James Lindhorst

Lucy Kirkwood’s play The Children is fascinating and compelling. Her script prompts discussion about corporate responsibility, what accountability an organization’s employees should own, and how tragic circumstances force people to face personal transgressions and the fallout from their poor decisions.

When Lucas Hnath’s play premiered on Broadway the New York Times and Time Out New York called it “the best play of the season.” It’s an engaging and modern script tackling themes of feminist autonomy and self-determination. Weber’s staging is well-conceived and highly entertaining. Layton, Reed, Doggett, and Coffey all turn in expressive portrayal as a cohesive ensemble.

Stages St. Louis, in collaboration with the creatives at the UpBrand agency, has released the artwork for their highly anticipated 40th Anniversary Season. The season opens with the hilarious and delightful charmer The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Tony Award Winner James Monroe Iglehart will direct Stages second show of the season, Guys and Dolls. The season will close with the heartwarming and uplifting tearjerker Come From Away.

The Black Feminist Guide to the Human Body, while staged as a play, is more of an artistic poetic reading. Lisa B. Thompson’s brief 80-minute work, currently on stage at The Black Rep, examines the life experiences of one woman told by three voices

The St. Louis Theatre Circle has announced their nominations for their annual awards to be distributed on March 23, 2026, at the Loretto-Hilton Center. 172 theatre artists have been nominated in 34 categories honoring the best in St. Louis Theater in 2025. The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis leads all companies with a record-breaking 38 nominations for their productions of Athena, Clyde’s, Emma, Ken Ludwig’s Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Brothers Size, and The Cottage. Emma is the most nominated comedy of the season with 11 nominations.

Myth of the Ostrich is brazen comedy. It’s among the most accessibly entertaining productions staged at Upstream Theater in recent years. It is full of artfully crafted irreverent portrayals, expert direction, and a bevy of belly laughs.

The Dance on Widow’s Row at The Black Rep features a charismatic ensemble with infectious energy stemming from playful performances. It’s a fun evening in the theater that provides a lot of laughter.

St. Louis Shakespeare Festival has announced its 2026 season including Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, The Tempest, the return of Romeo & Zooliet, and Two Gentlemen of Verona.

This past season was the year of the comedy in St. Louis Theater. Companies across the city had audiences laughing all season long with slapstick, farce, and satire. There were some wonderful musical productions that really sang, a few hard hitting dramas, but comedies reigned in both quantity and quality. Instead of publishing a Top 10 list this year, I’m going to recognize the Best in St. Louis Theater for 2025. “The Best” is still a shortened list of just 13 shows out of the nearly 90 shows I saw this past year. It took weeks of thought and painstaking consideration to decide which productions would be included in my annual list. Here they are. The productions are listed in alphabetical order, not ranked by favorites:

Watching Broadway’s Sara Sheperd perform her holiday themed cabaret, Please Come Home for Christmas, is akin to sitting in front of a cozy fire with a mug of hot cocoa. Sheperd, and her piano playing father Scott, shared more than a dozen of her favorite holiday songs peppered with a few seasonally appropriate Broadway tunes. From her opening number “Let it Snow” to her final song “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” Sara Sheperd gifted the audience with a lovely evening of perfectly pitched and precisely phrased vocals. Her audience left the club feeling the spirit of the season and grateful that the humble Sheperd shared her talent again in St. Louis.

John Hughes Your Own Adventure - LIVE is a whole lot of fun for anyone familiar with Hughes work. Hughes enthusiasts and aficionados will be laughing through their tears. The sold-out runaway hit was the headliner at STL Fringe and one of last summer’s hottest theater tickets. St. Louis Fringe and Cherokee Street Theatre Co. are reprising the outrageous satire at the Kranzberg Black Box. Twelve actors, supported by an offstage announcer (billed as The Voice of God), are hurling themselves about the stage in their homage to John Hughes and his classic films.

Director Will Bonfiglio, Music Director Larry D. Pry, Choreogrpaher Jo Palisoc, and the entire company deserve a lot of credit for their all in committed, peppy, and high-spirited production of a marginal show that is staged as a pet project far too often. There are thousands of musical theater assets that have arguably better books and scores that are rarely produced. Legally Blonde the Musical is like a pink piece of bubblegum. At first it sounds appealing, but the flavor does not last long.

Lize Lewy is having a moment. The actor, director, and playwright is currently slaying audiences in their breakout turn as Harriet in the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis’ production of Emma. Their scene stealing portrayal of Emma’s awkward friend is a masterclass in expressive physical comedy.

Merry Ol’ Missouri: A Family Christmas Spectacular returns to the Missouri Theatre in Columbia, Missouri on December 18-20, 2025. Last year’s sold-out, one night only show created such overwhelming demand that producers Melissa Bohon-Webel and Shelby Ringdahl Cox expanded the 2025 holiday spectacular to three performances. The very busy Shelby Ringdahl Cox graciously agreed to sit down with Broadway World and talk about creating Merry Ol’ Missouri: A Family Christmas Spectacular. Melissa and Shelby are the founders of Show Me Theatricals, the creative minds behind Merry Ol’ Missouri: A Family Christmas Spectacular, and the co-directors of the show. Both women grew up in Columbia, Missouri, graduated from Rockbridge High School, and went on to successful performing careers in New York and beyond.

There is nothing like the holidays in New York City. Ice skating under the iconic Rockefeller Center Tree, watching the Rockettes high kick in Radio City Music Hall’s Christmas Spectacular, eating your way through the Winter Village in Bryant Park, and admiring the decorated storefront windows on 5th Avenue is unforgettable. But for this regional theater critic, all the holiday hoopla (which I enjoyed) is secondary to attending live theater in Manhattan.