Hurly-burly in black and white
Anyone stuck in traffic on Oralabor Road can tell you: Ankeny is booming. Last year the population jumped again, and the town lured up city hotspots like Jethro’s. Yet one [...]
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Posted August 05, 2015in Center Stage
Posted July 29, 2015in Center Stage
Dirty angels kicking ass
For “Rent” the staging is in-the-round. Inside the entrance, designer Tim Wisgherof set up a riser for the guitar, keyboard, drums and bass. The musicians riff and tootle, pumping up [...]
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Posted July 22, 2015in Center Stage
Minor Monty, with wicked gleams
Imagine you’re Eric Idle, founding member of Monty Python, and a Broadway producer comes calling with a bucket of money. All that long green can be yours, providing you whip [...]
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Posted July 15, 2015in Center Stage
A wardrobe of hard-earned wisdom
The company calls itself Rising Phoenix, and its latest show makes you think of the myth — the bird consumed by fire and then rising from the ashes, more beautiful [...]
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Posted July 08, 2015in Center Stage
Classic, feisty and huge
“We do have a pumpkin that turns into a carriage,” says Antoine Smith. “We have a glass slipper and things you’re sure to recognize.” Still, he goes on: “This is [...]
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Posted July 01, 2015in Center Stage
Taking off into a new sky
“The Abduction from the Seraglio,” at Des Moines Metro Opera (DMMO), opened its third act under moonlight. The noble Belmonte lurks in the dark, intending to free his beloved Konstanze [...]
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Posted June 24, 2015in Center Stage
Exotic and erupting with beauty
For one show this year, Des Moines Metro Opera brought in a woman from the Czech Embassy in Chicago. She spent a week teaching the cast her language. For another, [...]
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Posted June 17, 2015in Center Stage
The penguins sing and dance
In Winterset, the evening I saw “Nunsense,” they had a Classic Car invitational in the square. A cherry 1940s Mercury sat next to a sleek ’60s Mustang. Such wheels are [...]
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Posted June 10, 2015in Center Stage
Shakespeare does spring break
Allow me a nerd moment. Back in Shakespeare’s day, we nerds know, “nothing” had a double meaning. Pronounced “not-ting,” it referred either to nothing, as it does today, or to [...]
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Posted June 03, 2015in Center Stage
Canny mischief, cartoon murder
Only a rare theater scene offers a gem like this for free. “The Real Inspector Hound” charges no admission as part of the Fine Arts Series at Westminster Presbyterian. Nonetheless [...]
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