It’s that time of year again, and St. Louis is sparkling with that Midwestern holiday glow. While you’re hanging Christmas lights, shopping for Hanukkah presents and lighting the Kwanzaa kinara, don’t forget that the ultimate test comes at the end of the month with New Year’s Eve. Sure, there’s the task of finding the perfect…
Justin Allen knew from a young age that the line between genders was blurry. Though plagued by social anxiety, he began spending time at Van Ella Studios, that well-known local workshop of burlesque, vaudeville and variety entertainment. While there, he transformed himself into a female-presenting character, Sugar Rush, who will be one of many artists…
Max & Louie Productions, a mid-sized St. Louis theater nonprofit that staged the Grey Gardens musical last year, is back again with another foray into camp. This time, it’s the play Souvenir. The show is based on the true story of society matron Florence Foster Jenkins, a rich 1920s egomaniac who yearned to be a…
Last week’s 24-hour fundraising telethon by the Metro Trans Umbrella Group was the talk of the internet—it was such a cool throwback idea, updated for the social media age. “Old-school fun with a trans queer twist,” says MTUG’s executive director and co-founder Sayer Johnson. “Community made it happen.” So, how did it turn out? Well,…
Stage performer Tim Schall knows the winter holidays can usher in a whole sleigh-full of emotions, from the mirthful to the melancholy. That’s why he’s bringing all of them out in song December 14 at the Stage, an event space run by KDHX 88.1 FM in Grand Center. Backed by his longtime accompanist Carol Schmidt…
A grudge match is upon us, ladies and gentlemen! The pent-up anger goes back to last April, when two-time Arch Rival Roller Derby champions the Stunt Devils tried to clinch a three-peat, but fell instead to the hungry Smashinistas in the season finale. Now the Stunt Devils are hell-bent on showing that it was all…
In September 2016, Tyler Davis decided (as many people do) that a meal would be a good way to introduce his partner to his mom. But for Davis, a pastry chef, the key was not the dinner per se. It was what came right after. “Black forest cake is kind of an amalgam of my…
One step into Rafael Adón and you find yourself in an intimate mashup of eras. On one hand, this boutique at 1901 Park Avenue in Lafayette Square is as artistically curated as the best of Instagram and Pinterest. On the other, the commerce that takes place here is decidedly old school, harking back to the…
Salam Alhamdy hadn’t been in the office more than an hour when he became fixated with setting up a sexual encounter. On that May morning in 2016, the 33-year-old was still living in Kansas City. Business travelers were always on his radar, and one was ready and waiting at an airport hotel. He fired off…
“I think of myself very much as a storyteller — probably a storyteller first and then a singer second.” For cabaret artist Ken Haller, the stories that weave his songs together are the important part of his shows. “The thing about the cabaret is that it’s about creating an emotional space for the audience so…
