Posted February 11, 2015in Center Stage
The playbill for “A Streetcar Named Desire” includes an unusual listing — a “dialect coach.” The “coach” is Ann Woldt, from Simpson — and the woman knows her stuff. Not only did the voices ring true and straight out of Dixie, but also they came together in one bluesy crescendo
Read More →
Posted February 04, 2015in Center Stage
It takes a professional to weather a blackout. The lights quit unexpectedly midway through the first act of “The Elephant Man” — perhaps this had to do with the blizzard outside — yet Bob Baskerville kept on, unfazed. As Gomm, head of the hospital providing sanctuary to the deformed title
Read More →When I lived in Chicago, the best cheap date was on a Monday. On that night you could catch the “greatest hits” of Second City, ground zero for improv comedy since 1959. The troupe has launched dozens of stars, from John Belushi to Tina Fey, but the headliners usually skipped
Read More →“Cyndi Lauper brought it off!” exclaims Nick McCough. “She brought her rock ’n’ roll to Broadway!” What has got McCough so excited is “Kinky Boots,” the new musical, bursting with the same energy Lauper brought to “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” in 1983. Thirty years later, her score for “Kinky
Read More →“It’s the kind of exciting work StageWest has always brought to town,” claims Todd Buchacker. “It proves we’re still taking chances.” Buchacker, the director for this show, might be talking about the title alone: “Cock.” The word isn’t quite so shocking in England, however, where playwright Mike Bartlett set his
Read More →These days anyone who thinks of the sitcom “Growing Pains” probably thinks of Robin Thicke, the young lead, now a rock star. The show’s success, however, depended more on the father, Alan, and since it ended he’s kept busy, too. He’s done movies with Adam Sandler and written bestsellers about
Read More →
Posted December 31, 2014in Center Stage
It might seem a long way from South Park — that town full of filthy-mouthed kids — to the Mormon tabernacles. Yet the same two talents, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, have made a hilarious spectacle of each. “The Book of Mormon” presents Stone and Parker’s sendup of the
Read More →
Posted December 24, 2014in Center Stage
“Bash to the Future” At the Des Moines Social Club, the New Year’s “Bash” has always included performance. A few years back I caught “Jerry Springer: the Opera,” a StageWest production, and last year the party featured the aerial ballet of the Iowa Fly Girl, Felicia Coe. What’s new, then,
Read More →If anyone has established Iowa as a center for performance, it’s Scott Seipker. In 2012, Seipker’s sardonic “Iowa Nice” videos propelled him into gigs with ESPN and IPTV. Yet he began in theater, first at Iowa State University and then in small Des Moines venues. He often worked with Brendan
Read More →It is as if the story has been around forever. The hard-hearted old miser, visited by night spirits, awakens to the joy of Christmas. It is a kind of myth that is endlessly adaptable. “A Christmas Carol” had this magic from the first, too. No sooner did Charles Dickens dream
Read More →
