DES MOINES THEATER REVIEWS

Every family has issues, and for some reason those issues always appear during the holidays. In the Iowa Stage production of 'The Lion in Winter', by James Goldman family issues are prevalent as King Henry, Queen Eleanor and their three sons argue over who should take over the throne after King Henr...

As a kid we have huge dreams on what we are going to do over the summer. Usually when it comes to the end of the summer and the school year is getting ready to start, we find that those dreams haven't been fulfilled. In "Judy Moody & Stink: The Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Treasure Hunt" by Allison Gregory,...

Why is theatre important? That is a question that everyone answers differently. For me, it is important because it is an artform that pushes us to examine ourselves and pushes us to have a dialogue about things that we might not talk about in our every day life. For me, Des Moines Young Artist Theat...

What is happiness? I think this is something we forget about all too often. And who better to remind us what happiness is than a group of young artists performing. Happiness is… going to Des Moines Young Artist Theatre's production of “You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown”....

Weddings can be fun, or they can be full of drama. We all like watching the Bride walk down the aisle, and eating food at the reception. While it may not be the time of year for outdoor weddings, Ankeny Community Theatre is inviting us inside for "Happily Ever After: A Wedding Comedy," by Mark Dun...

Des Moines Has been found! The tour of 'Dear Even Hansen' plays at Des Moines Performing Arts Civic Center through February 10 and this is a not to be missed production....

Sometimes, what seems like an insignificant moment, can have an amazing impact. "Ordinary Days" by Adam Gwon, this year's Dream Project for Tallgrass Theatre Company, asked us to take a look at the small moments in our life and see that they are anything by ordinary. While the show may have closed o...

The game is afoot at the Des Moines Playhouse as they continue with their 100th season. This weekend they opened Ken Ludwig's 'Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery' and the audience was eager and ready to play along. While familiarity with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' w...

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Journeys take us to all sorts of amazing places. Some come in big sizes and are meant to be fun. Others come in the small size of a toy bunny made of china. 'The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane', takes audiences on an amazing journey with a toy bunny made of china, on a journey where he learns t...

If you live in the Des Moines area and not under a rock, chances are you know that Hamilton is playing at the Des Moines Civic Center. The critically-acclaimed hip-hop musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda about the 'Ten Dollar Founding Father' is here from June 27-July 15. Des Moines was chosen to host the...

While the characters are dealing with heavy political and personal issues, Iowa Stage Theatre Company's Rapture, Blister, Burn, directed by Kristin Larson, is a delightful and thought provoking comedy with uncomfortably relatable characters making it a must see....

From Harry Houdini, to baseball, to Booker T. Washington, to the American Dream, Des Moines Playhouse's production of Ragtime covers a lot of ground - ten years to be exact. In presenting an encyclopedic glance of these ten years from 1902 - 1912, the musical, with book by Terrence McNally, lyrics b...

An outstanding cast opened Kansas City Repertory Theatre's new production of Steven Sondheim's 1979 'Sweeny Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street' at the Spencer Theater on the UMKC campus. KC Rep Artistic Director Eric Rosen does more than justice to Sondheim's incredible operatic score and the...

Somewhere in between the high heel kicking, lap dancing, water spitting, wig switching and rocking music, I fell in love with Kata Klysmic's production of Hedwig and The Angry Inch. This feeling must have come towards the beginning of the show, as I do not remember one second where the momentum of t...

Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre presented Puccini's epic Turandot as part of the company's Twentieth Anniversary season, January 19th and 21st at the historic Paramount Theatre in downtown Cedar Rapids, delivering a handsome production, richly adorned with all the spectacle and vocal fireworks one could ...

It is somewhat of an unspoken rule in community theatre that if it's Disney, it sells. This magic word, in combination with the team that made the Cloris Award-sweeping Young Frankenstein last summer, ought to make the Playhouse's production a surefire hit. Luckily, the math adds up for the Playhous...

Love and joy come to you , and come to you it may if you have the chance to join Iowa Stage Theatre Company as they bring 2017 to a close with A Christmas Carol. In this digital age as we increasingly turn to our screens for happy endorphins, the holidays are the perfect time to partake in the unfo...

The most important ingredient in every great recipe is love and it's not a secret element in the formula that made the hit musical, Waitress. She is rich with love in heaping scoops and I, for one, am ready for seconds....

What do you get when two undercover cops, a clueless mayor, his wife, a security guard, an accountant and the Scottish mob collide in two conjoining motel rooms set somewhere in the middle of America? The answer has to be a poorly thought out joke or the play Unnecessary Farce by Paul Slade Smith, w...

Redemption is on the mind in Pyramid Theatre Company's The Amen Corner, the classic James Baldwin show that completes Pyramid's summer season. Baldwin's play often rests on questions concerning redemption, sacrifice, and spirituality making the show a fitting choice for Pyramid after two successful ...

Although Urbandale Community Theatre's dedication to producing classic shows may be safer than putting on contemporary pieces, a classic must be done in a fresh way in order to convince the audience that the show must be seen. This production remains fresh enough to receive that seal of approval and...

In times of great distress, fear can make people do terrible things. It can push wives to turn on husbands, mothers to turn on children, and neighbors to turn on neighbors. This idea surrounds Mississippi Goddamn, a new play by Jonathan Norton that received its first official staging at Pyramid Thea...

This production of The Music Man will lift your spirits and remind you of a great staple of American musical theatre, even if it does need some modern rewrites....

TCR Presents Vinegar Tom in an insanely entertaining manner, audience was kept on the edge of their seats!...