15 Aug 2016

You Don't Know Jack: "Gaslight," at the Timber Lake Playhouse through August 21

By Jeff Ashcraft
Kieran McCabe and Melissa Weyn in Gaslight

It was a dark and stormy night … . No, seriously – it really was a dark and stormy night on August 11, which, fortunately, enhanced the eeriness and prolonged the tension of the opening night for the Timber Lake Playhouse's final production of its summer season.

01 Aug 2016

Ocean Liner Notes: "Titanic," at the Timber Lake Playhouse through August 7

By Jeff Ashcraft
Ensemble members in Titanic

(SPOILER ALERT! The following may reveal details of the Timber Lake Playhouse's current production of the musical Titanic. Readers are advised to cease reading if they don't want to know how the story ends.)

18 Jul 2016

Pseudolus Erronius Hilarious: "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," at the Timber Lake Playhouse through July 23

By Mike Schulz
Tyler Klingbiel, Tommy Bullington, and Kieran McCabe in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

When actor Tommy Bullington walked on-stage for the Timber Lake Playhouse’s opening-night presentation of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, his arrival as narrator Pseudolus was met with a smattering of applause. He acknowledged the greeting and smiled, and the moment the clapping ceased, his smile faded, and Bullington took a perfect micro-pause before saying, “No, I liked it.” Cue the laugh, a bigger ovation, and the star flashing a wide, open-mouthed grin, curtsy-bowing like Maria Callas after performing Tosca at the Met. That, folks, is how you make an entrance.

04 Jul 2016

Just Like Paradise: "Rock of Ages," at the Timber Lake Playhouse through July 10

By Mike Schulz
Kieran McCabe and the Rock of Ages cast

In an appropriate touch for the raucous stage party that is Rock of Ages, its opening-night performance came with cake – a large sheet cake celebrating Artistic Director Jim Beaudry’s 100th production at the Timber Lake Playhouse. It was presented, to his surprise, at the tail end of Beaudry’s pre-show announcements, and the touching tribute by Executive Director Dan Danielowski elicited for its recipient a deserved standing ovation. But there was an added fillip of comedy when Beaudry revealed, to much laughter, that the cake’s photo decoration of him performing in West Side Story was actually from a West Side Story Beaudry did in New York, not Mt. Carroll, making the evening’s prelude funny, thrilling, endearing, and just a little bit awkward – not unlike June 30’s Rock of Ages itself.

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