Most Popular
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Radio Active: What has Patty Wente done to create such a meltdown at KWMU? (40)
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Rare On Air: St. Louis' own RiverfrontRadio.com is changing the way Web radio is done (8)
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2007 RFT Music Showcase (6)
Week of May 31, 2007
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Music Showcase Schedule (6)
The complete low-down on this year's nominated acts
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Cheesesteak Quest: Can Ian find a decent Philly cheesesteak in St. Louis? Yes, he can! (6)
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Summer Concert Calendar: Hit all the high notes this summer with our expanded concert listings
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Summer Sensations: So much to do, so little time. Here's what we recommend you dare not miss.
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Richard the Turd: Beware the company that dares to stage The Tragedy of King Richard III
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Wicked Good: Opera Theatre pulls out all the bizarre stops in mounting The Tales of Hoffmann
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Remains to Be Seen: Enough already with staging new stuff because it's new
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STLASP Reacts to Our Story
02:47PM 06/04/08 -
A Cappella Daft Punk (With Hands)
12:20PM 06/05/08 -
John Smoltz: A First-Ballot Hall of Famer
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Bacon...in a Can!
10:22AM 06/05/08
What we are writing about
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Recent Articles By Paul Friswold
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Wild Heart: The Black Rep's Sarafina rocks the Grandel
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Art Crimes
Creation begins in the cell
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Hit the Lights
Starlight, searchlights and you
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Something Special
A forgotten treasure brought to life
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Plush Proliferation
New friends are being made every day
Recent Articles By Lew Prince
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The Soprano: Diva Kelly Kaduce hits the high notes in Opera Theatre's Madame Butterfly
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Wicked Good: Opera Theatre pulls out all the bizarre stops in mounting The Tales of Hoffmann
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Aria Ready?
Opera Theatre concludes its season with a bel canto bang.
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From Russia, with Deepest Sympathy
Grand finale: He didn't live to see the world premiere, but Colin Graham's Anna Karenina is a fitting culmination to a stellar opera career.
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Love in the Time of Tuberculosis
Conspicuous consumption: Opera Theatre of Saint Louis spins a smooth La traviata.
Recent Articles By Dennis Brown
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Richard the Turd: Beware the company that dares to stage The Tragedy of King Richard III
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St. Louis Stage Capsules
Dennis Brown and Paul Friswold suss out the local theater scene
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Not to Scale: Iguana play! Muddy Waters checks into the Costa Verde Hotel for The Night
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I Laughed, I Sneezed: New Jewish drops the curtain on its black-box venue with a raucous but cruel guffaw
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Remains to Be Seen: Enough already with staging new stuff because it's new
National Features
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City Pages
Harassing the Harassers
Avenging attorney Pete Barry turns the tables on aggressive debt collectors.
By Jonathan Kaminsky -
Houston Press
Bootlegging Dr. Pepper
Eight bucks a six-pack? A small price to pay for authentic, cane-sugar soda.
By Robb Walsh -
Phoenix New Times
The Wrath of Wal-Mart
The giant retailer screws over an elderly greeter who made the mistake of drinking a Coke at work.
By Paul Rubin -
Cleveland Scene
Another Thing Comin'
Rock Star painted him as a wannabe, but Ripper Owens is doing better than ever.
By Denise Grollmus
St. Louis Stage Capsules
Dennis Brown, Paul Friswold and Lew Prince suss out the local theater scene
By Paul Friswold , Lew Prince , and Dennis Brown
Published: June 4, 2008
Madame Butterfly Reviewed in this issue.
Sarafina Reviewed in this issue.
The Tales of Hoffmann One of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis' great strengths is its willingness to take risks. A depth of talent and a dedication to quality allow the company to try things others would never dream of. OTSL's quirky staging of this Jacques Offenbach favorite takes E.T.A. Hoffmann's macabre visions to their surrealist limits. Soprano Ailyn Pérez and bass Kirk Eichelberger take on four roles apiece, and both are spectacular. Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder indeed. Through June 28 at the Loretto-Hilton Center, 130 Edgar Road, Webster Groves. Tickets are $25 to $110. Call 314-961-0644 or visit www.opera-stl.org. — Lew Prince
The Tragedy of King Richard III The winter of our discontent arrives in June in this visually dull production that runs nearly three hours without ever bothering to savor the comic melodrama that permeates Shakespeare's chronicle. On the page, the villainous Duke of Gloucester is cunning, ruthless, outrageous. As portrayed here, Richard takes no relish in the mayhem he is enacting; instead he comes off as colorless and verbose. What might have been an intriguing primer on the excesses of corruptive power becomes an exercise in irrelevance. Performed by Shakespeare Festival St. Louis nightly (except Tuesdays) through June 15 on the Emerson Stage on Art Hill in Forest Park. Admission is free. Call 314-531-9800 or visit www.sfstl.com. — Dennis Brown







