Jeffrey Gibson, To Feel Myself Beloved on the Earth, 2020. Single-channel video with stereo sound dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist; Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York; Roberts Projects, Los Angeles; and Stephen Friedman, London.
MARCH
Native American Art of the 20th Century: The William P. Healey Collection
February 23–July 14 / Saint Louis Art Museum
Explore the dozens of newly gifted works that bridge the gap between the Saint Louis Art Museum’s well-established collections of pre-1920 and contemporary Indigenous art in Native American Art of the 20th Century: The William P. Healey Collection. The show celebrates the gift of 100 works by artists based primarily in Oklahoma and New Mexico, which adds 55 new artists to the SLAM collection.
March 8–August 4 / Pulitzer Arts Foundation
The relationship between humanity and the natural world is a knotty one. Sometimes nurturing, sometimes adversarial, but always complicated, this relationship is at the heart of On Earth, a new collection of film and video works at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation. Although artists Ali Cherri, Jeffrey Gibson, Sky Hopinka, Ana Mendieta, and Rivane Neuenschwander have very different roots, all five have compelling visions for how humankind and Mother Earth can move into the future together.
March 19–April 7 / Loretto-Hilton Center
For its final show of the 2023–2024 season, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis will bring an American classic to life on the Loretto-Hilton stage. Tracy Letts’ August: Osage County is a Pulitzer Prize– and Tony Award–winning story of a family on the brink of falling apart. Travel to the Weston family home in Oklahoma, where secrets plague three sisters and their domineering, pill-popping mother, Violet.
Movie Music and Jacey’s Jazz Joint
March 6–27 / The Blue Strawberry
The Midnight Company’s cabaret-style performances make for a crowd-pleasing night out, and March will bring two new shows from the small-but-mighty organization. Movie Music and Jacey’s Jazz Joint, both written and directed by Midnight Company artistic director Joe Hanrahan, will alternate Thursday nights throughout the month. Eileen Engel is the star of both shows, appearing alongside Hanrahan in Movie Music, a tribute to some of cinema’s most iconic themes, and on her own in Jacey’s Jazz Joint, a one-woman show featuring storytelling and songs about love won and lost.
March 16 & 17 / Stifel Theatre
This spring, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra will bring together two of the city’s most exciting creative minds. Stéphane Denève will conduct the program Romeo and Juliet, a trio of work by Aaron Copland, Adam Schoenberg, and Sergei Prokofiev, while Kirven Douthit-Boyd will choreograph a performance by The Big Muddy Dance Company to accompany the Schoenberg work. This dramatic program is the world premiere of Schoenberg’s new piece, which was also co-commissioned by the SLSO.
READ MORE: The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis looks to the future: On March 19, the company will open its final production of the season, Tracy Letts’ August: Osage County.
Courtesy of The Fox Theatre
Nikki Glaser
APRIL
April 5–21 / The Gaslight Theater
Experience the Academy Award–winning film in real life when the St. Louis Actors’ Studio brings The Whale to the stage this spring. STLAS artistic director William Roth will star as Charlie, a reclusive, obese English professor struggling to connect with his estranged daughter, in Samuel D. Hunter’s affecting drama.
April 16–May 4 / Various locations
The Bach Society of Saint Louis will host a series of events—from an interactive sing-along to exciting concert programs—this spring to celebrate the work of the prolific classical composer. The festival season kicks off with Bach at the Bistro: A Night at the Movies on April 16, a concert at Jazz St. Louis that will feature members of The Bach Society Chorus singing hits from the silver screen.
April 19, 20, 26 & 27 / The Luminary
This year’s spring concert is an exciting collaboration between Modern American Dance Company artistic director Arianna Russ and artistic and executive director of The Luminary Kalaija Mallery. The pair will embrace the “experimental and unconventional” as they blur the lines between art, sound, and dance to give viewers an expanded impression of what both organizations have to offer.
April 10 & 11 / Stifel Theatre
Turn back time to experience the life of entertainment icon Cher as The Cher Show arrives in St. Louis for a two-night engagement. The Tony Award–winning musical covers six decades of the singer’s life and features 35 hit songs, performed by three actresses embodying Cher’s different eras (Ch-eras?), from childhood star to “Goddess of Pop.”
Nikki Glaser: The Good Girl Tour
April 27 / Fox Theatre
Laugh it up with St. Louis–based funny girl Nikki Glaser at the Fox Theatre. The star of Welcome Home Nikki Glaser? and host of FBoy Island and The Nikki Glaser Podcast has cornered the market on crass and candid comedy in recent years, even scoring a nomination for Best Comedy Special from the Critics Choice Awards for her first HBO special, Good Clean Filth. This month, she’ll share her stories of sex, love, anxieties, and growing up with a hometown audience when the Good Girl Tour finally makes its way to St. Louis.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR: The Missouri History Museum’s reimagined 1904 World’s Fair exhibit opens April 27.
Photography by Kelly Pratt, courtesy of Big Muddy Dance Company
MAY
May 10–12 / Laumeier Sculpture Park
One of the most eagerly awaited events of the spring, Laumeier Sculpture Park’s annual art fair returns on Mother’s Day weekend for its 37th iteration. The three-day fair and its collection of food vendors, live entertainment, and juried artists from around the country attracts more than 15,000 visitors each year.
May 28–June 9 / Fox Theatre
“Will You Be There” when MJ makes its St. Louis debut? The Tony Award–winning musical based on the making of Michael Jackson’s 1992 Dangerous World Tour is coming to The Fox this summer. MJ features beloved hits from Jackson’s time with The Jackson 5 and the his prolific solo career, including “ABC,” “Thriller,” “Beat It,” and many more.
May 10–12 / Catherine B. Berges Theatre at COCA
This annual spring dance program from COCA offers audiences a chance to experience the organization’s three pre-professional dance companies: Ballet Eclectica, COCAdance, and COCA Hip-Hop Crew. This year’s featured choreographers include Justin Conte, Tom Gold, My’Kal Stromile, and Omari Wiles.
Emerson SPRING TO DANCE Festival
May 24 & 25 / Touhill Performing Arts Center
Dance St. Louis’ annual SPRING TO DANCE Festival has been called “the best dance buffet in the Midwest.” Each year, the company brings together dancers from all over the world to showcase various styles and forms, from traditional ballet to aerial dance, during a full weekend of performances and programming.
May 16–19 / Catherine B. Berges Theatre at COCA
This epic conclusion to The Big Muddy Dance Company’s 2023–2024 season, dedicated to the theme of “becoming,” will highlight work by creators who are “trailblazers in their respective artistic communities.” The three programs will include world premieres from Guggenheim fellow Tommie-Waheed Evans and Princess Grace Award recipient Omar Román De Jesús, among other pieces.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR: Looking for some of the biggest concerts coming through St. Louis this year? Check out The Big 2024 St. Louis Concert List.
Unidentified artists, Mexico (Patzcuaro, Michoacan); “Tray” (“Batea”), c.1760–80; wood, lacquer, and gold; diameter: 22 13/16 inches; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Purchased with funds provided by the Bernard and Edith Lewin Collection of Mexican Art Deaccession Fund M.2020.12; photo © Museum Associates/LACMA
JUNE
May 29–June 23 / Shakespeare Glen
Let the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival take you on a journey to the Forest of Arden this summer with As You Like It. The romantic comedy will get a refresh under the direction of St. Louis theater stalwart Nancy Bell, including a gilded age setting and live music and new songs from Beth Bombara.
May 30–June 22 / The Marcelle
New Line Theatre is taking on an artistic challenge with its signature style this summer, bringing Dracula to life—or at least undeath—on the Marcelle stage. This production takes the classic novel and reimagines it as a gothic rock opera, complete with a hard-hitting score from Broadway’s Frank Wildhorn.
June 1–30 / Loretto-Hilton Center
Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’ annual festival season will welcome several familiar stories in 2024, among them the beloved Puccini romance La bohème. Although audience members might be familiar with the love story as adapted by Jonathan Larson in Rent, the artists of OTSL will give them the chance to experience this grand romance in its original form.
June 19–July 14 / Edison Theatre at Washington University
The Black Rep founder Ron Himes will be at the helm for the company’s production of King Hedley II, the follow-up to American playwright August Wilson’s Seven Guitars. In this ninth installment of Wilson’s 10-part Pittsburgh Cycle, which takes place in 1985, ex-convict King Hedley grapples with his past and tries to find his footing in the violent and economically unstable present.
Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800: Highlights from LACMA’s Collection
June 22–September 1 / Saint Louis Art Museum
Take a step back in time with Art and Imagination in Spanish America, a sweeping exploration of Spanish colonial art from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s extensive collection. More than 100 pieces of art in this exhibition document a period of massive change and the clash of cultures—European, Indigenous, African, and Asian—that shaped the early Americas.
MORE TO DO: For even more events, check out our list of 10 things to do this month in St. Louis.
Photography courtesy of Frenchtown Tattoo Company
JULY
Whitaker St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase
July 19-21 & 26-28 / Hi-Pointe Theatre
Each year, Cinema St. Louis’ Whitaker St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase highlights dozens of films with local ties. Whether you prefer full-length features, documentaries, or shorts, there are plenty of programs to take in, and many have post-show Q&As with some of the best writers, editors, directors, and producers to come out of St. Louis.
July 5–13 / Union Avenue Opera
Union Avenue Opera is kicking off its 2024 season with a much-loved classic. Embrace the heat of summer with the tale of the fiery Carmen and her seduction of Don José, featuring an iconic score familiar even to those who’ve yet to see opera live on stage. This masterpiece from Georges Bizet will be presented in French with English supertitles.
July 19–25 / The Muny
This summer, The Muny will welcome one of the all-time great musicals to its historic outdoor stage. Fiddler on the Roof takes audiences to the town of Anatevka, where Tevye and his family must balance their long-held practices with a changing world. Returning for an eleventh production, the show is practically a Muny “tradition” of its own.
July 25–August 11 / The New Jewish Theatre
The visual arts and theatre collide in this landmark play by John Logan. Red follows abstract expressionist Mark Rothko on the heels of the largest commission in modern-art history. As he works with his assistant, Ken, to bring a series of murals to life, we see Rothko at a critical moment of both wild ambition and crushing doubt—one that paints a fascinating portrait of one of the 20th century’s greatest artistic minds.
Missouri Ink Tattoo Exhibition
July 5–August 24 / Foundry Art Centre
More than 20 tattoo shops from across the state will come together in this exhibition at Foundry Art Centre. The St. Charles space will highlight the medium through photographs of shops, tattooed sculptures created by artists, flash sheets, and more. Frenchtown Tattoo Co. will also be on hand to assist with programming and pop-up tattooing throughout the run.
