When walking into Quad City Music Guild’s production of Children of Eden on August 7, I had no idea what sort of beautiful music my ears were about to be treated to. The story I was familiar with. Composer Stephen Schwartz's score, however, was all new to me, and director Bill Marsoun has assembled a fantastic cast with which to tell this biblical story of the Earth's creation.
Les Misérables is an epic musical, and Countryside Community Theatre should be commended for its noble effort in staging the multi-layered, much-loved piece by composer Claude-Michel Schönberg and lyricist Herbert Kretzmer. Director David Turley and his cast treat the material with the respect it deserves. Friday night's performance, however, was still riddled with problems, many of them of a technical nature.
Sydney Crumbleholme is maturing. Not only is she physically more mature than the impressive young acting prodigy I fondly recall from the Playcrafters Barn Theatre's Anne of Green Gables four years ago, she's also much more skilled as an actress - and that "much more" is particularly impressive considering that Crumbleholme's previous work was astounding, particularly for her age. In her return to the title role of Playcrafters' current production, Anne of Avonlea, Crumbleholme shows distinct growth as an actress, showcasing knacks for nuance and subtlety. She alone is worth the money and time spent seeing the show.
The Playcrafters Barn Theatre's current, holiday-themed family presentation Papa's Angels begins on a note - or rather, a bunch of notes - of incredible sweetness.
On Thursday night, I attended Quad City Music Guild's preview performance of Seussical, and if you include St. Ambrose University's 2008 production of the one-act Seussical Jr. - and I most certainly do - it was the third time I'd seen this show in as many years. (Eldridge's Countryside Community Theatre produced its version in the summer of 2007.) If theatres would only oblige, I'm reasonably sure I could see it, and without any complaint, every year for the rest of my life.
