Monthly Archives: December 2018
Second Chances
Burning Bluebeard – The Ruffians and The Neo-Futurists
On December 30, 1903, the newly built Iroquois Theatre in downtown Chicago caught fire during a matinee performance of Mr. Blue Beard, a pantomime fairy tale. Over six hundred people were killed. In addition to the fire itself, many people were killed as panicked crowds stampeded the doors, to find them either locked or only able to open in and thus pinned shut by the crowd trying to flee. Originally premiering in 2011 and now remounted each Christmas season, Burning Bluebeard sees the ghosts of the performers trying to finish their doomed show.
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Sondheim’s Most Enchanting Musical
Into the Woods – Music Works Theater
The fulfillment of wishes and their consequences, the pain of growing up, parent and child relationships, learning to accept responsibility and the message that no one is alone: those are the themes that Stephen Sondheim leaves us with by the end of this magical musical. Imagine a world in which many of your favorite childhood fairy tale characters all live in the same neighborhood? Suddenly those familiar stories begin to merge and blend together as Cinderella, her Prince Charming, Little Red Riding Hood, the Big Bad Wolf, Jack and his beanstalk, Rapunzel, her witchy mother and many others, all work together trying to survive their enchanted existence. Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s clever interweaving of these stories propel the familiar characters forward on a journey of growth and self-discovery. The first act is frothy and fanciful but, in an unexpected about-face, the second act offers a darker, more sobering and thought-provoking storyline. The result is simply magical, especially in Music Theater Work’s deliciously delectable production.
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Ni Una Más
La Ruta – Steppenwolf Theatre
I’ve started and discarded at least three drafts of this review. I can’t figure out how to introduce the reader smoothly to my point. So I’m giving up, and I’m just diving in: I’m angry. Outraged. The kind of directionless rage that makes your stomach knot and your face feel hot. And after you see Steppenwolf’s world premiere, La Ruta, which I am telling you now you absolutely must, you will be too.
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Tradition!
Fiddler on the Roof – Broadway in Chicago
This is the evening in the theatre that we most definitely need right now. Given the current climate of this nation, it’s a much-desired story of family, faith and folks making the best of what life throws at them. It’s about life and love and, of course, time-honored traditions. The theatergoer who thinks he knows this show and has already seen “Fiddler…,” one of the world’s best-loved musicals, will be in for a big, pleasant surprise. Settled in Chicago for the next three weeks, this Tony Award-nominated show’s National Tour is a fresh, new staging of this musical classic. So, make no mistake: this is no old chestnut, but a revival that’s as fresh and exciting as the day it was written.
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The Strength of Surrender
Thompson Street Opera Company and Pride Films & Plays – When Adonis Calls
An important contributor to Chicago’s deliciously rambunctiously storefront opera scene, Thompson Street Opera, which focuses on the works of living composers, has given Chicago an important production of When Adonis Calls. A tight, yet leisurely, ninety minutes of opera that leaps from the score of composer Clint Borzoni set to the sexy, philosophical meanderings of “The Naked Poet” Gavin Geoffrey Dillard as curated and shaped by director/choreographer/librettist wunderkind John De Los Santos, the piece is scored for two baritones, two male dancers, a string quartet, and percussion, a heady and distinctive bouquet that the creators use to full benefit.
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An LGBTQ Holiday Tradition for All
Barney the Elf – Pride Films and Plays
There seems to be an increase in holiday plays and musicals that feature an elf as the main character. First, we have the snarky, darkly humorous “Santaland Diaries.” Then there’s the big, splashy, tuneful “Elf, the Musical,” about Buddy, the Elf. “Rudolph the Red Nosed (and Red Hosed) Reindeer” both feature an elf in a main role. But another play with music, that’s become a Chicago holiday tradition, has another elfin North Pole citizen as its leading man.
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A Visual and Auditory Spectacle
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Chicago Shakespeare Theatre
Shakespeare’s fantasy comedy is no doubt familiar to most theatre goers. The comedy weaves together three stories: a quarrel between the king and queen of the fairies, four young Athenian lovers trying to sort out their affections and a group of six rustic actors rehearsing a play for the Duke’s wedding day. All of these plots play out primarily in the forest under a full moon, and ultimately become connected through the marriage between Theseus, the Duke of Athens, and his lovely bride-to-be, Hippolyta. Of course, complications arise and provide the basis for this comedy.
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Digga, Digga, Digga
Fantastic Mr. Fox–by Emerald City Theatre
Digga, Digga, Digga
Roald Dahl’s beloved 1970 children’s novel about a family of foxes was adapted for the stage by David Wood and first presented in England about eighteen years ago. Emerald City Theatre, continuing their partnership with Victory Gardens, opens a new, 22nd season with this play at the Biograph Theatre.
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Liberté. Égalité. Sororité?
The Revolutionists – Strawdog Theatre
The Revolutionists is a fictionalized account of four women from the French Revolution: Olympe de Gouges, a real playwright, Charlotte Corday, the woman famous for assassinating Jean-Paul Marat, Marianne Angelle, a fictional amalgamation of the women who fought for freedom in Haiti against the hypocrisy of the French Revolution (which claimed freedom for all men… except the ones who maintained the lucrative sugar plantations) and, of course, Marie Antoinette, the ill-fated former Queen of France. The play imagines de Gouges facing a wicked case of writer’s block as the other three come to her for help with their stories. Madame de Gouges wants the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen to include women. Corday wants to stop the bloody pen of Marat and is looking for the final words she will speak as she faces the guillotine for her forthcoming crime. Angelle wants help spreading the story of the injustice crushing her people in Haiti. Marie Antoinette just wants to be the center of attention for as long as possible. The four women’s stories intersect and overlap as they all attempt to survive the revolution while pushing it where they want it to go.
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Baring It All for Bucks
The Full Monty–by Theo Unique
Baring It All for Bucks
The sad state of how unemployment impacts the life of the average Joe provides the conflict in many recent stories. Whether set in Sheffield, England, where the original film takes place, or Buffalo, NY, the setting for this musical version, joblessness not only results in poverty, but causes depression and issues of self-respect.
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