Author: Colin Douglas
A Family Portrait of Love and Loss
Hamnet
Six years ago, Irish-British author Maggie O’Farrell wrote an historical novel that became a huge bestseller. It was a fictional look at the world of Tudor England, told through a family portrait of love and loss. The story filled in history’s missing moments of the courtship between William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway. O’Farrell’s book portrays Anne, or Agnes as she’s called here (and the “g” is silent), as an herbalist healer with a spiritual connection to Nature and the supernatural world. She meets teenaged Latin tutor, Will (the author never uses the surname Shakespeare in her novel), when he spots her engaged in falconry outside his classroom. For a young man who’s not yet 18, Agnes is a lovely, exciting and provocative young woman who sets his heart aflutter. When eventually Agnes tells Will that she’s going to have his child, Will’s parents reluctantly give their permission for the two to marry.
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Rediscovering Love
Come Back Little Sheba
Renowned playwright, novelist and Pulitzer Prize recipient, William Inge was known as the Playwright of the Midwest. His first big Broadway hit during the 1950’s is this story about a frustrated, middle-aged married couple’s resolution to put their troubled past behind them, finally move forward toward a better future and rediscover their love. The drama is a stirring, often sad story about lost youth and shattered dreams. Doc and Lola who, by the end of this play, have sunk as low as they can go, try to salvage a slice of hope from the ruins of the past.
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Stay Gold
The Outsiders
During puberty, the journey from childhood to adulthood is referred to as a Coming of Age. The adolescent years are filled with self-discovery, personal growth and maturation. For Ponyboy Curtis, his coming of age is just one of the themes explored in the musical, THE OUTSIDERS, now playing at Chicago’s Cadillac Palace Theatre for two weeks. In this powerful and poignant musical adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s classic novel, all of the teenagers who live on different sides of the tracks experience their own, individual, coming of age journey. The musical takes Ponyboy and the others through a loss of innocence, as they overcome difficult challenges and try to navigate their respective roles in society. This is one show, especially geared toward juvenile theatergoers, that should not be missed by anyone!
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Happiness Over Wealth
Holiday
Johnny Case, a self-made, 30-something Wall Street lawyer, met Julia Seton at a spiffy health spa in New York City. His visit to the holiday health facility was a gift from his friends for all his hard work and helping them with some fundraising. However, he never expected that a day of luxurious pampering would result in a romance and an engagement to this lovely young woman. What Johnny didn’t realize at the time was that Julia (who was using an assumed surname) was a member of the affluent and legendary Seton clan, one of the wealthiest families in New York City, if not all of America. He doesn’t discover Julia’s real identity until he visits her at the family’s ostentatious Upper Eastside mansion. But when Johnny meets the entire family, including, Edward Seton, the demanding patriarch of the clan, the situation begins to shift.
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Poor Little Rich Girl
Hedda Gabler
It’s always interesting and kind of fun to shake things up a bit, especially with a well-known play. When a time-honored drama is adapted and produced in a fresh, starkly different style, it earns our attention. But when the drama is a groundbreaking classic that’s stood the test of time, a brand new interpretation can be a little risky. If the writer is able to offer new insight into the original work by updating it, then it makes sense to craft a new adaptation. Otherwise, it seems like merely showing off.
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Heartbreaking and Hopeful
Mary Jane
Northlight Theatre’s play for the New Year is about caregiving, friendship and about the fragility of our lives. Evoking endless empathy, Pulitzer Prize-nominated playwright, Susan Herzog creates a powerful portrait of the helpless world for a single mother and her sick child. Both heartbreaking and hopeful, this 100-minute one-act luminously depicts the life of a parent whose life completely changes when she must suddenly center her entire world around a seriously ill infant. This moving drama is about a mother, her fragile little baby and the power of love. Herzog presents all manner of unimaginable complications and challenges that a caregiver must selflessly face. And through their network of generosity and solidarity her new, chosen family offers strength and care for both Mary Jane and baby Alex.
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The Rhythm Is Gonna Get You
On Your Feet
Drury Lane’s first production of the New Year is a musical that’s exciting, often heartfelt and filled with pulsating, Latin-infused music and songs that everyone will recognize. The show offers two hours of comedy, drama and pure escape, where we can all enjoy and fall in love with Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine, all over again. It’s also a musical that had its tryout in Chicago, when it premiered back in 2015. This is the first local professional production for Chicagoland audiences and this new version offers some wise script changes, something that most reviewers suggested eleven years ago. But Drury Lane’s production is wonderful, overflowing with infectious rhythms that leave the audience pulsating with a desire to just “Get On Your Feet.” But a warning to every future theatergoer: “The Rhythm is Gonna Get You!”
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Gender Bias and Racism
The Confederates
Throughout this mesmerizing, award-winning one-act by Dominique Morisseau (AIN’T TOO PROUD, SUNSET BABY, SKELETON CREW), now playing appropriately during Black History Month, we find that time is fluid. As the play unfolds, we discover ourselves immersed in two gripping stories that focus on gender bias and racism. And this riveting play, set both during the Civil War and in modern day Academia, often defies categorization by genre. In Ms. Morisseau’s play, there are equal elements of comedy and satire balanced by drama and pure surprise.
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Bonded Over Birding
Birds of North America
Anna Ouyang Moench’s powerful one-act play is being given a beautiful production by A Red Orchid Theatre. This is a quietly sweet and reflective story about family relationships. It’s about two generations, a father and an adult daughter, who have bonded over birding through the years. Set in the backyard of John’s longtime, rural Maryland home, the leaves have turned color and, with each scene, time passes and the falling leaves accumulate on the lawn. As the years pass, Caitlyn and her father spend quality time together at home, searching for birds while also searching for a deeper appreciation and understanding of each another.
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Patti LuPone Made the World Go Round
Matters of the Heart
After the frigid temperatures and an awful lot of snow, January in Chicago has thankfully come to a bone-chilling end. But in a magnificent, mellifluous concert performance that warmed the soul, thousands of Windy City music and theatre aficionados were treated by a special performance by the Queen of Broadway. The one and only Diva Divine, Ms. Patti LuPone took to the stage for almost two hours of melodious magic. And for that brief couple of hours, Patti LuPone cranked up the temperature with her astounding, almost acrobatic vocals, and for this audience, Made the World go Round.
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