James Lindhorst - Page 8

This past year was filled with exceptional theatrical productions in the St. Louis Arts Community. Nearly every performance in 2022 at STAGES St. Louis, The Muny, The Black Rep and Midnight Company were entertaining with only a few misfires. As a long-time season ticket holder to The Fabulous Fox Theatre and a first-time attendee to New Line Theatre, I had the opportunity to see nearly every theatrical production that was staged in these venues. Instead of compiling a top ten list of best shows, I decided this would be the opportunity to recognize the best work, both performing and technical theater, that I observed in 2022. Without further ado, here are the ten best works on the stages of St. Louis throughout the past year. 

The Midnight Company announces it 2023 five-show season that includes two world premiere productions. The Season opens on March 1, 2023 with the world premiere production of JUST ONE LOOK based on the life and career of Linda Ronstadt at The Blue Strawberry. Midnight Company continues its season with THE ABSOLUTE BRIGHTNESS OF LEONARD KELLY at The Kranzberg Black Box  May 4th -20th,  THE YEARS at The Chapel July 13th-29th, and YOU MADE ME LOVE YOU at The Blue Strawberry July 26th – August 9th.  Midnight Company closes its season with a production of THE LION IN WINTER at the .ZACK October 5th-21st.

This production of SOMETHING ROTTEN is terrific. New Line Theatre’s production delivers a robust number of laughs from a script filled with nonsense musical theatre references. Director Scott Miller has taken a big, overblown musical and effectively shrunk the performance to a smaller stage with a simple set. Music Director Mallory Golden, Choreographer Alyssa Wolf, and Sound Designer Ryan Day collaborate to deliver musical numbers that are well mixed and entertaining. Music Direction and Sound Design for this production is critical because many of the funniest moments are written into the score by Kirkpatrick and O’Farrell.

Hanrahan’s script provides a nostalgic look at St. Louis through the 1900s and the compelling lives of incredibly talented woman. His script is more than just a historic look at some famous St. Louis Women. It is an important lesson in St. Louis Black history, examining the lives of strong African American women who helped shape and improve this world for all women, especially women of color. Laka’s effective portrayal of more than a half-dozen real live artists is due to her ability to disappear into these women, allowing their spirit to inhabit her body. Her versatility allows her to span a century of music performing gospel, jazz, blues, R&B, and rock-and-roll. When she rips into the Music of Tina Turner, Fontella Bass and Ann Peebles at the beginning of the second act, her vocals blow the roof off the theater.

STAGES St. Louis has announced that their 2023 Season at The Ross Family Theatre at the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center will include Elton John & Tim Rice’s AIDA; the classic whodunnit, CLUE; and the Grand Finale of the season, the rock ‘n roll musical smash, MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET. 

The actors in this production do a magnificent job conveying their characters stories with acting choices that are credible and believable. STAGES St. Louis’ production succeeds because the audience connects with each of the dancers portrayed including those who may not initially seem warm or likeable. By the end of the production, the audience is rooting for all the auditioning dancers to win the job and feels the joy and disappointment for each because their stories have induced a personal connection.

STAGES St. Louis presents its final show of the season, A CHORUS LINE, in the Ross Family Theatre at the Kirwood Performing Arts Center. A CHORUS LINE opens Wednesday, September 14th. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and 9 Tony Awards, the show tells the heartbreaking and exhilirating story of a group of dancers auditioning to land a spot in a Broadway chorus.

Each member of the cast disappears into their character to tell Carlyle Brown’s story. Standout Coda Boyce as Ann Johnson captivates the audience with her first appearance on stage and provides a consistent performance throughout both acts. In her characterization, she struggles to separate her characters, Ann in Richard III versus her Ann Johnson persona complicating the backstage relationship she has with James Hewitt, played skillfully by Cameron Jamarr Davis. Wali Jamal Abdullah’s performance as Papa Shakespeare provides lots of charm and a few laughs as he attempts to play the middleman to repair the relationship between Ann and James as a Cyrano de Bergerac-esque communication go between. Eric Dean White’s arrogant characterization as Steven Price conveys a remorseless inhumanity as he will stop at nothing to bury the African Company. The remainder of the cast is rounded out by Alex Jay as Sarah, Olajuwon Davis as Billy Brown, and Dustin Petrillo as The Contable-Man and each provide an extraordinary performance. 

ST. LOUIS WOMAN honors the enduring legacy of some amazing female artists who put St. Louis on the map with their timeless music, dance and poetry. LAKA will portray legendary artists Josephine Baker, Tina Turner and Katherine Dunham. In her roles she will also present the poetry of Maya Angelou, the song stylings of chart-toppers Fontella Bass and Ann Peebles, and the Gospel classics of the legendary Willie Mae Ford Smith. Most of these women were either born in St. Louis or came here when they were young, with the exception of Katherine Dunham’s who moved here during the height of their career to continue her momentous work. 

The St. Louis Black Repertory Company raises the curtain on its 46th Season with THE AFRICAN COMPANY PRESENTS RICHARD III by Carlyle Brown and directed by Founder and Producing Director Ron Himes. Previews begin Wednesday, September 7, 2022 at the Edison Theatre on the campus of Washington University. 

This spirited and entertaining Muny Production is a fun explosion of color. Josh Rhodes' brisk direction moves the show along nimbly. JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT has a near perfect score using a variety of musical styles to tell a sung-through story including rock, pop, country, calypso, fench café' and ballads. Rhodes and Lee Wilkins choreography are a perfect match for the varied styles of music that combine to tell the story.

JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT is a show that is pure joy and pure fun.  She said this is a story of a man in a precarious situation who continues to dream and takes responsibility to change his own story.

This Muny production of THE COLOR PURPLE is too beautiful for words. It is a stunning love letter to Alice Walker and her epistolary novel of redemption. Director Lili-Anne Browne’s vison brings to the stage a concert-like version of this production similar to the 2016 Tony Award Winning Broadway revival. Her leadership, coupled with Breon Arzell's spirited choreography, help this epic 40-year story come to life with theatrical sophistication. Music Director Jermaine Hill’s perfectly balanced orchestrations were almost unnoticeable while supporting the beautiful score sung by this incomparable company of actors.

This production of A CHORUS LINE, directed by Mark Lull, is a nod to the original staging and his vision effectively tells the emotional stories of dancers auditioning for a role in the chorus of a show. Kimberly Klick attempts to recreate Michael Bennett and Bob Avian’s choreography from the 1975 production on a small civic center stage. Her choreography is reminiscent enough to satisfy even the biggest of A CHORUS LINE fan. Lull, Klick and the cast do an admirable job with the material and this production is surprisingly delightful for a community theater production.

This week The Muny Stage pops with plenty of pink clad perky people in their production of LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL. The show is filled with laughs that are as silly and absurd as the alliteration in the previous sentence. Elle and her Delta Nu sorority sisters are caricatures of giddy girls that serve as a ‘greek’ chorus serving up puns to advance the plot. For this production, The Muny has assembled a chorus of attractive young people with exceptional dance flair to deliver on William Carlos Anglos energetic and fun choreography.

There are not enough adjectives in a thesaurus to describe this jubilant production from STAGES St. Louis. This show is a dynamic explosion of rhythm, hip-hop and salsa with a stellar cast who deliver maximal effort with every moment they are on stage.

Ryan Alvarado is a New York based actor with ties to Lin-Manuel Miranda and was cast as the alternate for Alexander Hamilton in the first national tour of HAMILTON.  Alvarado currently takes on Miranda’s first Broadway role Usnavi in the STAGES St. Louis production of IN THE HEIGHTS.

MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET is the story of the night that Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis had an impromptu jam session at Sun Studios and will play Stifel Theatre in St. Louis on September 8, 2022. This production has a unique tie to the St. Louis area. It is directed by a Webster University Conservatory of Theater Arts graduate, Tim Seib.

The Muny and its casting partners The Telsey Office have assembled a killer cast who deliver Soundheim’s score with razor-sharp vocals. Ben Davis’ (Sweeney Todd) characterization and descent into madness may be the finest acting performance ever to darken The Muny Stage. The only thing more delicious than Mrs. Lovett’s pies is the wicked verbal waltz he and Carmen Cusack (Mrs. Lovett) deliver with ‘A Little Priest’ to end Act 1.  Cusack’s Lovett is baked with exceptional charm and wit as she delivers the blackest of comedy. Riley Noland’s (Johanna) operatic soprano and Jake Boyd’s (Anthony Hope) silky tenor pair pleasingly. The ensemble’s robust presence, serving as a Greek chorus to drive the narrative, is felt every time they take the stage. The chorus’ dark and brooding presence opens the production with ‘The Ballad of Sweeney Todd’ and drags you into this grim tale of murderous madness.

Joe Hanrahan’s direction tells an effective and entertaining story despite an unbalanced script that has many flaws. Strong performances build a dramatic tension that is as thick as the humid summer Italian air. This story is packed with plenty of emotional instability and raw emotion, but at times is plagued by scripted character choices that seem disingenuous to the characters central narrative.