items tagged with Melissa Anderson Clark

Quad City Music Guild’s Cabaret is at its most entertaining whenever Bryan Tank’s Emcee graces the stage – “graces” being a somewhat incorrect term, as it's the actor’s unflinching commitment to his character’s blatantly sexual nature that’s so engaging. With his impressive German accent and convincing characterization of unabashed debauchery, Tank punctuates the beguilement of his Emcee by way of sexual gestures that seemed to titillate Thursday’s preview-performance audience, at least judging by the large amounts of laughter mixed with amused shock. (This was most notable during the threesome pelvic thrusts and other dance steps in Cabaret's “Two Ladies” number, one of several deliciously bawdy pieces choreographed by Emma Williams.)

For our third-annual conversation on the Year in Theatre, Thom White – the Reader’s chief theatre reviewer – and I thought we’d shake things up a bit. So instead of meeting for an hours-long breakfast to discuss the area stage scene, we met for an hours-long dinner to discuss the area stage scene.

And while I managed to keep things lively by spilling a completely full glass of water not 10 minutes after sitting down, we also managed to touch on many of the varied experiences that Thom (occasionally accompanied by his partner’s daughter Madison) and/or I had during another eventful year for fans of the theatre. Pack a lunch, sit back, and dive in ... .

The Irish accents are so good in New Ground Theatre’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane that, during Friday night’s performance, it actually took me a while to understand the actors – particularly Susan Perrin-Sallak and Melissa Anderson Clark, who play the mother and daughter at the center of the play. It took me about as long to also understand the reason playwright Martin McDonagh’s work has won so many awards, as I found the story a bit slow and dull at first, though it gradually built to a punch that I didn’t see coming despite (as I recognized in hindsight) it being clearly foreshadowed.

The Reader's chief theatre reviewer, Thom White, saw and wrote about 52 area stage productions in 2011. I saw 39 and reviewed 12. Obviously, during our second-annual breakfast chat on the Year in Theatre, there was a bit to talk about.

New Ground Theatre’s God of Carnage is one of the funniest shows, if not the funniest, I’ve seen on a Quad Cities stage so far this year. Not only is the script by playwright Yasmina Reza sharp, surprising, and witty, but director Derek Bertelsen’s handling of the pacing and his cast’s character choices had me laughing embarrassingly loudly at Thursday’s performance. Even two days later, I find myself mentally inserting quotable dialogue from the play into conversations (though I’d rather not quote any of it here, as most of the best lines involve the “F” word).