Author: Colin Douglas
Composer, Instructor and Pianist
Monsieur Chopin, A Play with Music
It’s Paris, March 4, 1848, and class is in session. Sit comfortably and get ready for your masterclass music lesson provided by a gifted composer, instructor and piano virtuoso. For the next two hours, Frederic Chopin will offer a fascinating education in the creation and performance of his own classical music. However, lest you think that this class might be boring and too scholarly for the average audience member to appreciate, nothing could be further from what you’re about to experience.
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Change Partners and Dance
Cock
There was a popular song written by Irving Berlin in 1938 for the musical film, “Carefree.” It was sung by Fred Astaire and entitled “Change Partners and Dance.” The song referred to the indecision of dancer Ginger Rogers to accept a marriage proposal and she eventually ends up with Astaire. This Oscar-nominated ballad could also be used as the theme song for this bold battle of the sexes, now playing in a brilliant production on Chicago’s North Side.
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Confusion and Absurdity
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
Sent for by Claudius to discover the reason for his nephew’s madness, Hamlet’s two childhood friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, find themselves in a world of confusion and absurdity. They’ve been told to find Hamlet, their childhood friend, and figure out what’s bothering him. The young men run into a troupe of actors who are playing roles in a production of HAMLET. A line between reality and theatricality merge and separate and, while there’s no real plot in this 90-minute performance, there’s a score of images that come and go throughout. Tom Stoppard’s fascinating and perplexing one-act explores free will, how fate plays a role in everyone’s lives and the inevitability of death that comes to each of us.
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Welcome to the Jungle
The Choir of Man
Step into the Apollo Theater and you’ll suddenly be conveyed across the Atlantic to a British pub called The Jungle. The stage has been totally transformed into a comfy locale that blends immersive theatre with a more traditional form of musical. Walking through the doors, theatergoers will immediately meet nine of the pub’s most faithfully devoted regulars who spend their nonworking hours telling jokes and stories, comforting each other, and downing beer and the occasional shot. The genuine bonhomie emanating from this amiable group of guys creates a family of choice, a “Choir of Man,” that extends all the way into the audience. Opening with the rousing Axl Rose hit, “Welcome to the Jungle,” the fun and festivities commences from the moment that the doors open.
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Happy Tastes Good
Inanimate
Your local Dairy Queen strives to show customers how “Happy Tastes Good.” The drive-in’s menu of mouth-watering hot foods and delicious treats are perfect for any occasion. Choosing from a variety of customized flavors, most patrons actually find the tasty Blizzard to be their favorite frozen treat. However, a 30-year-old loner named Erica has her own favorite DQ treat. You see, Erica only tastes Happy when she’s lingering in the drive-in parking lot. It’s there that the lit Dairy Queen sign radiates its warmth and affection upon Erica because she’s in love with the red and blue beacon, or at least sexually attracted to it.
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Oh What a Night!
Jersey Boys
“Who Loves You?” Chicago audiences, that’s who, because, “Oh What a Night!,” theatre history is being made here in the Windy City. The very first “built-in Chicago Production” of the multi award-winning musical, JERSEY BOYS, has opened with a bang. This highly entertaining production promises to be a very popular and long-running theatrical offering. The show is especially tailor-made for all those Baby Boomers who grew up with the music of the Four Seasons. And the professional quality of this show is just like a little bit of Broadway has dropped into the intimate North Southport Theater.
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Never Never Land
Peter Pan
A newly updated musical version of the boy from Never Never Land, who refused to grow up, has soared into Chicago for only two weeks. The title character in this version’s portrayed with adolescent finesse by a handsome young actor. But this is just one of the many differences in this newly modernized musical. The original production, based upon the novel and play by Sir J.M. Barrie, was adapted, directed and choreographed 70 years ago by the late, great Jerome Robbins. This new, updated version, directed by Lonny Price, sports an “additional book” credited to Larissa Fasthorse (the first female Native American playwright to have written a show for Broadway, THE THANKSGIVING PLAY). The libretto and most of the songs in this revised, non-Equity production, are based upon the original 1954 version, but everything is served up with a 21st century sensitivity and realness.
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Guaranteed to Make You Think
Love Song
Remy Bumppo Theatre is known in the Windy City for its productions that are guaranteed to make audiences think. John Kolvenbach’s 90-minute one-act is such a play. The theatre company is also famous for plays that celebrate language. Kolvenbach’s LOVE STORY features a script that’s a banquet of precise and poetic communication, often incorporating beautiful and unusual combinations of words that stir the imagination and tickle our fancy.
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The Guiding Principles
Purpose
What exactly does the word “purpose” mean? It can be said that it’s a long-term aim or guiding principle. It’s the impact that we want to have on the world. Having a purpose in life means having a sense of direction and meaning. It means knowing what you want to achieve and why it matters. Research has shown that people who have sense of purpose are happier, more resilient and more successful than those who don’t. It’s a person’s aim, end goal, intention or objective.
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Love and Substance Abuse
The Brightest Thing in the World
Lane is the face of, and a hardworking employee at, Recovery. It’s a trendy, cozy little cafe and bakery in Lexington, Kentucky that’s staffed by workers dealing with substance abuse. For its customers, the bistro offers plenty of comfort, coffee and cupcakes. The cafe provides a warm, home-away-from-home office space or den in which to work or just enjoy themselves. Folks, like Steph, are encouraged to stop by with their computer or favorite books and stay as long as they like. Friendly, free-spirited baker, Lane (played with vivacity and impish charm by Claire Kaplan), takes an instant shine to Steph, a more reserved new customer (portrayed by the delightfully smooth and charismatic Jojo Brown). Soon she learns more about Steph than that she takes her coffee with almond milk. Steph writes for a small Lexington newspaper and also works at a florist shop. Before long Steph lowers her guard, gives in to Lane’s enthusiasm and a sweet romance develops between the two young women.
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