Archive for September, 2010
REVIEW: Sunday in the Park with George (Porchlight)
Porchlight’s ‘Sunday’ doesn’t quite put it together
| Porchlight Music Theatre presents |
| Sunday in the Park with George |
| Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by James Lapine Directed by L. Walter Stearns, music direction by Eugene Dizon Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont, Chicago (map) Through Oct. 31 | Tickets: $38 | more info |
Reviewed by Leah A. Zeldes
"His touch is too deliberate, somehow."
That lyric, from the 1984 Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning Sunday in the Park with George, might well describe Porchlight Music Theatre Director L. Walter Stearns’ uneven revival, which somehow fails to connect the dots of the Stephen Sondheim musical.
Sondheim James Lapine’s imagined backstory behind 19th-century painter Georges Seurat’s pointillist masterpiece "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte" (now housed at the Art Institute of Chicago) has only a tangential relationship to the real biography of the groundbreaking neoimpressionist whose early death deprived the art world of what surely would have been a brilliant career. Instead it concentrates on the troublesome issues of balance between art and life, work and relationships, ambition and practicality.
The artist calls for "Order. Design. Composition. Tone. Form. Symmetry. Balance" — elements that can make or break any work of art. This imbalanced production falters under too much design and not enough tone.
Hidden behind the scenes, Music Director Eugene Dizon on piano and his orchestra — Carolyn Berger, violin; Michelle Lewis, cello; Allison Richards, viola; Patrick Rehker and Derek Weihofen, woodwinds; and Jennifer Ruggieri, harp — do a stellar job with the music. Unfortunately, many of the singers don’t measure up.
Amanda Sweger‘s massive backdrop and Liviu Pasare‘s distracting video projections overwhelm the small stage and the cast as well.
Brandon Dahlquist ably captures George’s sensitivity and absorption, with an expressive face that suggests the real Seurat’s soulful looks and a fine tenor. Yet too often he’s obscured behind the scrim or facing away from the audience. (John Francisco will take this role for the final three weekends of the run.) Seurat’s painting may be the subject of the play, but we really don’t need to see it all the time. An empty stretcher would have conveyed the idea of the work just as well and allowed us to see the actor’s face.
On the other hand, Jess Godwin’s passion is all in her face and rarely in her singing. Playing George’s lover, Dot, the animated and lovely Godwin displays an almost palpable yearning for the artist. The slender redhead bears no resemblance to the Seurat’s actual mistress, Madeleine Knobloch (the buxom subject of "Young Woman Powdering Herself"), which doesn’t matter, but her voice often sounds as thin as her figure, and that does.
Several members of the supporting cast put in excellent performances, however. Sara Stern is superb as George’s peevish, elderly mother. Her fabulous version of "Beautiful" is the highlight of Act I. Sarah Hayes and Daniel Waters do a hilarious job as the unhappy American tourists. Bil Ingraham and Heather Townsend are aptly haughty as the successful painter Jules and his wife, Yvonne, delivering tittering pronouncements on George’s work in "No Life," and Michael Pacas makes a wonderfully wry and full-voiced boatman.
The second act, which jumps forward to a modern artist, also named George — a fictional great-grandson of Seurat — seems much stronger, as if the cast and crew felt more comfortable in the 20th century. Dahlquist, now fresh-faced and beardless, is out in front here. But Godwin, now portraying George’s grandmother, sings "Children and Art" so softly she’s nearly inaudible.
Sunday is one of Sondheim’s more challenging musicals. Porchlight would have done much better to concentrate on the essentials of light and harmony instead of reaching for the heavy design elements that weigh down this production.
"Art isn’t easy, no matter how you look at it."
| Rating:★★ |
Benefit Concert
Porchlight Music Theatre hosts a benefit concert, "By Popular Demand," at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 11, at Mayne Stage, 1328 W. Morse Ave., Chicago (map).
In Act I, singers Jayson Brooks, Sean Effinger-Dean, Nick Foster, Jess Godwin, Lina Kernan, Ryan Lanning, Bethany Thomas, Joseph Tokarz and others perform. At intermission, the audience votes to determine who’ll return to sing again in Act II.
Tickets are $40. Two votes are included with your admission. Each additional vote costs $1 and supports new talent, new works and new productions at Porchlight.
REVIEW: The Sunshine Boys (James Downing Theatre)
Finding the heart behind the sun
| The James Downing Theatre presents |
| The Sunshine Boys |
| Written by Neil Simon Directed by Dave Downing & Ron Denham John Waldron Arts Center, 6740 N. Oliphant (map) through October 3rd | tickets: $15-$25 | more info |
Reviewed by K.D. Hopkins
I love vaudeville. I grew up watching the old movies that featured vaudeville people like Bert Lahr, Milton Berle, and Bob Hope. There was an art to the timing and I still giggle when I hear ‘hello ladies and germs’.
As the stars of vaudeville have faded into obscurity, I developed another fascination with what were their lives like and where are they now. The James Downing Theatre production of Neil Simon’s The Sunshine Boys shines some light onto a fictional duo from vaudeville.
The main characters of Al Lewis and Willie Clark are stock Neil Simon characters. They are woven into American pop culture straight from the vaudeville tradition. Scott Minches plays the role of Willie Clark. Minches has the perfect visage of an old crotchety and bitter man, and he manages to bring humor to a man who’s beginning to suffer from dementia. The character of Clark lives for show business and still reads Variety every week – only now it’s to read obituaries. Iconic stars such as Jack Klugman and Walter Matthau who have made a career out of gruff cigar chomping slobs have played this role. Minches manages to not shadow them too much and still fit Simon’s script quite well. Slobs are broad comedy in and of themselves. Minches brings out the beautiful and sad human side to Willie Clark as a lonely old man.
Manny Schenk is quite amazing as Al Lewis. Tony Randall has done the role of persnickety straight man most famously. Mr. Schenk plays Lewis with a deceptive gentleman’s dignity. He really makes Lewis his own, which is quite a feat considering that he also follows George Burns in this role.
Minches and Schenk play well off of each other. Their timing is impeccable, and the simmering bitterness builds to a perfect boil in the comeback sketch.
Terry Maloney plays the role of Clark’s nephew Ben Silverman. He is also Clark’s very frustrated agent who takes a weekly berating when he visits his uncle. Maloney plays this role a bit too broadly. I would love to see him as the scrambling ‘ten percenter’ determined to get something out of this weekly beating. Instead he’s allowed allowed no comic nuance; he’s basically has one note-frustration.
The best part of this show is definitely Act Two. Lewis and Clark reunite to do a classic skit and it really is funny, recreating visual puns and one- liners that cry out for a rim shot from the band. This skit also features Valerie Heckman as “Nurse”. Ms. Heckman is spot on as the screwball sexy nurse being ogled by Clark. Heckman really shines in a brief role.
Also featured in the second act is Ashley Boots as the home nurse for Clark. Ms. Boots plays the classic New Yorker. She bounces the barbs right back at Clark while eating chocolates and fluffing pillows. Boots has a hilariously affected New York accent. To paraphrase Clark’s character, some words are funny. ‘Nurse’ is not funny, but ‘noyss’ is hilarious when Boots says it.
Mark Kroon is briefly seen as the stage manager for the reunion show. It’s a good moment as he portrays exhaustion and frustration with trying to keep the rehearsal running on time. Kroon has a classic face seemingly pulled right out of a Neil Simon comedy.
The production could use some tweaks in the first act with the rhythm of the dialogue and in the way Minches and Maloney play off of each other. The props are perfect and look like they came right out of an old Montgomery Ward store – the apartment setting as a character unto itself. A formerly grand hotel turned into a down on the heels SRO is harder than it looks to pull off. It is done beautifully.
The Sunshine Boys is definitely good entertainment and worth seeing. The great Northwest Side is a hidden trove of culture. Check it out!
| Rating: ★★★ |
The Sunshine Boys runs Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays through October 3rd, 2010. Be forewarned that it is a long trek by public transit and bring cab fare in case you miss the last Northwest Highway bus. There are some cool pubs and restaurants to make a night of things and enjoy yet another side of Chicago!
The production, directed by Dave Downing & Ron Denham, includes cast members: Manny Schenk as Al Lewis, Scott Minches as Willie Clark and Terry Maloney as Willie’s nephew, Ben. Ashley Boots, Valerie Heckman and Mark Kroon round out the talented cast. Lighting and sound design is by Steve Kedzierski. Costume and prop design is by Ashley Boots. Set design is by Joshua Dlouhy. The stage manager is Mary Schenk.
REVIEW: 1001 (Collaboraction)
A breathtaking testament to the power of storytelling
| Collaboraction presents |
| 1001 |
| Written by Jason Grote Directed by Seth Bockley at Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division (map) through October 9 | tickets: $15-$25 | more info |
Reviewed by Oliver Sava
Jason Grote’s 1001 uses the story of “The Arabian Nights” as the foundation for a centuries-spanning epic that examines the nature of stories and the ways in which they shape and define the world. After a nuclear blast starts the play, the One-Eyed Arab (H.B. Ward) begins to tell the familiar story of the murderous sultan Shahriyar (Joel Gross) and his crafty bride Scheherazade (Mouzam Makkar), who tells stories that never end to elude her death the next morning.
From there, Grote presents amidst stories about Prince Yahya al-Husayni’s (Edgar Miguel Sanchez) lust for his twin sister and Sinbad’s (Ward) afternoon with Jorge Luis Borges (Antonio Brunetti), the narrative of two 21st-century Columbia students takes shape: Dahna (Makkar), an Arab, and Allen (Gross), a Jew. Grote masterfully intertwines the various story threads, bleeding slapstick comedy, relationship drama, political criticism, and post-modern philosophy together to create a play that defies categorization. Under Seth Bockley’s clear and concise direction, the cast navigates the complex script with a momentum that never stops, playing multiple characters and switching between genres without ever skipping a beat.
As Shahriyar, Gross shows an amazing comedic talent, particularly in his handle of malapropisms (“ceviche” for “cesspool” is my favorite), which can cause more groans than laughs in the wrong hands. As a sultan that face palms his wives to shush them, Gross shows no sense of tact or restraint, which increases his comedic worth without diminishing his threat. In his first scene as Allen, Gross delivers a fantastic monologue of incredible difficulty, as the mentally fractured character recalls the events that have led to his residence in the underground tunnels of Manhattan.
Makkar has the least comedic parts of the show, but she helps ground the play by creating characters that feel more realistic than her funnier co-stars. As the primary storyteller, she has fantastic diction, and her voice commands attention when she speaks. The only other female of the cast, Carly Ciarrochi gets the brunt of the humor, and she handles it fantastically. Ciarrochi has a talent for goofy voices, but it is her comedic timing that makes her scenes so memorable, like her Act 1 hysterics as one of Shahriyar’s virgin brides about to be killed.
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The rest of the cast does admirable work playing a plethora of different characters, giving each one a distinct physicality and voice so that no clarity is lost. Ward’s Sinbad stands out for his complete lack of awe at the spectacular sights he encounters on his journey, with Ward underplaying each of the sailor’s memory for maximum comedic effect.
The brilliance of the script comes from the ways in which Grote uses the fantastic – and oftentimes comic – stories that Scheherazade tells to enrich Dahna and Allen’s relationship. Towards the end of the play, Scheherazade asks the audience, “What are any of us but a collection of stories?” In that moment the story within a story within a story structure of the play makes perfect sense, revealing the limitless potential in every person to imagine and create at any moment. Collaboraction’s 1001 is an inspiration, and with only a few more weeks before the end of the run I suggest you hurry to get your tickets.
| Rating: ★★★★ |
REVIEW: Detroit (Steppenwolf Theatre)
Great characters and a plot that fails to ignite
| Steppenwolf Theatre presents |
| Detroit |
| Written by Lisa D’Amour Directed by Austin Pendleton at Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted (map) through November 7 | tickets: $20-$73 | more info |
Steppenwolf Theatre’s Detroit is an example of a production with great direction and top-drawer performances. It is also, unfortunately, a play defined by four characters in search of a plot. The less said about the fifth member of the cast – whose rambling, tacked-on epilogue is one sorry excuse for an ending – the better.
Playwright Lisa D’Amour’s tale of a subdivision in decline is all mood and little matter, which is to say there’s no story here, just a series of vignettes that provide character sketches of four dysfunctional suburbanites, none of whom changes during the 100-minute production. Yes, there’s major materialistic loss for half of the foursome on stage. Despite that, the characters of Detroit end up pretty much in the same place where they started. Were it not for director Austin Pendleton‘s killer cast – Laurie Metcalf, Kevin Anderson, Kate Arrington and Ian Barford – Detroit would be a complete non-starter.
The titular city is never mentioned. Life-size tract houses (literally within spitting distance of each other) fill the stage in Kevin Depinet’s meticulously detailed set (right down to leaves decaying in long-neglected gutters). They could be just outside any city in the U.S. – which may be the point. Josh Schmidt’s sound design – chirping birds, drowned out by the drone of distant traffic zooming by on some anonymous highway – indicate a suburban locale with a decidedly urban emphasis. Urban – in this case – doesn’t mean gleaming skyscrapers or city-dwelling sophisticates. Detroit unfolds in a place of borderline shabbiness and barely-concealed desperation. Nothing quite works as it should here, not the malfunctioning patio umbrella that turns a backyard barbeque into a small disaster, and not grill master Ben (Barford), struggling to create an online business after being laid off from his job in a bank.
At curtain up, Ben and his wife Mary (Metcalf) are acting with enthusiastic good will, grilling steaks in a welcome-to-the-neighborhood cookout for newly moved in Sharon (Arrington) and Roger (Anderson). On the surface, it’s a scene of All-American normalcy. But D’Amour’s dialogue keeps things on edge. People keep saying things that aren’t quite right, things that are in fact – the more you think on them – profoundly messed up. Mary, for all her smiling welcome, seems to be living on Planet Angry. Her words have an ugly sharpness that doesn’t jive with the graciously elaborate appetizers. Ben is living the American dream, an entrepreneur filled with ambition and smarts – except for the nagging question of how it is that somebody living on the margins of the nation’s economic pie can possibly succeed as a one-man financial planning enterprise.
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Sharon and Rob aren’t exactly Laura and Rob Petrie either. Sharon confides that she and Roger met in rehab, which is absolutely fine and dandy because they’re both obviously well on recovery’s road – employed, clear-eyed and functional. It’s just a teensy bit odd that they seem to own neither furniture nor a change of clothes. And they do have intense, fond memories of a lost weekend in “Hotlanta” that may or may not have involved free-basing meth. And Sharon cries a lot. And just one beer won’t hurt, not when your main problem has always been heroin, right? And that’s just the start of the kinks and quirks that pepper D’Amour’s wonderful dialogue.
The problem with Detroit is that for all the marvelously rendered conversation, there’s no arc. We get memorable scenes of memorable people talking – and eventually yelling and dirty dancing and recklessly playing with matches - but there’s never anything much at stake. In the end, half of the foursome on stage simply vanishes. You certainly don’t need closure to create a successful drama, but you do need some sort of structure. Detroit, in the end, feels both static and incomplete.
What makes it worth seeing are the performances of four Steppenwolf ensemble members, each one at the top of their game. Metcalf, especially, brings a wild-eyed, dangerously suppressed rage to Mary. There’s something feral about her, and when that something boils over during a backyard barbeque-turned-Bacchanal, Metcalf puts on the crazy pants and turns them up to stun. Barford is equally effective in a quieter way, capturing the sad-sack weariness of a stay-at-home non-starter who has been out of the work force long enough to lose his spirit, maybe for good. Arrington nails the E-Z Cheez ethos of a white-trash crackhead whacktress with a heart of gold while Anderson channels his inner eighth grade caveman as a good guy who is a profoundly bad influence.
As for Robert Brueler‘s late-in-the-game appearance, it’s only tolerable because it’s relatively brief. I spent the first half of his expository monologue trying to figure out what he was saying – enunciation isn’t Brueler’s strong suit – and the last half wishing he’d just wrap it up already. There’s one reason to see Detroit, and that’s for the fearsome foursome of Arrington, Barford, Anderson and Metcalf. It’s just too bad they don’t have more to do.
| Rating: ★★½ |
Theater Thursday: The Sound of Yellow Flower
Thursday, September 23
The Sound of a Yellow Flower
Strangeloop Theatre at Trap Door Theatre -1655 N. Cortland
Join Strangeloop Theatre and event sponsor m.henry for this world-premiere production. There will be a post-show discussion with the playwright and members of the cast and crew about the process of creating a new play for a small Chicago theatre company. Come have a drink before the show and stick around afterwards for snacks from the popular Edgewater restaurant, which offers globally inspired, new American style cooking: chow for now.
Event begins at 7 p.m. Show begins at 8 p.m.
Tickets: $25 - For reservations visit www.strangelooptheatre.org
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REVIEW: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Theatre at the Center)
Bad People, Great Musical
| Theatre at the Center presents |
| Dirty Rotten Scoundrels |
| Book by Jeffrey Lane Music/Lyrics by David Yazbek Directed by William Pullinsi Theatre at the Center, 1040 Ridge, Munster, IN (map) through October 10 | tickets: $36-$40 | more info |
Reviewed by Keith Ecker
I really didn’t know what to expect walking into the regional premier of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. First, because the musical is based on the 1988 comedy, I wondered whether it would be another repackaged Hollywood film set to music and fed back to us. Second, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is a production of Theatre at the Center (TATC), located in Munster, Indiana. It truly is a rare occasion when I get to venture out of the city proper, and so I was eager, as well as a little skeptical, to see if TATC would rival Chicago-quality theatre. By the end of the play, I was certainly reassured that, yes, Hollywood films can be transformed into worthwhile musicals, and, yes, good theatre exists beyond the city limits.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels focuses on two European-based professional swindlers. Lawrence Jameson (Larry Wyatt) is the refined cad who fabricates a princely back story for himself, which he uses to pray upon the dreams and sympathies of naïve, wealthy women. His rival, who he encounters by chance, is Freddy Benson (Michael Mahler). Freddy is an amateur thief who, after discovering Lawrence’s true identity, encourages Lawrence to teach him the ways of the rogue.
Eventually, the teacher-student relationship transforms into a competition, where Lawrence and Freddy wager on who is the more skillful scoundrel. At the center of this bet is Christine Colgate (Dara Cameron), a wealthy American heiress. The two hatch elaborate schemes to win her over, and a comedy of errors ensues.
The musical (book by Jeffrey Lane with music and lyrics by David Yazbek) is genuinely funny. The writing is sharp, so sharp that I enjoyed the non-musical portions of the show just as much as the singing and dancing. Witty word play and even some risqué off-color jokes appear throughout, as do the occasional pop-culture references. There’s also plenty of meta-humor, too, with characters toying with the art form’s conventions.
The caliber of singing and acting talent rivals that of any big-time, downtown Chicago production. Wyatt, Mahler and Cameron all give standing-ovation-worthy performances. Harmonies are pitch perfect, and timing is impeccable. What more could you want out of a cast?
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Speaking of rivaling downtown productions, TATC definitely has the firepower to produce a large-scale spectacle. The lighting system alone looks like something out of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. All actors are outfitted with mics, making it very easy to hear every word and note throughout the spacious auditorium.
The only element stopping me from giving this production four stars is its pace. The play, with intermission, runs about two-and-a-half hours. Although William Pullinsi’s direction is otherwise commendable, he relies too heavily on blackouts to transition from scene to scene. This bogs down the musical, draining some of its momentum.
TATC’s Dirty Rotten Scoundrels goes to show that being out of the Loop isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If you’re in the mood for a hilarious musical with a good story and excellent performances, go see this play.
| Rating: ★★★½ |
Performances are Wednesdays and Thursdays at 2pm.; Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 2:30pm; select Thursdays at 7:30 or 8pm. and Saturdays at 2:30pm. Ticket prices range from $36 – $40. For ticket info, call the Box Office (219.836.3255), Tickets.com (800.511.1552) or visit www.TheatreAtTheCenter.com.
Sutton Foster opens new Broadway Playhouse – Sept 23-26
Inaugurating the New Broadway Playhouse
Water Tower Place
An Evening with Sutton Foster
September 23-26
(Four Shows Only)
Finally, Chicago audiences will get a chance to see this amazing Broadway star – and in an intimate concert setting to boot – the new Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place. Sutton Foster, a Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning actress will perform an exclusive, four-night engagement to inaugurate this refurbished space.
Although Sutton has been working on Broadway and national tours since she was 17, she became a Broadway legend when she became an “understudy to the rescue” and took on the lead role of “Millie” in Thoroughly Modern Millie, eventually winning the 2002 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Since then, she has created four original roles in four new Broadway musicals Little Women, The Drowsy Chaperone, Young Frankenstein and Shrek The Musical; a record unsurpassed by any musical theatre actress of her generation.
Broadway In Chicago and Water Tower Place recently announced the addition of a new venue, the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place , 175 E. Chestnut Street to its family of theatres. Broadway In Chicago entered into a long-term agreement with General Growth Properties (owner and manager of Water Tower Place ) that will allow the theatre, formerly known as the Drury Lane at Water Tower Place , to re-open as the Broadway Playhouse. In addition to the inaugural performance of An Evening With Sutton Foster, Traces will perform at the Broadway Playhouse October 26, 2010 – January 2, 2011 and a newly adapted version of the musical Working is slated to open on February 15, 2011.
The performance schedule for AN EVENING WITH SUTTON FOSTER is as follows:
Thursday, September 23 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, September 24 at 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, September 25 at 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, September 26 at 2:00 p.m.
Tickets available at Broadway in Chicago box offices or online at Ticketmaster.
REVIEW: Low Pay? No Pay! (Piccolo Theatre)
The workers’ sweet revenge
| Piccolo Theatre presents |
| Low Pay? No Pay! |
| Written by Dario Fo Directed by John Szostek at Evanston Arts Depot, 600 Main, Evanston (map) through October 23 | tickets: $15-$25 | more info |
Reviewed by Paige Listerud
This may be the worst of all possible times to be a banker, broker, or “master of the universe.” Masters of disaster, more like it, since the economic crisis has revealed as never before what a house of cards our financial system has been, what a gambling den deregulation has turned the stock market into, and furthermore, what a perfidious and ineffectual democracy we have in its wake. Into the fray comes Piccolo Theatre with its ribald production of Low Pay? No Pay!, a slapstick comedy by Italian playwright and Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo. Be prepared for Italian socialism on the rocks. Director John Szostek and cast certainly rock it till it pops.
Of course, if you’re a Tea Partier or Rush Limbaugh or you still think that unregulated capitalism is the only cure for what ails us, this may not be your kind of comedy. No, it’s a play for taxpayers looking for a little comic revenge against the capitalist system, even if they’re not so sure about the alternatives. Come one, come all! –to Dario Fo’s manic festival of jibes against financial shell games, irresponsible political parties, battling ideologies and the hysterically desperate tactics of the working poor trying to survive. Oh, and let’s not leave out slams against religion.
Antonia (Brianna Sloane) and Margherita (Amy Gorelow) return home to Antonia’s apartment, laden with groceries. Antonia has just stolen them in a shoppers’ rebellion from the local supermarket. Prices have escalated to twice as high as in the last month and the working class Italian housewives aren’t taking it anymore.
Since a riot has broken out and Antonia and Margherita have gotten away with some of the booty, Antonia has to hide her stash before her law-and-order working class husband, Giovanni (Ken Raabe), gets home. Margherita stuffs her share of food under her coat, creating an all-too-noticeable bump that Giovanni can’t help but notice when he comes home. Antonia lies to her husband, telling him that Margherita is pregnant. But Giovanni cannot understand why his friend and co-worker Luigi (Glenn Proud), who is also Margherita’s husband, would not tell him about the coming baby. Antonia covers further, by saying that Margherita has been hiding the pregnancy from Luigi.
And so it goes. The lies build up, both on Antonia and Giovanni’s part, and the hilarity ensues over characters trying to maintain them. Old formulas, tried and true–but, still, congratulations to Szostek’s well-honed cast. Prepare to see pairings as classic as Lucy and Ethel, Rickie and Fred or, for the guys, Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton. In American terms, Low Pay? No Pay! is “I Love Lucy” meets “The Honeymooners” meets Inspector Clouseau—only this Inspector (David W.M. Kelch) is Italian, is a bit quick with the handcuffs and his mustache keeps falling off.
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Ken Raabe reprises his role as Giovanni from Piccolo’s inaugural production. His confidence and expertise with the role shines through. Amy Gorelow’s frustrated and run-around Margherita is a delightful, sweet gal pal to Sloane’s chatty and devious Antonia. Kelch does yeoman-like work in four different roles—my favorites were his Undertaker and Old Man. Proud’s performance as Luigi is as nice a prole as they come. Joel Thompson brings up the rear with his turn as the Inspector’s assistant police officer; only his comic timing could use some refining. Thank goodness he really sells the officer coming out of the closet. Goofy, good-natured fun is the key to Szostek’s direction. As much as upper class institutions and their political lackeys get their comeuppance, the whole cast keeps the comedy light, silly and fast-paced.
Lucky for them, the playwright allows changes in his material in order to keep up with our current events. Only the play’s ending doesn’t translate so well from its Italian origins. That’s because Italy’s social and political reality is not ours; its modern cultural creations could never be an easy fit for Americans who don’t know their history. All the same, these last 10 minutes are more than forgivable for a full two-hours of comic revenge. Piccolo’s revival is well worth that.
| Rating: ★★★½ |
REVIEW: Unveiled (Next Theatre)
When Clothing Makes, or Unmakes, the Woman
| Next Theatre presents |
| Unveiled |
| Written by Rohina Malik Directed by Kevin Heckman at Next Theatre, 927 Noyes, Evanston (map) through September 19 | tickets: $20 | more info |
Reviewed by Paige Listerud
Rohina Malik’s one-act play, Unveiled, could not have come at a more crucial moment. Hate crimes against Muslims are up, Muslims are denied opportunities to build places of worship all over the US (including Chicago), established mosques face vandalism and arson, and a self-righteous nut case in Florida threatened to burn the Koran to get national attention. Meanwhile, it’s an election year and job recovery crawls at a snail’s pace. Too many people are out of work and too many people still think Barack Obama is a secret Muslim.
Directed by Kevin Heckman at Next Theatre, five Muslim women, each from a different culture, share two things in common: they all wear the veil, or hijab, and they all live in the West. What must it be like to be so visibly different from other women and be rendered a moving target by American uncertainty, fear and rage over 9/11? Malik unveils a Muslim womanhood that meets this challenge with strength, outspokenness, clarity, poetry, humor and faith.
These hardly seem like women cloistered behind a wall of restrictive and repressive tradition. They are very aware of the world they live in and its ongoing melding of East and West. They fiercely and graciously adhere to their principles of hospitality. They speak up for themselves, drawing from a deep well of cultural riches.
The first woman designs wedding dresses from her small shop on Devon Avenue. Yet she is no mere seamstress. In every way she is an artist. “You’re not the first American girl who wants the Bollywood look,” she chats up her current client. “All the girls have wanted it since ‘Slumdog Millionaire.’” Wedding dresses are her art and that art is just as dependent on the personality of the client as her own imagination. “You are not choosing me. I am choosing you,” she tells the prospective bride.
Weddings and family are what she knows, but a hate crime almost destroys her drive as an artist. Attending the wedding of a woman getting married in one of her creations, she and her children become the targets of the inchoate rage of an American couple attending another wedding nearby. What brings her back to her art again are her friends and a poem by Rumi: “Dance, when you’re broken. Dance, if you’ve torn the bandage off. . . Dance, when you’re perfectly free.”
Malik’s one-act starts strong. Her characters are not just Muslim, not just from the Middle East or South East Asia; their multicultural backgrounds position them uniquely in the world. One is a Texan mother of the American South, not converting, but “reverting” to Islam. The other is a hip hop teen raised in West London who can’t stand her mother’s assimilationist choices. This girl’s own reaction to her mother’s generation has to do with the way her mom applied lemons to her daughter’s skin, when she was younger, to make it whiter.
Malik clearly wants to show a wide range of Muslim women and their individual reasons for claiming the veil. As such, most of her characters’ psychology is well-developed and their life stories powerfully integrate tradition, poetry and passages from the Koran. Of all the characters, only the Southern Muslim belle seems the weak and underdeveloped one. Upon opening night, Malik’s performance of this character also waned in accuracy. Her troubles with American Southern dialect were too apparent.
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Of greater concern is the play’s repetitious monologue structure—the introduction of tea, the particular tea made the emblem of each Muslim woman’s culture; the introduction of a story which reveals a violent hate crime; and finally the character resorts to faith and culture to stand against it–by the time the fourth and fifth characters are introduced, the pattern becomes worn. Also, physical violence and verbal harassment are the only kinds of hate crime and speech directly addressed by these characters. Beyond the introduction of strong, self-determining Muslim women, Malik digs no further into the ways feminist critiques of the veil have been based on cultural and religious ignorance, and thus used as an excuse to invade Afghanistan and Iraq. Certainly, American feminists had to learn the hard way just how their work could be used by a right wing administration to further its imperialist ambitions.
Next’s production itself runs almost seamlessly and poetically. Unfortunately, sound problems, at opening, rendered the rap from the young hip hop Londoner almost indiscernible. The fuzz from the speaker system, cranked up to play over the drums, got in the way of the script.
However, no one can dispute the essential timeliness of this play, or its vitality and humanism. In the middle of anti-Muslim hysteria, how hopeful it is to discover a promising young playwright just beginning to explore terribly relevant themes. Next should be applauded for opening their season with such immediate work from a practically unknown playwright. Unveiled’s series of monologues has strong bones and beautiful language. The incorporation of Alex Wing’s music and Cynthia Sopata’s movement beautifully correspond to and amplify the storytelling. Rohina Malik is one to watch. Get to know her.
| Rating: ★★½ |
Productions Personnel
Written and performed by Rohina Malik
Directed by Kevin Heckman
Scenic & Lighting Design by Jim Davis
Music by Alex Wing
Movement by Cynthia Sopata
REVIEW: Big River (Bohemian Theatre Ensemble)
BoHo takes a heartwarming trip down the Mississippi
| Bohemian Theatre Ensemble presents |
| Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn |
| Music/Lyrics: Roger Miller, Book: William Hauptman Adapted from the novel by Mark Twain Directed by P. Marston Sullivan Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont, Chicago (map) Through Oct. 10 | Tickets: $25 | more info |
Reviewed by Leah A. Zeldes
Widely considered the greatest American novel ever written, Mark Twain’s 1884 coming-of-age tale, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, received a lively musical treatment 100 years after its publication in Big River. The Tony Award-winning musical, which ran 1,000 performances on Broadway, captures the charm and 
poignancy of the original, as we follow Huck and the escaped slave Jim down the "Muddy Water" of the Mississippi River, "Waitin’ for the Light to Shine" — as the songs put it. Although no stage production could possibly encompass all the nuances of Twain’s masterpiece, this well-cut adaptation by William Hauptman delivers the essence, paired with a fitting, catchy score by country-music star Roger Miller that blends foot-stompin’ bluegrass, powerful spirituals, vaudevillian comedy numbers and such memorable ballads as "River in the Rain."
Bohemian Theatre Ensemble mounts a warm, intimate and beautifully sung revival in their handsome new home at Lakeview’s Theater Wit, full of bouyant humor and touching moments.
Andrew Mueller gives us a gamin-faced, thoughtful Huck with a fine tenor. As Jim, the richly voiced Brian-Alwyn Newland provides the backbone of the music, smooth and soulful, combined with a dignified stage presence that reveals the mature and feeling man behind the tattered clothes and uneducated language of the slave.
Sean Thomas makes a wicked Pap Finn, hilarious in his drunken denouncement of "Guv’ment," and a diabolical king and "Royal Nonesuch," aided by the elegant John B. Leen as the sly and histrionic duke. Courtney Crouse is boyishly mischievous as Tom Sawyer, always ready for adventure and adorable as he calls for a "Hand for the Hog."
Rashada Dawan brings a soaring voice to gospel numbers such as "How Blest We Are," and Mike Tepeli adds a comic turn as the young fool, with a zany, washboard-accompanied rendition of "Arkansas."
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Much of the cast supplements the orchestra at different points, picking up guitars,box, or a tambourine to effectively back Musical Director Nicholas Davio playing a variety of instruments, Hilary Holbrook on fiddle and Cam McIntyre on bass. Davio and Holbrook also act small parts. Christa Buck, Anna Hammonds and James Williams fill out the ensemble.
Director P. Marston Sullivan’s deceptively simple staging and Anders Jacobson and Judy Radovsky’s stylized set put the talented cast and Twain’s potent story foremost. You don’t need to have read "Huckleberry Finn" to enjoy this musical, although everybody ought to read it … again and again.
| Rating: ★★★½ |
REVIEW: The Sound of the Yellow Flower (Strangeloop)
Characters fail to connect in Belarus drama
| Strangeloop Theatre presents |
| The Sound of a Yellow Flower |
| Written by Dustin Spence Directed by Letitia Guillaud at Trap Door Theatre, 1655 N. Cortland (map) thorugh October 3rd | tickets: $15 | more info |
Reviewed by Oliver Sava
Dustin Spence’s The Sound of a Yellow Flower revolves around four characters in post-Soviet Union Belarus looking for liberty, justice, and love in their unstable country. Years after violinist Sasha (Rich Logan) and military colonel Nikolai (Mark 
Pracht) help usher in an era of independence for Belarus, they are faced with the question of what comes next. Nikolai wants to see Sasha takes a position of political power, but Sasha wants nothing to do with it, having married Zoe (Samantha Garcia), an American activist working to expose the injustices done by the current government. Nikolai’s relationship with heroin-addicted prostitute Natalia (Meghan M. Martinez) ends up bringing the four together in an explosive, tragic climax, but Spence’s script fails to capture the setting and the scenes have an unnatural build to them that makes it difficult to connect with the action on stage.
Language becomes a hurdle in establishing the play’s foreign setting, as little is done to de-Americanize the dialogue beyond the actors adding eastern European dialects. The opening scene has musician Sasha and Nikolai speaking in semi-broken English, but thankfully it is quickly done away with as it makes no sense to have two educated characters speaking ungrammatically in their own language. The profanity-laced dialogue has an almost-Tarantino stylization that feels out of place in the European environment, but the two actors are able to make the action interesting enough to keep the focus.
Zoe speaks in a thicker accent to show her unfamiliarity with the language, but ends up sacrificing a lot of diction in the process. The playwright doesn’t provide much exposition regarding the current socio-political climate of Belarus, and losing Zoe’s expository lines due to her accent diminishes the clarity of the plot. Dialects prove a further hindrance when the characters become enraged, as the actors often lose their accents in the explosion of emotion.
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These sudden fits of rage occur throughout The Sound of a Yellow Flower, as most of the scenes quickly and without warning turn into screaming matches between the characters. Intensity is fine, but without any proper buildup the emotions feel empty. The relationships aren’t given the time to develop completely, making the connections between characters feel artificial. When it doesn’t feel like there’s any danger in watching a hooker get choked, there’s something wrong.
When these jumps into fury are avoided, the play gains actual depth, like a scene that juxtaposes one of Nikolai’s first nights with Natalia with the first meeting of Sasha and Zoe. The actors are given the time to create intimate moments with each other, and the relationships benefit greatly from the newly established chemistry. The scenes that follow are a return to form, but the brief glimmer of love provides a bit of hope for the tragic characters before their lives fall apart.
| Rating: ★★ |
