Email Author Dennis Brown

2008 Stories by Dennis Brown

• The Songs Remain the Same: A cast of Webster students revues Jacques Brel

  published October 8, 2008

  The cabaret revue Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, which is currently being staged by the Webster Conservatory... More >>

• Built to Suit: Renowned set designer John Ezell never met a play he didn't like

  published October 8, 2008

  The St. Louis Rep doesn't have a resident scenic designer, but John Ezell is the next best thing. Over the past nineteen years Ezell has designed... More >>

• St. Louis Stage Capsules

  published October 1, 2008

  Antigone The first act of Jean Anouilh's Antigone (adapted by Lewis Galantiere) is all setup, with much... More >>

• Firing Lines: Stuart Carden, director of The Lieutenant of Inishmore, on knockin' 'em dead

  published October 1, 2008

  Directors are used to working with actors and designers. But determining the pressure of blood flow from a gun wound? Clearly, Martin McDonagh's... More >>

• Off with His Furry Little Head! The Rep's Lieutenant of Inishmore defies description. Just go see it.

  published October 1, 2008

  The first thing you need to know about Martin McDonagh's Lieutenant of Inishmore, which the St. Louis Rep is currently presenting at... More >>

• Off with His Furry Little Head! The Rep's Lieutenant of Inishmore defies description. Just go see it.

  published September 24, 2008

  The first thing you need to know about Martin McDonagh's Lieutenant of Inishmore, which the St. Louis Rep is currently presenting... More >>

• St. Louis Stage Capsules

  published September 24, 2008

  Antigone The first act of Jean Anouilh's Antigone (adapted by Lewis Galantiere) is all set-up, with much exposition about who's... More >>

• St. Louis Stage Capsules

  published September 17, 2008

  Chaim's Love Song Early in Martin Chernoff's "love song for life," elderly park devotee Chaim (Richard Lewis) tells young Iowa... More >>

• Invite Only: Stray Dog Theatre gives Paul Rudnick's Regrets Only a hilarious outing

  published September 17, 2008

  Eleven years ago this very week, moviegoers were laughing at In & Out, which boasted a clever screenplay by Paul Rudnick. After Joan... More >>

• Playing Politics: The world might be a better place if presidents still went to the theater

  published September 10, 2008

  The presidential election is seven weeks away, and already the two weary candidates have been asked about everything from their favorite... More >>

• You Don't Know Dick: The Rep's Frost/Nixon gets it half right

  published September 10, 2008

  "I have a passion for the truth," said nineteenth-century French diarist Jules Renard, "and for the fictions that it authorizes." Apart from the... More >>

• He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not: The perils of reading too much into a theater review

  published September 3, 2008

  After the column last month in which I fessed up to having made some factual errors in my theater reviews [see "Mea Culpa," August 7], I... More >>

• Do Not Inter (and other misconceptions about Tennessee Williams' relationship with his brother Dakin)

  published August 27, 2008

  With the death of Dakin Williams in May at age 89, the final candle on the cake of St. Louis' most celebrated literary family has been blown... More >>

• Uneasy Lies the Crown: It's Lear time again at St. Louis Shakespeare

  published August 20, 2008

  Many years ago, as he stood enveloped by the hushed solitude that permeates Stonehenge, the prehistoric monument in southern England that... More >>

• St. Louis Theater Capsules

  published August 13, 2008

  The Faculty Room Fontbonne University alums want to help raise money for the undergrads' trip to the American College Theatre Festival.... More >>

• Blake House: Executive producer Paul Blake hasn't learned from the Muny's history. Nor, sadly, is he capable of repeating it.

  published August 13, 2008

  Two weeks ago the New York Times reported on the challenges faced by the historic Cape Playhouse in Dennis, Massachusetts, as that Cape... More >>

• Sing Driven Thing: With Fiddler on the Roof, the Muny ends its 90th season on a high note

  published August 6, 2008

  The Muny is closing its 90th season with Fiddler on the Roof. At the risk of putting the cart before the horse here, let's state... More >>

• Mea Culpa: When critics are wrong

  published August 6, 2008

  Every reviewer has to find his own way in to a production. Some prefer to attend a show cold, as if he or she is just another member of the... More >>

• St. Louis Stage Capsules

  published July 30, 2008

  Death by Fiat Richard La Violette's take on the Agatha Christie-style murder mystery is not so much a whodunit as how-will-it-be-done.... More >>

• Dancing Without the Stars: My One and Only, this week's Muny offering, rises or falls on the strength of its male lead

  published July 30, 2008

  There are lots of beguiling elements in My One and Only, this week's toe-tapping exercise in escapism at the Muny. Let's not... More >>

• Welcome Homer: St. Louis Shakespeare shines with Mary Zimmerman's Odyssey

  published July 30, 2008

  The gang's all here: Zeus and Athena. Poseidon and Hermes. Greek gods whose stories we have heard all our lives. And of course Odysseus, the... More >>

• St. Louis Stage Capsules

  published July 23, 2008

  Miss Saigon More >>

• Zero Summer: Lewis Stadlen bookends the Muny season by taking on his idol's role in Fiddler

  published July 23, 2008

  Back in 1967, Lewis J. Stadlen's first professional acting job was in the national company of Fiddler on the Roof. "I played... More >>

• Dennis Brown offers up his ten most memorable Muny moments

  published July 16, 2008

  • Show Boat (1952) The Cotton Blossom made a spectacular entrance via the revolving stage. Twenty minutes into the show, Joe... More >>

• Mo' Muny!: What happens when the Muny looks back on its 90 years? (Hint: It ain't "magic.")

  published July 16, 2008

  Doubtless, 90 Years of Muny Magic, this week's birthday celebration of St. Louis' longest-lasting — and, in recent decades,... More >>