Live Entertainment

The Sterling Renaissance Festival is a 7 week long event, that takes place on the weekends, featuring street actors, artisans, and stage performances meant to immerse visitors in the 1500's.

One such performance, by a trio of Triton's temptresses, will captivate you. I'm talking about:

SIRENA

Sirena is a musical/theatrical, experience that takes you back to mythical times where the sirens call would lure in shipwrecked lovers. Sailors both loved and feared them as they would become hypnotized by their song and lose their souls in the process.

WrestlePro is going to be at St. Joe’s Church in Keyport, NJ this Saturday.  There are more matches to be announced (I will likely be adding to this as we get closer to show time), and Hardcore Holly and Fake News Bennett (FKA Bad News Barrett) will also be at this show!  It’s going to be a big one!  You also get to see hometown hero (and huge friend of this column) Coach Dylan Stiffwood make his triumphant return to Keyport!

Tickets available here!

Maybe you've been attending comic conventions for a few years now. If so, you've established your expectations of what you'll see there, the good, the bad, the ugly, and enticing.

But maybe you've been going long enough that you've mutated -- it sneaks up on you -- into those creatures know as parents. If so, you may find yourself visiting your familiar convention environs one summer with a younger human being in tow for the first time, and find yourself suddenly thinking differently about some of the revealing cosplay, the nude superheroine prints, and the bloody special effects makeup and masks. If you've encountered this uncomfortable feeling already, or if you're just lookign for something that will better engage your young offspring (of which it is your duty to raise properly in the ways of the Force, the Prime Directive, truth justice and the American way, and with great responsibility).

SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS is a musical by Marvin Hamlisch, Craig Camelia and John Guare based on the screenplay by Clifford Odets and Ernest Lehman about a post WWII celebrity gossip columnist, his seedy protégé and the muckraker’s strange relationship with his sister. It’s one of the more intricately structured plots you’ll see in a musical. Virtually no one is quite who you thought they were by the end of the show and that level of character depth is deeply satisfying. It’s also likely that you’ll squirm in your seat uncomfortably at times, because Zachary Allen Farmer, one of St. Louis’ best comedic actors, plays one hell of a rat bastard in this New Line Theatre production.

After a blockbuster film, the highest grossing Broadway production in history, ridiculous DVD sales and constant worldwide tours, everybody knows what Disney’s THE LION KING is all about, right? Yes, I still haven’t seen the movie (might as well wait for the “live” action remake now), but I was fortunate enough to see the last tour when it set attendance records at the Fabulous Fox Theatre in St. Louis.  Since there shouldn’t be any reason to rehash the coming of age story for the future King of the Beasts amid the evil schemes of his sinister uncle, allow me to discuss what makes THE LION KING musical one of the most unique and memorable theatrical experiences you’ll find anywhere.

ATLANTA - April 19, 2017 - Square Enix, Blizzard and Wizards of the Coast will be among the companies at MomoCon, the convention with the largest gaming floor in the Southeastern United States.

Wizard World St. Louis was the weekend place to be to find fan art, celebrity signatures, fantasy weaponry, iconic vehicles, and sundry other geeky goodies. But it didn't put the slightest strain on your wallet to enjoy the free show that was brought to the Dome at America's Center by the attendees who took advantage of the event to show off their talents at transmogrification, bringing to life some of our favorite comic book, animation, video game and television characters. It's all part of the phenomenon known as cosplay -- a portmanteau word of 'costume' and 'play' -- and it's serious business for a lot of the attendees. This isn't a pair of red shorts and a bathtowel tied around your neck and calling yourself "Superman." Utilizing body paint, plaster casting, rubber molding, rivets, stitchery, and every other manufacturing method available, cosplayers pull out all the stops to make their characters look as off-the-page and out-of-the-screen as possible.

Spring is here, which means it’s that time of year again--the time when newness and life spring forth. For those so inclined it means baseball, but for those of us more eclectic types in the Saint Louis area it means one thing above all: It is time for the now apparently annual Wizard World Convention at the America’s Center.

THE ILLUSIONISTS: LIVE FROM BROADWAY is a tricky show to review, no pun intended. How can I discuss magic tricks, illusions, mentalism, and death-defying stunts when I don’t know how 99% of them are done and magic is generally a visual event that words alone cannot reproduce? THE ILLUSIONISTS is a show featuring seven of the top magicians and daredevils in the world. It’s an event that must be seen to be believed, and you only have until the last two shows on Sunday, April 2, 2017 to catch them at the Fabulous Fox Theatre in St. Louis before they disappear, presumably in a puff of theatrical smoke.

The seven masters of their art are:

What can you say about Agatha Christie that hasn’t been said a thousand times? I mean, when your books are only outsold by the Holy Bible and that lousy hack William Shakespeare, that’s pretty much all there is to say. I’ve read a number of her stories, mostly the ones revolving around Hercule Poirot or Mrs. Marple. I have somehow managed to neither read WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION nor seen it performed until tonight, presented by The Kirkwood Theatre Guild. I don’t know what I was waiting for—I love a good courtroom drama.

Results:

• Preshow - Talon def. Valerio LaMorte

• Bruce Pritchard came out to do a promo to start the show.  He put over WrestlePro huge in a terrific promo.

First off, let's start with the big news!  Mario Bokara, Fallah Bahh, and Kevin Matthews all made their debut at Impact tapings last weekend.  

And this led to Matthews being offered a 2-year contract. Congratulations to all three of these talented performers. They (along with many of the WrestlePro roster) deserve a much bigger platform to show what they can do.  

Life is a simple word that conjures images in one’s head of everything from bland breakfast cereal to fierce religious/political debates to the birth of a child. It is a capricious word. Jobs, relationships, health, you name it--life will change it in an instant, sometimes for the better, sometimes far worse. New Line Theatre’s newest production, ZORBA, is a perfect example of the unpredictability of the one commodity that everyone holds most precious.

“Avast, ye scurvy dogs, and heave to! Aye, you’ll hoist me treasure, or you’ll be sleepin’ in Davy Jones’ locker, argh!” Sigh…I think I’d have made a great pirate. I’m told I have a certain kind of intensity in my eyes, I don’t particularly like shaving, and I have a pet macaw. All I need is an ocean, a galleon and a time machine. Since I can probably only get my hook onto two of those three piratical requirements, I guess I’ll settle for the next best thing: pirate-centric community theatre! Hot on the heels of earning 16 nominations for NOISES OFF and ANNE FRANK at this year’s Arts For Life Awards, O’Fallon Theatre Works presents PETER AND THE STARCATCHER, running February 24 - March 5.

There’s a big WrestlePro show Friday Night (February 10) at Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, New Jersey and on Saturday night in Brooklyn at St Pat’s CYO.  Starland Ballroom is one of my favorite places to catch a wrestling show (or concert), and I’ve had my tickets for this one for a long time now.

Here are our predictions on how the Starland show plays out!

Ryback Vs Brian Cage

Hark! What is this vision which dances before me? Is it Drama personified, grounding us with her stories of maidens, men and honored beasts? Nay! ‘tis Brother Comedy in his smiling mask of gold, sustained by the richness of my laughter. SOMETHING ROTTEN! ‘tis a rose by another name, but sweeter than the forbidden fruit of Eden, for the gods of jests and conspiracies have transported my soul upon the stage of the Fabulous Fox Theatre, and given voice to a belief most fundamental to my divine spirit: “God, I Hate Shakespeare!”

CLOSER is a play by Patrick Marber that was made into a feature film in 2004 starring Julie Roberts, Natalie Portman, Jude Law and Clive Owen. I’m a fan of all four of those actors, and I own the DVD, but I somehow have yet to actually watch it. Thus when I arrived at the lovely .ZZCK Theatre for Theatre Lab’s production of the play, directed by Tom Martin, Produced by Ryan Scott Foizey and co-produced by Rey Arceno, Scott Seibert and Colin Barlow, I actually wasn’t sure what to expect. It was about three or four scenes into the performance where it dawned on me that I knew the plot from trailers I saw thirteen years ago. Better late to a party than never, right?

The year was 1991. My girlfriend at that time dropped some not so subtle hints that she’d like for me to take her to see THE NUTCRACKER at the Fabulous Fox Theatre. I’d always heard the Fox was an amazing venue, and I had just finished my senior year of high school where I had developed a late interest in theatre. I saved all my tip money from waiting tables at Pizza Hut for a few weeks and then bought us the best seat I could afford. When we get there I’m absolutely blown away by the intricacies of the “Siamese Byzantine” décor.  The house lights fade to dark, the orchestra began to launch into the first verse and the ensemble bounded onto the stage. My jaw dropped, and I looked at my girlfriend with a suspicious stare. “You didn’t tell me this was a ballet!” We broke up about a week later.

Why do you suppose “magic” is so popular these days? From stage acts like Penn & Teller and guerrilla magicians like David Blaine, to books, television programs and films based on J.K. Rowling’s boy wizard Harry Potter or George R. R. Martin’s GAME OF THRONES, and Marvel’s DOCTOR STRANGE, people can’t seem to get enough of magic. I think there’s a pretty simple explanation for that—the human experience in so-called “real life” is devoid of magic, be it artificial trickery, metaphysical mysticism or otherwise. Show me the magic in working in a dreary cubicle, churning out another spreadsheet to go over in another soul-crushingly boring meeting. Show me the magic in choosing from two of the least popular political candidates in the history of the United States. Show me the magic eating out of a box filled with products grown in a Monsanto lab rather than soil and sunlight. Cell phones are as addictive as cigarettes, but probably cause more accidents, and some may even explode.

I have to imagine that for a parent there can be no greater worry than the loss of your child. Imagine having to dwell on that over and over again, revisiting your worst fears over and over. How would you grieve? Would you be angry about the circumstance and want justice or tried to move on with your life, grieving silently and privately? For three years, The Tesseract Theatre’s Artistic Director and playwright Taylor Gruenloh did exactly that. His own daughter is perfectly fine, don’t fear. No, he had to inhabit a scenario that he wouldn’t wish upon anyone and find answers to as many difficult questions as his brain could come with. He spent three long years exploring the deeply affecting and life-altering possibility of life after tragic loss.