Archive for June, 2010
Review: SUGAR (Drury Lane Oakbrook)
This ‘sugar’ lacks spice
| Drury Lane Oakbrook presents |
| Sugar |
| Book by Peter Stone Music: Jule Styne, Lyrics: Bob Merrill Based on movie “Some Like It Hot” Directed by Jim Corti at 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook (map) through August 1st | tickets: $26-$40 | more info |
Reviewed by Katy Walsh
It’s a play about the filming of a play about a movie. Drury Lane Oakbrook presents SUGAR, a musical version of the film ‘Some Like It Hot.’ In Studio 24, they are filming a speakeasy prohibition era romp. The show starts with Sweet Sue Syncopation 
Orchestra in dire need of a new sax and cello player. The all-girl band is heading from Chicago to Miami. Over on Clark Street, two musicians witness a brutal killing by a mob. To hide from the bad guys, they join Sweet Sue’s band to get out of town. They’ve got the right and wrong instruments. The ‘new girls’ are really dudes. Sugar is the singer. She has a history of falling for deadbeat sax players and wants a future with a non-musician millionaire. A sax player, Josie, is really Joe who is now also pretending to be millionaire. Daphne, aka Jerry, is also interested in Sugar but has millionaire issues of his… her own. SUGAR is a love triangle farce with extra sides of sweet amusement.
In a play about the filming of a play about a movie, there are true glimpses of Billy Wilder’s classic masterpiece. Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon haunt the stage. Jennifer Knox (Sugar) is the sexy blonde bombshell. Knox dances and sings with a sensual allure that would make Marilyn proud. Alan Schmuckler (Jerry/Daphne) is Jack Lemon incarnate. His facial expressions and manner provide pure Lemon comedy that blends perfectly with SUGAR. And he can sing too. Jack would be jealous! One of the best duets is ‘The Beauty that Drives Men Mad’ sung by Schmuckler and his buddy… gal pal, Rod Thomas (Joe/Josie/Junior). Not looking quite as pretty in a wig, Thomas’ height adds its own humor in his masculine drag performance. Tammy Mader (Sweet Sue) is the 
vibrant Charleston dancing conductor. Although her moxie presence gets limited stage time, it leaves a cue-the-band appeal. Joe D. Lauck (Osgood) is charming as a millionaire in love. The entire SUGAR cast, as musicians, gangsters, millionaires, add an extra layer of flavor with melt in your mouth goodness.
Director Jim Corti has remounted the musical SUGAR as a movie being filmed. The curtain is a makeshift studio warehouse door. A film crew is stagehands moving light fixtures. At the end of Act I, two characters meet up on break. As an ingredient, it doesn’t really add or take anything away. It’s like Splenda. I get the concept but I prefer the real thing. SUGAR tastes good. Sure, it’s not one of the major food groups and you couldn’t exist on a diet of just sugar. If life is like a box of chocolates, then SUGAR is a Whitman Sampler. You know what you’re biting into but that does not spoil the pleasure.
| Rating: ★★½ |
Running Time: Two hours includes a fifteen minute intermission
REVIEW: Itsoseng (Chicago Shakespeare)
Waiting for the change that never comes
| Chicago Shakespeare Theatre presents |
| Itsoseng |
| Written and performed by Omphile Molusi Directed by Tina Johnson at Chicago Shakespeare, Navy Pier (map) through June 20 | tickets: $28-$38 | more info |
Reviewed by Oliver Sava
At the end of apartheid, the South African township of Itsoseng found itself without a shopping center. The center had become the economic hub of the town, but having been built by a corrupt leader, was looted then burnt to the ground in an act of revolt. Surely the new government would reward their brave action? Ten years later, poverty and crime have skyrocketed, and there is still no shopping center. In his one man show Itsoseng, Omphile Molusi exposes how bureaucracy and politics have come to stand in the way of aid to struggling South African villages. Molusi weaves a story of desperation and loss that transcends the continent gap as he chronicles the lives of 
those struggling to survive, taking the audience on a heartbreaking journey through a walking graveyard.
At its core, Itsoseng is a play about desperation. What a town desperate for change will do to join the revolution, the dark places people without hope will go to find sustenance. With only a garbage littered set and a trunk, Molusi creates his dreary village through skilled impressions, song, dance, and various languages, successfully constructing the illusion by his lonesome. Molusi never drops his energy throughout the 75-minute production, and what he lacks in clarity he makes up for in emotional intensity and dedication to his characters.
The early scenes are a bit difficult to follow as Molusi captures the unrestrained energy of youth with a little too much fervor, but as his character matures so does the storytelling. The narrative begins to take shape as Molusi discovers more social problems and political barriers, finally taking action himself to enact change. He is driven by the struggles of his neighbors, his childhood sweetheart that whores herself in taverns, the ex-revolutionary that sits stoned on the sidewalk, cursing his government. And while it all sounds quite dreary, Molusi is a charismatic performer with a natural humor that keeps the piece from being too heavy. The language of the play is a mix of blunt observation and poetic embellishment that shows Molusi is a talented playwright that can tow the line between fantastic escapism and gritty realism.
Itsoseng was a village that once had pride and hope in a future. The future is a fantasy unless the South African government takes active steps to repair the townships that it forgot in favor of the economically prosperous urban territories. In the aftermath of apartheid, South Africa has taken major steps towards improving the lives of its citizens, but Itsoseng shows just how far there is left to go.
| Rating: ★★★ |
REVIEW: The Better Doctor (Silent Theater Company)
Multi-talented performers struggle to find show’s unique voice
| Bootstraps Comedy Theater, in association with Silent Theatre presents |
| The Better Doctor |
| written and directed by Matt Lyle at Prop Thtr, 3504 N. Elston (map) through June 26th | tickets: $15 | more info |
reviewed by Aggie Hewitt
Silent Theater Company’s gimmick is what it sounds like: theatre in the style of old silent movies. It opens the door for some awesome physical performances and it even creates a template by which to tell topical stories in a universal way. Such is the case with The Better Doctor, Matt Lyle’s new play about sick, broke kids and the heroic tramp Velma (Kim Lyle), who is dedicated to finding them healthcare.
The show begins when the musicians take the stage. Eric Loughlin on piano and Chris Jett on percussion sit on either side of the stage, bookending the action. The show does not lack energy, or innovation. Matt Lyle, who also directs, comes up with authentic and entertaining bits. Old-fashioned showmanship takes over as the performers charm the audience with sleight of hand tricks and big, blown-out characters.
The plot is simple, campy and a direct throwback to the simplistic storylines that showcased the comedic genius of Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton, but with a new, political twist. There are ways in which the live-action adaptation of the stylized, antiquated form of silent movie performance works very well. The exaggerated physicality is extremely theatrical, and evokes the feeling of a classic mime routine. The performers take on the athletic challenge with aplomb and grace. Heather Forsythe, who is well utilized for a supporting player demonstrates a knack for physical comedy, and graces the stage with a youthful sass. Her performance, while presentational as her fellow actors, betrays the hint of grounded humanity that made Buster Keaton a true comedic master. The same can be said for lead actor Samuel Zelitch, who’s bumbling medical intern character is straight from the classics.
Kim Lyle’s performance is plucky and confident, and it’s nice to see a woman hero in this context. As Velma, she uses her brawn and wit to find medical care for the three sick little scamps, joining forces with a Buster Keaton-ish intern. The trap and the stone-face team up to fight the powers that be, in this case the wicked Chief of Medicine, played by actor/improviser Mike Brunlieb. The play unfolds in an episodic manor, similar to the silent films that inspired it. Although the scenes progress to create a fluid piece, this is 
secondary; each scene’s primary purpose is to open the door for comedy bits.
Around three quarters of the way through, The Better Doctor begins to lag. During the big chase scene, which gets off to a funny, if precious, start, ends up spiraling down a dark road. As the chase dissolves into a keystone cops parody, the The Better Doctor becomes a show that relies too heavily on a clever premise, without taking ownership of itself. The Better Doctor, while paying faithful homage to the silent greats, has too weak a grasp on its own voice. A silent play that is too stylistically referential, The Better Doctor is to be cutesy at times, and gimmicky at it’s worst. Bootstraps Comedy Theater needs to revisit this play, and cultivate what is universally true about this show. A little more honesty, and The Better Doctor could be a four star show.
| Rating: ★★½ |
REVIEW: Inherit the Whole (Mortar Theatre Company)
Moving play accentuated by tour de force performances
| Mortar Theatre Company presents |
| Inherit The Whole |
| written by Dana Lynn Formby directed by Jason Boat at the Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport (map) through June 27th | tickets: $15-$20 | more info |
reviewed by Robin Sneed
Rarely have I cried at a theatre performance, but I did at the end of Inherit The Whole, produced by Mortar Theatre Company, directed by Jason Boat. In my many years of involvement in the theatre, I rarely go to after-parties, but this one I did, so I could stand for the actors.
Inherit the Whole, written by Dana Lynn Formby, winner of the 2009 Kennedy Center National 10-Minute Playwriting Award, brings a complex, moving, and raw account of a Vietnam Veteran, Doug, played to exquisite intensity by Derek Garza. The role of Doug as strung out vet is no mean feat to play, and Garza carries this through until the end with a consistency that is staggering. Doug is a man with a mission to dig and dig until he finds the truth, a wild card, a man near mental collapse. Garza plays this with grit. He carries on until the end, putting his energy into the long haul.
During the first act I was unsure the playwright would bring the characters to arc. The scene felt static and unresolved. But in the second act, the characters were collectively brought to such a high arc, I wept at the scene before me. This is rare writing, displaying impressive skill. The second act is so surprising in it’s follow through, it is more than worth sitting in a very warm theatre. This is the retelling of American history at it’s best.
Lisa, played by Stephanie Stroud, is a tour de force. Beginning as the middle-of-nowhere mother figure, we see this woman take the stage by force of a gun. The use of guns in this play is powerful. I cannot remember ever seeing a play in which real guns were used as props. This is a story moved by violence and war, brought home, to a property under siege by greedy relatives. This is the story of a man who has served, and cannot escape his past. He refuses to let go, and we feel that pain every step of the way.
Sarah Tode is the interfering Kalann, a woman given to a shallow and narrow view of the world. This is a beautiful actress willing to play the cad, and she does so without remorse nor bravado – a subtle performance, callous, and unapologetic.
Paul, played by Christopher Jon Martin, is the stunning center of the piece. Imagine my surprise to learn he is just thirty-nine years old, while so convincingly playing the part of a man in his sixties. The patriarch of this unraveled family, Martin takes the stage with a force that is palpable. This actor represents the very magic that is theatre. In fact, he looked thinner when I met him after the show, than he looked on stage. That is called acting.
The design of the show is uneven:
The lighting, by Camden Peterson, is too hot for this piece, and does not display the nuance and movement necessary to make the play sing – for this show’s lighting, then, less definitely is more. This intense drama needs shade and the most careful touch. The 
lights were simply too crass and bright and at times distracted from the action.
Music is non-existent. A soundtrack is needed here. There is much music from the sixties to use as a guidepost, and a more robust sound-design would add hugely to the impact of this piece.
The scenic design by Eric Broadwater is outrageous. No detail is left out. It’s nearly guerilla theatre in the sense that it becomes a character in the play. There is no escaping this environment. From the dirt, to the papers, to every small imagining, this is scenic design at it’s best. Small lamps, paintings, shelves, chairs, every part of this design is flawless. Absolutely nothing is left untold, reminding me of a Hitchcock film.
Mortar Theatre is the brainchild of Jacob Juntunen, Managing Director, and with this production of Inherit The Whole, he is bringing a striking new voice to theatre in Chicago. I got a chance to chat with him after the show, and he is direct, political only in the sense of history, and does not wish to bring confrontation, but release from our American landscape, our nightmares, our misery.
This is solemn theatre; not for those who wish to leave the venue singing a song. This is theatre for those who want to leave the theatre changed and moved. Inherit The Whole will give that to you; dress lightly, and bring a cold beverage; you are in for a hot ride.
| Rating: ★★★½ |
Review: Cirque Shanghai: Cloud 9 (at Navy Pier)
A thrilling summer show for the entire family
| Cirque Shanghai and Navy Pier present |
| Cirque Shanghai: Cloud 9 |
| Directed by Miao Miao Chen at the Skyline Stage, Navy Pier (map) thru September 6th | tickets: $12-$29 | more info |
Never mind the official calendar. If Cirque Shanghai is in residence on Navy Pier, it must be summer in the city. In residence under the armadillo-shaped tent that is the Pier’s Skyline Stage, the Chinese import is back with its roster of spectacular human oddities and jaw-dropping feats of strength, balance and grace. Think Cirque du Soleil, minus the artsy existential clowning and plus motorcycle stunt drivers. That’s the general aesthetic that informs Cirque Shanghai: Cloud 9.
The new show brings new acts to the stage, chief among them those motorcycles. During the kinetic Imperial Thunder, a quartet of roaring bikes and their color-coordinated riders zip around like bees inside of a metal dome that you’d swear wasn’t large enough to accommodate even one rider let alone four. Inside the Imperial Thunder dome, the riders make it look easy, flying over and around each other in a display of centrifugal force and precision racing that’s a genuine jaw-dropper. On the other end of the spectrum? The contemplative Thousand Hand Guan Yin, a golden-tinged illustration of a goddess with – yes – a thousand hands.
Those two acts illustrate the extremes of Cloud 9, the creation of Sylvia Hase with director Miao Miao Chen and Chicago-based choreographer Brenda Didier. Whichever performance style you prefer – ear-drum rattling roars and performers in full-body whirl at break-neck pace or new-agey strings serenely accompanying hand-dancers creating illusions with the most delicate movements of their fingertips – Cirque Shanghai delivers plenty of it.
Performed by a troupe of elite circus performers aged 15 to 25, the show is pure eye candy. There’s no subtext to contortionism, nothing to deconstruct in a display of hat juggling. That’s absolutely fine. Cloud 9 is a seasonally appropriate wonder, entertainment that screams “leave your thinking caps at home, school’s out for the summer!”
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That’s not to say that the 18 acts within the production are anything less than top tier. Try not to ooh and aah at the Suspended Pole Acrobats as they leap, two stories up, between perilously swaying stalks. Ditto the gleefully silly Bicycle Platform Balance, where in nine grinning cyclists form a pedaling human pyramid atop a single bicycle. There are also strong men, hoop divers and aerial artists whose skill spinning on silks evokes acrobatic spiders flying between web strands.
The look of the production is as marvelously over-the-top as the acts. Think Liberace meets Bob Mackie meets a Bedazzler set on stun and you get a sense of the show’s visual appeal. Cirque Shanghai: Cloud 9 might not ponder the depths of the human condition, but for pure fun, it’s tough to beat.
| Rating: ★★★½ |
Mental Health Break: Leslie Jordan talks smack about Tony Awards
Leslie Jordan, most known from his re-occurring character in “Will & Grace” (for which he won an Emmy), is now starring in his self-authored Off-Broadway show My Trip Down the Pink Carpet (more info), Enjoy this funny interview featuring Jordan gossiping about an array of Tony Award nominees.
The Neo-Futurists announce their 22nd Season
THE NEO-FUTURISTS ANNOUNCE THEIR 22nd SEASON OF ORIGINAL WORK
Prime-Time Season
Prime-time shows run Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. at The Neo-Futurarium, 5153 N. Ashland (at Foster) in Andersonville. Tickets are $15, $10 for students/seniors with ID, or pay-what-you-can during previews and on Thursdays. For tickets or information, visit www.neofuturists.org or call The Neo-Futurist Hotline at 773-275-5255.
| Aug 19 – Sept 25 | Daredevils’ Hamlet |
| Created and curated by Ryan Walters (bio after the fold) | |
| Channeling the 2005 hit Daredevils, the men in jumpsuits take competition to a new level in this meta-destruction of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Director Halena Kays returns to direct this thematic adaptation of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, by challenging feats of revenge, passion, and failure. The Daredevils prove there’s no better way to feel alive than by exploring a show that deals with copious amounts of death. | |
| Feb 5 – March 12 | Laika Dog in Space |
| by Rob Neill, Eevin Hartsough, Jill Beckman and Carl Riehl | |
| East meets Midwest when the NY Neos bring their 2009 Ontological Incubator hit to the Chicago stage. Part science lesson, part Russian folklore and part introspective interpretation, Laika Dog In Space uses original music, dance and puppetry to help tell the story of Laika, the first mammal in space, and to discuss the impact of her life. Arrive early to take advantage of a living installation takes the audience through various stations where they listen, confess, create and experiment. And of course, the step back in time to the mid-80′s Soviet space program wouldn’t be complete without a helping of borscht! | |
| April 30 – June 4 | Performing Tonight! Liza Minnelli’s Daughter |
| Conceived by Mary Fons (bio after the fold) | |
| What would you do if you believed you were destined for greatness but fate screwed it up? Life is hard, and Mary knows it all too well, but she is positive that her one-woman theatrical spectacle (featuring a cast of three) is a one-way ticket to the extraordinary life that she was supposed to lead – life as the daughter of Broadway and big screen legend, Liza Minnelli. In Performing Tonight! Liza Minnelli’s Daughter, Mary Fons is Mary Minnelli, a woman with a shaky past, but a bright future. Enthusiasm, delusion, ambition and a little bit of obsession blur the lines of fact and fiction in the Neo-Futurist prime time season closer. | |
| ONGOING SHOW | Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind |
| The Neo-Futurists’ signature show, performed since 1988, is the longest-running production in Chicago history. Too Much Light… is an ever-changing attempt to perform 30 plays in 60 minutes. Each week the ensemble adds between two and twelve new plays to the menu. Every performance creates an unreproducible, living-newspaper collage of the comic and tragic, the political and personal, the visceral and experimental. | |
| TMLMTBGB runs Fridays and Saturdays at 11:30pm, Sundays at 7pm, Tickets $9 plus the roll of a six-sided die (so $10-$15) |
Ensemble for Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind
REVIEW: Million Dollar Quartet – yeah, it still rocks!
Yeah, it still rocks
| Apollo Theater Chicago presents |
| Million Dollar Quartet |
| Book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux Musical Arrangements by Chuck Mead Directed by Floyd Mutrux & Eric Schaeffer at Apollo Theater, 2540 N. Lincoln (map) through September 5th | tickets: $59-$80 | more info |
reviewed by Oliver Sava
I know two people that have seen Million Dollar Quartet over 30 times. A retired married couple, they are the target audience of the musical: seniors with a nostalgic appreciation for the pioneers of rock n’ roll. I have a nostalgic appreciation for No Doubt. My knowledge of Johnny Cash’s music is the “Walk the Line” soundtrack, my Elvis I.Q. is limited to my mother’s cassettes on road trips, and I recognize the songs 
of Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis, but know next to nothing about the men themselves. That being said, Million Dollar Quartet is currently playing on Broadway with a national tour in the works and Tony nominations in its pocket, so it’s got to be good, right?
It is.
I expected dynamic musical numbers from skilled performers, but Million Dollar Quartet is more than just a glorified cover band. Escott and Mutrux’s book is edutainment at its finest, a spirited history lesson on the early days of rock n’ roll centered on legendary music producer Sam Phillips (Tim Decker), the man responsible for the superstar jam session. Decker understands the emotional journey of his character, from Phillips’ pride in the humble Sun Records, his anger at losing his major talent, and his hope in the future of rock n’ roll. Phillips’ devotion to the music is clear in Decker’s confidence on stage, portraying a man whose home is the studio.
Flashbacks to Phillips’ first encounters with Perkins (Gabe Bowling), Cash (Sean Sullivan), and Presley (David Lago) establish the relationship between the musicians and their producer, and reveal how paramount Phillips was to the evolution of these men as artists. These three men are the already established Sun Records family, three brothers that don’t always get along but respect each other, with Lewis (Lance Lipinsky) as the cocky new kid with the potential to be a star. When the four of them play together, the results are electric, and Phillips is that tie that binds them.
The thrill of Million Dollar Quartet is seeing four legends playing together for the first and only time. The actors have to sell the illusion for maximum impact, and the new cast does so admirably. Lipinsky has big shoes to fill – Levi Kreis is nominated for a Tony and has won the Outer Critics Circle for Best Featured Actor – but he backs up Lewis’s ego with boundless energy and fevered fingers that showcase his technical mastery. Lipinsky’s mischievous smile and carefree demeanor contrast with his more professional comrades, providing comic relief and adding tension to the script, particularly in his interactions with Bowling’s hotheaded Perkins. With his hit song “Blue Suede Shoes” usurped by Presley and his record sales dwindling, Perkins stands to lose the most, and Bowling finds the desperation that lies beneath the temper.
Sullivan has Cash’s bass vocals down pat, and his gentle conduct serves to make the character’s conflict – telling Phillips he will not be renewing his Sun contract – all the more believable. As the most imitated of the group, Lago does all the hip shaking and lip curling you expect, but is careful not to become a caricature. At this point in his career Elvis is still a young upstart, and Lago plays him with an understated sexuality that suggests a man not yet in control of the power he has over people, especially women. Kelly Lamont brings some estrogen to the studio as Dyanne, Presley’s sassy girlfriend with a powerhouse belt, and her rendition of “Fever” smolders, starting softly and building in intensity until the last note. Watching the quartet take turns flirting with her is consistently amusing, and the a cappella fan in me swooned as she vocalized the fiddle part in “Riders in the Sky.”
When the quartet plays, they forget about contracts and television appearances and just live in the music. That release is rock n’ roll, and Million Dollar Quartet is a fitting tribute to its early years that shouldn’t be missed.
| Rating: ★★★½ |
Wednesday Wordplay: Mary Tyler Moore and Oscar Wilde
Having a dream is what keeps you alive. Overcoming the challenges make life worth living.
– Mary Tyler Moore
The toughest thing about success is that you’ve got to keep on being a success. Talent is only a starting point in this business. You’ve got to keep on working that talent. Someday I’ll reach for it and it won’t be there.
— Irving Berlin, 1958
There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.
— Edith Wharton, Vesalius in Zante
Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about.
– Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere’s Fan
Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in.
— Amy Lowell
For myself I am an optimist – it does not seem to be much use being anything else.
— Sir Winston Churchill, Lord Mayor’s banquet speech, 1954
Only some people get what they want. Those are the people who show up to get it.
— Dianne Houston, Take The Lead, 2006
Intimacy is being seen and known as the person you truly are.
— Amy Bloom
May I never miss a sunset or a rainbow because I am looking down.
— Sara June Parker
I’d rather be a failure at something I love than a success at something I hate.
— George Burns
REVIEW: An Evening with David Sedaris (Steppenwolf)
An evening well spent
| Steppenwolf Theatre presents |
| An Evening With David Sedaris |
| at Steppenwolf Upstairs Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted through June 13th | more info tickets: currently sold out, but call 312-335-1650 for updates |
I have read a couple of David Sedaris books over the years and I wasn’t sure what to expect of an evening with the author himself. The excitement in the lobby of the Steppenwolf Theatre was muted and yet palpable. This was an NPR kind of crowd and that was cool with me. Still, as a person who has found myself laughing 
uncontrollably on the “L’ while reading “Naked”, I wondered how Mr. Sedaris would pull off such a feat as being hysterically funny in person.
He entered the stage without a lot of fanfare carrying a binder and what turned out to be a thrift store painting of Parisian ragamuffins. Sedaris got right down to business reading from his new book titled “Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary” (with illustrations by Ian Falconer) due in fall 2010. He called them his take on the fable and indeed the two that he told had a moral.
Mr. Sedaris tells the first fable from the point of view of a curious owl that asks questions of the more interesting prey. This owl is on a quest to be more than just his appetites and drive to hunt. If the prey has an interesting story, the owl releases it only to watch his parasitic (and hilariously stupid) family show up to eat the poor creatures anyway. The tales are told in a matter of fact style that is both absurd and surreal. I have yet to shake the image of the owl’s passive aggressive mother arriving as he is about to snack on an unfortunate rabbit.
He shared another fable of a bully rabbit based on an incident with airport security that was also dark and visceral. I don’t know of many people who can make decomposition and carrion quite so funny. He shared that the fables would also be released in audio format and that the incomparable Elaine Stritch would read the bully rabbit story.
Good storytellers reveal the world more than tell the listener or reader something new. There are a multitude of facts on this planet but Sedaris crafts the story behind them and puts a kaleidoscope spin on even scientific facts. As part of the owl fable, there is something revealed about leeches and hippos that could have been a gross out moment. I took away a new attitude about leeches and a new respect for gerbils.
Sedaris finished the evening with excerpts from his diary that revealed more of how his process works and then opened the floor for questions. I will admit to anxiety over the Q&A part of the evening. There is always some yahoo who wants to have the deepest question to prove that they “get” the subject matter and it usually opens the gates of pandering pseudo-intellectual hell. Thank the Universe that was not the case this evening. There were good and respectful questions, and Mr. Sedaris was most accommodating. He spoke of what he is currently reading and who his inspiration was for live performance (Whoopi Goldberg). He also bought a lovely parting gift in the aforementioned Parisian ragamuffins painting. It was such an endearing moment when he asked if anyone collected thrift shop paintings and then gave it to the one person who admitted such a hobby. He also brings books and other knick-knacks to give away on occasion. It is a lovely to see beyond the surface of the absurdities of life. I recalled our velvet rendition of “Lady and the Tramp” in my childhood living room and wondered what happened to it.
Mr. Sedaris travels quite a bit for his work and has some delightful tales of time spent on planes and in airports. I would say that you should take care with your attire should he be around. Above all do not wear ethnically challenging hair or colloquialisms on your tee shirt. You will find yourself in a story and deservedly mocked.
An Evening with David Sedaris is playing at Steppenwolf Upstairs Theatre through June 13th 2010. Try your best to score a ticket through www.steppenwolf.org or call 312-335-1650. The show that I saw was sold out and there were hopeful people willing to wait on standby. It is worth the ticket and I look forward to the book both written and in audio form. Due to David Sedaris, a trip to the zoo is forever changed and I will be checking out the hippopotamus in a whole new way.
| Rating: ★★★ |
