THROUGH 6/30 SANDCASTLE BEACH The Magic House’s backyard has once again transformed into a beach, where visitors can stroll along the boardwalk, search for seashells and build sandcastles. $9.50. 822-8900 or magichouse.org. 

Audiences will be in the middle of the action during this year’s Shakespeare Festival St. Louis’ performances of Twelfth Night in Forest Park. New stage-side seating will place patrons amid the live music, romance and comedy in Shakespeare Glen. Executive director Rick Dildine recently gave LN a sneak peek into the much-anticipated 13th installment of the free annual event, running this spring from May 24 to June 16, with preview plays May 22 and 23.

Extremely rare pieces from one of the largest private collections of Alexander McQueen’s work are among those to be showcased in an upcoming exhibition at the World Chess Hall of Fame. 

Stories: Winning Juliet focuses on the new girl at a high school who runs into unexpected animosity and resentment by some established ‘popular’ students when she decides to audition for the female title role in the school’s production of Shakespeare’s tragedy, Romeo & Juliet.

Grand Center Inc. will be presenting its annual Visionary Awards to six area women on May 13 at The Sheldon. Ranging from theater to music and every art form in-between, these women are making a difference in the St. Louis artistic community—and they don’t plan on stopping any time soon.

He began his career on the local high school stage and is now an award-winning Broadway star. Since his early days growing up in South St. Louis, Norbert Leo Butz has found great success on Broadway, as well as in film and television. Even with a busy schedule that includes the lead role in next month’s world premiere of Big Fish in Chicago, Butz remains close to his roots. In May, he will return to St. Louis to headline a benefit concert for The Angel Band Project, a nonprofit that uses music to encourage healing and empathy for survivors of sexual violence. The Angel Band Project was created following the murder of Butz’s sister, Teresa Butz, in 2009. With the first show on May 8 at The Sheldon sold out, a second show has been added for May 9 at the 560 Music Center. Recently, Butz took a few minutes to speak with Ladue News about his career and the concert.

Seeing stars…St. Louis will welcome a couple of big names beginning next month. On Tuesday, April 23, BOB DYLAN and his band will perform on the Peabody Opera House stage. Tickets went on sale March 15, and may still be available at the box office, by calling 800-745-3000 or through ticketmaster.com. Dylan, who will turn 73 in May, became the first rock musician to be voted into the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters earlier this month.

Story: Following the banishment of Duke Senior by his brother, Duke Frederick, the former’s daughter Rosalind subsequently flees under threat of death to the Forest of Arden, where her father and his entourage now reside. With her goes her cousin and best friend, Frederick’s daughter Celia, masquerading as a young man named Ganymede and his sister Aliena, respectively, to conceal their identities.

Sitting down to talk about Shakespeare Festival St. Louis’ programs to avert bullying, the first obvious question is, What does Shakespeare have to do with bulling? As it turns out, the connection runs deep.

DATE AND LOCATION CHANGED, CATERER ADDED FOR INAUGURAL ST. LOUIS THEATER CIRCLE AWARDS

My love affair with books started in my early teens. In school, we were reading Shakespeare, Hugo, Austen, Poe, Twain and Hemingway. But I have to admit that for the most part, my interpretation of their works was limited to understanding the plot and identifying the main characters.

Performances by local professional theater companies, ranging in size from The Muny and its productions in the 11,000-seat Forest Park amphitheater to small companies performing in modest spaces throughout the area, will be recognized at the inaugural Louie Awards.

The year 2012 was tumultuous in many respects, so perhaps fittingly Wicked is the title of the production that brings down the curtain on the last 12 months. A record drought plagued the St. Louis area, temperatures sweltered in an elongated summer and the area’s economy staggered toward a slow but steady recovery. All of this took place in the face of impending doom predicted centuries ago by the Mayan calendar.

Story: Well, there’s this young wizard named Harry Potter who has great mystical powers. Harry is an orphan who now lives with his non-magical, “Muggle” relatives, dullards who hope that he will turn out ‘normal.’ Nonetheless, he and his best pals, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, become students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, presided over by Albus Dumbledore.

Undoubtedly, everything is faster paced now than in the ‘good old days,’ whenever those days may have been. Still, there’s no reason to automatically equate modern technology with rudeness, a self-centered attitude and a lack of common courtesy and grace.

Story: John Halder’s life is structured by music. He’s moved and controlled by melodies, compositions and rhythms that bring form and orderliness to the arbitrary nature around him. Of course, the music is within his head and doesn’t permeate the external world. Still, he relies upon its beauty and consistency as he rationalizes who and what he is.

Story: Theseus, Duke of Athens, is betrothed to Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. They plan a festive wedding celebration, but first Theseus is asked to rule on a demand by nobleman Egeus. The latter says that Athenian law mandates that his daughter Hermia be compelled to marry Demetrius (her father’s choice for a son-in-law), rather than the man she actually loves, Lysander. If she doesn’t, she will be forced to enter a nunnery or sentenced to death. Simultaneously, a band of laborers led by Peter Quince prepares to perform a ‘comedy and tragedy’ about Pyramus and Thisbe as part of the royal couple’s reception entertainment.

Proceeds from the Ladue News Show House will go to four St. Louis nonprofits: Angels’ Arms, Animal Protective Association of Missouri, SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center and Shakespeare Festival St. Louis. Dozens of volunteers from the nonprofits, as well as the National Charity League’s St. Louis Chapter, have donated their time to help prep the home and will serve as docents during the tour. “They will really help bring to life the vision of the designer for each room,” says volunteer chair Lisa Malone.

It’s almost here…The 2012 WILLIAM BERNOUDY LADUE NEWS SHOW HOUSE officially opens next Friday, Oct. 5. But here’s your chance at a sneak peak: An Opening Night Cocktail Party will be held at the Show House in Town & Country on Thursday, Oct. 4, from 6 to 9 p.m. Tickets are $75 each ($50 for patrons 35 and younger). Proceeds from opening night, as well as the entire Show House run (through Oct. 21), benefit four area charities, including Angels’ Arms, Animal Protective Association of Missouri, SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’sMedicalCenter and Shakespeare Festival St. Louis. The LN Show House committee is chaired by STACEY GOLTERMANN, and includes TANIA BEASLEY-JOLLY, ALAN E. BRAINERD, MILLIE CAIN, KATIE HOLTON, MARK HOWALD, LISA MALONE, JUDY MOSKOFF, JUSTIN NANGLE, VICKI PICKLE, HELENE SAYAD, JULIE SCHUSTER, TRACY SPORRER and TED WIGHT. For tickets, call 269-8836.