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 […]
Arts Features
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 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 […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Local artists sell out (or at least try to)
Hot on the heels of last weekend’s Old Capitol Art Fair comes another Springfield art show. And this one couldn’t be more different. Local artists, loosely banded together under the banner of Manifest Destiny Art Troupe, will host their second annual Extravaganza Cabaret for Starving Artists. The all-day and all-night (so they say) festival includes […]
Posted inArts & Culture
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 […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The art of reaching middle age, without a crisis
In 1961, the now-defunct Springfield Central Area Development Association invited community organizations to help plan a one-day art fair. The rather lofty goal was to launch an event that would help turn Springfield into a “model capital city to be observed by other cities of the nation as a source of pride and emulation.” Now […]
Posted inArts & Culture
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. […]
Posted inArts & Culture
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. […]
Posted inArts & Culture
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) […]
Posted inArts & Culture
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, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Photographer captured Harlem’s heyday with taste and levity
African-American photographer James VanDerZee operated a portrait studio in Harlem from 1916 until 1982, chronicling the lives of residents and the Harlem Renaissance. His work is a wonderful document of middle-class African-American life. The Art Institute of Chicago has put together a fascinating collection of almost 100 of VanDerZee’s black-and-white photographs, which are on display […]
Posted inArts & Culture
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 […]
