Double-dip uproarious
Des Moines is offering a double-dip of comedy right through the double holiday. Downtown there’s a one-man show — “man,” more or less — and on the east side there’s [...]
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Posted December 23, 2015in Center Stage
Posted December 16, 2015in Center Stage
Straight, white and berserk
The set keeps things plain, but not the pajamas. Designer Tim Wisgerhof restrained himself, deliberately, for the interiors of “Straight White Men.” He worked as if from Sears-&-Roebuck, using mostly [...]
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Posted December 09, 2015in Center Stage
A bang-bang-up job
When an old show succeeds, it’s often got a new look. Trying out a fresh set designer, in fact, may be the best move the Playhouse made. For “Chitty Chitty [...]
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Posted December 02, 2015in Center Stage
Dancing into 3D
The Tin Man had to brush up on his tap-dancing. Jay McGill handles the clattery creature, the one who needs a heart, in the theatrical version of “The Wizard of [...]
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Posted November 25, 2015in Center Stage
Lingering dream voices
With no more than a shift in his tone, John Robinson could change the direction of the show. At a late rehearsal for “The Thanksgiving Visitor,” he kept switching vocal [...]
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Posted November 18, 2015in Center Stage
Jumpin’ Jr.
While interviewing visiting New York actors, I’ve been told many times that they began in community children’s theater. The latest was Cedar Rapids native Elizabeth Stanley, now starring in “Bridges [...]
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Posted November 11, 2015in Center Stage
On the farm, far from home
Over the years, “The Bridges of Madison County” has become more of a woman’s story. The No. 1 novel of 1993 by University of Northern Iowa graduate and professor Robert [...]
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Posted November 04, 2015in Center Stage
Beauty in a sandbox
When the executive producer of Pilobolus tells me his dancers have “a sandbox attitude,” he says it proudly. “We make all our work collaboratively,” explains Itamar Kubovy. “We’re always, in [...]
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Posted October 28, 2015in Center Stage
Newlywed pratfalls
The other night, I heard a jazz singer cover an old chestnut about how “wives should always be lovers, too.” An earworm from the “Mad Men” era, the song urges [...]
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Posted October 21, 2015in Center Stage, Featured Story
Supersizing the magic
“The Illusionists” might seem like a super-sized machine. Versions of the show are playing Broadway, London and elsewhere. Dan Sperry, one of seven magicians coming to Des Moines, tells me [...]
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