Stage Voice

BY: ANDREA BRAUN - THEATRE ARTS CORRESPONDENT

Before David Mamet constructed a house of games, Andrew Wyke (Munson Hicks) already lived in one. Wyke is a renowned mystery writer whose Hercule Poirot or Adam Dalgliesh is called “St. John, Lord Merrydew.” He writes in the old-fashioned Christie style—a set up, a murder, a solution, and a resolution. His novels are formulaic and all the more popular for that, yet one gets the idea Andrew, the aging man, has seen better days.

BY: COLIN MURPHY – SENIOR WRITER

The majesty and splendor of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s The Phantom of the Opera and “the music of the night” will again hold court at the Fabulous Fox Sept. 30 – Oct. 25.

BY: ANDREA BRAUN – THEATRE CORRESPONDENT

The Five Lesbian Brothers are tuned in to what scares the bejesus out of men: Women. What’s scarier than a woman? A woman who knows how to do things  men don’t, like keyboard 112 words per minute, change the toner cartridge and in general run their lives; that is, secretaries. Remember the old term “office wife”? These secretaries (and their female boss who reports to a man) are pre-emptive office widows. We are secretaries and we do things secretarial. / And once a month we kill a guy and cut him up for burial.

BY: ANDREA BRAUN - THEATRE CORRESPONDENT

BY: ANDREA BRAUN - THEATRE CORRESPONDENT

This time, it’s all about the voices. Guys and Dolls (originally produced in 1950) is in regular rotation at The Muny and was mounted at Stages in 1995. A revival just closed in New York. It had a recent two-year run in London. In short, it’s a familiar show to most musical theatre fans, and I assume directors are always looking for ways to make it a bit different. Here that difference seems to be that this version is packed with singers, and I mean real powerhouse voices.

BY: ANDREA BRAUN, THEATRE ARTS CORRESPONDENT

Jerry Vogel directs an intriguing production of Shakespeare’s (now) controversial "comedy," The Merchant of Venice, and he kicks off the company’s 25th anniversary season in fine style. From the busy opening scene involving the passing of letters to a quiet and thoughtful last moment, it’s an interesting and affecting reading of this intriguing but somewhat flawed play. Warts and all, however, this is one of my favorites, so I tend to watch very closely for missteps in production. I couldn’t find any here.

BY: COLIN MURPHY - SENIOR WRITER

The world's most famous nanny floats into town Aug. 13-30 to take charge of the Fabulous Fox as Disney and Cameron Mackintosh's Mary Poppins makes its Gateway City debut.

The national tour features Ashley Brown and Gavin Lee reprising their original Broadway roles of "Mary Poppins" and "Bert," respectively.

INTRODUCING DRAMATIC LICENSE PRODUCTIONS:

BY: ANDREA BRAUN, THEATRE ARTS CORRESPONDENT

Chutzpah: From the Yiddish—audacity, nerve.

And "chutzpah" is exactly what Kim Furlow, founder of the new Dramatic License Productions, and Jason Cannon (Vanity Theatre) are demonstrating in their collaboration on John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt: A Parable, opening July 30.

This is a much-honored play that won Tony Awards, Drama Desk Awards and other assorted honors, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2005. Cherry Jones, who performed the role at the Fox in St. Louis in 2007, won the Best Actress in a Play Tony for her work as Sister Aloysius on Broadway, as did Adriane Lennox as Mrs. Muller and director Doug Hughes. Then there was the film version with no less than Meryl Streep as Sr. Aloysius, Philip Seymour Hoffman as Father Flynn, Amy Adams as Sr. James, and Viola Davis as Mrs. Muller, all nominated for Academy Awards. Sounds frightening, right? Well, not to these folks.

BY: ANDREA BRAUN, THEATRE ARTS CORRESPONDENT

Legend has it that when John Barrymore died, his friends, including actor Errol Flynn and director Raoul Walsh gathered in a bar to mark the occasion.  Walsh left, and with the help of a couple of co-conspirators, stole Barrymore’s still un-embalmed body from the funeral home, took it to Errol Flynn’s house, and propped it up in a chair. When Flynn came home, he was extremely drunk, but sobered up quickly in terror as he saw “Jack” sitting right there. He claimed to have screamed his head off, and even when he learned it was a joke, was unable to sleep all that night.

Is this story true? Who knows? It’s about the only one John Contini didn’t tell among the outrageous statements and actions attributed to Barrymore during his very large life. Of course, he couldn’t have related it, since the play takes place in 1942, one month before “The Great Profile’s” death at 60. He lived fast, and he died young, but it was too late to leave a good looking corpse. He remains vain to the end, however, since he seeks reassurance from the prompter (Scott McMasters as “Frank,” unseen but heard throughout the show) he has hired to help him prepare for a comeback as Richard III. “I don’t look middle-aged, do I?” Barrymore asks. “Not anymore, sir,” Frank says flatly.

BY: ANDREA BRAUN, THEATRE ARTS CORRESPONDENT

This is a good month to see lesser known works by well known playwrights: The Albee plays (Everything in the Garden closed last weekend at Stray Dog; The Lady from Dubuque is currently running at Muddy Waters) and now Act Inc’s summer repertory season includes Heroes (trans. By Tom Stoppard) and Waiting in the Wings by Noel Coward, which opened last night. "Wings" is an old-fashioned three-act butt numb-er, but it has good performances, some of Coward’s trademark sparkling dialogue, and an interesting setting to recommend it.