29
Jul
2015
I don't mean to alarm you, but during my recent interview with Heather Herkelman, the area performer revealed something shocking and rather upsetting: Hawaii, it turns out, isn't perfect.
How long does it take for an area production to become legendary? In the case of the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse's How I Became a Pirate, I'd say about one week, because after the show's debut staging in 2013, that's how long it took four adult patrons, individually, to tell me it was maybe the best family musical they'd ever seen.
There's an effervescent joy permeating the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse's The Sound of Music from beginning to end - minus the Nazi involvement, of course. Director/choreographer Jim Hesselman's production exudes an infectious glee that, for me, lifts this Rodgers & Hammerstein classic to new heights of performance pleasure. And as Hesselman must know that audiences take great delight in its composers' cherished musical and remember it fondly, he plays to those happy memories.
As with many things in life, it can be blamed on a friendly purple dinosaur.
Into the Woods (August 10 - 12, 2007): The Green Room's debut production was Stephen Sondheim's and James Lapine's fairy-tale musical, and many of its cast members had previously worked with director Derek Bertelsen (also the venue's Executive Director) and music director Tyson Danner (the Artistic Director) in the pair's previous, fund-raising performances for the Children's Therapy Center of the Quad Cities: 2005's Ragtime and 2006's The Secret Garden. Both vividly remember opening night.
When the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse produced Charlotte's Web in 2003, I was lucky enough to perform in the show opposite Janos Horvath's Wilbur, and I vividly remember being amazed that someone could give such a touching, wholly credible performance while wearing a rubber pig nose.
