Lemp Legends: A Ghost Story

It's no exaggeration to say that the Lemp family shaped St. Louis. Adam Lemp not only introduced lager to the city but began a brewery to produce the great quantities of it demanded by St. Louisans of the mid-nineteenth century. The Lemp Brewery's Falstaff beer outsold Budweiser near the dawn of the twentieth century. The next generation of Lemps married into both the Pabst brewing family and a railroad supply family, further concentrating their wealth. But the family is mostly remembered today for its slow destruction, which was brought about by Prohibition and a series of suicides. Big Muddy Dance Company explores the Lemps in the dance concert Lemp Legends: A Ghost Story. Performances take place at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday (November 16 and 17) at Washington University's Edison Theatre (6445 Forsyth Boulevard; www.thebigmuddydanceco.org). Tickets are $25 to $35.