Short Seens

After a slightly slow and rhythmically flat first act, the Hawthorne Players had me in stitches with their mastery of the difficult physical comedy in the second and third acts of Michael Frayn's anarchic farce Noises Off. Credit Dottie Bertolino's exquisitely clear direction and the cast's razor-sharp timing. They gave full measure to each nut in Frayn's bowl.

An evening of the didactic pop-rock songs from TV's Schoolhouse Rock makes thin entertainment. But the six young performers doing this revue at the St. Louis Community College-Meramec campus radiate enough energetic cheer to keep you awake, with a big assist from the amusing direction of Jim Greer and bright choreography of Michelle Burdette-Elmore.

Using the clowns and acrobats in the current Max Beckmann exhibit as justification, the St. Louis Art Museum presented Circus Flora's St. Louis Arches in its auditorium last Saturday. Ranging from tots looking barely big enough to walk to smooth veterans, these exuberant tumblers and jugglers always charm, amaze and delight.

-- Bob Wilcox