14
Nov
2008
A bridegroom - petulant, abused, and unwilling to utter the five words that would please his family most: "I adore hash brown potatoes."
His father - abrasive, tyrannical, and ready to walk out on his family ... though he will be back for mealtimes.
His mother - overbearing, hypochondriacal, and vociferously proud of her questionable child-rearing tactics. ("I gave you your first spanking!")
And the bride-to-be - nearly mute, and the possessor of feet like Shrek's and two noses ... which would be fine if her intended didn't prefer a fiancée with three noses.
During a recent interview with Scott Naumann, Kim Eastland, and Jerry Wolking - longtime performers with the Quad Cities' interactive-whodunit organization It's a Mystery - the three routinely crack each other up with memories of overzealous audience participants, randy seniors, and that time when one of their performers, dressed in character, was mistaken for a prostitute at the Rock Island Arsenal Golf Club. ("On a positive note," jokes Naumann, "she made about $750 on the side.")
Sydney Crumbleholme, a freshman at Moline High School, plays the title character in the Playcrafters Barn Theatre's current Anne of Green Gables, and I doubt there has been a better, more inspiring piece of casting on area stages in all of 2008.
HOLDING TREVOR and ICE BLUES
MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA
Tony Kushner's Angels in America has an intimidating reputation: It's a work in two parts - Millennium Approaches and Perestroika - that earned its playwright a Pulitzer Prize; it boldly explores religion, politics, and homosexuality in Reagan's America; and its two leading figures are men recently diagnosed with AIDS. So where, in regard to The Green Room's current presentation of Millennium Approaches, do I begin in describing just how much freaking fun this show is?
CHANGELING
Parents:
If you have grade-school children, please plunk them in front of the
computer.
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.
