14 Jun 2005

"Mr. & Mrs. Smith" Is Criminally Enjoyable: Also, "The Adventures of Shark Boy & Lava Girl in 3-D"

By Mike Schulz

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in Mr. & Mrs. SmithMR. & MRS. SMITH

If it accomplished nothing else, Mr. & Mrs. Smith would easily nail a primal attraction for going to the movies: Getting to spend two hours staring at people who are infinitely better-looking than we are.

14 Jun 2005

Quad City Music Guild's "Sugar": Not Quite Wild(er) Enough

By Mike Schulz
If you've seen Some Like It Hot, nothing that happens in the Quad City Music Guild's Sugar will come as a surprise; this 1973 musical-comedy is almost slavishly faithful to the 1959 Billy Wilder film that inspired it. But it does feature a curlicue that makes me giggle: the tap-dancing gangsters.
14 Jun 2005

My Verona's "Closer" a Great Season Opener

By Mike Schulz

Few stage sights are as thrilling as a cast of genuinely hungry actors, especially when they have genuinely meaty material to tear into. My Verona Productions' Closer is a biting, at times painful, piece, yet it's suffused with joy; the actors seem to be relishing the opportunity to verbally claw, scrape, and expose (often self-inflicted) wounds.

07 Jun 2005

Spicing It Up at Gumbo Ya-Ya

By Mike Schulz
At Gumbo Ya Ya, the food might be hot, but the music is always hotter. (Quite a feat for an event serving Cajun sausage and spicy boiled shrimp.) That truism will certainly apply to this weekend's annual Mardi Gras in the District festival, at which nine bands will deliver crowd-pleasing performances of Cajun, zydeco, blues, funk, rock, soul, hip-hop, R&B, and reggae music.
07 Jun 2005

Left Bank at Black Hawk State Park

By Mike Schulz
When searching for a new necklace or a piece to hang in the living room, a state park might not be the first place you'd think to shop. Yet the Black Hawk State Historical Site will soon be teeming with artwork, as the Left Bank Art League presents its 49th annual Fine Art Fair from 10 a.
07 Jun 2005

Richmond Hill's "You Can't Take It with You" Is All (Kaufman &) Hart

By Mike Schulz
Moss Hart & George S. Kaufman's 1938 comedy You Can't Take It with You is so sturdy and reliably entertaining that it doesn't take much more than a mediocre version of it to make audiences happy. The current production at the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre is significantly better than mediocre - vibrantly played and almost consistently pleasurable - but what's completely surprising is the cleverness and skill behind Vicki Deusinger's staging of it.
31 May 2005

"People Never Cease to Amuse Me"

By Mike Schulz
"This is a true story," insisted Bill Engvall during a recent phone interview. "I was on a plane, and the flight attendant was asking about people who needed a wheelchair. And she actually said to us, 'If you requested a wheelchair, please walk up front and . .. .'" The comedian laughs. "People never cease to amuse me."
24 May 2005

New Ground Turns Mamet's "Boston Marriage" into a Massacre

By Mike Schulz
From first scene to last, New Ground Theatre's production of Boston Marriage is an almost total misreading of David Mamet's 1999 work. As usual, New Ground's decision to tackle offbeat and challenging material is commendable, but its latest offering is so wrong-headed in execution that it makes you understand why audiences often shy away from the offbeat and challenging.
24 May 2005

Different Type of High-School Reunion

By Mike Schulz
Most of us have had the experience of running into someone who went to school with us years earlier. Very little, if anything, usually comes of those chance encounters. But for local artists Nicole Miller and Justin Elvidge, both 22, a surprise meeting has led, a mere four months later, to a shared exhibit of oil paintings at the Peanut Gallery in Rock Island, the first local showing for both Quad Citians.
24 May 2005

Lucas' Revenge: Goodwill Triumphing Over Evil: "Star Wars, Episode III - Revenge of the Sith"

By Mike Schulz

Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen in Star Wars, Episode III - Revenge of the SithSTAR WARS, EPISODE III - REVENGE OF THE SITH

I've spent a lot of time - both in print and in person - making fun of George Lucas' Star Wars prequels, and for a reason: It's pretty easy. The prosaic (and endless) exposition, the flat staging, the unspeakable dialogue, the ba-dum-ching! clunkiness of the comedy, the videogame-inspired mayhem, Jar Jar Binks ... there's practically no end of topics worth goofing on.

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