20 Dec 2006

Surprising Surprises

By Mike Schulz

"Grease"I got pretty choked up at Quad City Music Guild's production of It's a Wonderful Life: The Musical, especially when George started yelling at his kids. (They were so cute!) I was truly affected by the anguished performance of John VanDeWoestyne in the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

But, in 2006, do you know what area production made me cry like a little girl?

Freakin' Grease.

20 Dec 2006

Risky Business

By Mike Schulz

"The Winning Streak"Theatre can be a great escape, but it can also be so much more. In 2006, most of the area's challenging works were presented by the New Ground Theatre, My Verona Productions, and the Prenzie Players, and over the past year and a half, I've had the pleasure of interviewing the impresarios of these organizations: New Ground Artistic Director Chris Jansen, My Verona producers Sean Leary and Tristan Tapscott, and Prenzie founders Cait Bodenbender, John Luxton, Aaron Sullivan, and Denise Yoder.

So, as I'm on a first-name basis with all of them, permit me to direct a few holiday cards their way:

20 Dec 2006

What Have We Learned?

By Mike Schulz

"Much Ado About Nothing" In the realm of educational theatre, the audience's enjoyment should always be secondary to what the students take from their theatrical experiences. So I certainly hope that 2006's productions were meaningful for the students in Augustana College's, St. Ambrose University's, and Black Hawk College's theatre programs, because this particular audience member had a great time at their shows.

20 Dec 2006

Theatre Essentials 2006: A Dozen Names to Remember

By Mike Schulz

Christine Barnes with Brian Cox and Brian Bengtson in "The Miser" Of course, the people who are most essential to the success of area theatre are the ones ponying up the dough to get it produced (and this includes you, my ticket-buying friends). But it's hard to imagine the theatre year being as enjoyable as it was without the contributions of the following 12 individuals, each of whom added considerable flair to several area productions - oftentimes at several area venues - in 2006.

20 Dec 2006

"Nut"-in', Honey!: 5 Things I'll Remember from My "Nutcracker" Experience

By Mike Schulz

Being offered the role. I'm at work. The phone rings. It's Ballet Quad Cities Artistic Director Matthew Keefe, asking if I'd be interested in playing Drosselmeyer in The Nutcracker. All I hear is "Nutcracker." You want me to what? Play Drosselmeyer in The Nutcracker, he repeats, a little slower this time. I'm still not sure I understand, but I'm flattered by the offer, and we agree to discuss it further the next day.

20 Dec 2006

A Look Ahead to Area Theatre in 2007

By Mike Schulz

(Titles and dates are subject to change.)

 

Augustana College: Dead Man Walking (February), The Vagina Monologues (February), Festival of Short Plays (February), Stuff Happens (April). (http://www.augustana.edu/academics/theatre/department)

13 Dec 2006

Bah!: "Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol," at the Nighswander Theatre through December 16

By Mike Schulz

Jessica Denney & Earl Strupp in "Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol"After attending the New Ground Theatre's production of Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol, I wasn't much surprised to learn that Tom Mula's play has been broadcast on NPR numerous times now; a dramatization of Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol story through Marley's point-of-view, the show, with its blend of performance and frequent narration, seems tailor-made for radio. What I can't understand, though - at least based on New Ground's presentation - is what makes it a good fit for the stage.

06 Dec 2006

Sole Patrol: "The Elves & the Shoemaker," at the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse through December 26

By Mike Schulz

"The Elves & the Shoemaker"I'm good friends with more than a few actors who frequently perform at the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, and I'm occasionally asked if my ties to them - and to the venue itself - skew my opinions about Circa '21 productions. I'd like to think they don't ... but then I'll be confronted with a production such as The Elves & the Shoemaker. I had a blast at the theatre's new family musical, yet I'm forced to address a nagging issue: Did I enjoy it because it's good, or did I enjoy it because the act of watching my pals doing goofy-ass shtick in goofy-ass costumes makes me unaccountably happy?

06 Dec 2006

The Roar of the Crowds: St. Ambrose University's "Narnia" and Quad City Music Guild's "It's a Wonderful Life: The Musical"

By Mike Schulz

This past Saturday, I had the unique opportunity to catch two local theatrical productions: St. Ambrose University's Narnia (an hour-long stage version of C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe) and the Quad City Music Guild's presentation of It's a Wonderful Life: The Musical. (Both closed on Sunday, December 3.)

Despite obvious differences in subject matter and audience demographic - Narnia was geared toward the 10-and-under set, while Wonderful Life was designed for ... well, pretty much everyone else - the shows did bear a striking similarity, in that both were musical adaptations of decidedly un-musical works with enormous fan bases; St. Ambrose and Music Guild could probably have secured full houses based on the titles alone.

22 Nov 2006

Capra Cadabra!: "It's a Wonderful Life" Becomes a Stage Musical at Quad City Music Guild

By Mike Schulz

Harold Truitt and Mike Millar"The cast hates me," says local performer Andy Davis during a recent rehearsal break. "Our first cast meeting, they were introducing us all and I said, 'Yeah, I'm playing Potter ... ,' and everybody booed."

So why is Davis so happy about it?

Probably because the Potter he's playing is the hateful, wheelchair-bound Henry Potter of Bedford Falls, and the show he's rehearsing for is the Quad City Music Guild's production of It's a Wonderful Life: The Musical. Considering people's familiarity with - and love for - the Frank Capra classic of 1946, Davis should only have worried if he didn't get booed.

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