Live Entertainment

When you see a chance, take it. That’s what the man said, right? And why wouldn’t you? The Fabulous Fox Theatre has been host to some amazing musicians with amazingly long careers in recent years. Gladys Knight was a delight, Paul Simon was sensational, Carlos Santana was super, and John Fogerty, well, his show was in a class by itself. Return to Forever, Chick Corea’s jazz super group, was the most inspiring and indescribably beautiful music performance I’ve ever seen. That’s a mighty collection of the best of the best right there, and to join that level of talent you’d have to be pretty special. A multi-instrumentalist, a career spanning more decades than I’ve been alive (and I’m getting old), a career began at the tender age of 14, when there were apparently no child labor laws applicable to piano prodigies in Britain in the 1960s. Yes, the man said when you see a chance, take it, and a full house took the chance to enjoy Steve Winwood live on February 28, 2017.

WrestlePro’s first show of 2018 is going to be a huge one. Brace For Impact will be at WrestlePro's home base at the Rahway Recreation Center in Rahway, NJ on February 3, 2018.

Let’s do an experiment: when you’re finished reading this sentence, close your eyes, clear your mind, and then think of a cello….hear it playing in your mind…and then open your eyes and continue reading, because otherwise you’ll miss the point of all of this. (I’ll just take a quick nap while you listen to that lovely cello playing in your head….zzz…ready?) OK, now what song did you think of when I said to think of a cello? Was it “The Swan” from Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns? Perhaps Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 or a cello concerto by Elgar or Dvorak?

In a time when Confederate statues and flags are being vandalized, removed, or simply voted away, it's shouldn't be surprising to hear that other Southern references are taking the hit. Case in point: Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede, a dinner theater event in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee (home of Dollywood), as well  as in Branson and Myrtle Beache, will be removing the word "Dixie" from its title.

Dolly explained that the name changes were due to an expansion of the shows into other markets. "By streamlining the names of our shows, it will remove any confusion or concerns about our shows and will help our efforts to expand into new cities," she says. Which probably translates to, "If we wanted to get permits to break ground in these new places, the politicians said we might want to rethink our branding."

I had the good fortune to attend A Charlie Brown Christmas Live on Stage at the Peabody Opera House on December 15, 2017. It’s a live version of the classic Peanuts holiday special, with the script verbatim from the show and the music licensed from the Vince Guaraldi Trio, it was a familiar favorite for young and old alike, and indeed I think there were more adults in the audience strolling down memory lane than there were children.

Back in 2013 I reviewed the Nebraska Theatre Caravan‘s production of A Christmas Carol and thoroughly enjoyed it. Four years later I revisited the show, and found it to be a bit underwhelming.

The performance is technically fine, and doesn’t stray from the tried and true formula of Scrooge being a grumpy miser, being visited by his late business partner who heralds the arrival of the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present ,and Yet to Come before Scrooge realizes how miserable he’s been to everybody  and set s out to make amends. The sets are functional, and some are particularly nice, such as the town square shops in the opening sequence. The costumes are excellent throughout.

Huge weekend for WrestlePro coming up.  They have shows on Friday and Saturday, and both shows are going to feature a huge dose of Impact Wrestling on top of the amazing WrestlePro regulars.

I enjoy seeing new, contemporary theatre, which St. Louis has in abundance.  I also have a deep appreciation for the classics, and sometimes the comfort of seeing Anything Goes or South Pacific is exactly what I want after a stressful week. On November 28, 2017, I finally got to check off a classic from my to-do list that has been “a puzzlement” to me for too long. I guess I always put off watching one of the several Hollywood film versions of the venerable Rodgers & Hammerstein classic The King and I—and I own the one starring Chow Yun-Fat on DVD, still wrapped in plastic—because I wanted to see the pageantry of the stage production first. I’m glad I did. Ace director Bartlett Sher’s Tony Award-winning revival toured to the Fabulous Fox Theatre for a Nov 28- Dec 10, 2017 run that might just be the show to see at the Fox.

One of the best parts of being a theatre critic is the joy of discovering new venues and new shows. On Nov. 3, 2017, I corrected a long overdue oversight. I grew up in North St. Louis County and lived in Florissant for ten years, yet had managed to somehow never set foot in the James Egan Center, aka the Florissant Civic Center. Thus I had never set foot in the spacious Hawthorne Players home at the Florissant Civic Center Theatre before either. The seats rise high and steep enough to see well over anyone’s head in front of you, but not so steep to be problematic for folks like myself with mild mobility issues. The reasonably large stage boasted a gorgeous set designed by Director Ken Clark, built by Master Carpenter/Technical Director Dennis Dudenhoeffer and assisted by the cast and crew of The Spitfire Grill,  the musical I was about to see for the first time.

I grew hearing Fleetwood Mac on the radio, but really became aware of them when MTV ran videos for their Tango In the Night hits “Everywhere”, “Seven Wonders,” “Big Love,” and  “Little Lies.” Singer/guitarist Lindsey Buckingham’s “Go Insane” and singer/Keyboardist Christine McVie’s “Got A Hold On Me” were also frequently on MTV in those halcyon days of actual music videos. I remember thinking that Buckingham was a little bit odd, possibly due to his shock of dark curly hair over piercing eyes that seemed to bore into my soul through the television. His voice often seemed somewhat odd too, at least to me. I always thought he’d play a really cool version of the Devil in a long form video or perhaps on Broadway, or maybe even attempt to breakout into film. McVie, on the other hand, seemed much more the wallflower, bashfully sticking to the sidelines while her band mates made the bigger waves.  Those notions were both somewhat accurate and wildly wrong.

Hakuna Matata! It means no worries! And that's exactly what you'll have when you go see the off-broadway production of Disney's THE LION KING.

On tour, to bring this brilliant musical production to a city near you, it is currently in Syracuse, NY for 3 weeks. At the vintage, and beautiful, Landmark Theater, I wasn't quite sure if it could accomodate a show with large set pieces and near life-size elephant costumes.

But they pulled it off.

Who doesn't love Halloween? Some cultures love it so much, it's not a night but a three-day celebration. Some towns, like Rutland, Vermont, hold a huge parade. And almost everywhere, kids dress up in costumes and go begging for candy. (Here at Critical Blast, we love it so much we dedicate a monthly feature just to people who put on costumes all year long!)

For Saint Louis, Missouri, the tradition for almost two decades now has been the Dave Glover Halloween Show, on FM 97.1. Dave and his cohorts, Mark Klose, Rachel Zimmerman, and Tony Colombo, comprise the cast of the consistently number one rated radio show in the market, and the Halloween episode is a huge draw.

Before I start, WrestlePro Owner Pat Buck has launched his own podcast, The Pat Buck WrestlePro Show.  His old show, “The Pat Buck Show,” was actually the first podcast I ever listened to (and these days I listen to way too many podcasts these days, so I guess you can blame Pat for ruining my life). 

The first episode is features a terrific interview with Impact’s Fallah Bahh, plus some great insight into the training aspect of wrestling.  

Hollywood is a funny place. Where else would you go to find a movie like 1992’s The Bodyguard starring cinema superstar Kevin Costner and pop diva Whitney Houston, which somehow manages to be mediocre at best but still manages to have the best selling soundtrack of all time? I know where else: Broadway. There isn’t a single property in Tinseltown that someone, somewhere, isn’t writing a book or songs for to turn that film into the next smash hit in Manhattan. Some of them work reasonably well—Bring It On and Sister Act were both pretty entertaining. Others, like Dirty Dancing and A Christmas Story, well, the less said about those the better. I’m not sure why someone thought The Bodyguard: The Musical would succeed where the film fell short, but nonetheless someone did and now its national tour has arrived to kick off the Fox Theatre’s 2017-2018 Broadway Series.

Greatest all-female rock band ever... go! The Bangles? Nope. The Go-Gos? Nah. Bananarama? Really? The Spice Girls? You’re not even trying. Pussycat Dolls? Not even close. Jem and the Holograms? Oooh, now you’re getting warmer. Jem and the Holograms' arch enemies, The Misfits? Hotter! The Runaways, which included Joan Jett and Lita Ford? Well OK, probably, but if the cast of New Line Theatre's hard rock musical Lizzie was an actual band they'd be number one with a bullet...or more accurately a hatchet. 

According to the Heroes and Villans Fan Fest website, they hope to "revolutionize the comic con landscape". Boasting that "it's not just fandom, it's family", the two-day event is full of like-minded fans swarming to one location where their favorite actors and actresses await to meet them.

For a price.

Arriving about an hour after the event started, for non-VIP pass holders, my family and I were eager to get inside. Living in upstate New York, the opportunity to see celebrities doesn't come along very often. So our expectations were pretty high. I've heard stories about how nice the actors are. There's quotes from fans on the website about how they'll just come up to you and start interacting.

Edgar Allen Poe once penned a line, “Quoth the raven, ‘Nevermore.’” Well, last Friday night in Maryland Heights, MO, three of classic rock’s most talented and prolific stars from the 1960’s to present, whom I deem “Edgar Allen Purple,” came together once more, for an outdoor concert at the Hollywood Casino Amphitheater.

Pretty big night of wrestling at this months WrestlePro show in Rahway, NJ!  Two big title changes, and a great card top to bottom.  The Rahway Rec Center was jam packed for this great show...

• Preshow: Chris Payne won a four way with Joey Keys, Delroy, and Talon

• Mario Bokara/Fallah Bahh def. The Heavenly Bodies

WrestlePro is back at the Rahway Rec Center for a huge show on Saturday September 9th.  The card is shaping up to be awesome.  You can get your tickets at WrestleProonline.com.

I did notice that there is no WrestlePro title match on the card.  Guess that coward Bobby Wayward is taking the night off.  I am still predicting that someday real soon Bobby Wayward is going to be losing that title to his “friend” Chris Avery Queling.  There is only so much crap CAQ is going to be able to take before he snaps and gets that gold he so righteously deserves.

Earlier today we interviewed NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman who was a member of expedition 16 and 17 on the international space station. He discussed what inspired him to become an astronaut and what space flight is like.