Rob Levy

Money meets mental illness in Stray Dog Theatre’s enjoyable The Curious Savage. The opening production of the company’s 23rd season was written by John Patrick who brought it to the New York stage in 1950.

Well-acted and utterly fun, Shucked lives up to the hype. The straightforward plot relies on shrewdly timed jokes, jangly music and polished wordplay, sprinkled with social commentary, to provide laughs and moments of endearment.

This moving piece of theater, which features an extremely talented ensemble, is an uplifting, and terse story about resilience, community, and the importance of finding joy in the most unexpected places.

Poignant and empowering Athena is thoroughly engaging and engrossing. This is a well-acted theater experience dig beneath the surface of a centuries old sport to expose a world where comradery and competition both have a price.

Playing on themes of love, power, and the supernatural, Bell, Book and Candle is an excellent season closer for Stray Dog Theatre. Funny, spooky and enchanting, the play is well-acted and impeccably paced. Its portrayal of relationship dynamics and each character’s need for credence make it an intriguing drama filled with comedic flourishes.

Filled with smiles and dancing in the aisles, Million Dollar Quartet Christmas is a chart-topping knockout. The show reflects on the travails of fame and celebrates the season with an irresistible vivacity.

The perfect synergy of sight, sound, song and dance, Chicago is gloriously glamourous, grimy and cheeky. Murder and mayhem has never been this much fun!

Delivering a textured performance, he masterfully captures Diamond’s emotional peaks and valleys, giving audiences a glimpse at how fame and the power of music drove the artist for over four decades.

The Roommate marks a welcome return for the company’s Steve Woolf Studio Series. Presented in an intimate setting without intermission, the play centers on the complex dynamics between Sharon, a divorced woman who mostly putters around smalltown Iowa eking out a menial existence, and Robyn her carefree new roommate who has arrived from the Bronx to get away for a while.ink of THE ROOMMATE at Emerson Studio In The Loretto-Hilton Center?

Filled with visual and verbal nods to the writer’s life and work, Nevermore: The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe combines the biographical with the allegorical, allowing audiences to experience the angst of Edgar’s life in rich detail.

Playing on themes of injustice, betrayal, class status and greed, this gripping production of Dial M for Murder is a feast for cozy mystery lovers and amateur sleuths alike.

iAmerican Idiot is a brazen rock opera in the vein of The Who’s Tommy. The music is urgent, incendiary and, at times, regretful and poignant. Green Day’s punk rock ethos evokes reflection on the role of societal pressures and personal introspection.

Ruthless! is a snarling commentary on the trappings of fame. Loaded with laughs, over-the-top characters and plenty of high drama, it is a quirky and quick on its feet musical loaded with gleeful shenanigans.

Hilariously funny, this well acted the production features black humor, searing one-liners and plenty of emotion.

Finishing the company’s 32nd season, this alluring redux of Bram Stoker’s literary classic emerges from the shadows to give audiences an emotionally charged musical with plenty of chilling moments.

Based on the 1980 film starring Olivia Newton-John and, before that, the Rita Hayworth film, Down To Earth, this lively adaptation never takes itself too seriously. From start to finish the ensemble prances, preens, and mugs it up, giving audiences a sugary sweet over the top show filled with kinetic dancing, wonderful singing and plenty of toe tapping melodies.

The Rep’s August Osage County is a rough and tumble roller-coaster ride of anxiety, anger, and alienation that reflects on familial dysfunction with hostility and viciousness.

Company is a fun romp about looking for love in all the wrong places. Filled with great performances and delightful musical numbers, it is a relentless roller coaster ride of emotions whose themes of romance, sex, marriage, and divorce remain just a s relevant today as whenit debuted in 1970. our critic think of COMPANY at Fox Theatre, St. Louis?

The Rep’s Moby Dick isn’t just a cleverly staged reinvention of a stodgy classic, it’s an emotionally driven theatrical voyage that challenges, engrosses and captivates audiences. This is breathtaking and jaw dropping theater.

Well-acted, suspenseful, and filled with vibrant costumes, The Mousetrap once again proves that it’s hard to beat a classic.id our critic think of THE MOUSETRAP at Tower Groves Abbey?