Arts Features

If you’ve been looking forward to the holiday season and playing Christmas tunes since Halloween, you might want to set your sights on the next production in the STC lineup. Based on the 1942 classic film, Holiday Inn, starring Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Marjorie Reynolds and Virginia Dale, this joyous musical features thrilling dance numbers, […]

Here’s a quick shout out about the upcoming production for Springfield Theatre Centre. Don’t be fooled by the “JR.” in the title. This show, featuring original music by Alan Menken and a talented young cast directed by some of Springfield’s best, promises to get audiences on their feet. Based on the hit 1992 film and […]

The old maxim, “There are no small parts, only small actors,” is not only a familiar line in the world of theater (which you will hear in this currently running production), but it also speaks favorably of the ensemble in A Man of No Importance itself. Each performer shines in their individual moments while serving […]

The shiny silver buffalo on the grounds of the Springfield Art Association (SAA), 700 North Fourth Street, is a beloved community icon that is now in need of restoration. John Kearney, a Chicago-based artist, created the 800-pound sculpture out of chrome car bumpers. The “Bicentennial Bison” was installed Oct. 18, 1975, in the SAA courtyard. […]

Walking into the Legacy Theatre to take my seat for the regional premier of Ride the Cyclone was a little like stepping into a carnival sideshow. Tinkly background music, a fortuneteller’s booth and a slightly askew CYCLONE marquee greeted the audience and set us up for the wild ride we were about to take. Billed […]

“Men have called me mad; but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence – whether much that is glorious – whether all that is profound – does not spring from disease of thought – from moods of mind exalted at the expense of the general intellect.” Poet Edgar […]

“It takes work to not be a bad person…you can’t just be the least bad person in a lineup and call yourself good.” That line, according to one of the actors, stands as a powerful summation of the struggle faced in a provocative new play currently running at the UIS Studio Theatre. The two-act, two-character […]

Hark, good citizens! Attend thee a mirthful spectacle unfolding upon the Hoogland stage. The most wondrous Something Rotten! – book by Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell, music and lyrics by Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey Kirkpatrick – is a musical comedy set in the 90s….the 1590s to be sure. Huzzah! ‘Tis the Renaissance, where struggling playwright […]

The iconic butter cow sculpture is a perennial “must-see” at the Illinois State Fair. Since the 1920s, the life-size figure traditionally made of 500 pounds of unsalted butter has drawn crowds of fairgoers to the Dairy Building. Bessie and her friends in the exhibit are no longer the only butter sculptures there, though, after a […]

Two shows opened last weekend in area outdoor theaters: the one-weekend-only run of Agatha Christie’s Murder On the Orient Express at New Salem’s Theatre in the Park and School of Rock at the Muni Opera (running Aug. 10 to Saturday, Aug. 12). Muni Opera’s production of School of Rock is a stage version of the popular […]

I recently listened to an interview about post-pandemic struggles within regional theaters stemming from low ticket sales and flagging membership renewals. This, unfortunately, has led to things like staffing cuts and other programmatic revisions in what would otherwise be thriving seasons. Listening to this I was disheartened. Especially as they went on to say the […]

If you are a Lincoln history buff or if you simply love musical theater, treat yourself to The Lincolns of Springfield, currently playing at the Hoogland Center for the Arts through July 16. Be ready for songs that will fill your heart, stir your soul and stay with you long after the performance. I experienced […]