St. Louis staged more than 100 plays, musicals and operas this year, and that doesn’t include all of the touring productions that came through town. While every work had its merits, some created especially memorable moments. Here are my top 10 in descending order. (Touring productions weren’t considered.)
1. Ken Page takes his final bow at the Muny.
When “Les Miserables” opened the season at the Muny in mid-June, no one knew that it would be Ken Page’s last time treading the boards. He was slated to appear in “Waitress” later that summer, but he had to bow out and died on Sept. 30 at the age of 70.
Page is almost synonymous with the Muny. His voice is the one that asks us to stand for the National Anthem before the show starts. He made his Muny debut in 1972 in “South Pacific” and appeared in more than 45 productions at the Muny over his career. He went on to star on Broadway and on London stages and was the voice for Mr. Oogie Boogie in the film “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”
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In “Les Miserables,” he played the Bishop of Digne, who helps set hero Jean Valjean on his road to redemption after he gets out of prison. People cheered Page by name after his solo. That summer night, he was Ken from Bishop Dubourgh High School, a beloved native son who everyone was excited to see sing, unbeknownst to them, for the last time.
Tamar Greene as Coalhouse Walker and Shereen Pimentel as Sarah in “Ragtime” at Stages.
2. Tamar Greene steps off Broadway to come to St. Louis.
Tamar Greene has played George Washington in “Hamilton” on Broadway since 2020, but he took a break from the show this summer to appear in “Ragtime” at Stages St. Louis as Coalhouse Walker. The role has some of the best songs and the saddest storyline, which Greene delivered with a sonorous punch as he transformed from energetic ivory tickler to domestic terrorist before our eyes. It was a reminder why he’s the longest running George on Broadway.
Plus, his adorable son, AJ, who played Coalhouse Walker Jr., stole our hearts.
Left to right: Kristen Joy Lintvedt as Ann, Greg Johnston as Joe, Jayson Heil as Chris, and Amy Loui as Kate in “All My Sons” at New Jewish Theatre
3. “All My Sons” packs a punch at New Jewish Theatre
Gary Wayne Barker directed at least two top-notch shows this year: “The Sound Inside” at Moonstone Theatre and “All My Sons,” the Arthur Miller classic about a family full of secrets, at New Jewish Theatre. The show just worked with Greg Johnston as the charming yet ruthless Joe Keller and Jayson Heil as his son Chris, who becomes disillusioned with his dad. Performances were explosive without sinking into melodrama, helped along by a set that looked as American and idyllic as apple pie. At the end of the show, the audience needed a second to collect itself before erupting into applause.
The cast of “12 Angry Men” at Northeast Correctional Center
4. “12 Angry Men” takes on new meaning at Northeast Correctional Center
Prison Performing Arts shows are always worth the drive (and that’s saying a lot because it’s always a long drive). The company goes into state prisons and mounts productions with the inmates. This year, one of its shows was “12 Angry Men” about 12 jurors deliberating in a murder trial. In a stripped-down room in the prison, where there was no stage and the audience sat in a mishmash of plastic chairs. The actors, some of whom had only jumped in on the production a week or two earlier, proved you don’t need elaborate sets and costumes to put on good theater.
“August: Osage County” closed out the Rep’s 2023/2024 season.
5. The Rep’s imperiled “August: Osage County” makes it to the stage.
Last year, the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis announced it had a budget shortfall and as a result, wasn’t sure if it would stage the last two shows of its season: “Moby Dick” and “August: Osage County.” Fortunately, the community chipped in and both of the powerhouse shows made it to the stage. Edging out “Moby Dick” only slightly in memorableness is the final show of that unusual season, Tracy Letts’ “August: Osage County.” About a dysfunctional family trying to come together after the patriarch goes missing, it deftly blended humor, tragedy and oh-so-much bad behavior. Former Associate Artistic Director Amelia Acosta Powell returned to the Rep to direct the show, and Ellen McLaughlin was particularly brilliant playing pill-popping matriarch Violet Weston.
Jacqueline Thompson as Julia and Jeff Cummings as Herman in “Wedding Band.”
6. Interracial romance gets complicated in “Wedding Band”
In March, the Black Rep tackled Alice Childress’ “Wedding Band” about interracial love and conflict in South Carolina at the end of World War I. It was anchored by a tender, restrained performance from Jacqueline Thompson as Julia, a Black woman who arrives, by herself, to a cluster of cottages rented and owned by Black women. Julia has a secret, her 10-year relationship with Herman (Jeff Cummings), a white man, during a time when miscegenation is illegal in much of the South. The play took its time to unspool, culminating in a shattering confrontation with Herman’s family.
The cast of “Romanov Family Yard Sale”
7. A fire alarm interrupts “Romanov Family Yard Sale”
Equally Represented Arts’ “Romanov Family Yard Sale” began with an actual yard sale. Theatergoers got tickets to purchase items that the Romanov family were desperately hawking. (The items were donated from the cast and crew.) The Romanovs were raising money because they’d fallen on hard times. That’ll happen when you’re the last-surviving relatives of a deposed Russian dynasty. The play, by St. Louis playwright Courtney Bailey, was about a news team making a documentary about the family. When I was there, the show’s smoke machine set off the fire alarm. At first, no one moved, thinking it was part of the show. We did all clear out, the fire department came to reset the alarm, and one of the most original comedies of the season resumed.
Justin Austin as Figaro and Nathan Stark as Dr. Bartolo in Gioachino Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville.”
8. A bright “Barber of Seville” brings back a rising opera star.
Opera Theatre of St. Louis had a vibrant production of Rossini’s “Barber of Seville” with neon lips, a yellow set, bright pink furniture and outlandish costumes this summer. Outshining it all was Justin Austin, who starred as Figaro. Full of swaggering confidence, he a cuts hair (Figaro is a barber), lays out a plan to help young lovers, and sings that famous “Figaro, Figaro, Figaroooo!” aria. Austin played Scott Joplin in OTSL’s production of “Treemonisha,” the unfinished opera by the ragtime pianist, last year. Bringing him back was a good idea.
Susan (Emily Baker) and Andy (Isaiah Di Lorenzo) in “Woman in Mind” at Albion Theatre
9. “Woman in Mind” confounds in the best way at Albion Theatre
Albion Theatre has become a bright spot in the St. Louis theater scene: A newer company, it stages plays from across the pond. Artistic director Robert Ashton is British and gets the accents and humor right in his productions. This year, the company did three plays including “Woman in Mind: December Bee.” When Susan (played by Emily Baker) steps on a rake, she gets a head injury. Suddenly, a family appears in her garden — her hallucinated family. It has all the things her real family doesn’t: a doting and attractive husband, a loving brother and a happy daughter. But her fantasy family proves more sinister than they appear. The show handled its twists well, building a feeling of dread in each passing scene. In particular, Baker shone as Susan, who was on stage in every scene, slowly losing her mind.
Cameron Jamarr Davis and Eileen Engel star in Amiri Barak’s “Dutchman” at Soul Siren Playhouse, which ran from Feb. 1-18, 2024.
10. Soul Siren Playhouse bursts on the scene
Cameron Jamarr Davis started Soul Siren Playhouse in early 2024 and staged Amiri Baraka’s “Dutchman” as a first offering. The show, about a Black man who becomes entangled with a white woman on the subway in a conversation that becomes increasingly unhinged, was powerful. Lula, played by Eileen Engel, was an Eve-type devil, biting and tossing apples across the stage throughout the show. Davis played her primary interlocutor, the Black man, Clay. By the end, she was triumphant, the stage was sticky and Soul Siren had announced itself to the St. Louis theater scene. Since then the fledgling company has gone relatively quiet with maybe more to come in 2025.
