St. Louis Eats and Drinks

Annapurna

Things come in cycles sometimes, don’t they? I’ve found myself in the midst of one that involves people from the past coming together again and resolving, at least, halfway, their questions. It’s been all around me. First-person stories in the New York Times, tales from people I know, episodes in literature, even in my personal life – and now at St. Louis Actors’ Studio, Annapurna.

Written by Sharr White, Annapurna is about two people well into middle age who were once married to each other. There is no “meet cute” about it. Emma shows up, extremely unannounced, at the – well, to call it a mobile home would be to give the trailer a dignity it may never have possessed – where Ulysses now lives. It does have a marvelous view. He’s in Colorado’s intermountain territory, the magnificence of the Rockies just outside his hamlet.

There’s been no contact between them for the two decades since Emma left in the middle of the night, taking their 5-year-old son with her. He doesn’t remember why she left. But there are other things he doesn’t remember, too. He drank, a lot. And when he quit drinking, he took up smoking, which explains why he has an oxygen concentrator backpack on.

Why is she there? How many secrets are they keeping? The carefully drawn dialogue between the two is nothing short of exquisite. Forty minutes in, I found myself thinking, “This is just a beautiful little play.” And it is. Even when the tempo changes and the audience may sense what’s coming, it’s magnetic.

Laurie McConnell is Emma, trying hard to be civil. She’s more successful at that than she is in understanding exactly why she’s come to see Ulysses. Mainly, at first, it seems to be to find out if he really doesn’t remember what happened the night she left. But there’s other, hidden things, that drive her from where she has been to right here right now. It’s a lot of condensed emotion, sometimes creeping quietly into McConnell’s face and her body language until even she erupts.

Ulysses, former college professor, published writer, and recently discharged hospital patient, is John Pierson. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (said the retired nurse) is hard to carry off onstage, but he does a pretty good job of it, and he hits it out of the park on the rest of Ulysses. Of course, considering his vocation, he’s glib, which means he has the advantage of many of the funniest lines, but well beyond that, this is a fine, fine performance.

Annamaria Pileggi orchestrated these two professionals wonderfully resulting in a surprisingly delicate creation, which showcases them and the script’s slowly growing cobweb. Patrick Huber is responsible for the dilapidated set, and Steven J. Miller the light design.

A remarkable ninety minutes or so of theatre. Very worthwhile.

 

Annapurna

through March 1, 2020

St. Louis Actors’ Studio

Gaslight Theater

360 N. Boyle

314-458-2978

stlas.org

The Mystery of Irma Vep - A Penny Dreadful

Nelson T. Eusebio III’s production of The Mystery of Irma Vep – A Penny Dreadful at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis gives us a comedy so broad the Veiled Prophet could steer his entire float, queens and all, through it. Irma, the brainchild of the late Charles Ludlam, was never meant to be subtle, of course. Ludlam one of the early creators of what came to be known as theater of the ridiculous, certainly never was himself.

It’s a mish-mosh of camp, Gothic horror, multliple references both broad and subtle to various works of literature, cross-dressing jokes and stereotypes. That’s a lot to put into one show. The script sags under the weight of it all. Particularly in the first act, holes appear.

Valiant efforts from Esteban Andres Cruz and Tommy Everett Russell, the two actors who portray eight characters, and who give it their all. Scenery-chewing is a given, with this script, so you can’t fault them for doing so at appropriate times. There’s tremendous energy from each of them as they roar through their various roles. They also carried off with great elan a glitch in the set on opening night.

The other star in a show like this has to be the costume designer, here Sara Ryung Clement. She shines, especially for Lady Enid, giving wonderfully tawdry work that clearly rips off and zips (or Velcros) on in the flash of a hat. One costume in particular for Russell, with its pointy cups, seemed to be direct from Frederick’s of Cairo.

The set from Michael Locher, equally flamboyant, looks good to most of the audience. But about a quarter of play-goers are unable to see the portrait of the late Lady Irma, and another quarter unable to see into a sarcophagus. Both items are sources of jokes and activity, and it’s our loss.

The script is one of those that created isolated laughter in various parts of the audience, a sure sign of obscure jokes. That’s no sin, but Not Getting It makes audiences restless. Plenty of physical comedy, some of it bawdy, partly helps to remedy that. There’s an unverifiable statement dancing around the internet that this was the most-performed play in the United States in 1991, but one is surprised, given the weakness of the script.

Rowdy. Energetic. Illogical, of course. But if you want to remember what voguing looked like, this is probably your only chance this year.

 

The Mystery of Irma Vep – A Penny Dreadful

through March 8

Mainstage

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis

130 Edgar Rd., Webster Groves

repstl.org

Dress the Part

It must be quite a show if the names Sondheim and Stupefyin’ Jones pass through my mind in the first thirty minutes or so. Dress the Part, from Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis is a take on The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Explaining it’s set in an American high school, Verona Prep, and done mainly as rap, may still cause some to look down their high-flown noses, but that would be a mistake.

DtP is, not to put too elegant a point on it, a laff riot, as Hollywood used to say. It’s eighty minutes, no intermission, of an incredible workout for Jordan Moore and Garrett Young, who play 13 characters, including a remarkable middle-of-the-song triple tradeoff. Proteus and Valentine are the mainstays of the public prep school’s high-performing football team. It’s a typical high school with students tracking themselves into social ruts, jocks, socies (there’s probably a more contemporary phrase for that, but…), artists, nerds, ad infinitum, but Proteus has discovered the wonderfulness of a fine young woman, Julia, who’s seriously into arts. He’s dropping the football team to pursue her and her interests. Valentine is shocked, but then a newcomer who’s been elected head cheerleader, Sylvia, appears. Her effect on him – and not just on him – is about like that of Stupefyin’ Jones, the lissome lady of Lil’ Abner, whose appearance causes men to be hit by the Whammy. (Or occasionally the Double Whammy, but that’s not necessary here: Coals to Newcastle with young men in the throes of adolescent hormones.) And there’s more, adults at the school and at home, Julia’s lockermate who has the hots for the band’s leading flute player, the Crabs’ (that’s the school mascot) waterboy – it’s a veritable symphony of characters. The only one playing it straight is Crim Dolla Cray, the DJ for this amiable madness.

Okay, so there’s the Stupefyin’ Jones reference. Wherefore the Sondheim? The music and lyrics are from the Q Brothers, whom, if you are fortunate, you remember from The Bomb-itty of Errors The music is fun and toe-tapping. The lyrics, however are at times as agile and witty as Sondheim or Porter, with amusing rhymes and fine jokes, a delectable show of abilities.

Peter and Margery Spack have turned The Ready Room’s stage into a charming, bright interpretation of the school, and Rusty Wandall keeps the sound flying with blessed control and clarity. Still, pride of place might well go to Christina Leinecke, whose costumes, so integral to the variety of characters, are carried off with immense humor.

In the Shakespearean tradition, there’s a green show 30 minutes before, so to speak, kickoff, and the schedule for that is on the website. We had a young juggler, Sean Petric, with a good sense of humor.

There’s a certain amount of bawdiness in the show, but aside from that, it’s a great introduction to theater for reluctant young ones above a certain age. Use familial judgement, but please don’t deprive yourself. This is another remarkable show from Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis.

 

Dress the Part

through February 15

The Ready Room

4195 Manchester Ave.

sfstl.com