Prior to Friday night, my only experience with Driving Miss Daisy was with the remarkable film version starring the incomparable Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman. Although its tenderness sticks with me, for some reason I don't recall Alfred Uhry's script being terribly funny. And with the Playcrafters Barn Theatre's production of this material, I'm now wondering why I don't remember the humor, considering how loud and often I laughed during director Donna Weeks' presentation.
Much of Friday's performance of the Prenzie Players' Antony & Cleopatra played almost like a romantic comedy. Director Kate Farence's staging of William Shakespeare's tragedy feels lighter and funnier than perhaps the material calls for, with the titular couple enjoying their post-Julius Caesar relationship - and ultimately dealing with Rome's political power plays and battles - amidst a den of hedonism, with hippie-esque attendants engaging in swinging orgies and drug use. Matt Moody's set design even has the lovers reclining on a tiered platform covered in colorful pillows and blankets, a seeming nod to the pair's interest in each other over the power of a throne. And the personality in Farence's production proves titillating - and should make the show more palatable for those who might not enjoy a stuffier version.
Director Jennifer Popple's decision to set her Augustana College production of As You Like It in the 1960s is one of the most appropriate changes in time-setting for theatrical material I've yet witnessed. Such shifts sometimes seem gimmicky, or are better in concept than execution, but here it works, and works well.
Frankly, I was surprised to see so many boys in attendance at the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse's Tuesday performance of Fancy Nancy: The Musical. Based on Jane O'Connor's book Fancy Nancy & the Mermaid Ballet, the play would, I thought, appeal more obviously to girls, and prior to the opening of the (proverbial) curtain, I expected the lads populating my seat section to be disappointed. Fortunately, though, there's plenty of content here that appeals to both girls and boys, and judging by the young males' positive reactions, they were delighted by the show - as was I.
Thursday's preview performance of the District Theatre's High Fidelity was, during its first act, a painful experience ... because by intermission, my facial muscles actually hurt from smiling so much. While this musical - composed by Tom Kitt and Amanda Green, with a book by David Lindsay-Abaire - is, in itself, a lot of fun, director James Fairchild and his cast rocked the hell out of it, presenting its story of a record-store owner's most recent breakup (in a long line of them) with infectious energy.
The Richmond Hill Barn Theatre's The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) is a loosely staged, sloppy mess of the comedy by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield. In presenting (almost) every single one of Shakespeare's plays in about an hour and a half plus intermission, director Tom Morrow didn't seem to give his five actors much in the way of blocking, leaving them to frequently mill about or form awkward clumps. Yet it's this unrefined quality that turns out to be the production's chief strength; it's all the more delightful for feeling less like a scripted piece than an improv show.
Given its sharply funny script, Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage is one of the few plays I could see over and over again. And while Scott Community College's presentation of this story about two sets of parents discussing a fight between their young sons doesn't quite live up to the brilliance of Reza's dark comedy, director Kevin Babbitt and his cast and crew still nail the play's most important points. That includes the necessary on-stage puking, which is just one enjoyable element in what ends up a rather humorous production.
The fifth time is apparently the charm for writer Greta Grosch and composer/lyricist Drew Jansen, as the final installment in the Church Basement Ladies series is, for me, the most cohesive and amusing from beginning to end. Primarily, this is because there's a clear plot that ties together the story as, through flashbacks, we learn about the founding of the show's rural-Minnesota church, the initial introduction of the titular ladies to their basement kitchen, and the eventual disbanding of the congregation. This musical is the history of the ladies' Lutheran church in its entirety, a thread that pulls together the proceedings in a beautiful way.
Urinetown is one of my top-five-favorite musicals, due to the many songs with memorable, singable melodies by composer/lyricist Mark Hollmann and lyricist Greg Kotis, as well as Kotis' sharply funny, self-referential book. Unfortunately, I was almost immediately disappointed with Quad City Music Guild's production of the show during Wednesday's final dress rehearsal, because the first full minute of director Heather Beck's staging had the ensemble cast frozen in place (and for what actually felt like two to three minutes) during the overture. Yet while my heart sank seeing this dull, uninteresting start to such a creative piece of musical theatre, thankfully, once the overture ended, I wasn't disappointed at any other point during Music Guild's presentation.Subscribe & Listen to Reader Podcasts
On Stands Now
Tagged Content
Two Ways to Subscribe
1. Subscribe to free weekly e-mail content updates.
You'll get both the current official narrative challenge and What's Happenin' in the Quad Cities.
(Did you know we publish a new Amy Alkon Advice Goddess, Real Astrology, Red Meat cartoon and RCR Crossword every week?)
2. Get 12 monthly issues mailed first class for $48
Get the printed Reader edition mailed to you (or anyone you want) first-class for 12 months for $48.
$24 goes to postage and handling, $24 goes to keeping the doors open!