Category: Chicago Tribune
Chicago Trib: Revise the Smoking Ban!
Looks like the Chicago Tribune agrees with me – that the smoking ban that effectively squelched the smoking scenes in Jersey Boys should be revised so that smoking ban exemptions can be made for dramatic performances. Alderman Brendan Reilly, whose district includes Chicago’s theatre district, has introduced just such a measure that would require theater companies to apply for a smoking ban waiver from the city’s health department.
Money quote:
Chicago’s smoking ban is a sound public health policy, and no request to sidestep it should be taken lightly. But it’s silly to handcuff artistic expression for such a miniscule health risk. It’s an awful lot of huffing about a negligible amount of puffing.
Hopefully both the city council and the state legislature will follow the Trib’s advice and enact smoking exemptions for dramatic performances.
Entire editorial here.
"Beggars" extended thru July 6th
Due to high demand, Mary Arrchie Theatre’s excellent production of Beggars in The House of Plenty has extended their run thru July 6th. Beggars, by the Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning John Patrick Shanley, is a deeply autobiographical work – a surreal comedy, packed with the wit, insight, confusion, laughter and pain that only family can bring. At once vulgar, poetic and brutally honest, the play leads us on a journey through Shanley’s childhood in the Bronx of the mid-1950′s to the turbulent late 60′s and finally the perspective of adulthood.
Nina Metz, of the Chicago Tribune, offered these praises:
“the performances here are worth seeing, particularly Daniel Behrendt as Joey, a swaggering, unpredictable force who is charming and dicey and ultimately crushed by forces that Shanley (Carlo Lorenzo Garcia, tender and rough around the edges) was better equipped to escape. Mary Jo Bolduc plays Ma, and she has just the right flat accent and abrasiveness.”
And ChicagoCritic.com added:
“…Carlo Lorenzo Garcia, Karl Potthoff and Daniel Behrendt anchor the excellent ensemble. This play will shake your world.”
More information can be found at the Mary-Arrchie Theatre website.
Also, check out this week’s Talk! TheatreInChicago podcast for an interview regarding ‘Beggars’!
Gus Giordano – father of jazz dance – dies at 85
When leafing through the Chicago Tribune this morning, I was surprised to read about the death of Gus Giordano, the father of jazz dance, at the defiant age of 85. I had direct contact with Gus back in the 80′s, when I was music-directing for Northwestern University’s Waa-Mu show. Each year, Gus was always the choreographer, and I was always impressed in how well he was able to work with the Waa-Mu cast. And he was always a warm and good-natured guy. I’m very sorry to see that he has passed away, but he definitely has left a cultural mark, his jazz-dance style being incorporated into everything from musical theatre to music videos. Bravo!
The Chicago Tribune has a fitting obit online.
A Red Orchid Theatre’s new Artistic Director: Kirsten Fitzgerald
Kirsten Fitzgerald has been a veteran ensemble member for A Red Orchid Theatre (based in Old Town) for many years. She now can add another title to her acting bio – that of artistic director. Kirsten Fitzgerald will replace Guy Van Swearingen, who has been the AD since the theatre’s founding in 1993. In an interview with Sun-Times’ theatre critic Hedy Weiss, Fitzgerald explained:
“We’ve been discussing a transition for a while…..It has been by sheer force of will, energy and devotion on the part of Guy and the ensemble that we’ve flourished all these years, and we want to keep that spirit going.”
And, regarding Guy Van Swearingen’s replacement by someone from within the theatre ensemble, Chris Jones, in his Trib blog “The Theater Loop“, adds:
“It’s unsurprising that A Red Orchid picked one its own. The long-standing company is known for its fiercely loyal company members, a group that includes the stage-and-screen actors Michael Shannon and Danny McCarthy.”
Congratulations Kirsten!!
Chicago Tribune’s Top Plays of 2007
In alphabetical order, here are the Chicago Tribune’s choices for the top 10 plays of 2007:
The Adding Machine
(Next Theatre – and soon Off-Broadway)
August: Osage County
(Steppenwolf – and now receiving rave reviews on Broadway)
Between Barack and a Hard Place
(Second City)
The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow
(Collaboraction)
Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
(Congo Square)
Merchant on Venice
(Silk Road Theatre Project)
Othello
(Writers Theatre)
Shenendoah
(Marriott Theatre)
The Sparrow
(House Theatre)
A Stead Rain
(Chicago Dramatists)
To see further discussion regarding each show, go to Chris Jones’ The Theater Loop blog posting.
