The St. Louis Area Theatre Calendar

For the Week of 11/12/2018

Updated Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Brought to you by Stage Left and 88.1 KDHX.

To submit your event, send an email to calendar at stageleft.org. Your event information should be in text format (i.e. not part of a graphic), but feel free to include publicity stills for inclusion here and on the enhanced version of this calendar at the Stage Left blog (where you can offer comments, updates and corrections).

And don't forget to check out my list of St. Louis theatre links!


New shows this week include the return of a holiday favorite at Mustard Seed, a one-woman show at R-S Theatrics, a Ray Bradbury dramatization at Webster Conservatory, and some final entries in the Gaslight Cabaret Festival.
St. Louis Community College at Meramec presents the musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30 and Sunday at 2 pm, November 14 - 18. Performances take place in the theatre on the campus at 11333 Big Bend Road. For more information, stlcc.edu/MC or call 314-984-7500.

Disney's Aladdin
The Fabulous Fox presents Disney's Aladdin running through November 25. "From the producer of The Lion King comes the timeless story of ALADDIN, a thrilling new production filled with unforgettable beauty, magic, comedy and breathtaking spectacle. It's an extraordinary theatrical event where one lamp and three wishes make the possibilities infinite." The Fox is at 527 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information: fabulousfox.com.

Mustard Seed Theatre presents the a cappella musical All is Calm Thursdays through Sundays, November 15 - December 16. "Join us in celebrating the power of peace in this acapella musical based on the true story of soldiers during World War I who for one night, put down their arms and played soccer instead of exchanging bullets." Performances take place at the Fontbonne Fine Arts Theatre, 6800 Wydown Blvd. For more information, call (314) 719-8060 or visit the web site at www.mustardseedtheatre.com.

Away in a Basement
The Playhouse at Westport Plaza presents the musical Away in a Basement: A Church Basement Ladies Christmas running through January 6. " 'Away in the Basement: A Church Basement Ladies Christmas' takes audiences back to 1959 on the day of the Sunday School Christmas Program. In the midst of holiday preparations and sprinklings of love in the air, the ladies in their witty, down-to-earth style are creating their own memories from Christmases past and present. Content to do things the way they have always been done, yet pondering new ideas, the reality of everyday life hits home as they plan the Sunday School Christmas Program. As the children rehearse in the sanctuary, several of the ladies are in the kitchen finishing up the treat bags filled with apples, peanuts and ribbon candy while the others put the final touches on the nativity pieces. As they mend old bathrobe costumes, discuss the politics of who's going to play the various roles, little do the ladies know what surprises are in store for them. Known for their hilarious antics and subtle charm, they are once again called upon to step in and save the day!" The Playhouse at Westport Plaza is at 635 West Port Plaza. For more information: www.playhouseatwestport.com.

The Missouri History Museum presents Celebrating the Power of Dreams Friday and Saturday at 2 pm, November 17 and 18. "Celebrate the life of Annie M. Turnbo Pope Malone! November 2018 will mark the 100th anniversary of the Poro College complex, once located in the historic Ville Neighborhood. Poro College was Annie Malone's fourth business expansion and the cornerstone of her international empire. This play tells the story of its key role in the community and the woman who built it." Performances take place in the Lee Auditorium at the History Museum in Forest Park. For more information: mohistory.org/events

The Bissell Mansion Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre presents A Christmas Sleigh-Ing through December 29. The Bissell Mansion is at 4426 Randall Place. For more information: bissellmansiontheatre.com.

CSZ St. Louis presents The ComedySportz Show on Saturday nights at 7:30 pm. The show is "action-packed, interactive and hilarious comedy played as a sport. Two teams battle it out for points and your laughs! You choose the winners the teams provide the funny!" Performances take place on the second floor of the Sugar Cubed, 917 S Main St. in St Charles, Mo. For more information: www.cszstlouis.com.

Christina Bianco
The Gaslight Cabaret Festival presents Christina Bianco in Diva Moments on Friday and Saturday, November 16 and 17, at 8 pm. "So Shonda Rhimes tweets a link to this Celebrity Impression Video, and 24 million youtube views later, Christina Bianco makes her St. Louis debut. She takes us on a musical comedy journey through the iconic songs that made divas out of the women who sang them. And we also get to hear that which makes Christina a diva in her own right." The performance takes place at the Gaslight Theater, 358 North Boyle. For more information: gaslightcabaretfestival.com.

Slightly Askew Theatre Ensemble presents Doctor Faustus, or the Modern Prometheus by Marlowe as adapted by John Wolbers. Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8 pm through November 17. "Doctor Faustus, or the Modern Prometheus is a modern day retelling of the age-old bargain for limitless control over ones own fate. The brilliant Doctor Faustus grows weary of those in charge abusing their power; so, with the noblest of intentions, sells her soul to save the world. Thus begins an epic journey of seduction and love, justice and mercy, despair and hope, and ultimately damnation and redemption. Along the way Faustus must choose between good, evil and the compromise known as humanity. Playwright, John Wolbers, retains much of Christopher Marlowes original poetry, but reframes the story to examine: How does one effect change in an increasingly complex world? What is the value of a soul in todays modern age? And what holds us back from transcending our baser instincts to become our best selves?" Performances take place at The Chapel Venue, 6238 Alexander Drive. For more information: slightlyoff.org.

St. Charles Community College presents the comedy Don't Talk to the Actors Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30 pm and Sunday at 2 pm, November 14 - 18. "The best-laid plans go awry when the cast and crew of a Broadway-bound play resort to manipulation, diva-like behavior, and chaotic abandon to get what they want. Fledgling playwright Jerry Przpezniak and his fiancée are a couple of Buffalo greenhorns suddenly swept up in the whirlwind of New York's theatre scene when Jerry's play is optioned for the big money, ego-driven world of Broadway. It's a young playwright's dream, but the crazy characters and dilemmas they encounter are the things that spawn theatrical nightmares! " Performances take place in the FAB Theater in the Donald D. Shook Fine Arts Building on the campus at 4601 Mid Rivers Mall Drive in Cottleville, MO. For more information, call 636-922-8050 or visit stchas.edu.

R-S Theatrics presents Every Brilliant Thing Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays a 7 pm, November 16 - December 2. "When a six-year-old starts a list of every brilliant thing in life to encourage her despondent mother, little does she know that the list will take on a life of its own and thread its way throughout the girl's life. Hilarious and heartbreaking, this one-woman show reminds us to celebrate the beauty in our lives and in those we love." Performances take place at black box theatre at The Kranzberg Arts Center in Grand Center. For more information: r-stheatrics.com.

Webster University's Conservatory of Theatre Arts presents Ray Bradbury's Farenheit 451 Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m., November 14 - 18. "Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which paper ignites. Ray Bradbury's classic drama is about the inner struggle of Guy Montag, a fireman. Montag has worked as a civil servant for ten years burning books, in a society that views reading as a threat to peace. But Montag becomes increasingly unsure about what he is doing and about his vegetable-like existence. It is not until he meets Clarisse, who is filled with strange ideas, that he is led into a dangerous and highly combustible situation. Now he must choose between continuing his nonexistent existence and risking everything for the right to think. A timely and suspenseful journey, Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian tale about the importance of reading and thinking for oneself." Performances take place on the Browning Minstage at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University campus. For more information, www.webster.edu/conservatory/season or call 314-968-7128.

The Looking Glass Playhouse presents the drama Frost/Nixon Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 pm and Sunday at 2 pm through November 18. "British talk-show host David Frost has become a lowbrow laughingstock. Richard M. Nixon has just resigned the United States presidency in total disgrace over Vietnam and the Watergate scandal. Determined to resurrect his career, Frost risks everything on a series of in-depth interviews in order to extract an apology from Nixon. The cagey Nixon, however, is equally bent on redeeming himself in his nation's eyes. In the television age, image is king, and both men are desperate to out-talk and upstage each other as the cameras roll. The result is the interview that sealed a president's legacy." Performances take place at 301 West St. Louis Street in Lebanon, Ill. For more information, visit www.lookingglassplayhouse.com.

The Great Seduction
Photo by John Lamb
The West End Players Guild continues its 108th season with the St. Louis premiere of the comedy The Great Seduction by Vladimir Zelevinsky Thursday through Saturday at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 PM, November 15 - 18. "In the mid-19th century, the prolific French playwright and author Alexandre Dumas penned a five-act bedroom farce Mademoiselle de Belle Isle. It was a tasteful telling of the story of an arrogant Duke, a randy Countess, a young stud of a chevalier and an innocent maiden freshly arrived from the provinces, seasoned with generous dollops of low humor and decolletage. Well, okay. It wasn't exactly tasteful. But it was a rollicking and bawdy smash hit.A century and a half later, playwright Vladimir Zelevinsky decided it was time for the Madmoiselle to return to the stage. His new play, The Great Seduction, retains all the wit and charm of Dumas's original work in a tighter two-act format and with a different and surprising climax that adds a clever twist to one of the most important moments in French history." Performances take place at the Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 North Union at Enright in the Central West End. For more information, call 314-367-0025 or visit www.westendplayers.org.

Ken Haller
The Gaslight Cabaret Festival presents Ken Haller in Happy Haller Days on Saturday, November 18, at 8 p.m. "In his take on the holidays, Ken promises to be surprising, funny, personal, moving, great company and just a little exasperating. Just like all our holidays!" Marty Fox is pianist and music director for the show. The performances take place at the Gaslight Theater, 358 North Boyle. For more information: gaslightcabaretfestival.com.

The Lemp Mansion Comedy-Mystery Dinner Theater presents Harm for the Holidays through December 31. The Lemp Mansion is at 3322 DeMenil Place. For more information: lempmansion.com.

Into the Breeches!
Photo by Philip Hamer
Shakespeare Festival St. Louis presents Into the Breeches! through Sunday, November 18. "Written by the award-winning playwright of Grounded, which starred Anne Hathaway in its New York run, Into the Breeches! is a hilarious and heartwarming look at the WWII home front and a group of ladies who band together to keep the local theater going with their very own production of Henry V." Performances take place at the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 N. Grand in Grand Center. For more information, including dates and times: sfstl.com.

Bob Gerchen
The Gaslight Cabaret Festival presents Bob Gerchen in Joe Cocker: Never Forget on Thursday, November 15, at 8 p.m. "Bob Gerchen finds the beauty, the grit, the soul and the pathos in the work of Joe Cocker, with a little help from a St. Louis Grown Blues Band. Bob sings Joe's hits, but also some songs you might not know. He tells the story of Joe's improbable rise and influence on American blues and soul (he got inside a lot of our souls), as well as on the life of the show's creator. A Joe Cocker cabaret, in the big tent of cabaret at The Gaslight." The performances take place at the Gaslight Theater, 358 North Boyle. For more information: gaslightcabaretfestival.com.

The Performing Arts Department at Washington University presents Kentucky by Leah Nanako Winkler Thursday and Friday at 8 pm, Saturday at 2 and 8 pm, and Sunday at 2 pm, November 15 - 18. "Big sister Hiro has come back home to Kentucky to rescue her sister Sophie from an abusive father and from marrying a born again Christian she only just met! Here's a "dramedy" with music and talking cats and ethnic and cultural divides as old as the hills. The New York Times asserts that Kentucky ". . . marks the full length debut of a distinctive new voice - mouthy, sly and bourbon sweet, with the expected kick." The performances take place in the Edison Theatre on the Washington University campus. For more information, call 314-935-6543 or visit pad.artsci.wustl.edu.

Solid Lines Productions presents a staged reading of Aishah Rahman's The Mojo and the Sayso on Wednesday, November 14, at 7:30 pm. "Inspired by the 1973 killing of a ten-year-old boy by New York City police, THE MOJO AND THE SAYSO is both a comic and dramatic study of the ways that people cope with the aftermath of terrible tragedy." The reading takes place at The Stage at KDHX, 3524 Washington in Grand Cente. For more information: solidlinesproductions.com.

Shakespeare Festival St. Louis presents A Most Outrageous Fit of Madness, a new play for young audiences by Nancy Bell inspired by The Comedy of Errors, Saturdays at 4 pm through November 24 Performances take place at the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 N. Grand in Grand Center. For more information, including dates and times: sfstl.com.

The St. Louis Family Theatre Series presents the TheatworksUSA production of Pete the Cat Saturday and Sunday at 2 pm, November 17 and 18. "When Pete the Cat gets caught rocking out after bedtime, the cat-catcher sends him to live with the Biddle family to learn his manners - and boy are they square! But for the groovy blue cat, life is an adventure no matter where you wind up, so the minute Pete walks in the door, he gets the whole family rocking. The whole family, that is, except for young Jimmy Biddle, the most organized second grader on planet earth. As the end of second grade approaches, Jimmy has a lot of tests, and the last thing he needs is some groovy cat in his life, changing his family and turning everything upside down. But when Jimmy draws a blank in art class during the last week of school, it turns out Pete is the perfect friend to help him out. Together, they set out on a mission to help Jimmy conquer second grade art, and along the way, they both learn a little something new about inspiration. Join Jimmy and Pete on an adventure of friendship, all the way to Paris and back in a VW Bus." Performances take place at the Florissant Civic Center Theatre at Parker and Waterford in Florissant, MO. For more information, call 314-921-5678 or visit www.florissantmo.com

The Monroe Actors Stage presents Agatha Christie's Witness for the Prosecution Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 and Sundays at 2:30 pm through November 18. " Leonard Vole stands accused of murdering a rich widow. The stakes are high with shocking witness testimony, impassioned outbursts from the dock and a young man's fight to escape the hangman's noose. Generally regarded as one of Agatha Christie's most accomplished plays, this suspenseful thriller keeps audiences guessing until the very end." Performances take place in the Historic Capitol Theatre in downtown Waterloo, Illinois. For more information, visit www.masctheatre.org or call 618-939-7469.

Looking for auditions and other artistic opportunities? Check out the St. Louis Auditions site.
For information on events beyond this week, check out the searchable database at the Regional Arts Commission's Events Calendar.
Would you like to be on the radio? KDHX, 88.1 FM needs theatre reviewers. If you're 18 years or older, knowledgeable in this area, have practical theatre experience (acting, directing, writing, technical design, etc.), have good oral and written communications skills and would like to become one of our volunteer reviewers, send an email describing your experience and interests to chuck at kdhx.org. Please include a sample review of something you've seen recently.