Chris Gibson - Page 35

Echo Theatre Company presents the St. Louis premiere of CRUMBLE (LAY ME DOWN,JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE) by Sheila Callaghan from December 3-19. The production will be held in Echo's performance venue, Theatre 134, in the ArtSpace at Crestwood Court. The theater is located in the Crestwood Court shopping center at the corner of Watson and Sappington Roads.

The Sheldon presents KATHY MATTEA: 'Songs and the Season,' Friday, December 10 at 8 p.m. in the perfect acoustics of the Sheldon Concert Hall. KATHY MATTEA rings in the season with joy and good news! Based on her two popular Christmas albums, Joy for Christmas Day and Good News, her show's spiritual message is shared through a thoughtful blend of old favorites and new songs.

The Sheldon presents Clarion Brass: 'Deck the Halls,' Tuesday and Wednesday, December 7 and 8 in the perfect acoustics of the Sheldon Concert Hall. Complimentary coffee and pastries will be served beginning at 9 a.m. in the Louis Spiering Room. Composed of five of the best brass players St. Louis has to offer, the Clarion Brass celebrates the holiday season with 'Deck the Halls, featuring repertoire that spans more than five centuries - from Greensleeves, to the Nutcracker Suite and your favorite carols.

The American dream is a fragile thing. Just ask the Tate family, a bickering, dysfunctional clan struggling to retain its dilapidated farmhouse on the edge of an unforgiving Western desert. Welcome to CURSE OF THE STARVING CLASS, Sam Shepard's bitterly funny - and disturbingly prescient - family drama. This month, Washington University's Performing Arts Department (PAD) in Arts & Sciences will present the play for five performances in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre.

PLUCK'S MUSICAL ARSON is, first and foremost, a concert. Three classically trained musicians - cellist Flora Allison, violinst Kit Massey and violist Jon Regan - take the stage and, with impeccable musicianship, perform favorite works ranging from Bach to the Beatles. Yet the musicianship is the only thing impeccable about this bickering trio, whose self-absorbed antics rival those of any diva. Combining gleeful absurdist humor with outrageous physical comedy, they compete, argue, scheme, ridicule, dance fight and seduce there way through Brahms, Ravel, Vivaldi and more.

The Sheldon Art Galleries presents two gallery talks this month in conjunction with its Fall exhibition schedule on 11/16 and 11/20 at 11a.m.

The Sheldon is pleased to announce the release of 'Live It Up in New St. Lou,' a five-minute video celebrating St. Louis' great arts and cultural attractions, set to an original song by Sheldon executive director Paul Reuter. The video, underwritten by Mary Strauss and shot and directed by Bob Miano, is available to view at www.TheSheldon.org.

The Sheldon and Peter Martin Music present Peter Martin Music: Live featuring Brazilian guitar master Romero Lubambo, Saturday, December 4 at 8 p.m. in the perfect acoustics of the Sheldon Concert Hall. Joining Martin and Lubambo is special guest, vocalist Erin Bode, Riverfront Times winner for Best Jazz Artist in 2009.

The Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre's 50th Anniversary Season comes to a festive close with the return of everyone's favorite Sisters of Hoboken in NUNCRACKERS: THE NUNSENSE CHRISTMAS MUSICAL November 13th-21st. The Sisters of Hoboken have turned the convent basement into a TV studio and are producing their first ever Christmas Special for cable access. This hilarious musical is filled with singing and dancing nuns, a very unique rendition of the Nutcracker as well a host of hilarious new songs.

An eclectic collection of one act plays by the likes of Susan Glaspell (Trifles), David Mamet (Australia), William Saroyan (Hello Out There), and Harold Pinter (Ashes to Ashes), A WOMAN'S PLACE fulfills the promise of its title by placing women in key roles in each of these unique pieces. The West End Players Guild celebrate their 100th season with a fine production of this work, and solid direction and performances help to maintain interest despite the seemingly disparate nature of these four plays.

MARRY ME A LITTLE is an interesting little musical that cobbles together cut songs and lesser celebrated numbers composed by Stephen Sondheim. It's a clever idea, and even though some of the numbers don't really seem to fit perfectly with the 'story', they still provide an opportunity to hear a master songwriter at work, with even these castoffs showcasing his catchy, but challenging gift for melodic invention, as well as his considerable lyrical wit. Citilites Theatre is presenting a solid production of this brief, but engaging, work conceived and developed by Craig Lucas and Norman Rene.

Join Citilites Theatre in a celebration of Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday! We are producing the charming gem, MARRY ME A LITTLE at the Gaslight Theater (358 N. Boyle) November 4-21. Seth Ward Pyatt directs Laura Ernst and Scott Tripp who play two silly people alone on a Saturday night. The sung-through score includes some of Sondheim's most hummable tunes from Company, A Little Night Music, Follies, Saturday Night, A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum and more.

The second half of the mini-Potok festival continues with an engaging and thoughtful dramatization of his classic novel THE CHOSEN, which I can recall reading (for English class) and enjoying myself many years ago. This adaptation, like the recent production of MY NAME IS ASHER LEV, is also written by playwright Aaron Posner, and it fully captures the flavor of the book, staging key scenes compactly, and with considerable economy, even though it relies on the use of a narrator, which the other adaptation eschewed in favor of having its protagonist portray the lead character at various stages. Mustard Seed Theatre's production is nicely conceived and executed, with a solid cast doing fine work under the guidance of director (of both productions) Deanna Jent.

Playwright Geoffrey Nauffts has put together a provocative and engaging evening of theatre with his work, NEXT FALL, which thematically concerns itself with issues of homosexuality and faith. It certainly fulfills my personal requirements for must-see theatre by making the audience laugh, cry and think, and it does so with a considerable amount of charm and wit. The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis is presenting Next Fall as part of their Studio Theatre series, although it's being staged at the Grandel Theatre in order to take advantage of the space required, and they've assembled a splendid cast to bring this heart-breaking story to life.

Move over Rocky Horror, and make way for EVIL DEAD: THE MUSICAL! Based on the 80's cult classic Evil Dead films, this show is hilariously campy and bursting with more farce than a Monty Python skit. Five college kids take a trip to a remote cabin in the woods and encounter everything from ancient evil spirits to revenge-seeking Candarian Demons. One outrageous, horror-filled moment leads to another as every attempt is made to ward-off the bloodthirsty villains. It's all ridiculous and wild, while the term 'Fresh Blood!' takes on new meaning!

St. Louis Actors' Studio continues its fourth season, themed Angels and Demons, with Tom Stoppard's semi-biographical ROCK 'N' ROLL. ROCK 'N' ROLL is an electrifying collision of the romantic and the revolutionary. It is 1968 and the world is ablaze with rebellion, accompanied by a sound track of the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan. Clutching his prized collection of rock albums, Jan, a Cambridge graduate student, returns to his homeland of Czechoslovakia just as Soviet tanks roll into Prague.

The Soulard Blues Band was formed in 1978 by bassist Art Dwyer, and includes: vocalist Marty Abdullah, guitarist Tom Maloney and drummer Kirk Grice. They are one of the longest-lasting acts in the St. Louis area, with nine recordings to their credit, and a 13-year-run as 'Best Blues Band' in The Riverfront Times annual poll.

In the late 1800s, Russia's preeminent literary doctor, Anton Chekhov, wrote humorous newspaper articles to pay for medical school. Neil Simon, Broadway's master of comedy, elegantly weaves eight of Chekhov's stories into a laugh-out-loud vaudeville experience. Laughter is always the best medicine, so let THE GOOD DOCTOR cure what ails you!

In 2009, Pokey LaFarge began working with The South City Three, a trio made up of fellow St. Louis musicians Joey Glynn, Adam Hoskins and Ryan Koenig. With their uniquely retro sound, featuring parlor guitar, guitjo (a guitartuned six-string banjo), kazoo and harmonica, LaFarge and the South City Three draw inspiration from LaFarge's travels around the country and early American roots music. Often compared to troubadours such as Blind Blake, Dan Hicks and Leon Redbone, LaFarge has charmed audiences from St. Louis to the Newport Folk Festival with a mix of jazz, blues, ragtime, old-time folk and swing - all performed with a modern twist!

Goines's career includes performances throughout the world, earning him acclaim from audiences, critics, students and colleagues. A native of New Orleans, Goines began playing clarinet at the age of eight, and continued his studies with Carl Blouin, Sr., who introduced him to the saxophone at St. Augustine High School. In 1980, he entered Loyola University in New Orleans where he studied clarinet and saxophone, receiving a Bachelor of Music Education Degree in 1984. As Goines's interest in jazz increased, he contacted Ellis Marsalis in 1983 to take private lessons and eight months later, Marsalis selected Goines to play saxophone as a member of his quartet.