Ugly, Stupid and Ready to Wed

A princess is to be wed to the first suitor who can answer a very easy question — she's no looker, you see. Princess takes the practical route and disguises her lovely but dimwitted maid to take her place for the next assignation, and the servant is pleasantly surprised to meet a handsome prince who is her intellectual equal. Oh, but he's no prince. He's the real prince's servant in disguise, because the prince has self-esteem problems of his own. Is anybody in this play smart enough or comely enough to get married? Maybe the king — he's played by the RFT's theater critic, Dennis Brown, and his queen is the Post-Dispatch's critic, Judith Newmark. It's a fairy tale-cum-farce in A.A. Milne's comic play, The Ugly Duckling (no relation to Hans Christian Andersen's unsightly waterfowl), presented by ACT INC as a fundraiser for the company's summer season. The show takes place at 8 p.m. at Fontbonne University Fine Arts Theater (6800 Wydown Boulevard; 314-725-9108 or www.actinc.biz), and is preceded by hors d'oeuvres and drinks and followed by dessert. The suggested minimum donation is $25, but you can of course pay more — it's a fundraiser, after all.
Mon., Feb. 16, 2009