Donkey (Andrew Wheaton), Shrek (Brad Barding) and Fiona (Hannah Siehr). PHOTO BY DONNA LOUNSBERRY ShrekAug. 14-16 and Aug. 21-23, 8 p.m.The Muni, 815 E. Lake Shore Drive, SpringfieldTickets: 793-6864 or online at themuni.org Looking for a place where you can see a wisecracking gingerbread man, an enormous singing dragon, a talking donkey and a diminutive […]
Zach Baliva
Posted inArts & Culture
All Shook Up is fun
Featured dancers perform “Jailhouse Rock,” the show’s opening number. PHOTO BY DONNA LOUNSBERRY “I vote for ‘Fat-Bottomed Girls,’” I hear someone say as I walk backstage at the Springfield Muni Opera. I look up and see director Anna Bussing caught in a brief debate with a member of her cast. They compromise, and moments later […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The hills are alive
Mary Harmon as Maria in an early scene. PHOTO BY DONNA LOUNSBERRY I guess I just assumed I wouldn’t like the Sound of Music. Until last Friday, I’d never actually seen the play, but I was certain I had enough information to make what seemed like an easy decision. I can remember walking through the […]
Posted inNews
In central Illinois, VA means delay
Ed Boblitt just before his deployment to Vietnam in 1968. To his left, his fiancee Janice. The couple broke their engagement in 1969 and were married in 2009, 40 years later. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs scandal is starting to hit closer to home. It was late 2013 when Dr. Sam Foote filed a […]
Posted inMusic
Music from the heart
The Springfield Choral Society has performed Handel’s “Messiah” in each of the last three years. Photo BY MARK SMITH Non-professional choirs and community choruses often write to world-famous venues hoping for a chance to sing inside. Cathedrals, castles, museums and other sites will appease amateur groups by allowing them to perform on the steps. Earlier […]
Posted inArts & Culture
As war escalated in Liberia, life became increasingly difficult
TECUMSAY JUMO ROBERTS, SR. Sisters Gifty Smith and Yarvo Roberts say their childhood home in Liberia was so full of familiar faces that they didn’t know which people were actual relatives. “Those in need came to our house and my parents would find a way to get them whatever they lacked. Dad was always helping […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Does Inherit the Wind say something today?
Other cast members look on as Henry Drummond (Jim Dahlquist, right) questions Matthew Brady (Rich McCoy, left) PHOTO BY DONNA LOUNSBERRY Is it timeless or just old? Inherit the Wind may be a staple of community theater, but can a fictionalized account written 58 years ago about something that happened 88 years ago resonate with […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Risky business
When Mac Warren submitted Rent to the Muni’s play reading committee, he knew the edgy show would be a tough sell. The Tony and Pulitzer winning musical, based loosely on La Boheme, depicts New York artists struggling with HIV/AIDS, addictions and death. Although school editions and other versions omit some offensive language and the sexually […]
Posted inNews
Crushed
Angela McGonigle tried to do everything right. Born and raised in Springfield, she had saved $5,000 to attend Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville but used the money to study abroad instead. Despite the slight indulgence, she still had a plan. McGonigle worked as a resident assistant to pay for her housing. Starting in 1994, she […]
Posted inArts & Culture
You Gotta Believe
If there’s one thing the cast and crew of the Muni’s latest production want you to know, it’s this: their Peter Pan is more than just a kids’ show. And while the husband-and-wife directing team of Gil and Ann Opferman have previously directed children’s classics in the White Rabbit series at the Springfield Theatre Centre, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Living the Dream
It’s more than you,It’s more than me,No matter what we are,We are a family. This dream is for all of us, This one can be real,And you can’t stop us now,Because of how you feel. The words at left are what Jimmy, C.C., Curtis and the others sing in a Miami Beach dressing room to […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Living the American Dream in Springfield
Although he came into the world in 1964, Bassam “Sam” Al-Khayyat (pronounced Alkite) refers to July 3, 1989, as the day he was born. “I remember it like it was yesterday,” he says. “My plane landed, and as I stepped through the door the wind brought the smell of fresh cut grass. The sky was […]
