Center Stage Players

If you love musicals, this is the theater company to watch. If you don't think you love musicals, this is also the theater company to watch. Known for staging shows both traditional and outlandish, CSP's recent season included The Rocky Horror Show, She Loves Me, Sweet Charity and Reefer Madness. As you can see they're down with variety. Columbus' only all-musical troupe, they seem to have honed the art. Their current home is Axis Nightclub, which gives the shows a dinner-theater quality (the full bar is open during shows). Performances are always intimate, and frequently include audience involvement of one kind or another. Don't be surprised if a zombie brushes past you at some point or an actor lands in your lap. (Sometimes literally - the stage is unusually shaped and on the small side and actors have been known to fall off during rehearsal...)It seems the rotating group of directors each have their own style, but all have a wicked sense of humor and it shows. And while the quality of show can vary ever so slightly as the cast and production staff change for each show, I've never experienced a show here that wasn't highly entertaining and worth my ticket price.

I saw the Center Stage Players doing a street performance during a summer Gallery Hop. They were playing show tunes from Little Shop of Horrors. I'm not much for show tunes, but they seemed to have a pretty fair gathering. Their performance wasn't half bad, but they were absurdly loud, like ear-bleeding loud. They were really belting it out. It didn't help that their amp was echoing off the neighboring buildings. I felt bad for the other street performers who were being totally overshadowed.Despite Center Stage's disregard of the city sound ordinance, I'm a big fan of community theatre and would love to see one of their traditional live shows. They billed Rocky Horror last month. It seems like everyone around here grabs onto that story. The venue is appealing as well. They perform at Axis nightclub.Tickets are usually under $20 and can be purchased at the door the night of the event or online beforehand.

You know what makes this theatre company unique? You leave the shows feeling entertained. At most theatres in the area you leave feeling as if you just performed community service, but Center Stage goes out of their way to entertain the audience.