Heaven Can Wait

Tempest Landry's having an amazingly bad day. While tying to navigate concurrent phone calls from his wife and his girlfriend, he's killed by the police, who have mistaken him for someone else. Tempest finds himself before the gates of Heaven, where Saint Peter informs him he's not coming in. Tempest refuses to accept the judgment — free will cuts both ways — and is returned to Earth under the watchful eyes of Joshua, a heavenly functionary who is to convince Tempest that he deserves a hot afterlife. But the upstandingly moral Joshua soon discovers there's quite a bit to covet here on Earth — like say, Branwyn, lady friend of the dead-and-back Tempest. Walter Mosley's drama The Fall of Heaven examines the ideas of free will, livin' the good life versus living a good life and the eternal lure of love and carnal temptation. The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents The Fall of Heaven Tuesday through Sunday (January 5 through 30) on the Browning Mainstage of the Loretto-Hilton Center (130 Edgar Road; 314-968-4925 or www.repstl.org). Tickets are $15 to $70.
Tuesdays-Sundays. Starts: Jan. 7. Continues through Jan. 30, 2011