Chris Gibson - Page 30

This production of THE BALTIMORE WALTZ features Kate Frisina as Anna who contracts Acquired Toilet Disease (ATD) - a non-contagious but fatal disease - as she romps through Europe on an imaginary 'sexcapade' with her brother Carl, played by Stephen Peirick. Along the way they encounter the mysterious Third Man, played by DJ Sanders, who also manages in his first St. Louis stage appearance in 15 years to transform into a doctor and a number of other characters. The Obie Award-winning play, described by Vogel as about relationships, is a comic, melancholic and loving tribute to her own brother Carl. Jerry McAdams directs.

The Sheldon presents Maura O'Connell, Friday, March 4, 2011 at 8 p.m. in the perfect acoustics of the Sheldon Concert Hall. Irish singer Maura O'Connell, now based in Nashville, combines traditional Celtic sounds with modern folk sensibilities to create a sound all her own. With twelve albums to date, along with recording and performing collaborations with a number Celtic, folk, pop and country artists, the internationally-acclaimed singer has applied her luminescent voice to the songs of John Hiatt, Janis Ian, Tom Waits, Shawn Colvin, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Paul Carrack, Karla Bonoff and dozens of other song-poets.

The evening will combine a tasting of several fine wines paired with specially selected and prepared appetizers and bites. The wines, provided by PRP Wine International, will range from lighter whites through bold reds with a special after dinner selection from Down Under. All wines will be available for purchase and can be delivered to your home.

With more than 120 juried artists from 20 states, the Art Fair at Queeny Park is one of the most reputable, longest-running art fairs in the bi-state region. These artists represent the following media: digital art, drawing, printmaking, fiber, glass, jewelry, mixed media, painting, photography, ceramics, sculpture and wood. The Art Fair at Queeny Park also presents a rare opportunity for the public to see and purchase original works of fine art and fine craft directly from the artists who create them.

It is widely recognized that multi-Grammy-Award winner Jimmy Webb is one of our best and most acclaimed songwriters. (Just last month he was elected Chairman of the Songwriters Hall of Fame.) It is less well known that he is a first rate performer, and what a treat to see him in this intimate venue. With great songs, and great stories about his friends who recorded them, Jimmy fully connects in what is a terrific show. After a month-long tour of Ireland and the UK, he'll be here on St. Patrick's Day and weekend. He'll be telling some Ireland stories -- there's a very funny one about traveling around rural Ireland, lost, with Richard Harris.

This production of THE BALTIMORE WALTZ features Kate Frisina as Anna who contracts Acquired Toilet Disease (ATD) - a non-contagious but fatal disease - as she romps through Europe on an imaginary 'sexcapade' with her brother Carl, played by Stephen Peirick. Along the way they encounter the mysterious Third Man, played by DJ Sanders, who also manages in his first St. Louis stage appearance in 15 years to transform into a doctor and a number of other characters. The Obie Award-winning play, described by Vogel as about relationships, is a comic, melancholic and loving tribute to her own brother Carl. Jerry McAdams directs.

With a book by Neil Simon and music by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields, SWEET CHARITY is a 1960s show full of love, quirkiness, music, jive and life's twist of fate. Charity Hope Valentine is a tenacious, hopeless romantic trying to make a living in a New York dance hall. Although her luck is down, Charity refuses to give up and vows to get out. Originally choreographed by Bob Fosse, numbers such as 'Big Spender', 'If My Friends Could See Me Now', 'Rhythm of Life', 'I'm a Brass Band' and the 'Rich Man's Frug' keep toes tappin' and audiences wanting more.

Grand Center Inc. and presenting sponsor Brown Shoe proudly announce the 2011 honorees of the Ninth Annual Visionary Awards, which recognizes women for their contributions to the St. Louis arts community: Juanita Hinshaw, Noemi Neidorff, Helen Gannon, Barbara Harbach, Yvette Woods, Kathleen Sitzer and Dail Chambers. The ceremony will be held May 17 at the Sheldon Concert Hall, 3648 Washington Blvd.

So, one evening (February 25, 2011) Randy Newman is providing the assembled throng at the Sheldon Concert Hall (a benefit for the Friends of the Sheldon) with an immensely entertaining concert, and a couple of days later he's picking up his second Academy Award (after countless nominations) for his composition 'We Belong Together' from Toy Story 3. Pretty sweet, huh? The really cool thing is that I was at his show at the Sheldon, and since I honestly can't recall the last time he's even appeared in St. Louis, I'm thankful I was able to catch him on this rare occasion. Newman, seated alone at the piano, regaled the audience with his self-deprecating wit and his enormous talent for a couple of hours, making his appearance here a memorable one.

2011 Muny auditions for children (ages 7-13) will be held on Saturday, March 5, and for teens (ages 14-18) on Sunday, March 6. These auditions will be held at the Performing Arts Center at St. Louis University High School, 4970 Oakland Avenue. For more information regarding the Muny season and audition requirements, visit www.muny.org, or call (314) 361-1900.

St. Louis Actors' Studio continues its fourth season, themed Angels and Demons, with Patrick Marber's award winning play CLOSER. CLOSER follows four lives intertwine over the course of four and a half years in a densely plotted, stinging look at modern love and betrayal. Dan, an obituary writer, meets Alice, a stripper, after an accident in the street. Eighteen months later, they are a couple, and Dan has written a novel inspired by Alice. While posing for his book jacket cover, Dan meets Anna, a photographer. He pursues her, but she rejects his advances despite their mutual attraction. Larry, a dermatologist, 'meets' Dan in an Internet chat room. Dan, obsessing over Anna, pretends to be her and has cybersex with Larry. They arrange to meet the next day at an aquarium. Larry arrives and so too, coincidentally, does the real Anna. This sets up a series of pass-the-lover scenes in which this quartet struggle to find intimacy but can't seem to get closer.

Hazard To Ya Booty fuses old-school funk with elements of rock, hip-hop and soul to make a unique sound that's guaranteed to get your body moving. Garage-rock band The 4th Row continues its reunion tour at The Sheldon Ballroom! Led by Radio Rich Dalton of KHITS 96, thehigh-energy group performs your favorite hits from the '60s, including the music of The Doors, the Moody Blues, and more!

Peter Martin Music: Live! returns to The Sheldon stage with the Peter Martin Quartet featuring Reuben Rogers, bass; Greg Hutchinson, drums; and vibraphonist Warren Wolf. Vibes player Warren Wolf is one of the most sought after young musicians on the East Coast jazz scene. A graduate of the Berklee College of Music, Wolf toured with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at the age of 9, wrote his first composition at age 10, and was playing jazz professionally by the time he was 12. Since then, Wolf has studied and performed with jazz masters such as Roy Haynes, Lewis Nash and Milt Jackson and is currently touring with Christian McBride and Inside Straight.

Patrick Marber's play CLOSER is an intriguing examination of the way men and women interact with one another, particularly with regards to their vastly differing ideas as to what love and commitment actually mean. The story itself is fascinating and frustrating, in equal measure, as we watch four damaged, and generally unlikable and selfish, characters struggle with their wants and desires as they desperately search for happiness. What's absolutely certain is that Marber's play requires a quartet of actors who are firing on all cylinders in order for it to truly take hold of an audience. Fortunately, the St. Louis Actors' Studio has assembled a terrific cast for their current production, and they manage to make these (mostly) unsympathetic characters both engaging and compelling.

Playwright Deborah Zoe Laufer has constructed an interesting and very engaging work with SIRENS, which comes to us directly from the Humana New Plays Festival. This is a whimsical and charming tale that touches on a couple of different mythologies with its references to muses and sirens, one of which actually makes an appearance here. The New Jewish Theatre has put together a warm and humorous production that benefits greatly from excellent casting and sharp direction.

RUINED is one of those plays that lingers in your mind long after it's over. There's a reason that playwright Lynn Nottage won the Pulitzer Prize for drama with this powerful story, and once you've seen it yourself, it may well haunt you too. Because, even though this tale about the plight of civilians caught in a civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo may seem far removed from your own sense of reality, the kinds of atrocities that are being related here are still happening all around the world, and with far-reaching consequences. The Black Rep's current production of this disturbing and harrowing work is buoyed by fine performances and insightful direction.

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.

Citilites Theatre proudly presents its production of SOUTHERN BAPTIST SISSIES, Del Shores' hilarious and touching follow-up to his cult favorite Sordid Lives (stage play, movie, and TV series) at The Gaslight Theater @ 358 N. Boyle Ave. 63108 opening March 11, running through March 27.

Kim Massie's concert was originally scheduled for January 5. Ticket holders who did not receive a refund, and who would like to attend the rescheduled performance date, can simply present their tickets at the door for this new date. Customers who cannot attend the rescheduled performance may request a face value refund at the point of purchase, prior to March 24. For more information, please call MetroTix at 314.534.1111.

In Ireland, the toe-tapping collegiality of an impromptu living room concert can be summed up in single word: craic. And perhaps no band better exemplifies the essence of craic than Danú. Hailed as a 'spirit-raising concoction' by The Irish Times, this five-member ensemble is among the most charismatic and sophisticated traditional Irish groups working today, known for mixing ancient Irish songs with new additions to the repertoire in concerts that are at once authentic, clever and fun.