The Spotlight

Shy Guy, Meet Scandal: Clayton Theatre's 'The Foreigner' Opens

Larry Shue's hilarious farce explores inner discovery and self-realization. It runs through April 29 at the Washington University South Campus Building.

If laughter is the best medicine, then Larry Shue's play The Foreigner is guaranteed to cure what ails an audience. Clayton Community Theatre (CCT) will present the show starting Friday and continuing through April 29. The play is set in a rustic fishing lodge in rural Georgia and focuses on Charlie Baker, a down-in-the-dumps British gent with a failing marriage. His friend, Staff Sgt. “Froggy” LeSueur, wants to cheer him up and brings him to the lodge for a little rest and relaxation. Charlie erupts into a near-panic at the thought of having to speak with strangers (it turns out he's painfully shy), so Froggy tells everyone that Charlie doesn't speak or understand English. This, Froggy hopes, will cause the others to leave Charlie alone. …

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Award-Winning Cashore Marionettes Bring 'Simple Gifts' to Clayton

Master puppeteer Joseph Cashore breathes life into his enchanted handmade puppets.

For more than 30 years, master puppeteer Joseph Cashore has been bringing his handmade marionettes to life. Now he's bringing his show, Simple Gifts, to the Edison Theatre for one performance at 11 a.m. Feb. 11. Cashore's fascination with marionettes began as a boy when—on vacation at the Jersey shore—he saw a colorfully dressed pirate marionette hanging from the ceiling of a gift shop. Intrigued, Cashore asked the saleswoman if he could make the marionette move. She told him no. That was just the encouragement he needed. His first marionette was as basic as it gets. A straight strip of wood with one or two cross pieces—called an airplane handle—controlled it. Frustrated with the limited movement it allowed, Cashore began adding more …

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The Spotlight

Missouri Ballet Theatre Presents 'The Nutcracker' At Clayton's Edison Theatre

The holiday classic showing this weekend features two ballerinas alternating in the production's most coveted role.

Along with all the unmistakable signs of the yuletide season—frenzied shopping, Christmas trees, festive lights, party-going and a sudden outpouring of good will—productions of The Nutcracker convey that Christmas is near and that the time to get into the holiday spirit has arrived. The ballet has become a mainstay of the holiday season in America. It is based on E. T. A. Hoffmann's The Nutcracker and the Mouse King and features music by Tchaikovsky. “It's an interesting phenomenon, and it's only in America,” said Adam Sage, founder and artistic director of Missouri Ballet Theatre. The company will present the ballet at the Edison Theatre in Clayton from Friday through Tuesday. “Most countries don't do this for Christmas.” The ballet …

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Mustard Seed Theatre's 'Godspell' Yields Likable Characters

The iconic '70s musical gets updated and set in St. Louis in this production now showing at the Fontbonne University Black Box Theatre in Clayton.

When Godspell first opened Off Broadway in 1971, it dared to put Jesus in clown make-up and a Superman T-shirt and to set the play in a New York City junkyard. Old-school Christians were not pleased, but Christian youth were. They had been leaving churches of virtually every denomination in droves—not Christianity itself, just the stuffy, un-hip, tradition-mired confines of organized religion. And then came Godspell. Say what you want about the John-Michael Tebelak play, which features music by Stephen Schwartz. But a person could make a compelling argument that Godspell changed modern religion: Guitar masses have become common, and Christian rock has become a major industry, to name just a couple of changes. In the current production by …

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Clayton Community Theatre Presents Vietnam Drama 'A Piece Of My Heart'

The true story of six women who served in Vietnam is playing in Clayton.

Clayton Community Theatre kicks off its 2011-12 season with Shirley Lauro's A Piece of My Heart, the story of six young women before, during and after their military tours in Vietnam. Based on Keith Walker's book, A Piece of My Heart: the Stories of 26 American Women Who Served in Vietnam, the play is a poignant drama with a universal story of struggle and survival. The play opens at the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, on which the names of 58,272 who died in Vietnam are inscribed. Only eight of the names are those of women. But nearly 10,000 women served in the war in a variety of capacities, mostly as nurses. In the play, three are nurses, one is with the American Red Cross, one is in strategic intelligence with the Women's …

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The Spotlight

Musicals Unmasked: Local's Book Analyzes 'Rocky Horror,' 'Grease,' More

A new book by Scott Miller, artistic director of New Line Theatre in Clayton, offers insights into culture's influence on the modern American musical.

A new book by the artistic director of Clayton's New Line Theatre looks at how sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll have shaped our society and the modern American musical, and in turn how musicals are shaping our culture. The premise of Scott Miller's newest book, Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll and Musicals, is not difficult to accept at face value. But if you have doubts, you won't after reading Miller. His exploration of American musicals has resulted in five previous books, each richly detailed, comprehensive and insightful. The book looks primarily at 10 different shows, the earliest being 1967's Hair. But it begins with Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party, written in 2000 and based on the shocking, book-length 1920s poem by Joseph Moncure March during …

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The Spotlight

Artist Peter Max Comes To Clayton

The pop artist icon's exhibition at Ober Anderson Gallery will offer residents a chance to meet the artist.

The electric colors and singular style of artist Peter Max's work is unmistakable. The pop icon and unofficial U.S. painter laureate will bring his art to Clayton's Ober Anderson Gallery, 14 N. Meramec Ave., this month for an exhibit and receptions. The show, “Colors of a Better World,” will feature both new and classic Max art—including original Rams and Cardinals helmets by Max—from Saturday through Oct. 23. He will attend receptions from 7 to 10 p.m. Oct. 22 and from 1 to 4 p.m. Oct. 23. When Max recounts his staggering sales statistics or relates his impressive accomplishments, there is no hint of ego or braggadocio. He relates his stories with a sense of wide-eyed wonder and punctuates nearly every statement by saying, “Can you …

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