Opening this weekend at Theatre in the Park, New Salem’s outdoor amphitheater, is the drama Your Obedient Servant, A. Lincoln. The return of the John Ahart play, which ran for many summers at New Salem, has been a long time coming. Ahart gave producers Pat and Kari Anderson and Dave and Shelly Flickinger the rights […]
Phil Funkenbusch
Posted inArts & Culture
Little theatre production pairs highly regarded stage veterans
The Little Theatre on the Square in Sullivan launches its new season with a whopping good show, the ageless Hello, Dolly!, featuring two lead performances that could not be better Ñ Anna McNeely in the title role and Michael Haws as Horace Vandergelder Ñ and an ensemble of singers and dancers that literally lifts the […]
Posted inNews
Summer theater
Summertime on area stages always seems to hark back to the old days of summer stock — big tried-and-true musicals, comedies, light fare. That’s mostly the case for the summer of 2004, but a few interesting, new works are floating around out there, too. • The Springfield Muni Opera opens the season this weekend with […]
Posted inArts & Culture
A capital crime in the capital city
In her last book, Nine Nights on the Windy Tree, Martha Miller introduced Bertha Brannon, a Springfield lawyer who finds herself involved in a mystery. It was a good read, and I was looking forward to meeting Brannon once again in Miller’s new book, Dispatch to Death. Miller, who lives in Springfield, uses the capital […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Stage brights for Memorial Day weekend
Continuing a recent spate of new, innovative theatrical offerings, Memorial Day weekend features several interesting area openings: • Theater student Matthew Schwartz conceived and directs a show he titles Different Stages, playing for one performance at the Center for the Arts at 8 p.m. Friday, May 28. The show examines relationships, and incorporates scenes and […]
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Backstage Pass
Springfield stages are busy these days, with more new and experimental works being staged here than in most communities of comparable size. Here are just a few of the new shows being hatched locally: This weekend, Springfield Theatre Centre’s production of Holes continues, with a large-cast production headed by young Sam Germann and a near-professional-quality […]
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Backstage pass 4-29-04
The new Center for the Arts is showcasing the talents of its tenants with a gala on Saturday, May 1. Titled “Beyond Our Dream,” the fundraiser and celebration features performances running simultaneously on all three floors of the building, including two hour-long concert performances of Les Misérables on the Mainstage at 8 and 10 p.m. […]
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Backstage Pass 4-15-04
Forever Plaid, the tuneful show that was an off-Broadway hit in 1990 and has played here several times, is back for two weeks at the Springfield Center for the Arts. The Gordon Productions show, which runs April 16-18 and April 22-25, is the same production that was seen at New Salem and Springfield Theatre Centre. […]
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Backstage Pass 3-25-04
Sacred Heart-Griffin High School this week reprises the musical Children of Eden, which was produced there a few years back and eventually was performed at Muni Opera. The show, which tells the Old Testament stories of Adam, Eve, Noah and the Flood, has a great score by Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Pippin, and the current Wicked) […]
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Backstage Pass
Shakespeare’s As You Like It, staged by Michael Savage at Springfield Theatre Centre, concludes its run this weekend, at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 12-13, and 2 p.m. Sunday, March 13. Utilizing a bare stage with only two benches, the small company of some of the area’s best actors (including Felicia Coulter, Jim Cox, […]
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Backstage Pass
When Roxy Group’s Swingtime Canteen opens this weekend at the Center for the Arts, many will remember the weekend after 9/11 when this valentine to the World War II-era USO shows first played at New Salem. Hearing the cast sing “I’ll Be Seeing You” four days after the tragedy at the World Trade Center was […]
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Backstage Pass
Auditions for Noel Coward’s classic 1925 comedy Hay Fevertake place on Sunday and Monday, Feb. 22-23, at the UIS Studio Theatre from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Callbacks are on Tuesday, Feb. 24. The show, about an eccentric family of British actors, will be directed by Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson, and is scheduled to run April 9-10 […]
