Wackiness Ensues in Stray Dog’s Broad Farce ‘3 Sheets to the Wind’

Wackiness Ensues in Stray Dog’s Broad Farce ‘3 Sheets to the Wind’

By Lynn Venhaus

They say write what you know, and Gary F. Bell and Robert L. White, former roommates in New York City, have done just that.

They have collaborated on an original broad farce, “3 Sheets to the Wind,” which is about throwing different personalities together in a cramped three-bedroom apartment in New York City.

What happens when three ex-lovers converge in the same space, where neighbors and an out-of-town theater troupe breeze in and out? Wackiness ensues. It’s a familiar plot device not unlike popular sitcoms “The Odd Couple,” “Three’s Company” and “Will & Grace.”

Bell, founder and artistic director of Stray Dog Theatre in 2003, has built a loyal following at the intimate Tower Grove Abbey, producing a season of comedies, dramas and musicals. He and White premiered another collaboration in 2015, an original musical “Spellbound! A Musical Fable.”

Joe Garner, Brady Stiff, Sarah Polizzi, Zack Huels and Jeffrey M. Wright. Stray Dog Theatre photo.

Long a fan of the camp style of playwright and drag queen legend Charles Busch, Bell has directed with great verve the wildly popular “Red Scare on Sunset,” “Psycho Beach Party” and “Vampire Lesbians of Sodom.”

Favoring that type of template, Bell and White blend melodrama with parodies of soap operas and Broadway musicals for this show, sprinkling witty pop culture references – especially clever theater ones – into the dialogue.

But what started out as an interesting premise dissolve into a messy story with too many over-the-top characters that have either too little to do or are entangled in nonsense, so they pull focus away from an already flimsy story.

Sadly, as good as these performers are on paper, the roles are a mixed bag of either over or under-written cartoonish characters that fail to sustain interest through two acts with an overlong runtime of 2 hours, 40 minutes with a 10-minute intermission.

The more may not be merrier in ‘3 Sheets to the Wind.” Stray Dog Theatre photo.

The 9-member cast, a hefty blend of remarkably talented local theater artists, some with St. Louis Theater Circle nominations and wins to their credit, are not having their finest hour, even though they appear to be giving each part their all as consummate professionals.

Improv master Joe Garner, as struggling writer Oliver Morton, and versatile Jeffrey M. Wright, as television therapist Aaron Addison, for lack of a better word, are playing the ‘straight’ guys in this oddball circus. They’re the only ones whose characters seem bland, their wild pajamas notwithstanding.

Aaron plans to move back in with Oliver, as platonic roommates, to help with Oliver’s dire financial straits. Wright, now a reality TV personality, tells Oliver that he and his partner are on the rocks.

Enter the goofy, very theatrical Danny Winslow, embodied by the nimble comic actor Mike Wells, who’s fast-talking spiel is a cross between Harold Hill in “The Music Man” and the con artists in “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.”

Wright, Mike Wells, Garner. Stray Dog Theatre photo.

He arrives needing a place to stay, because he’s brought good news with him. Once a couple, the pair collaborated on a high-concept musical, which flopped, leaving Oliver in massive debt (and very angry). Lo and behold, Danny announces that a wealthy benefactor wants to remount the show in Guam and Yap, part of Micronesia in the Western Pacific.

But Danny is not alone — he has three actors in tow: a flamboyant diva and two young very fit dancers. Danny’s raring to revise their songs with Oliver, as the clock is ticking.

But more may not be merrier. Larina Delagostino (Sarah Polizzi) is an unfiltered prima donna without any boundaries who specializes in treating everyone like servants, drinking too much, yammering about her life in the theater, and dipping in not-safe-for-work territory.

That type of exaggerated role is Polizzi’s forte, but the character is so off-putting and rambling that she can’t muster any sympathy, and her affectations are a cross between Norma Desmond in “Sunset Boulevard” and a Southern belle, sporting an ill-fitting red wig. Larina is soon wearing out her welcome, not to mention the cringy bathroom humor at her expense.

Oliver with his neighbors Maddie and Cal O’Connor (Sarajane Clark and Jason Meyers. Stray Dog Theatre photo)

Oliver’s busybody and TMI neighbors, Maddie and Cal O’Connor (Sarajane Clark and Jason Meyers), stop by, either for cocktails or to dish, as Maddie is fond of telling everyone else what they should do. The two young guys trying to make sense of all the chaos are Zack Huels as Abe Feldman and Brady Stiff as Jake Hershman.

Wells, clad in outlandish outfits designed by Colleen Michelson, incorporates physicality as this silly trickster, an extreme sidekick in the mold of Cosmo Kramer. But he is dead serious about one thing – Danny recommends the playwrights ‘kill their darlings.’ He encourages Oliver to nip and tuck, and that’s good advice for the play itself.

Rob Lippert’s set design includes multiple doors, a la “Lend Me a Tenor” and “Noises Off!”, for comedic purposes. Tyler Duenow took care of the lighting design. As usual, sound designer Justin Been selected peppy and upbeat musical transitions including TV theme songs.

Wells, Garner, Polizzi, Wright. Stray Dog Theatre Photo.

For “3 Sheets to the Wind” to work, the well-intentioned playwrights need to tighten the rambling story, for when Liz Michel shows up as Russian-accented emissary Zolda (think Natasha of “Rocky and Bullwinkle”) near the two and a half hour mark, it goes off the rails.

Suddenly, we have spies, a dictator who’s madly in love with Larina, and a charade about why the show is going overseas, all told in a very long-drawn-out monologue. Shades of the Cold War? Isn’t Guam a U.S. territory? What am I missing? By this point, connecting the dots has become confusing, and the sound isn’t helping these dialogue-heavy sequences, especially with accents in play.

In this case, less would be far more appealing. Snip some tangents and characters for a less bumpy dynamic and inject more likability to connect with the audience.

Stray Dog Theatre photo.

Besides the shenanigans going on, the play takes place in the present-day, in August and September, when NYC is experiencing a heat wave. Is that weather factor necessary?

Old partners working again on a show after much time apart, when old resentments surface and new acquaintances appear, would be a terrific starting point going back to workshop.

Stray Dog Theatre presents “3 Sheets to the Wind” from June 4 through 20 at Tower Grove Abbey, 2336 Tennessee Avenue, St. Louis. Performance dates are Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m., with Sunday matinee performances at 2 p.m. on June 7 and 14. For more information, visit www.straydogtheatre.org

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Ebullient Cast Uplifts Stages’ Buzzy ’25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee’

Ebullient Cast Uplifts Stages’ Buzzy ’25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee’

By Lynn Venhaus

A personality-powered gem, “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” is a rambunctious musical comedy that celebrates American meritocracy, eccentric nerds and freak flag waving.

Produced with extra oomph by Stages St. Louis, a sagaciously cast sextet has nimbly mastered wordplay and improvisations in this offbeat musical that’s as accessible to logophiles as it is to class clowns.

Inside a typical middle school gymnasium, dweeby sixth graders compete for a $200 savings bond, a shot at the national bee, and a towering trophy.

All triple threats, this enthusiastic cast has got game – showing heart, humor and humanity. The boys are Michael Schimmele as returning champ Charlito “Chip” Tolentino, who is struggling with puberty; Matthew Cox as Leaf Coneybear, the wide-eyed home-schooled son of hippies; and Bryce A. Miller as showboating misfit William Morris Barfee.

The Spellers are ready to rock. Photo by Phillip Hamer.

A running gag is the constant mispronunciation of Bar-Fay, because of an accent aigu, and not Bar-Fee.

The girls are Abigail Isom as high-strung Logainne SchwartzandGrubenierre, a positive political activist pushed by her two dads to be best; Alexis Kinney as exuberant wordsmith Olive Ostrosky, whose mom is in India and dad is always working; and Sarah Wilkinson as pedantic Marcy Park, an over-achieving transfer student.

The annual event is a big deal in the town, with three adults in charge – ‘comfort counselor’ Mitch Mahoney (Omega Jones), an ex-con who gives the eliminated contestants a juice box and a hug; former champ and returning moderator Rona Lisa Peretti (Jennifer Theby-Quinn), a successful realtor who enjoys reliving her glory days; and Vice Principal Douglas Panch (Christopher Hickey), who has returned as a judge after personal time off to work out some ‘things.’

Their innuendos and double entendres elicit laughs – and the show’s mature content is aimed for a PG-13 audience.

Christopher Hickey as vice-principal. Photo by Phillip Hamer.

The catchy music and lyrics by William Finn, of “Falsettos” and “A New Brain,” give each character their moment to shine and explain their character’s drive or idiosyncrasies.

Their signature songs are Leaf: “I’m Not That Smart.” Olive: “My Friend, The Dictionary.” Marcy: “I Speak Six Languages.” Logainne: “Woe Is Me” and Chip: “Chip’s Lament.”

The coming-of-age stories about their home lives are poignantly delivered, and they perform the funny parts with gusto. The spellers have crafted realistic kids – not to mock but to enjoy their characteristics and identify with their emotions, and you root for them to stay golden.

Barfee, unfortunately hampered by one working nostril, has a peculiar way of spelling out the words – with his “Magic Foot.” (Fun fact: Dan Fogler, of “Fantastic Beasts,” won a Tony Award for originating the role).

Sarah Wilkinson as Marcy Park. Photo by Phillip Hamer.

The convivial show, workshopped into an off-Broadway hit, transferred to Broadway in 2005 – and was nominated for six Tony Awards, winning two (book by Rachel Sheinkin, featured actor). It was originally conceived by Rebecca Feldman and based upon “C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E,” a play by her improv collective, The Farm. Additional material was supplied by Jay Reiss.

The fluid script allows producing companies to insert topical and local references. It also includes audience participation, and patrons can fill out a slip in the lobby before the show.

Four names are drawn backstage, so no one is tipped off in advance, and they join the spellers to take their turn at the microphone. All good sports, this is a key element to the fun, producing good-natured laughter from the audience. No special treatment – they might get to spell “Cow” or a consonant heavy four-syllable word.

The crowd’s perspicacity was evident on opening night June 3 and embraced the experience. The ingenious construction keeps it fresh, and that spontaneity is appealing.

Abigail Isom, Bryce A. Miller and Alexis Kinney. Photo by Phillip Hamer.

Detail-oriented co-directors Ron Gibbs and Gayle Seay also co-choreographed the show, achieving a terrific level of energy. The upbeat title song introduces the characters, and “The Spelling Rules” brings out their quirks and “Pandemonium” is just that.

In stand-out moments, dynamic Wilkinson showcases her gymnastic skills in her peppy number “I Speak Six Languages” and her prayer for change, “Jesus,” while gifted comic actors Miller and Kinney display charming chemistry leading up to and including their duet “Second.”

Another highlight is the tender ballad “The I Love You Song” that heart-tugging Kinney sings with her parents – as the absentee mom, Jennifer Theby-Quinn’s strong mezzo-soprano is in lovely harmony with workaholic dad Omega Jones’s warm vocals.

As Rona, Theby-Quinn confidently commands the stage in “My Favorite Moment of the Bee,” and in two reprises. As Mitch, Jones demonstrates expressive vocals in “The Prayer of the Comfort Counselor” and in “Woe Is Me” reprise with the vivacious Isom.

Michael Schimmele as Chip. Photo by Phillip Hamer.

And Schimmele is a trouper with his sudden onset of a puberty issue, and feigning discomfort in his public humiliation. If you know, you know. (Refer to mature rating).

The junior high vibes are boosted by scenic designer Rachel Seabaugh’s school gymnasium set that is a nifty flashback to every community event ever, with sly nods to the civic organizations and school sports teams that are delightful to notice.

Lighting Designer Sean M. Savoie’s expertise is apparent in the harsh gym glare, which shifts to the warm intimate interaction moments. Sound designer Hankyu Lee’s work is remarkably crisp, without any dead spots in the KPAC’s Ross Family Theatre.

Costume Designer Cat Lovejoy has jauntily defined every character through their distinct outfits, and the addition of a makeshift cape and roller-sneakers for Leaf Coneybear is inspired. Cox gives his movements extra flair with those accessories.

Matthew Cox as the free-spirited Leaf Coneybear. Photo by Phillip Hamer.

Music Director Michael Kaish smoothly kept the tempo on track, and is on one keyboard, joined by Randon Lane on a second keyboard, Lea Gerdes on reeds, Marcia Erwin on cello and Jonathan M. Taylor on percussion.

The Bee is a buzzy, playful communal experience, one that celebrates smart kids without any stigma – a proud revenge of the nerds, and the relatable rituals of youth. To be a part of the glee expressed by cast and crowd alike will lift spirits of any age.

Note: Understudies include Julie Hanson, Lillie Self-Miller, Bradford Rolen and Connor Kelly-Wright.

Stages St. Louis presents the musical “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” through June 28. Performances take place at the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center, 210 E. Monroe Ave. For more information: stagesstlouis.org.

Jennifer Theby-Quinn as Rona, with Omega Jones as Mitch in background. Photo by Phillip Hamer.
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Dense ‘Disclosure Day’ Has Big Ideas but Fails to Spark Much Wonder

Dense ‘Disclosure Day’ Has Big Ideas but Fails to Spark Much Wonder

By Lynn Venhaus

Earthlings, we may not be alone. If you believe that aliens have visited our planet, “Disclosure Day” reinforces that opinion. Just don’t expect the big-ideas film to effectively connect dots or spark much wonder.

Unlike director Steven Spielberg’s superior supernatural sci-fi thrillers, the classics “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” this mostly incoherent and inconsistent ramble fails to pull heartstrings and mutes the director’s trademark shock and awe.

Spielberg front-loads the action with shadowy figures at breakneck speed, when whistleblower Dr. Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor), rescues his girlfriend Jane (Eve Hewson) from black-clad goons working for the Wardex Corporation.

As part of a rogue movement led by virtuous Hugo (Colman Domingo), Kellner has absconded with archival film footage of aliens here since the ‘alleged’ UFO crash in Roswell, N.M. in 1947. They plan to tell the world at the same time, but Wardex is in cahoots with the government to make sure the evidence remains top secret.

Josh O’Connor plays a cybersecurity expert on the run in “Disclosure Day.”

The chase is on, from farmhouses to backroad motels, and even a convent. Colin Firth is the stony but dapper villain Noah Scanlon, who doesn’t think the world can handle the truth and gets doomsday vibes.

This heartless honcho hell-bent on covering up can manipulate space and time, and is in possession of some alien teleporter gizmo, not without side effects (or explanations).

Meanwhile, Emily Blunt is Margaret Fairchild, an ambitious meteorologist who lives with her musician boyfriend Jackson (Wyatt Russell) in Kansas City. One morning, a red-feathered Cardinal flies into their spacious loft, stares her down, and afterwards, she can speak foreign languages and telepathically knows what is happening in people’s hearts and minds.

Whoa. That is a gamechanger, and she and Daniel are destined to team up. They share an inexplicable psychic bond, similar childhood memories, and keep running.

Emily Blunt is a meteorologist in Kansas City.

O’Connor’s Daniel is a man of many secrets, and his girlfriend has a few too, but backstories are slim – and Firth’s stony villain only glowers, glares and inflicts pain. While this cast of heavy hitters is appealing, no one stands out besides Blunt. It’s one of her best performances.

After 2 hours and 25 minutes of clunky detours, screenwriter David Koepp’s dense mystery, from a story by Spielberg, mercifully wraps up in an iconic yet implausible Spielbergian way. But lacks a wow factor, to leave us wanting more.

This brainiac blockbuster ultimately fumbles because it has too many elements to process. Koepp, one of the most successful screenwriters in the modern era (“Jurassic Park,” and last year’s taut thriller “Blackbag”) has missed before – “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” and “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” among them.

The search for intelligent life in the universe is a staple of pop culture sci-fi, and “The X-Files” kept us riveted for years. In recent years, government agencies have posted records on UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena), no longer referred to as UFOs, to identify mysterious events in the sky. There is that reality check.

Colman Domingo, Tommy Martinez, Emily Blunt and Josh O’Connor are part of an all-star cast.

It’s easy to be dazzled by the dream team cast and the elite artisans who worked on creating a spectacle – Janusz Kaminski’s camerawork is impeccable, and so are Adam Stockhausen’s production designs. A nail-biting car-train collision is shades of Indiana Jones in his prime, but fleeting moments do not make a movie.

For his 30th feature film collaboration with Spielberg, John Williams composed a subtler, more minimalist score rather than his familiar grand sweeping melodies.

Arguably among the Mount Rushmore of directors, Spielberg’s best films extol ordinary people in extraordinary situations. But he doesn’t always reach the stars (“The BFG,” “Ready Player One,” “1941.”)  Here, the all-important heart-tugging beats are missing.

Are we seeing anything fresh, or just a fictional rehash of myths and weaponizing misinformation? The truth is out there, but will we ever know it?

Big action scene in a very long chase movie..

And why would belief in other life forms be a dealbreaker for your faith? And why do aliens only visit America? Too many questions and not enough answers, but then again, I tend to overthink science fiction plots.

For those expecting Spielberg magic, the highly anticipated “Disclosure Day” is a letdown.

“Disclosure Day” is a 2026 supernatural sci-fi thriller directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Josh O’Connor, Emily Blunt, Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Eve Hewson and Wyatt Russell. It is rated PG-13 for action/violence, some bloody images and strong language and the runtime is 2 hours, 25 minutes. It opens in theatres June 12. Lynn’s Grade: C.

The telltale crop circles.
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OTSL’s ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ Matches Tennessee Williams Note for Note

OTSL’s ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ Matches Tennessee Williams Note for Note

Patricia Racette’s production finds operatic scale, emotional truth and remarkable balance in Williams’s enduring tragedy.

By CB Adams

Andrew Boyce’s scenic design announces Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’s intentions before a note is sung. Towering walls of weathered white shutters dominate the stage, instantly evoking New Orleans while suggesting something more confining.

Projected across those walls, a black-and-white montage culminates in a huge streetcar lumbering toward the audience with the slow, inexorable force of a locomotive.

It is a striking image and an honest one. We know where this story is headed. Racette and Boyce embrace that inevitability from the outset. There is no attempt to disguise the destination. Some productions try to improve the classics. This one trusts one.

André Previn’s opera, with a libretto by Philip Littell, remains remarkably faithful to Williams’s play. Racette embraces that faithfulness as an artistic choice. She trusts Williams’s characters, conflicts and hard-earned understanding of human weakness. The result never feels preserved under glass.

Blanche DuBois (Sara Gartland) arrives in New Orleans. Photo by Eric Woolsey.

Daniela Candillari leads the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra with equal command. Previn’s score moves beneath the action like an unseen current, deepening tension and longing without overwhelming the drama unfolding onstage. Candillari maintains an ideal balance between pit and stage. The orchestra remains firmly in service to the story.

The production’s dramatic engine is the ongoing contest between Sara Gartland’s Blanche DuBois and David Adam Moore’s Stanley Kowalski. They spar like star pugilists across Williams’s language and Previn’s score, each encounter carrying as much psychological force as vocal power.

Gartland captures Blanche’s contradictions without simplifying them. Under Racette’s careful guidance, her Blanche remains vain, vulnerable, manipulative, frightened, self-aware and self-deluding, often simultaneously.

Moore faces the equally difficult task of making Stanley more than a brute. He succeeds. Stanley’s eventual victory remains disturbing, but Moore preserves enough magnetism and humanity to make it believable.

(L to R) David Adam Moore as Stanley, Lauren Snouffer as Stella, and Sara Gartland as Blanche in “A Streetcar Named Desire.” Photo by Eric Woolsey.

Racette allows Stanley’s appeal to remain visible even when his behavior becomes reprehensible. His spoken dialogue, used sparingly throughout the opera, sharpens the realism of the surrounding music rather than interrupting it.

Just as important is Lauren Snouffer’s Stella. More than a participant in Blanche and Stanley’s struggle, she becomes the emotional fulcrum of the evening, giving equal weight to Stella’s love for Blanche, desire for Stanley and determination to survive the impossible position in which she finds herself.

The relationship between the sisters is rendered with uncommon care, while Stella’s marriage to Stanley remains equally persuasive. Those relationships feel lived-in rather than merely dramatic.

Boyce’s towering shutter walls evoke New Orleans architecture while functioning as a kind of emotional enclosure. At times they resemble prison bars, at others the walls of memory closing around Blanche. Their scale is distinctly operatic, creating a world far larger than the cast occupying it.

Blanche (Sara Gartland) flirts with the smitten Harold “Mitch” Mitchell. Photoby Eric Woolsey.

Yet Gartland, Moore, Snouffer and their colleagues fill that space through voice, presence and sharply defined characterizations. They do not merely survive the set. They complete it. In a production with relatively few principals, there is nowhere to hide. Every performer must command the space. They do.

The supporting cast contributes significantly to that achievement. Bille Bruley’s Harold Mitchell brings warmth and humanity to the role, while Ashlyn Brown’s Eunice provides an earthy, clear-eyed counterpoint to Blanche’s unraveling. Her nurturing support of Stella reinforces one of the production’s central relationships and helps ground the emotional reality of Elysian Fields.

The ensemble consistently strengthens Williams’s world. Kim Stanish is especially memorable as the Nurse in the final scene. Her prolonged struggle to restrain Blanche avoids melodrama and instead underscores the heartbreaking finality of the character’s collapse, a moment Racette allows to linger rather than rush past.

Blanche (Sara Gartland) begins to unravel under Stanley’s (David Adam Moore) menacing presence. Photo by Eric Woolsey.

The production’s scenes of violence and sexual assault are staged with careful restraint. Racette, intimacy coordinator Delaney Piggins and fight choreographer Shaun Sheley convey the ugliness of Stanley’s actions with just enough physical detail to communicate their impact without lapsing into sensationalism.

The projections prove equally effective throughout the evening. Most haunting is the appearance of Blanche’s young husband, whose portrait looms over the stage just as relentlessly as his memory looms over her life.

Throughout the evening, projections become another actor in the drama, carrying memory and desire across Boyce’s towering walls. By the time Blanche reaches her final music, Gartland and the production have earned every note of it.

“A Streetcar Named Desire” continues at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis through June 26 at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University campus as part of OTSL’s 2026 Festival Season. Ticket information, performance schedules and additional production details are available on the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis website.

A shattered Blanche (Sara Gartland) is gently led away by a doctor (Erik DeMario). Photo by Eric Wooley.
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Paul Rudd, Nick Jonas Strike a Chord in Carney’s Kicky ‘Power Ballad’

Paul Rudd, Nick Jonas Strike a Chord in Carney’s Kicky ‘Power Ballad’

By Lynn Venhaus

What happens when a long-dormant dream resurfaces in your life, and it’s within your reach, only to have cruel fates snatch it away?

Ah, the twists of fate. And when dueling singers Rick and Danny are played by effortlessly charming Paul Rudd and charismatic Nick Jonas in the John Carney Musical Universe, the result is a shaggy look at ambition, what matters in life and how music connects us.

After 20 years of modern musical movies, writer-director John Carney returns with another uplifting journey of self-discovery that has many fine emotional beats, moving us with natural conflicts that veer into farcical territory.

Maybe the two tones don’t always mix well together, but this clever story, co-written with Peter McDonald, who also appears as Rick’s lovably quirky bandmate Sandy, has a sincere beating heart that tackles contemporary music business issues.

Wedding bandmates in The Bride & Groove.

The middle-age bandmates in Ireland’s grooviest wedding band, “The Bride & Groove,” get everyone up on the dance floor with the pop hits of the ‘80s and ‘90s, but there is a restlessness to lead singer Rick.

When a wedding guest is former boy-band member Danny Wilson (Nick Jonas), he’s invited to join the band onstage, and he and Rick hit it off singing Stevie Wonder’s “I Wish.”

Keeping that spark between them, collaboration ensues during their own after-party, where they play music and drink into the wee hours of the morning. They share dreams, their creative processes, what drives them and more.

You feel their connection, so when things don’t later end on a high note, it becomes a series of unfortunate incidents that put the pair on very different trajectories.

Nick Jonas and Paul Rudd jam.

Once back in L.A., Danny’s solo songs aren’t grabbing his record label, and manager Mac (Carney regular Jack Reynor) gives him the tough talk about falling down the relevant scale. The pressure to get back in the game is enormous, especially after the other boy band members have been successful.

So, he steals Rick’s heart-on-his-sleeve intimate acoustic tune and spiffs it up, creating a global smash pop hit and reclaiming the big time – selling out arenas and living the good life.

Shopping in a mall one day, Rick hears the song playing, to his surprise, but can’t prove he wrote it, so his behavior becomes erratic and combative. When Danny won’t return his calls, he takes drastic measures, and heads to L.A. for a confrontation.

One thing is certain. The song in question, “How to Write a Song (Without You)” is an instant catchy earworm. Could it follow Oscar-winning “Falling Slowly” from “Once” as a Best Song candidate?

Paul Rudd and Peter McDonald go from “Dublin to L.A.”

Everyman Rudd, whom audiences usually root for, isn’t afraid to play a flawed character whose behavior at times is questionable. His wife Rachel (Marcella Plunkett) and daughter Aja (Beth Fallon) are baffled but love him, for better or worse.

And Jonas, whom everyone pegs as a scoundrel, is a more conflicted guy, so the lines between hero and villain are blurred.

Carney, the director of “Once,” “Begin Again,” “Sing Street” and “Flora and Son,” is in familiar territory. But he looks at the price of ambition through an older lens here.

And nobody is as perceptive about music’s redemptive impact. In his raw and real explorations, Carney has created authentic characters and original songs that meet the moments.

Nick Jonas as Danny and Havana Rose Liu as Marcia in Power Ballad. Photo Credit: David Cleary

The weathered Dublin setting is cozy and comfortable, while the L.A. paradise is framed as shallow and sterile. The realistic look at musicians and their struggles, how they fit into the world, is one of Carney’s hallmarks. How natural the characters interact is another.

After all, he is the bassist to The Frames. Carney and his longtime songwriting partner Gary Clark penned 12 original songs for the movie. The soundtrack also includes the wedding reception staple “Celebration,” plus nostalgia nods “The Power of Love,” “Summer of ’69,” “Message in a Bottle,” “Maneater,” and “The Boys Are Back in Town.”

For those who believe music unites us, “Power Ballad” is a heart-tugging, funny look at the ever-changing tides in life.

The 2026 musical comedy-drama is directed by John Carney and stars Paul Rudd, Nick Jonas, Peter McDonald, Marcella Plunkett and Beth Fallon. It is rated R for language throughout and some drug use and runtime is 1 hour, 38 minutes. It opened in theatres on June 5. Lynn’s Grade: B+.

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Beguiling ‘The Tempest’ Makes A Little Magic in Hale Shakespeare Glen

Beguiling ‘The Tempest’ Makes A Little Magic in Hale Shakespeare Glen

By Lynn Venhaus

On a remote island far, far away, a mischievous mix of magic and mayhem mark “The Tempest,” which is the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival’s flagship production now anchored in Forest Park’s Shakespeare Glen.

William Shakespeare’s drama-tinged romantic comedy takes place after a violent storm has washed ashore a merry band of revelers, upending the inhabitants on this island – and nothing is as it seems. Perhaps, someone’s bad dream is another’s hopeful voyage. In any case, there is perceptible verve.

Think of this as a way-back machine “Survivor,” where everyone must outwit, outplay and outlast the people who want power. And Prospero (Nancy Bell) is manipulating a chess game.

A mother and sorcerer, Prospero rules this mystical place, and tensions rise between her, her teenage daughter and now the brother who messed up her future and has reappeared. Haunted by his betrayal, she has vengeance on her mind, for she was once Duke of Milan.

Reginald Pierre and Jeff Cummings as Prospero’s evil brothers. Photo by Phillip Hamer.

Through royal chicanery, Antonio (Jeff Cummings) usurped the title, and with the help of another brother, Alonso (Kathryn Bentley), King of Naples, she was banished 12 years earlier. But they can’t be trusted because another ambitious brother, Sebastian (Reginald Pierre), wants the king’s crown himself.

Ariel (Eliza Pagelle) is a shape-shifting spirit on the island that aids Prospero. Through her occult preoccupation, the boss finds out that her nefarious brothers are on their way from Tunis to Italy, so she conjures a squall, and they wind up where she is. Mama Bear thinks she is in control.

It won’t be long until old wounds resurface and new challenges arise. Oh, be careful what you wish for, as Alonso’s honorable son Ferdinand (an earnest Zay Williams) spies Miranda (Sigrid Wise) and falls in love.

Caliban (Chauncy Thomas) is the only true island inhabitant, a witch’s son, and resents being overtaken by Prospero, who imprisoned him so he doesn’t get too close to her daughter.

A fierce Thomas musters all his fury as a resentful native. Formerly of St. Louis, Thomas is always a welcome addition when he returns, now for the sixth time.

Bell and Chauncy Thomas as Caliban. Photo by Phillip Hamer.

The ensemble includes kindly Gonzalo (veteran Whit Reichert), an elderly Neapolitan lord who helped Prospero survive exile (but secretly), and comic buffoons Stephano (Michael Dougherty) and Trinculo (Jose Sabillon), Alonso’s butler and court jester. That daffy duo plots with Caliban to take over.

Mother and daughter have been marooned since the girl was 2 years old, so one can imagine her naivete and innocence – and yearning to break free of the overbearing parent. Nevertheless, the protective mom wants her daughter to marry for love and position.

Wise, enchanting as the isolated Miranda, is as luminous as she was as Juliet in “Romeo and Juliet” in 2018 and was part of “The Winter’s Tale” the year before. She has tangible chemistry with Williams as a decent prince who can be trusted.

Through her instincts and technique, Bell is a formidable Prospero – and as much of an impact she has had on Shakespeare in this city, one must note that this is her first leading role outdoors in Shakespeare Glen.

Bell and Eliza Pagelle as Ariel. Photo by Phillip Hamer.

 (As Playwright-in-Residence, Bell wrote several “Shakespeare in the Street” productions, earning Best New Play awards from the St. Louis Theater Circle for “The World Begun” and “Old Hearts Fresh,” and two years ago, directed the award-winning “As You Like It.” She also founded the Confluence New Play Festival.)

The Circle’s most awarded theater artist, for acting, writing and directing, Bell commands attention from various vantage points perched on the decaying hull of a shipwreck. Her character must find a way to forgive on this journey.

Director Rick Dildine shrewdly showcases Prospero’s dominance by staging Bell’s position at different heights – when she’s talking to others. It’s rare when she’s on the same level of this imposing set, masterfully adorned with functional nooks and crannies.

The former director of St. Louis Shakespeare Festival (2009 – 2017) emphasizes nature’s impact as well as the colonial-era themes. Dildine’s version is a breezy 90 minutes without an intermission.

Goofballs Jose Sabillon and Michael Dougherty with Thomas. Photo by Phillip Hamer.

He is aided by a talented squad — assistant director Lize Lewy, producer Colin O’Brien, production company Blank Slate, stage manager Sarah Luedloff, and assistant stage manager Britteny Henry.

Dildine won a Circle award for directing a shimmering “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in 2016 where sound, lighting and scenic design enhanced the production, especially the original music.

The storytelling here is boosted by those same elements. The artisan MVPs who blended music and storm effects to elevate the experience included music director Michael Grieve, sound designer Melanie Chen Cole, lighting designer Jeff Behm and scenic designers Justin and Christopher Swader, all making impressive debuts, as were costume designer Kathleen Geldard and props designer Katherine Stepanek.

Grieve’s captivating immersive upbeat music is a zesty blend of roots music, sea shanties and folk melodies, with lively musicians Harrison Farmer, Crayton Haney and Otto Klemp, also in supporting roles, as is Grieve.

Musicians and partiers aboard a vessel. Photo by Phillip Hamer.

An original prologue on a satellite stage creates a festive atmosphere at Alonso’s daughter Claribel’s wedding, which kicks off the show (starting at 8 p.m.). Paul Dennhardt has provided interesting moves for the musicians and guests. All that’s swept away in the tempest.

Regarded as Shakespeare’s last play, when he was in his late 40s, this tale of forgiveness has the compassion of an experienced man looking at what’s important in life. And that is expressed well in this vibrant setting.

Dildine’s focus on nature’s capacity to heal is a key component to this 26th annual outing in the park, a year after a destructive tornado tore through Forest Park. He interprets that resiliency in the aftermath, as we all weather calm seas and violent storms in life.

A portion of the donations collected during “The Tempest” will go towards the tornado relief funds for the St. Louisans hit the hardest. And thanks to the parks department and Forest Park Forever, we are sitting today in these hallowed grounds of immense cultural importance.

Zay Williams and Sigrid Wise as Ferdinand and Miranda while Bell looks on. Photo by Phillip Hamer.

St. Louis Shakespeare Festival presents “The Tempest” May 27 – June 21 at 8:15 p.m., Tuesdays through Sundays, in Shakespeare Glen in Forest Park, 6604 Fine Arts Drive (next to the Art Museum). Admission is free and accessible to everyone. The Glen opens at 6:30 p.m. and the Teen Green Show takes place at 7:15 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. For more information, visit www.stlshakes.org

Wise, Williams and Bell. Photo by Phillip Hamer.
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Voices and Visual Elegance Carry OTSL’s ‘The Light in the Piazza’

Voices and Visual Elegance Carry OTSL’s ‘The Light in the Piazza’

by CB Adams

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’ production of “The Light in the Piazza” consistently achieves the atmosphere of operatic emotional depth, even if it reaches true operatic emotional danger less often.

Through soaring vocal performances, elegant visual storytelling and sustained tonal sophistication, OTSL delivers a production enveloped in cultivated romanticism and musical yearning.

Cameron Anderson’s striking set design establishes that atmosphere immediately. Sweeping stone arches dominate the stage, carrying the accumulated emotional history of Florence itself.

The arches become emotional architecture — thresholds, passages and reminders that these characters are visitors twice over: tourists moving through Italy and emotional travelers moving toward unfamiliar versions of themselves.

Kate Baldwin as Margaret Johnson. Photo by Eric Woolsey.

Eric Southern’s lighting deepens that visual language beautifully. A stark shaft of light isolates Clara at both the opening and near the production’s conclusion, quietly framing her as emotionally exposed and suspended between dependence and adulthood, innocence and self-determination.

Southern’s lighting and Anderson’s arches together create a visual vocabulary of passage, vulnerability and emotional crossing.

Crystal Manich directs with clarity and tonal confidence. Scene transitions flow with dreamlike fluidity, and the production sustains a remarkably cohesive emotional vocabulary from beginning to end.

The production ultimately belongs to Kate Baldwin’s Margaret Johnson.

Kate Baldwin and Paolo Szot in “The Light at the Piazza.” Photo by Eric Woolsey.

Baldwin gives the evening its mature emotional intelligence, shaping Margaret as a woman who understands that love offers no guarantees, safeguards or reliable maps. Warmth, wit, restraint and quiet exhaustion coexist seamlessly in her performance.

Her richly controlled vocals navigate Adam Guettel’s harmonically restless score with remarkable ease, while her acting continually reveals the emotional calculations unfolding beneath Margaret’s composed exterior.

Though Clara’s romance initiates the story, OTSL’s production increasingly reveals itself as Margaret’s drama — a mature reckoning with love, uncertainty and the frightening necessity of release.

Roy Hage’s Fabrizio proves equally essential to the production’s success. Hage brings lyrical warmth, sincerity and earnest emotional transparency to the role, grounding the production’s refined theatricality in genuine feeling.

Kate Baldwin, Katrina Galka and Roy Hage in “The Light at the Piazza.” Photo by Eric Woolsey.

His chemistry with Katrina Galka’s Clara gives the romance persuasive emotional momentum even when the show’s idealism threatens to outrun practical realism.

Hage’s tenor remains consistently expressive and inviting, and his openness sustains much of the production’s emotional accessibility.

Galka delivers a thoughtful and sympathetic Clara, particularly in the later scenes where the character’s frustration with her constrained life emerges more forcefully.

The Naccarelli family in “The Light at the Piazza.” Photo by Eric Woolsey.

Even so, the production’s emotional center of gravity gradually shifts toward Baldwin and Hage, whose performances carry greater theatrical and vocal authority.

That contrast between youthful emotional openness and the erosion of adult certainty gives the production much of its emotional texture. Clara and Fabrizio move toward love with instinctive urgency, while Margaret and Roy inhabit the lingering emotional afterlife of a marriage whose passion has cooled into habit and caution.

Under Rob Berman’s direction, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra fully embraces Guettel’s lush, classically inflected score. The music unfolds less as a sequence of distinct songs and more as a continuous emotional current built from soaring phrases, suspended harmonies and yearning orchestral textures.

The museums of Florence. Photo by Eric Woolsey.

At times, however, that richness works against dramatic immediacy. The orchestra occasionally overwhelms dialogue, and extended untranslated passages in Italian force audiences to work harder than necessary to remain textually connected.

Those passages clearly reinforce Margaret’s outsider status within Florence’s emotional and linguistic landscape. Still, the cumulative effect creates more distance than intimacy.

Perhaps it is unfair to apply operatic standards of clarity and accessibility to a musical deliberately straddling both worlds. Yet when an opera company stages “The Light in the Piazza” with such unapologetically operatic ambition, those comparisons become inevitable.

What ultimately lingers after OTSL’s “The Light in the Piazza” is less any individual song or dramatic revelation than the production’s carefully sustained emotional and visual atmosphere. The voices, the arches, the light and the cultivated romanticism remain vividly intact —  a performance more immersive than transformative, though consistently elegant and theatrically persuasive throughout.

Michael James Reed and Kate Baldwin as The Johnsons in “The Light in the Piazza.” Photo by Eric Woolsey.

“The Light in the Piazza” continues through June 28 at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University campus, presented in rotating repertory as part of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’ 2026 festival season. Ticket information, dining options and additional production details are available through the OTSL website.

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Disorienting ‘Backrooms’ Is Brilliantly Filmed Liminal Horror Film

Disorienting ‘Backrooms’ Is Brilliantly Filmed Liminal Horror Film

By Alex McPherson

A masterpiece of experiential filmmaking that mines palm-sweating anticipation from what’s lurking around the next corner, director Kane Parsons’ “Backrooms” is an ambiguous yet utterly engrossing horror film for those willing to tune into its otherworldly frequency.

The film is based on 20-year-old Parsons’ YouTube series of the same name, which was inspired by the online liminal space “creepypasta” post on 4Chan from 2019. This newest iteration takes place in 1990 and focuses on Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a failed-architect-turned-furniture-store-owner and alcoholic struggling after a recent divorce.

His ex-wife got the house, so Clark has taken up residence at the store. He’s seemingly resigned to a sad life running a defunct business and making embarrassing TV commercials where he’s dressed up like a pirate. 

He regularly has sessions with his therapist and self-help-book-author Mary (Renate Reinsve), who encourages Clark to reflect on his actions and break obsessive thought patterns. Mary is also a lonely soul who’s processing her own grief from a troubled childhood. She often zones out as haunted memories come flooding back.

Clark notices some strange electrical issues at the store, which eventually leads him to the basement where he finds a hidden entrance to the titular Backrooms — an alternate dimension residing in the uncomfortably uncanny valley. 

Claustrophobic, labyrinthine hallways and office spaces stretch on endlessly, enclosed by walls painted sickly yellow, lit with fluorescent lights, and littered with jumbled piles of furniture like some twisted contemporary art exhibit made by glitched-out AI software. A strange presence also stalks the premises that clearly doesn’t take kindly to visitors. 

Clark, and by extension us as viewers, are immediately thrown off kilter, but Clark becomes fascinated with this alternate universe and makes it his goal to unearth its mysteries.

Suffice it to say, dangers abound. Clark (and eventually Mary) find themselves way over their heads, becoming trapped in a place that can easily lead its inhabitants into spirals of insanity.

It might not have the most elegantly told story, but “Backrooms” is a relentlessly disorienting film, rich in oppressive atmosphere and dark absurdity, that prides itself on putting viewers in the shoes of its characters and letting the nightmarish world speak for itself.

Familiarity with Parsons’ web series isn’t needed to appreciate this film — above all else, “Backrooms” is a vibe, so stylistically assured that it conjures a universal, intoxicating sense of uneasiness.

Through a mixture of “found footage” camerawork and shots that keep us in lockstep with the characters, Parsons lets us feel the winding unknown and the relentless pressure of being chased through an unfamiliar environment without a clear exit. Although the camera generally adopts an omniscient viewpoint, we don’t jump ahead of the characters; we witness each new sight along with them.

And although Parsons does dole out some (rather cliché) themes, he keeps specific explanations vague, emphasizing the fact that this hidden world cannot be reasoned with. 

This approach, not unlike 2023’s horrifying “Skinamarink” (also made by a YouTuber turned feature film director), will prove alienating for viewers seeking a traditional narrative or characters that are easy to rally behind. 

The always reliable Ejiofor and Reinsve bring pathos and intensity to dialogue that rings intermittently too obvious and repetitive. Mary’s constant referencing of behavioral loops is an on-the-nose metaphor here, but the way Parsons brings in the existential weight of consumerism and the false promises of the American Dream are compelling threads left slightly underdeveloped.

The world and the filmmaking itself are the real stars of the show here, though — difficult to describe but viscerally felt: scenes patiently and deliberately build suspense before exploding in edge-of-your-seat set-pieces that cinematographer Jeremy Cox frames with frantic energy.

Parsons and Edo Van Breeman’s music is ingeniously woven into each sequence, feeling inextricably linked to the backrooms themselves in its rumbling, alien-like rhythms.

Sure, the film’s more traditional narrative elements feel undercooked, partly due to a rushed passage of time that feels at odds with the more deliberate approach Parsons takes in-the-moment. “Backrooms” shines in its unknowability and stumbles in the few moments when it panders to the masses, not committing to the bit quite as much as its forbears. 

Still, the feelings it conjures are indelible and specific — best experienced in a theater for maximum immersion. I can’t wait to dive back into “Backrooms” time and time again, and no, boomers, that’s not just because I’m Gen-Z.

“Backrooms” is a 2026 psychological horror film directed by Kane Parsons and starring Chiwetol Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve. It is rated R for language and some violent content/bloody images and runtime is 1 hour, 50 minutes. It opened in theaters May 29. Alex’s Grade: A.

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‘Fat Ham’ Flips a Family Tragedy to Free Characters Instead in Black Rep’s Spirited Interpretation

‘Fat Ham’ Flips a Family Tragedy to Free Characters Instead in Black Rep’s Spirited Interpretation

By Lynn Venhaus

With a vivacious cast of relatable relatives, The Black Rep delivers a sassy, spirited and sometimes silly “Fat Ham,” which is a modern humorous reinterpretation of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.”

Surprising in its fresh spin of the play’s universal themes, the 2022 Pulitzer Prize-winner by James Ijames replaces royal revenge with a look at black masculinity, queer identity and cycles of generational trauma — but flips it as a comedy, not tragedy.

This production, deftly directed by Geovanday Jones, focuses on unpredictable storytelling. Jones brought out the playfulness of the performers, who sometimes mirror the Bard’s iconic roles, but mostly differ in humorous delivery and make them broader in body language.

Set at a backyard barbecue in the American South, the key points of Hamlet’s torment, confusion and the weight of heritage play heavily on the mind of gay college student Juicy, who is visited by his deceased father’s ghost. Pap seeks revenge, Juicy wrestles with that directive.

Enoch King as the ghost of Pap, with Marshall W. Mabry IV as Juicy. Photo by Howard Ash.

Pap (Enoch King) was murdered in prison and reveals to his son that his brother Rev (King, in a dual role) arranged the hit. The Rev quickly married Juicy’s livewire mother Tedra (firecracker Angela Wildflower), and disturbed Juicy sorts out a tangled web of betrayal, anger and legacy.

Blustery King capably plays two sides of the coin – the hot-tempered wronged brother Pap and the entitled, selfish bully Rev., whose toxicity signals danger.

But sweet, sensitive Juicy, masterfully portrayed by Marshall W. Mabry IV as an old soul, isn’t keen on vengeance. He summons an inner strength, shows how mature he is, and opts out.

Despite her questionable choices, his Gertrude-like mother relies on him to be steady – “You don’t get to go crazy,” she says when everything seems topsy-turvy.

Juicy breaks the fourth wall to comment on what we’re seeing and what expectations we might have, which is another departure from tradition.

Marshall W. Mabry IV as Juicy, now dressed for the party, with Angela Wildflower as Tedra on the porch. Photo by Howard Ash.

Friends and neighbors come to the party with their own baggage. The only real tragedy is that the characters are types who have never been allowed to be themselves. Tension escalates between the mean-dog uncle/stepfather and Juicy can’t relax and be true to himself.

Pass the potato salad as insights are revealed and the core group question their choices. Nods to the Bard’s great tragedy are in the form of a clever game of charades instead of an elaborate wedding banquet entertainment.

Patrick Huber’s scenic design is a marvel of form and function, creating a porch and yard with nooks and crannies for action – an adjacent shed, lawn chairs for tete a tetes, picnic tables to dance on top of while using a karaoke machine.

Huber’s crisp lighting design boosted key transitions while Tre’von Griffith’s sound design punctuated the action. Music is a key component in the presentation, and Heather Himes’ choreography brings out the show’s celebratory themes.

Olajuwon Davis as Tio, Mabry, Brian McKinley as Larry and Raevyn Ferguson as Opal. Photo by Howard Ash.

Two other stagecraft veterans added oomph, too – Andre Harrington’s costumes smartly conveyed characters and Mikhail Lynn’s props accented the social interactions.

An undercurrent simmers as more truths are exposed – Larry and Opal (aka Laertes and Ophelia) are the children of Rabby, a stylish but bossy busybody version of Polonius, who pushes her children to succeed. In another feisty role, Margery Handy lays it on thick as a boisterous social butterfly while her children are reluctant to fit into polite society.

Brian McKinley is misleading as the rigid, reserved Larry, a Marine in uniform, who needs to break free from societal expectations. He’s the epitome of duty, honor, service. As a fierce Opal, Raevyn Ferguson is mopey, forced to wear a dress, but lets loose as a lesbian who gets louder and prouder. Opal has nothing in common with Shakespeare’s Ophelia, and proclaims: “I ain’t dying for nobody.”

These siblings are the most obvious characters subverting expectations. But the major source of comic relief is naturalistic actor Olajuwon Davis as Tio, a chatty, porn-addicted stoner who serves as Juicy’s unfiltered best friend, like the Bard’s Horatio.

Fat Ham Black Rep. Photo by Howard Ash.

Observing Juicy’s melancholy, he remarks: “Your Pop went to jail, his Pop went to jail, his Pop went to jail, his Pop went to jail and what’s before that? Slavery.”

While action gets heated, don’t expect a bloodbath or even tragic deaths. Even with the tamped-down violence, the legacy between fathers and sons’ bristles, as it should for effect.

Hamlet (Juicy) isn’t home from college but attends an online school instead, majoring in human resources, and he is mocked for his goals.

What might life be like if we chose pleasure over harm? That’s the core of Ijames’ work. The younger generation wants to break the cycles of violence and trauma, opting for emancipation and joy.

The ensemble leans into these timeless elements, finding their voices and defying stereotypes. Juicy would rather live his truth out loud and doesn’t need to conform. The best thing about this twist? We are allowed to revel in his hard-fought victory — and in other characters’ liberations as well.

Mabry in the Hamlet role as Juicy. Photo by Howard Ash.

The St. Louis Black Repertory Company presents “Fat Ham” from May 20 through June 7 at The Edison Theatre on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis. The play is 1 hour and 45 minutes, without intermission. This production concludes the 49thseason. Tickets and information for performances are available at theblackrep.org or through the Box Office at 314-534-3807. Reduced pricing is available for seniors, educators, museum staff, students, and groups of 12 or more

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KSDK Anchor Travis Cummings to Host 26th Annual Arts For Life’s Best Performance Awards June 14

KSDK Anchor Travis Cummings to Host 26th Annual Arts For Life’s Best Performance Awards June 14

Tickets are currently on sale for Arts For Life’s 26th Annual Best Performance Awards at 2 p.m. on Sunday, June 14, which will honor excellence in community musical theater and youth productions.

The ceremony will take place at the Skip Viragh Center for the Performing Arts at Chaminade High School. Travis Cummings, KSDK news anchor and journalist, will be the master of ceremonies. Diana Enloe is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Winners will be announced in 30 categories. Elwyn Dignam and Allison O’Daniels have already been announced as co-recipients of the Best Youth Featured Dancer Award for their performances as Phil Davis and Judy Haynes in “White Christmas.”

Numbers from the three categories of nominated musicals will be performed, including “Always, Patsy Cline,” “Bright Star,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder,” “Groundhog Day,” “It Shoulda Been You,” “Little Women” “Hadestown Teen Edition,” “Matilda,” “The Prom,” and “White Christmas.”

The Gateway Center for the Performing Arts in Webster Groves and Monroe Actors Stage Company in Waterloo, Ill., lead all groups with 24 nominations each. GCPA has 11 for “The Prom,” eight for “The Wizard of Oz,” and five for “Into the Woods,” and MASC has 23 for “Fiddler on the Roof” and one for “Jekyll & Hyde.”

Next with 23 nominations is the Young People’s Theatre in St. Charles – 10 for “White Christmas,” seven for “Bright Star” and six for “Matilda.”

The Kirkwood Theatre Guild in Kirkwood, Mo., received 12 for “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder,” Center for the Creative Arts in University City has 12 for “Hadestown Teen Edition,” Christ Memorial Productions in South County has 10 for “Little Women,” Act Two Theatre in St. Peters has nine for “Always, Patsy Cline” while Hawthorne Players in Florissant has nine for “Groundhog Day.”

For more information on nominations, visit www.artsforlife.org

Travis Cummings

Master of Ceremonies Travis Cummings is an award-winning, multi-skilled journalist and anchor of Today in St. Louis Weekend Edition on KSDK (5 On Your Side). He joined the station in December 2021 from WRCB in Chattanooga, Tenn., where he spent two years as a reporter and fill-in anchor. Before that, he worked as a weekend anchor and multimedia journalist at KEVN in Rapid City, South Dakota.

A native of New Orleans, Travis earned his degree in Communication Arts – Journalism from Spring Hill College.He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Emerging Media from Loyola University Maryland.

Travis Cummings

“I became a journalist because I believe storytelling can spark emotion, inspire change, and give people a voice—something I strive to do every day by helping people feel heard and supported,” he said.

In 2023, Travis won an Emmy Award and a Missouri Broadcasters Association Award for his work on the special program “RACE: Listen. Learn. Live” about teenagers, highlighting the Inner Ear Urban Youth Orchestra, founded by a young woman in the metro east to teach string music and create a creative outlet for local youth.

In 2025, he earned a Regional Edward R. Murrow Award for his work on the Voices of Ferguson special, which was also nominated for an Emmy.

In 2024, Travis was named a Salute to Blacks in Media honoree by the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis—one of the youngest journalists ever to receive the honor—recognized for his standout storytelling and commitment to uplifting black and brown voices. That same year, he received the Black Pride St. Louis President’s Award for his community impact.

Beyond the newsroom, Travis has a lifelong love for the performing arts. In 2023, he starred as Harpo in the BPA-winning production of “The Color Purple.” He has also appeared in New Line Theatre’s Broadway Noir for the past two years and performed in the 2025 premiere production of “When It All Falls.” His other stage credits include “The Full Monty” and “The Laramie Project.”

Travis also serves as vice president of the National Association of Black Journalists–St. Louis Chapter, where he leads the annual Student Minority Journalism Workshop, mentoring high school students in the art of storytelling. He is an active member of the national organization and is also a member of Black Pride St. Louis.

Diana Enloe

In a career that has spanned more than six decades, Diana Enloe has enriched the St. Louis area theater community through her artistry, leadership and mentorship.

Diana Enloe

A Granite City native and graduate of Illinois State University, Diana devoted her career to teaching drama and speech at Alton and Wood River public high schools, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, and Lewis and Clark Community College.

She also directed productions at Alton Marquette High School and St. Louis Community College – Florissant Valley.

As a director and choreographer, Diana has staged more than 30 productions at seven different schools and colleges, and more than 25 community productions with Alton Little Theater, Curtain’s Up Theater Company and The Pinky Swear Project. As a performer and director, she has received numerous accolades through Arts For Life’s awards.

For the past 25 years, she has also been a driving force behind Vintage Voices, a popular annual production in which actors portray individuals from Alton’s history in live performances at Alton Cemetery.

For Diana, theater is more than performance. “It is truth telling, community building, and an act of generosity,” she said. With her passion for art, she continues to touch many lives, as a role model and friend.

Event Information

The Skip Viragh Center is located at 425 South Lindbergh Blvd. Seating is reserved and doors will open at 1:30 p.m. Formal attire is requested.

Tickets to the show are $30 each with a $2 service fee added, and available online at: https://arts-for-life-2.square.site/ and can be picked up at the box office on event day.

Please let us know which theatre group or individual you would like to sit with in the “notes to seller” section at checkout or email Kim at [email protected].

For special seating needs or other concerns, contact [email protected]. Handicapped seating is available.

A cash bar will be available, with drinks and light snacks for purchase.

 “These events recognize the incredible talent we have in St. Louis community theater and honor the passion and dedication of those who build this amazing and unique theatrical community,” said Mary McCreight, president of Arts For Life.

Arts For Life is a local not-for-profit arts organization dedicated to the healing power of the arts through its work with youth, the underserved, and the community, with its goal of “Making a Dramatic Difference.”

AFL is dedicated to promoting public awareness of local community theatre, encouraging excellence in the arts, and acknowledging the incredible people who are a part of it in the St. Louis metropolitan and metro-east Illinois region.

Groups participating in this year’s BPAs include Act Two Theatre Company, Alfresco Productions, Center for the Creative Arts, Christ Memorial Productions, Curtain’s Up Theater Company, Gateway Center for the Performing Arts, Goshen Theatre Project, Hawthorne Players, Ignite Theater Company, Kirkwood Theatre Guild, Kirkwood Youth Theatre, Monroe Actors Stage Company, O’Fallon Theatre Works, Take Two Productions and Young People’s Theatre.

For more information, visit the website at www.artsforlife.org

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