That’s quite a box of toys. Rings and dishes in neon plastic, batons of varying length and heft, balls of all sizes, weights and colors — the stuff is a riot of color, in fact. These goodies and more fill the bin carried by Laura Ernst, which she brings to
Read More →Half an hour into a late rehearsal for “Boeing Boeing,” after the cast had run through a couple of scenes, Des Moines Playhouse Director Kathy Pingel announced it was time to tackle the entire play from the start. “Ready to rock ‘n’ roll?” she shouted. Michael Davenport, in the lead
Read More →At his keynote address for the launch of the Des Moines Social Club, David Byrne called for “a network” of similar venues. DMSC couldn’t do it alone. The arts in Iowa need other places to grow, he said. Well, how about Madison County? Down in covered-bridge country, the Social Club
Read More →“The Intergalactic Nemesis” may be sci-fi fantasy, full of technobabble, but the real fun in it is watching people at play. In particular, Christopher Lee Gibson, who is one of three actors in this “live-action graphic novel,” takes on no fewer than nine characters from the wicked hypnotist Mysterion to
Read More →In show business, there’s an ancient quip about a dying actor. Colleagues gather at his bedside, grieving, and, with his last words, he tries to reassure them. “Dying is easy,” he groans. “Comedy is hard.” The story’s never been verified (some say Groucho Marx made it up), but there’s no
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Posted April 23, 2014in Center Stage
Lately, downtown theater has broken through to a new level at the Social Club, but some of this year’s most exciting work took place out west. The Tallgrass Theater Company near Valley Junction has brought two radical challenges: “True West” was an edgy drama that alternated different actors in the
Read More →Last Saturday night, midway into the second act, “The Crucible” brought the thunder. Set at the Salem courthouse, 1692, the witchcraft trials went from bad to worse. Innocent townsfolk found themselves condemned to hang on the “spectral evidence” of hysterical teenage girls. These “Heathers” have their Alpha, the charismatic Abigail,
Read More →Even before Alfred Hitchcock started to toy with it, “Dial M for Murder” was a dark farce. Frederick Knott, the playwright, whipped up some diabolical conniving, as Tony Wendice arranged a hit on his rich wife Margot. In the early ’50s, Broadway audiences couldn’t get enough. Then Hitchcock’s movie (Grace
Read More →Did some heavenly theater professor set up Des Moines as a seminar on opera and musical theater lately? Over at the Playhouse we’ve got “Les Misèrables,” as close to opera as Broadway gets, and now comes a weeklong run of “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess,” a folk opera, as George
Read More →“Four legs — woof! Two legs — ba-a-a!” Recognize the refrain? It’s from “Animal Farm,” by George Orwell, one of those books kids are supposed to read in middle school. On the page, this slogan reads differently: It’s “good” and “bad,” not “woof” and “baa.” But that’s the kind of
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