The Quad Cities' spring theatre season will be bookended by Shakespeare, with the March 6 opening of Much Ado About Nothing, and Sophocles, with the May 28 debut of Oedipus Rex. But just because these plays are, respectively, more than 400 and 2,400 years old, it probably isn't wise to enter them expecting the expected. This Sophocles, after all, is subtitled The Audacity of Oed, and this Shakespeare is being staged by the Prenzie Players, so in both works, you may as well expect anything to happen; considering our lineup also features titles by Stephen Sondheim, Neil Simon, Euripides, and Mel Brooks, I'm thinking you can say the same for the theatre season as a whole.
Are you looking to instill in your children an appreciation for music beyond the tunes in Guitar Hero? Consider taking in a concert (or five) at the i wireless Center, as the Moline venue, this March and April, presents a disparate quintet of exciting musical events.
I know, I know ... St. Patrick's Day falls on a Tuesday this year, and you're having a hard time rationalizing an evening of rollicking Irish celebration when, the following Wednesday, you'll have to get up for work at the crack of dawn. Join the club.
There's a special thrill you get from a stage work that seems not just beautifully, but perfectly cast, and following the curtain call for the Green Room's Friday-evening presentation of Doubt: A Parable - currently playing at the Harrison Hilltop Theatre - that thrill stuck with me for the rest of the night, and into the next day.
Seriously, by the end of Hugh Jackman's opening number during the 2009 Academy Awards telecast, did it even matter if the rest of the show was any good?
TYLER PERRY'S MADEA GOES TO JAIL
Granted, it's only February. But after seeing the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre's Thursday-night presentation of Almost, Maine, I thought a reasonable case could already be made for actors Jessica Nicol and Chris White emerging as area theatre's most endearing romantic pairing for 2009. Although, to be fair, the accolade could just as easily go to Nicol and Almost, Maine co-star Jason Platt. Or to Platt and co-star Stacy Herrick. Or to Herrick and co-star Alex Klimkewicz. Or to White and Platt. Whichever.
One of the great joys of having attended so many collegiate productions over the past several years has been in watching promising freshman performers grow into confident and inspired senior performers.
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