MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS at Rep Theater Review

– By Cate Marquis – The ever-popular Agatha Christie mystery classic “Murder on the Orient Express” brings mystery and glamour to the Repertory Theater of St. Louis’ Mainstage for their penultimate show of the 2022-2023 season. Agatha Christie’s Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot (Armando Duran) is supposed to be on vacation but then the famous detective…

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TOOTSIE at Fox Theater Review

– By Cate Marquis – The Tony-winning Broadway hit “Tootsie” strides onto the Fabulous Fox stage, bringing laughter and some food for thought on gender roles. It is based, of course, on the Oscar-winning movie TOOTSIE, starring Dustin Hoffman as an out-of-work actor whose reputation for perfectionism has made him practically unemployable, forcing him to…

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GRAND HORIZONS at Moonstone Theater Review

– By Cate Marquis – Legendary and beloved local actor Joneal Joplin is back on stage with Moonstone Theater Company’s “Grand Horizons” – and he brought his son with him. Jared Joplin, an Equity actor like his father, plays the role of Joneal Joplin’s son, in the hilarious and honest “Grand Horizons,” a Tony-nominated play…

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD at Fox Theater Review

– By Cate Marquis – “To Kill A Mockingbird” has been a smash hit on Broadway, and the Fox has scored a real coup in bringing hit to local audiences, including original cast members Richard Thomas as Atticus Finch and Mary Badham, who played the little girl Scout in the famous 1962 movie, who now…

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SPELLS OF THE SEA musical at Metro Theater review

– By Cate Marquis – In the charming children’s musical “Spells Of The Sea,” a tween girl sets out find a magic elixir in the hope of saving her ailing fisherman father, a quest that involves a old lighthouse keeper, pirates, a mermaid, a sea monster and a magical underwater princess. Despite the whimsy, this…

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CONFEDERATES at Rep theater review

– By Cate Marquis – “Confederates,” the latest play on the Repertory Theater of St. Louis’ Mainstage, is, by far, the best show in the Rep’s 2022-2023 season yet. “Confederates” tells two compelling stories in parallel, about two Black women, one a present-day professor at a small Ivy League university and the other an enslaved…

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UNCLE VANYA at St. Louis Actors Studio theater review

– By Cate Marquis – Why can’t we have more plays like the St. Louis Actors Studio’s excellent “Uncle Vanya” on local stages? Beautifully acted, skillfully staged, this Neil LaBute adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” is a pure delight – insightful, funny, dramatic and full of commentary on human feelings, life and its inequities….

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SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM at Rep theater review

(l-r) Paul Heesang Miller, Saidu Sinlah, Phoenix Best, and Amy Spanger, in the Rep’s “Side By Side By Sondheim.” Photo credit: Phillip Hamer Photography. Courtesy of the Repertory Theater of St. Louis – By Cate Marquis – The Repertory Theater of St. Louis stepped into the new year by delving into Sondheim with “Side By…

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BLUE MAN GROUP at Fox theater review

– By Cate Marquis – The performance art troupe Blue Man Group returned to the Fabulous Fox Theater, Feb. 9-12. The performance art troupe of blue men in black, silent presumably aliens with a creative curiosity and a penchant for drumming, is touring again. The tagline this tour is “Still Blue. The Rest Is All…

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SIX musical at the Fox theater review

– By Cate Marquis – The hit Broadway musical “Six the Musical” brought the six wives of Henry the Eighth to the Fabulous Fox Theater, or at least a pop star version of them, in a very entertaining production, Jan. 24 though Feb. 5. With diverse casting, each of the wives of King Henry VIII…

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