A rock goddess and her ghosts
Now and then, before a performance, Mary Bridget Davies will sense someone behind her but turn to find nothing there. At that, she’ll smile. “All right, Janis,” Davies will say. [...]
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Posted March 09, 2016in Center Stage
Posted March 02, 2016in Center Stage
From confrontation to communication
During the past six months, the best performance in a Des Moines production may have come from an African-American. Aaron Smith, in “A Soldier’s Play,” drew audiences into a howling [...]
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Posted February 24, 2016in Center Stage
Grunge rather than glitz
Broadway tends to bloat, going for overkill as in “Phantom of the Opera.” “Cabaret,” though, recently scored the opposite kind of success. The 1967 original gave us the movie — [...]
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Posted February 17, 2016in Center Stage
A long night and a late love
Micheal Davenport takes you straight to the heart of a racist. As “Juror No. 10,” in “12 Angry Men,” he bares an irrational hatred of “those people.” Isolated stage front, [...]
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Posted February 10, 2016in Center Stage
Bop brought back to life
Who can say how many great songs we lost one Iowa morning in 1959? That February, the 22-year-old Buddy Holly was just hitting his stride. A phenom out of Texas [...]
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Posted February 03, 2016in Center Stage
Doubling down on caucus comedy
The use of the house from “American Gothic” in Tim Wisgerhof’s flexible set for “Caucus: The Musical!” suits the season, doesn’t it? Every four years, the Heartland goes Broadway. But [...]
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Posted January 27, 2016in Center Stage
The mysteries of life
He dangles upside down from a rope that is suspended from the ceiling. His straightjacket binds him as he hangs just inches from the unsprung teeth of a 1,200-pound bear [...]
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Posted January 20, 2016in Center Stage
Old folks and fresh tension
For an actor like Tyrees Allen, the voice is an orchestra. Playing Hoke, the man who does the driving, he supplies the latest Repertory Theater of Iowa (RTI) production with [...]
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Posted January 13, 2016in Center Stage
Schneider returns to his comedic roots
What really gets actor/comedian Rob Schneider excited is talking about Des Moines. The Funny Bone is once again hosting the comic Jan. 15-16 — his third visit in five years [...]
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Posted January 06, 2016in Center Stage
Tap dancing and turmoil
A critic has to be careful with the word “heartwarming,” a groaning cliché. But if ever a theater story deserved the compliment, it’s the one behind Broadway’s “Newsies.” For starters, [...]
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