Carrie: The Musical, Theatre Cedar Rapids, Sept. 20–Oct. 13 This article is about two great shows happening in the corridor this season, and it is also a love letter to two theater powerhouses. The impact of Chris Okiishi and Patrick Du Laney on the performing arts in eastern Iowa cannot be overstated. Even before starting […]
Theatre Cedar Rapids
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Theater Review: ‘Clue’ cast ‘fires on all cylinders’ in ‘deliriously funny romp’
In the wake of Barbie’s big summer, adaptations of intellectual properties (IP if you’re in the know) are inescapable. And like any monolith, there are good and bad. For every LEGO Movie, there’s an Emoji Movie. Thankfully, Theatre Cedar Rapids’ Clue is a very silly slice of slapstick to be shared with an audience and […]
Posted inEastern Iowa
Theater Review: A Doll’s House(s) in Cedar Rapids
I entered the Grandon Theatre at Theatre Cedar Rapids to see A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen (written in 1879), and as I passed the veiled Victorian frames and black molded walls, I was transported to another time and place. Knowing I’d see A Doll’s House, Part 2, by Lucas Hnath (written in 2017) the next evening […]
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Audiences waited two years, but 2022 is the perfect timing for TCR’s ‘Kinky Boots’
After waiting nearly two years to open, Theatre Cedar Rapids began its run of Kinky Boots (score by Cyndi Lauper, book by Harvey Fierstein) to a house of appreciative audience members, some of whom had held on to their tickets through the pandemic. And what show could be better at the beginning of 2022 than […]
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Consent is sexy, even when the sex is fake. Just ask Iowa intimacy director Carrie Pozdol
When Carrie Pozdol stands in front of the cast of Theatre Cedar Rapids’ winter musical, Kinky Boots, she wears a T-shirt that reads “make it less weird.” Because that is just what she is there to do. Though she is an accomplished actor and director in her own right, Pozdol is at this rehearsal in […]
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Theatre Cedar Rapids installs coil system to enhance sound for patrons with hearing aids
Theatre Cedar Rapids expanded their accessibility options recently with the installation of a hearing induction loop in their auditorium. Hearing induction loops are a type of assistive hearing device that uses a copper wire installed around the perimeter of the auditorium to beam magnetic signals directly to patrons’ hearing aids. The installation was made possible […]
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With stage magic, a newer text, TCR’s is not your mama’s ‘Cinderella’ (but she’ll still enjoy it!)
This past Friday, Theatre Cedar Rapids reopened its main stage for the first time since COVID-19 hit with Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella. Director Angie Toomsen brings the adapted stage play to life through the brilliant actors throughout every scene. The new libretto, written for the 2013 Broadway production by Douglas Carter Beane, brings the differences […]
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‘A Year With Frog and Toad’ is a warm and fuzzy start to fall
Saturday was a beautiful almost-autumn evening at the Peggy Boyle Whitworth Amphitheatre. Around me on the grassy hill at Brucemore was a full house (if there can be such a thing at an outdoor performance space) of families on picnic blankets and lawn chairs, snacking and playing tag as the performers and production team prepared […]
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TCR’s ‘Bright Star’ is full of shine
The bright sun shone on the face of Alice Murphy, played by the majestic Jordan Arnold, as she casually entered the playing space of Theatre Cedar Rapids’ Bright Star. This riveting musical (music/book and story by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell) is presented live and outdoors on Brucemore’s beautiful Peggy Boyle Whitworth Amphitheater. Arnold opens […]
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Get “crumples in [your] dress” when you see the moving ‘Little Women’ with loved ones
As my tablemates and I arrived at Theatre Cedar Rapids’ production of Little Women at Brucemore, I could feel a crispness in the air. The rainy sky had opened to let the sun out just as we rolled up into the drive. The stage, covered with a painted backdrop of the interior of the March […]
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TCR’s essential ‘Out of Bounds’ features stellar performances carrying heavy material
On a stage that resembles a blueprint for adolescence at its cruelest, the protagonist Amy’s origin story in TCR’s Out of Bounds unfolds before the audience in a frustrating, unrelenting-battle-against-the-system fashion. Slut-shaming. Victim-blaming. Mean girls (of all ages) galore. With a showtime of 90 minutes, the 10-act production brings to life a 14-year-old girl’s trauma […]
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Best of the CRANDIC Spotlight: Theatre Cedar Rapids
Theatre Cedar Rapids was voted Best Community Music or Theater Group in Little Village’s 2020 Best of the CRANDIC competition. Theatre Cedar Rapids traces its history back nearly 100 years, to a small group of players in 1925 producing sporadic shows in Grant Wood’s studio apartment at 5 Turner Alley. Out of that was born […]
