Stage Write

The Indianapolis Repertory Theatre decided to open its 2008/09 season with a new adaptation of a classic tale, "Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure." The play follows Holmes through his final case. The iconic detective meets his match both in Dr. Moriarty as his nemesis and Irene Adler as the beautiful, witty woman who steals his heart. The show is a celebration of IRT's talent and is filled with many of the theater's regular performers; Mark Goetzinger, Ryan Artzberger, Robert K Johansen and Robert Neal. It also welcomes a few newcomers to the local stage, all of which meld nicely with the familiar faces. The show is one of the most technically difficult IRT has done. The elaborate sets, including a train car, a bridge over a waterfall, Holmes' study and a warehouse, sweep the audience away into Holmes' Victorian England. Jonathan Gillard Daly embodies the clever Holmes with every dry observation he udders. Goetzinger works well with Daly as Holmes' loya...

When one thinks of Mel Brooks, creator of the films "Spaceballs," and "Blazing Saddles," subtly and quiet laughs don't generally come to mind. Instead, the genius behind those comedy cult classics tends to lean towards over-the-top bawdy humor. Brooks crosses every racial, sexist and religious line in his movies and musicals. He embraces taboos and has brought audiences to their knees with belly laughs for decades. His film "The Producers" was turned into a Broadway smash hit and is now being presented for the first time, by an independent theatre, in Indianapolis. Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre has the show on its stage until Sept. 28. It stars the duo, Eddie Curry and Doug Stark, two actors more frequently found behind the scenes than on the stage in recent years. Stark is the owner of Beef & Boards and Curry is a real life producer and director at the theatre. The pair's easy friendship on stage comes from two decades of collaboration in v...