really want to root for these women to be comforted by their family connections.
But there is no denying the narrative’s impact. It makes you understand these women’s plight, forcing us to pay attention. And the performances are impactful in emphasizing the storytelling’s importance.
“Fancy Dance” is a 2023 drama directed by Erica Tremblay and starring Lily Gladstone, Isabel Deroy-Olson, Shea Wigham, and Ryan Begay. It is rated R for language, some drug content and sexual material, and runs 1 hour, 30 minutes. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and opened in select theaters on June 21. It began streaming on Apple TV+ on June 28. Lynn’s Grade: B.
Sins of the past collide with a volatile present in the intense gut-punch that is August Wilson’s “King Hedley II,” part of his American Century Cycle now in return rotation at The Black Rep.
One of the foremost interpreters of Wilson’s work, director Ron Himes superbly creates a powder keg of family secrets, desires for fresh starts, and hopes punctured by despair.
Shaping vivid portrayals, an outstanding ensemble conveys an abundance of passion in a heartbreaking and tragic tale.
The ninth of Wilson’s 10 plays set in the 20th Century, “King Hedley II,” written in 1999, takes place in Reagan’s America 1985, when class struggles were escalating.
This was a fraught time for black men and women trapped by circumstances – few opportunities and an alarming rise in gun violence, teen pregnancies and unemployment. Wilson hammers all those points home in poetic dialogue that spills out in blistering, breathtaking monologues that offer perspective.
Ka’ramuu Kush, J. Samuel Davis and Geovonday Jones. Photo by Keshon Campbell.
Himes understands the rhythms of these individual characters so that their story arcs are distinctive – and the six intertwining connections are convincing. It is masterful, moving work from Ka’ramuu Kush as rage-filled King and Alex Jay as his conflicted wife Tonya, local legends Denise Thimes as matriarch Ruby and J. Samuel Davis as ramblin’, gamblin’ Elmore, with strong support from A.C. Smith as evangelical neighbor Stool Pigeon and Geovonday Jones as King’s pal Mister.
With daily indignities chipping away at his self-respect, King is attempting to overcome a world of hurt to rebuild his life. He just spent seven years in prison for killing a man who disfigured his face. Now, he wants to provide for his family as he hustles stolen refrigerators and dreams of opening a video store with his best friend Mister.
Trouble seems to lurk everywhere, to pull him back, and his life could blow up at any moment because of all these small fires and volatile situations fanning the flames.
Such is the action in a backyard of Pittsburgh’s Hill District, fertile ground for Wilson’s dark, complex story about the widening gulf between the haves and have-nots. Some of the characters we met in his “Seven Guitars” reappear a generation later.
Alex Jay as Tonya. Photo by Keshon Campbell.
“Seven Guitars,” presented in 1995, confronted obstacles faced by a blues musician, Floyd “Schoolboy” Barton, who lived in a boarding house in 1948. In that one, Ruby, visiting from Alabama, is pregnant with the son she names King Hedley II. Hedley is a prominent character, although the father’s paternity is not explained. Stool Pigeon appears as musician Canewell, one of Floyd’s best buds who is now collecting newspapers and trying to maintain historical records in “King Hedley II.” His friend, Red Carter, is Mister’s father.
Wilson’s 10 plays, each exploring the African American experience by decade over the course of 100 years, have been performed by the Black Rep before. During this second go-round for the anthology, I have seen them all since “The Piano Lesson” in 2013, with “Jitney” in 2022 and “Two Trains Running” in 2020 earning outstanding production awards from the St. Louis Theater Circle.
Next season, they will complete this recent cycle with “Radio Golf,” which takes place in the 1990s and was Wilson’s final work, presented in 2005.
All powerful in their own ways, these finely acted and impeccably produced shows illuminate black heritage and specific challenges.
Denise Thimes and J. Samuel Davis. Photo by Keshon Campbell.
This production’s gritty look immerses us into the neighboring row houses’ struggles through scenic designer Timothy Jones’s shabby stoop of Stool Pigeon’s and the grimy back porch of Miss Ruby’s delapidating family home while Travis Richardson’s lighting design, Alan Phillips’ sound design and Mikhail Lynn’s props create an authentic daily atmosphere.
Kush’s King gains our sympathies as he expresses his self-doubts and displays his vulnerabilities, detailing the reasons behind his noticeable facial scar, prison sentence, and his impoverished life to date.
He’s trying to grow flowers in a neighborhood of few success stories, an apt metaphor, but an unwavering sense of community is present, even as they lament the disrespectful thug environment encroaching on their turf they try so hard to protect.
The cast excels in fleshing out their characters’ colorful personalities and backstories so that you understand their motivations and philosophies on life. Stool Pigeon and Mister present some welcome humor, which both Smith and Jones are skilled at providing.
Stool Pigeon’s frequent quoting of the Bible often gives the play a spiritual angle that reveals more as it unfolds. “God got a plan. That medicine can’t go against God. God do what he want to do. He don’t have to ask nobody nothing,” Smith matter-of-factly states.
Denise Thimes, Alex Jay, Ka’ramuu Kush. Photo by Keshon Campbell.
Wilson’s views on disadvantaged lives hit hard as their truths tumble out – exemplified by a fiery outburst from Tonya on why she doesn’t want another child, and we feel all of Jay’s anguish.
Davis, a two-time St. Louis Theater Circle acting award winner, is silky-smooth as the charming Elmore, a rascal and former suitor that reconnects with Ruby. He’s trying to soothe his soul on some of the messes of his life.
Davis’s stellar track record with Wilson’s plays continues in one of his finest portrayals, deftly maneuvering the rapid-fire exchanges of a flashy con artist always trying to score.
Thimes, known as one of the best jazz singers in town, fully embodies Ruby, trying to find peace in her golden years, and looking back at regretful missteps.
Costume designer Kristie Chiyere Osi has outfitted the working-class characters specifically, with Elmore’s slick suits and snazzy hats an interesting contrast to everyone else’s casual attire.
Geovonday Jones, Ka’ramuu Kush, J. Samuel Davis. Photo by Keshon Campbell.
The cast is riveting as the action heats up, leading to an explosive climax that left me shaken. The tension is telegraphed all through Wilson’s exceptional prose, as past violence is recounted, but it still stuns.
Nominated for both the Pulitzer Prize and the 2001 Tony Award for Best Play, “King Hedley II” is impactful in its goal, to better understand behavior when people are robbed of dignity and humanity. That message resonates with The Black Rep’s insightful staging.
The Black Rep presents “King Hedley II” from June 19 to July 14 at the Edison Theatre on the Washington University campus. An intergenerational matinee is June 26. It is 2 hours, 45 minutes, with an intermission, and contains mature language. For more information, www.theblackrep.org.
AC Smith as Stool Pigeon. Photo by Keshon Campbell.
Richly atmospheric and suspenseful, yet frustratingly conventional, director Jeff Nichols’ “The Bikeriders” can’t quite connect its engaging performances and visceral thrills with a story that’s on the same level.
Nichols’ film is inspired by a book of the same name by acclaimed photographer Danny Lyon (a version of him is played here by Mike Faist). It begins in the mid-1960s and charts the story of the Vandals, a fictionalized Chicago motorcycle club of ragtag, chopper-loving misfits.
They come together to drink, fight, and assert dominance over their territory, like an idiosyncratic family that’s alternately affectionate and combative. As they ride down the open road, engines blasting in their ears, they’re in their own powerful element.
Led by the brooding and volatile Johnny (Tom Hardy), a truck driver and family man who was inspired to form the group after seeing Marlon Brando in “The Wild One,” the Vandals aren’t an outright “gang,” although threats of violence are ever-present if anyone’s ego is threatened.
Rather, they’re like-minded souls looking for a sense of community and freedom from what mainstream society expects of them. They’re just willing to engage in the occasional beat down and destruction of property if the mood or situation calls for it.
Their makeshift brotherhood simultaneously satiates a need for togetherness and an outlet to embrace their (often misguided) sense of “manliness.” The rough-and-tumble crowd includes, among others, a mechanic named Cal (Boyd Holbrook), a perpetually drunk outcast named Zipco (Michael Shannon), and a man named Cockroach (Emory Cohen) who prides himself on eating bugs.
There’s also the tatted-up, enigmatic, and stereotypically handsome chap named Benny (Austin Butler), who mild-mannered Cathy (Jodie Comer) – the film’s narrator – falls for after stumbling into him and the Vandals at a local bar and marries soon after.
“The Bikeriders” largely unfolds through photographer Danny’s interviews with Cathy and various members of the Vandals. Cathy, with a sarcastic, amused, but exasperated attitude, brings us into the Vandals’ orbit as an outsider.
Through flashbacks, she takes us through her experiences from her initial lusty courtship with Benny, to the group’s evolution and de-evolution over time, as a new generation — partly symbolized by The Kid (a frighteningly effective Toby Wallace) — threatens Johnny’s reign and risks transforming the Vandals into a different beast altogether.
Cathy also battles with Johnny over Benny’s soul, as Benny (a wildcard prone to impulsive behaviors) is forced to choose between his life as a Vandal and his future with Cathy. All the while, Nichols presents a nostalgic vision of the past, attempting to help us empathize with a troubled but misunderstood group on the margins of American society.
Indeed, “The Bikeriders” tries to tackle quite a bit during its 116 minute runtime — perhaps too much for its own good. For all the immaculate scene-setting, compelling performances, and armrest-gripping moments of suspense, Nichols’ film is ultimately a surface-level portrait of its subjects.
Despite this, however, the film is consistently entertaining, coasting on the strength of its performances and “Goodfellas”-lite conceit to deliver scenes of smoke-filled machismo, camaraderie, and wry humor mixed with bursts of startlingly graphic violence that keeps us on our toes moment-to-moment.
Julie Monroe’s editing is alternately breezy and jagged, reflecting the film’s juxtaposition of fantasy and reality, confidence and vulnerability — letting us sit in on exchanges that could go from peaceful to shocking at any given moment.
These scenes are counterbalanced by Kathy’s narration that finds absurdity, childishness, as well as poignancy in the Vandals’ efforts to maintain a semblance of control over not only their territory but their individual lives.
Nichols clearly has a reverence for the Vandals, but he’s careful to not overly romanticize them; their fierce dedication builds a group identity that’s both freeing and limiting, should they ever decide to leave.
The actors, across the board, take big swings that almost always pay off, barring some questionable accents that veer into cartoonish from time to time. Comer definitely goes for it, and while her performance will likely prove divisive, her delivery and narration is a good fit for Nichols’ screenplay, which buoys its darker edges with sarcastic humor that effectively takes the Vandals down to size. Cathy, naive though she sometimes is, takes no bullshit, and is willing to stand up to Johnny to fight for Benny’s safety.
Butler provides the bulk of the film’s eye-candy as Benny, portraying the film’s mysterious rebel-without-a-cause. We don’t learn much about Benny or his past, but he’s clearly damaged, looking for a way to express himself and make his mark on the world, a troublemaker with a thirst for danger whose worldview is slowly shifting with the introduction of Cathy into his life.
Benny is pulled back and forth between fantasy and reality, danger vs. safety, the thrill of the unknown vs. the security of Cathy. Butler suitably commands attention even with his limited dialogue, brimming with pure, unadulterated star power that Nichols happily emphasizes, particularly in his sizzling first scenes with Comer.
Johnny, with a nasally drawl and intimidating physique that Hardy expertly embodies, lashes out against any threat to his power, partly because he knows the Vandals cannot last without his guidance, and that his reign is nearing its end. There’s much pathos to be found here, brought to life by Hardy, as Johnny fights (scarily, in some cases) to hold onto the group as it threatens to slip through his fingers.
Hardy gives the film’s standout performance, lending Johnny a melancholy beneath his tough exterior and communicating his inner turmoil in a much subtler fashion than the screenplay permits the rest of the characters.
Through Johnny’s arc, “The Bikeriders” reveals itself to be a meditation on masculinity, on the affectionate yet unsustainable bonds that hold these men together as they attempt to outrun their problems on the open road, motorcycle engines blaring, even as reality and changing times are right on their heels.
With Nichols’ confident, classically-inspired direction in full swing — featuring freeze frames, time jumps, and tactile, lived-in cinematography by Adam Stone that admires the motorcyclists without shying away from their brutality — “The Bikeriders” is always engaging in-the-moment, but, when the sheen of star power wears off, the story’s ultimate simplicity is revealed.
It’s disappointing that, in the rearview mirror, so many side characters are reduced to archetypes that function more as ideas and symbols than tangible human beings. This is made more frustrating by a screenplay that lacks the depth necessary to explore their psyches and help us feel their motivations on a more memorable level.
It’s difficult, for example, to buy Kathy’s continued devotion to Benny. Framing the film through her perspective (at a remove) also misses an opportunity to explore the Vandals’ heights and struggles with more depth. The film claims to celebrate Lyon’s journalistic efforts (with a one-note performance from Faist that’s more irritating than involving) whilst cramming the diverse stories of its subjects into a neat, tidy, sub two-hour film for a mass audience.
Viewers well-versed in crime film tropes can predict beat-for-beat where the plot is headed, sending its individually compelling (but largely underdeveloped) characters down a formulaic road, as well as zeroing in on a relationship that’s difficult to become fully invested in. This is all at the expense of a more balanced portrait of characters worthy of closer looks that wouldn’t want to be pigeonholed into convention in the first place.
These issues hold “The Bikeriders” back from greatness, and make it somewhat superfluous in the crowd of films of its ilk that have come before. But there’s enough directorial craft and potentially awards-worthy acting on display that it’s still difficult to resist.
‘The Bikeriders’ is a 2023 crime drama directed by Jeff Nichols and starring Tom Hardy, Austin Butler, Jodie Comer and Michael Shannon. It is rated R for language throughout, violence, some drug use and brief sexuality, and the run time is 1 hour, 56 minutes. It opened in theatres June 21. Alex’s Grade: B.
Dream roles, meet dream cast. The highest caliber of vocal excellence on display cannot be understated, for this third mounting of “Les Miserables” at the Muny shimmers with glorious voices.
In the iconic roles of fugitive ex-convict Jean Valjean and his relentless pursuer Inspector Javert, Broadway veterans John Riddle and Jordan Donica surpassed their powerhouse reputations with a fiery tango as the obsessive adversaries.
Riddle, a Muny standout who won the St. Louis Theater Circle Award last year for his tour de force in “Chess,” and Donica, Tony Award nominee as Lancelot in ‘Camelot,” wowed in all aspects.
Let’s put it this way: If they sang the words to websites’ terms and conditions, you’d listen intently to every phrase before clicking ‘accept.’
With his pure, exquisite tenor and nuanced falsetto, Riddle’s stunning rendition of the showstopping emotional ballad “Bring Him Home” ranks among the most heartfelt Muny moments of all time, and his impassioned “Who Am I?” was breathtaking. His performance had to have pierced everyone’s hearts all the way to the back row.
Jordan Donica, John Riddle. Photo by Phillip Hamer.
Donica’s rich baritone intensity on “Stars” and “Soliloquy” depicted Javert’s inner turmoil.
They are the lightning to the chorus’ thunder, as the sprawling ensemble’s lush harmonies soared into the beautiful summer night of June 18.
And the Muny audience – 7,700 on Tuesday – leaned in, its affection palpable. (And more than a few misty eyes noticeable). You could have heard a pin drop during its 2 hours and 45 minutes runtime.
The epic scope of this stirring sung-through adaptation of Victor Hugo’s 1,463-page novel from 1862 on post-Revolutionary France makes for a challenging and daunting production, especially for a Muny-sized version.
With its massive cast, towering multi-level set revolving on the turntable, and complex story to tell, the revered classic requires everyone involved to be at the top of their game.
While a show of this magnitude isn’t without flaws, the achievement of pulling off one of the grandest musicals ever represents the Muny at its finest. Previous acclaimed productions were in 2007 and 2013, and that one remains burned in my brain as among the best.
John Riddle sings “Bring Him Home.” Photo by Phillip Hamer.
First, this is “Les Miserables.” Beloved. Adored. Claude-Michel Schönberg’s and Alain Boublil’s musical sensation started a landmark world-wide run in London in 1985 before it came to Broadway in 1987, packing houses for 16 years. It was revived in 2006 and 2014.
Over three decades, it has been seen by 130 million people in 53 countries and is the sixth longest-running Broadway musical of all-time. Currently, a U.S. national tour is underway.
Fun fact: This company’s director Seth Sklar-Heyn, music director James Moore and choreographer Jesse Robb are the core artistic team behind that current tour. Sklar-Heyn is also executive producer of all “Les Miz” companies in the U.S., on behalf of the legendary impresario Cameron Mackintosh.
The basics are thus: French peasant Jean Valjean served nineteen years for stealing a loaf of bread for his sister’s starving child, and breaks his parole. He is aided by a merciful bishop in Digne (Ken Page) and makes a fresh start, but is hunted by Javert.
Redeeming himself, he has assumed a new identity as Monsieur Madeleine, a wealthy factory owner and mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer.
Eventually, a group of young idealistic students attempt to overthrow the government at a barricade in Paris. It’s 1832 and the city is in upheaval because General Lamarque, the only official who seems to care about the poor, is about to die.
The Paris Uprising battle scenes are powerful and dramatic, crystallizing several of the plot points.
Emily Bautista in the 2024 Muny production of “Les Misérables.” Photo by Phillip Hamer
There are many moving parts, by virtue of the dense story’s blend of revolution and romance, good and evil. While I’m a fan, some of the subplots can be confusing if you aren’t overly familiar with the source material.
A prerequisite is reading the show synopsis, which takes up a full page in the Muny program. Trust me, you need it. It can be overwhelming for newbies and if it’s been awhile since you saw it, doesn’t hurt to refresh.
It races through many years and multiple locations, so buckle up. One needs to focus on who is propelling the plot forward, and there are times when you can’t necessarily spot that character right away because of the busyness.
For instance, I don’t think this staging made Fantine’s predicament clear in a crowded factory scene, nor was an artistic choice for Javert’s death (spoiler alert) as effective as what I’ve seen before.
Photo by Phillip Hamer.
No matter if it’s your second time or 12th, there are certain expectations every fan has. Not all interpretations can satisfy pre-conditioned notions in one’s head, but no one can quibble with the enthralling vocals.
While most shined in their solo moments, the actors’ emoting varied. Fantine has limited time to establish her plight as a desperate and destitute single mom, although Teal Wicks superbly delivered a touching “I Dreamed a Dream,” if not nailing the role’s set-up.
Red Concepcion and Jade Jones as the Thenardiers were not as funny as they could have been, for a show in need of the broad comic relief that “Master of the House” and “Beggars at the Feast” provides. They were less buffoonish and more pathetic.
A major crowd-pleaser was scene-stealer Will Schulte as the streetwise urchin Gavroche, endearing in his number “Look Down.” Another youngster, Kate Kappel, sweetly sang “Castle on a Cloud” as hopeful Little Cosette.
The young performers acting as rebels were among the most impressive – especially poignant Emily Bautista as the tragic Eponine and James D. Gish a revelation as devoted Enjolras.
She tugged at our heartstrings with “On My Own” and Gish was all vigor and verve in his zealous commitment to the cause in “Red and Black,” “Do You Hear the People Sing?” and the rousing showstopper “One Day More.”
From left: Noah Van Ess, Dan Klimko, Peter Neureuther and the company of the 2024 Muny production of “Les Misérables.” Photo by Phillip Hamer
Cosette, Fantine’s daughter now living with Valjean, and student leader Marius’ love story is told ardently – with Gracie Annabelle Parker and Peter Neureuther the dashing couple. Marius’ mournful “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” gets to me every time.
The company of 77 sings their hearts out. Twenty members of the St. Louis Symphony Chorus — soprano, alto, tenor and bass-baritone — joined 35 professional actors and 22 local youth performers on stage (and backstage)
The sumptuous, assured musical direction and conducting by virtuoso James Moore is significant. Working with Schonberg’s music score and lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer, from original French text by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel, he is using new orchestrations from Christopher Jahnke, Stephen Metcalfe and Stephen Brooker.
Moore’s body of work – 12 shows at the Muny– has been distinctive, bringing out the shadings in Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd,” “West Side Story” (fervent Leonard Bernstein-level!) and “Gypsy,” but his efforts leading an epic “Les Miz” delivers an extraordinary aural treat. Special mention of associate music director Michael Horsley whose contributions are important.
And the exceptional 25-member orchestra, whose musicality is peerless, brings out all the feelings in this music. As a native of Belleville, Ill., I must mention recently deceased Bellevillian Vicky Smolik, who played trumpet in the Muny orchestra for 45 years. This opening production is dedicated to her memory.
Photo by Phillip Hamer.
From the bombastic opening chords and the score’s rich repetitive motifs, through the robust anthems, yearning expressions and tender love songs, the orchestra has produced numerous chill-inducing moments.
DirectorSklar-Heyn has made sure a zippy pace is maintained. Praise must be heaped on the stage manager Willie Porter and her three assistant stage managers Sarah Azizo, Eric Elz, and Joshua Vinik for the smooth flow of action.
The ace technical wizards included lighting designer Jason Lyons, scenic designer Ann Beyersdorfer, video designer Shawn Duan, and sound designers John Shivers and David Patridge.
Gail Baldoni’s costume design was mostly gritty, with class distinctions for the lavish wedding attire, nobility and military uniforms, and Ashley Rae Callahan’s wig design coiffed the characters’ appropriately.
“Les Miz” celebrates courage, conviction and community, and its recurring themes are timeless. You can see why it endures and feel how passionate both the performers and the audience are about it in this Muny opener to the 106th season.
The Muny presents “Les Misérables” at 8:15 p.m. nightly, June 17-23 on the outdoor stage in Forest Park. The show is 2 hours, 45 minutes, with an intermission. For more information, visit www.muny.org.
Teal Wicks in the 2024 Muny production of “Les Misérables.” Photo by Phillip Hamer
I won’t bury the lede: I wanted to like Opera Theatre of St. Louis’ production of “Galileo Galilei” more than I did. I had high expectations.
I appreciate the compositions of Phillip Glass, especially “Einstein on the Beach,” “Akhnaten” and the soundtrack to the documentary “Koyaanisqatsi.” I find mesmerizing (and hypnotic in the best way) his minimalist compositions, intricate structures and innovative fusion of classical and contemporary elements.
His talents (he wrote something like 25 operas), combined with Mary Zimmerman’s and Arnold Weinstein’s as co-librettists, as well as OTSL’s high artistic standards, set my expectation meter to high.
And yet, at the completion of the 90-minute performance (with no intermission), my first thought/best thought was “so close and yet so far.” Sort of like the way I imagine Galileo felt sometimes staring at the heavens through his rudimentary telescope – with the moon and stars appearing so close that he could – almost but not quite – touch them. A matter of reach versus grasp.
Is this a “bad” production? Of course not. Is this a “great” or even “good” production? The answer to that depends on how you define a fulfilling opera experience. If you like your opera narratives to didactically follow the highlights of a famous person’s life story (one act with 10 titled scenes in this case) with the dramatic depth of a History Channel documentary, then “Galileo Galilei” might be for you.
This episodic, highlight-reel depiction of Galileo’s complex relationship with the Catholic Church, his personal struggles and his enduring quest for scientific truth was like watching his travails through a remote telescope. As such, we can’t get below the surface to understand Galileo at a more meaningful, microscopic level. We get facts, not empathy.
However, the narrative structure itself was as intriguing as it was innovative. I don’t know of any other opera that presents its story backwards. That structure called to mind “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (the movie, not the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald) and the novel “Time’s Arrow” by Martin Amis.
“Galileo Galilei” begins with the scientist as an old, blind, regretful man under house arrest, then follows his life in reverse order, and ends with him peering through a telescope as a hopeful boy. At the risk of being too literal and not allowing enough artistic license, that concluding scene was jarring because that telescope hadn’t yet been invented yet – by way of Hans Lippershey – so how could the boy be using one?
Yet, the tone of the final scene is impactful and lasting. History and time have proved Galileo right, and one would hope that today he would feel vindicated. As the great man himself once wrote, “The Bible shows the way to go to heaven, not the way the heavens go.”
And, there’s a certain irony in the fact that “the middle finger of his right hand—has been housed at various museums in Italy since at least the first half of the 1800s. The purloined vertebra ended up at the University of Padua, where Galileo taught from 1592 to 1610,” according to History.com.
Portraying Galileo’s story in reverse is genius and puts the focus on hope rather than despair or tragedy. We see the hopeful beginning, not the seemingly defeated end. Amis in “Time’s Arrow” explores the storytelling potential of this approach. In the opening scene of “Galileo Galilei” there’s a resonance of Amis’ line, “We are prisoners of our own past, forever chasing the echoes of what has already happened.” And when exploring the themes of this opera, Glass, Zimmerman and Weinstein could very well have been thinking of Amis when he wrote “We understand time only in retrospect” and “Time is not linear, but a vast web of interconnected moments.”
Also praiseworthy is OTSL’s commitment to providing newer operas. Even if the sum of “Galileo Galilei” doesn’t synergistically exceed its individual parts, it’s a worthy experience to see how creatively and flexibly the opera form continues to be. I enjoy being exposed to all of the theatrical experiences provided by operas old and new – and everything in between.
Additionally, this opera is an interesting choice because it highlights – yet again – that science deniers have been around for a long, long time. To quote Amis again, “The present is the result of the past, and the foundation for the future.” Not exactly a reassuring or hopeful thought in this context. Revealing such prescience is definitely on the “plus side” of OTSL’s “Galileo Galilei.”
One playful sidenote to this production: in one scene (and the director’s notes) we learn that Galileo’s father, Vincenzo Galilei, was a founding member of the Florentine Camerata, which was responsible for the creation of the first operas in the final years of the Renaissance. It’s not often you leave an opera learning a factoid like that.
This production, under the stage direction of James Robinson (OTSL’s artistic director), is overtly, baroquely theatrical. At first glance, the staging appears inventive and dynamic as it attempts to breathe life into 17th century Italy. And with the quick pacing, that may be enough. But reflecting on the performance afterward, the staging deflects attention from the general lack of empathy for Galileo. There’s not time in this opera to feel deeply for him as a well-developed, multi-dimensional character. Don’t cry for me, Inquisition.
Another layer of this production’s theatricality are its costumes by Marco Piemontese. The costumes blend historical authenticity and artistic creativity to reflect the Renaissance era’s attire while incorporating modern elements that complement Glass’ minimalist score.
Piemontese’s meticulous attention to detail is generally impressive, but there are two off-putting characters whose white, puffy costumes beg for comparison to both Oompa Loompas from “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” and the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man of “Ghostbusters” fame. Perhaps I just have an overactive associative visual mental library.
Allen Moyer’s choices for set the set design are praiseworthy for their inventiveness and clever support for the intricate choreography (provided by Sean Curran), crisp lighting (Eric Southern) and scene changes. His choices, including a compact proscenium arch that’s essentially a stage upon the stage, are also questionable for making the OTSL’s already modestly sized stage seem even smaller.
I can argue both sides of this choice. But the unsparing set made me yearn at times for the Lucca Christmas market scene in OTSL’s recent production of “La Boheme.”
The set’s small size keeps your attention well-focused on the elements of the opera, especially when the video projections by Greg Emetaz are presented. One of the highlights of this production is the amusing animation that “explains” Galileo’s “law of fall” about how gravity causes all objects, regardless of their mass, to fall at the same rate. Imagine how hard it would be to visually represent such a concept in an opera context.
Conversely, the small proscenium arch/stage can feel visually constricting, and the action can seem unrelenting. More than once, I felt anxious because I feared that if my eye wandered, I would miss something important. And that fear was not unwarranted.
“Galileo Galilei” is mostly an ensemble performance (some in the cast sing multiple roles). There are four primary roles: Galileo (old and young), Maria Celeste (his devoted daughter) and the Cardinal Inquisitor. Collectively, These roles require a diverse range of vocal talents, from the introspective and reflective singing of the older Galileo to the youthful energy of the younger characters and the authoritative tones of the Inquisitor.
The ensemble in this production consistently delivers a rich tapestry of vocal expressions throughout the opera – or as much as they can wring from this libretto. There are no signature moments (or arias) in this opera, and thus no character, other than Galileo (either old or young) that really stand above the others.
As the older Galileo, tenor Paul Groves evenly delivers a nuanced portrayal of a man who reflects on his life and achievements with a mix of regret and pride. Sean Michael Plumb as the younger Galileo powerfully reveals his character’s early passion and curiosity, especially when interacting with other key figures.
Vanessa Becerra sings a very lovely Maria Celeste. Becerra’s controlled performance conveys Maria’s deep love and admiration for Galileo, especially during his trial by the Inquisition, as well as her internal conflicts and struggles with illness.
“Galileo Galilei” makes extensive use of a chorus that represents a range of characters from fellow scholars to members of the Church, supporters and skeptics. The chorus members often sing falsetto, ostensibly to emphasize the intellectual, philosophical or “otherworldly” aspects of the opera. This use of falsetto, through no fault of the singers, was more squirm-worthy, amorphous and cerebrally detracting than effective.
Glass was the primary draw for me with “Galileo Galilei.” Though not for everyone’s taste (and certainly not for those who prefer more traditional opera styles), his minimal style characterized by repetitive musical motifs, can be propulsive, emotional and poetic.
For those who are not Glass fans or who aren’t familiar with his style, this libretto might feel stagnant with overly repetitious themes and phrase. Musically, “Galileo Galilei” is a choose-your-own musical adventure.
“Galileo Galilei” is no “Akhnaten” or “Einstein On the Beach,” but it is not disappointing either, especially when as well played by the orchestra (with members of the St. Louis Symphony) and well directed Kwamé Ryan. There were many moments when I wished I could close my eyes and just listen to the score.
“Galileo Galilei’ is a mixed bag, but it’s still worth seeing. But keep some context in mind. This opera is best enjoyed as a cerebral and intellectual exercise rather than an emotional or cathartic experience. With a short run time and quick scenes (comparatively), effective use of multimedia, solid singing and costumes rivaling those at the Met Gala, this is an interesting quarter of the OTSL’s four-part festival.
“Galileo Galilei” is part of Opera Theatre of St. Louis 2024 repertory season continuing through June 29 at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University campus. For tickets or more information visit www.opera-stl.org.
