Christopher Hickey

The first wave of standings have been announced as of Monday, November 13th for the 2023 BroadwayWorld St. Louis Awards! Don't miss out on making sure that your favorite theatres, stars, and shows get the recognition they deserve!

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (The Rep) - the leading regional performing arts theatre in the Midwest - closes out their 2022-2023 Mainstage season with the highly anticipated classic mystery, Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express. Climb aboard with the masterful Belgian detective Hercule Poirot in this classic whodunnit that will keep audiences on the edge of their seats until its shocking conclusion.

The world premiere of 'The Good Ship St. Louis' is beautiful, theatrical, stylish, poetic, rich. It's a gracefully told tale of doomed refugees.

Playwrights Kristen Adele Calhoun and Michael Thomas Walker's new drama, Canfield Drive, received its world premier this month, after being co-commissioned by 651 Arts in partnership with The St. Louis Black Repertory Company and the National Performance Network. Under development for the past four years, this breathtaking new play takes a hard, serious look at incidents and attitudes surrounding the August 14, 2014 fatal police shooting of Michael Brown, the Ferguson protests that followed, and the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Calhoun and Walker, whose work is well-researched and hard-hitting, uses a documentary theatre structure, its many short scenes based on interviews from people around Ferguson and around the nation whose voices might not necessarily have been heard in traditional media coverage.

Mustard Seed Theatre has brought back their popular staging of ALL IS CALM - THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE OF 1914, which premiered around this time last year, and it's definitely a piece of theatre that demands your time and attention. Somehow I must have missed mentioning this the first time around, but this was originally a broadcast that occurred on Minnesota Public Radio. Artistic director/director Deanna Jent took that raw material and molded it into a moving and compelling stage production that won deserved accolades and awards for its excellence. If you didn't catch it last year, then you need to make sure you do so during its current run, and even if you did see it, I can promise you that it's certainly worth seeing again.

ALL IS CALM: THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE OF 1914 is a smartly conceived acapella musical by Peter Rothstein that chronicles the stunning events that occurred on Christmas Day 1914. It mixes short narrative bursts with 23 songs from the period, and it's never dull or contrived. For me, the hearty vocals produced by the cast are a sheer delight to listen to. Mustard Seed Theatre has put together a wonderful production that's a real treat for the upcoming holidays.

It's only fitting that while we're celebrating Independence Day there's a production of the musical 1776 being staged by a local theatre group. After all, it's not has-been bands at local fairs and fireworks displays that we're supposed to be honoring on this particular occasion, but rather the principles which this country was founded upon. And, 1776 is an entertaining and informative show (book by Peter Stone, and music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards) that attempts to set this historical event to music. Although it's often uneven in tone, it's an engaging ride nonetheless, and Insight Theatre Company's current production is a solid interpretation driven by some fine performances.

I'm a big fan of the works of playwright David Mamet, and with his play, SPEED THE PLOW, he takes aim at the cutthroat world of Hollywood. It's a fascinating look at what sells and what doesn't when you're talking about the big screen. And, it also shows how friendships can be pushed to the brink by perceived betrayals. Marked by solid performances from the cast, the play is funny and telling in equal measure. The current production by The New Jewish Theatre is nicely constructed and executed, as well as providing ample food for thought.

With the divorce rate as startling high as it is, it's not uncommon to find plays that deal with this subject matter. However, playwright Donald Margulies examines not only the plight of the couple going through the breakup, but that of their friends as well. With DINNER WITH FRIENDS, Dramatic License Productions has put together a fine cast under sharp direction in their presentation of this timely and thought-provoking work.

Shakespeare Festival St. Louis will present a free production of OTHELLO from 5/25 to 6/17, 2012 at Shakespeare Glen, Forest Park nightly at 8pm with previews 5/23-24.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (The Rep) presents William Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors. The show will be performed on the Browning Mainstage of the Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts, 130 Edgar Road (on the campus of Webster University), Webster Groves, through April 8, 2012.

Anyone who reads my reviews regularly knows that I'm a fan of Shakespearean re-imaginings. Sure, I like my Shakespeare played straight as well, but sometimes when one of his plays is tinkered with in just the right fashion it comes to life in new and unexpectedly exciting ways. Such is the case with the Rep's slapstick take on THE COMEDY OF ERRORS, which is given the background of New Orleans during Mardi Gras, and given a heavy dose of 1930's period music to liven things up considerably. It's a brilliant take and leaves the Rep with a perfect batting average for the season. It's the reason why we go to Rep in the first place; they consistently provide entertaining shows that are expertly acted and directed, in a theatre that puts you right on top of the action. What more could you ask for?

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (The Rep) presents William Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors. The show will be performed on the Browning Mainstage of the Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts, 130 Edgar Road (on the campus of Webster University), Webster Groves, March 14 - April 8, 2012.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (The Rep) presents William Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors. The show will be performed on the Browning Mainstage of the Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts, 130 Edgar Road (on the campus of Webster University), Webster Groves, March 14 - April 8, 2012.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (The Rep) presents Macbeth by William Shakespeare. This poetic and potent drama will be performed on the Browning Mainstage of the Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts, 130 Edgar Road (on the campus of Webster University), Webster Groves, thru March 6, 2011.

Since I've become a theatre critic I've had the opportunity to see several productions of William Shakespeare's MACBETH, and most have left me wanting in one way or another. But, just as Roman Polanski's gritty 1971 film adaptation is, for me at least, the best interpretation of the Bard's play that has been made into a movie, the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis has produced a staging that is vastly superior to any I have encountered to this point. This dark, bloody, and brooding production of Macbeth provides an excellent evening of theatre, and features a talented cast and powerful design and direction.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (The Rep) presents Macbeth by William Shakespeare.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (The Rep) presents Macbeth by William Shakespeare.

Insight Theatre Company is proud to announce the upcoming production of the Tony Award winning musical, Man of La Mancha by Mitch Leigh, Joe Darion, and Dale Wasserman. Starring the legendary Joneal Joplin under the direction of Edward Coffield, MAN OF LA MANCHA opens Wednesday, August 11 at The Heagney Theater on the campus of Nerinx Hall, 530 East Lockwood in Webster Groves. The show runs through August 22 with performances Wednesdays through Saturdays at 7:30pm and matinees each Sunday at 2pm.

MAN OF LA MANCHA has become a community theatre staple, and as such, gets staged with some degree of regularity. While some of these are uneven affairs at best, the Insight Theatre Company's current production is an exception, combining the talents of a splendid cast with sharp direction and choreography to produce an engaging and compelling evening of entertainment.