Author: Colin Douglas
Baby, Let’s Get Good!
Some Like It Hot
After innocently witnessing a Mafia murder, Joe, a saxophone player and his partner, Jerry, a bass player, come up with a risky plan to escape Chicago before they’re rubbed out. The musicians are broke so they need to earn some fast cash to survive. But it’s 1933 and the Depression is on. There are no jobs for instrumentalists— except, perhaps, in an all-girl jazz band that’s about to tour the country, eventually ending up in sunny California. Does this plot sound familiar? Well, as the song says, “Baby, Let’s Get Good!”
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A Play in Letters
Dear Elizabeth
Beginning in 1947, the intimate thirty-year friendship between two brilliantly talented writers becomes the subject of Sarah Ruhl’s work, “DEAR ELIZABETH: A PLAY IN LETTERS. Adapted in 2012 from Words in the Air: The Complete Correspondence Between Robert Lowell and Elizabeth Bishop, Ruhl’s play fills in the blanks. The two 20th century literary giants’ epistolary relationship began when American poet Elizabeth Bishop wrote a fan letter to fellow poet and contemporary, Robert Lowell. More than 400 pieces of correspondence connected these two writers over three decades. Their relationship was close and almost romantic, but remained strictly platonic throughout the years. Although the pair never married, they shared a love, along with a profound admiration and respect for each other’s works. Robert wrote to Elizabeth, “I seem to spend my life missing you,” which sums up how close they were until Robert’s death in 1977.
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A Near Miss
By the Way, Meet Vera Stark
Prolific playwright Lynn Nottage is known for her challenging and often forgotten stories, focusing her works on members of the African-American working class community. She’s also known as the first and only woman to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice. RUINED and SWEAT have earned her that illustrious accolade, followed by such other excellent dramas as INTIMATE APPAREL, MLIMA’S TALE, CRUMBS FROM THE TABLE OF JOY and the book for MJ THE MUSICAL. BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK, one of Lynn Nottage’s lesser known plays, is now in an interesting new production by Artistic Home. The production is a rare near miss. And the play itself just doesn’t seem to be in the same league as Ms. Nottage’s other plays.
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Just in Time for Halloween
Bram Stokers’ Dracula
Bela Lugosi’s name is synonymous with the character of the aristocratic vampire king, Dracula. The actor rose to fame, both on stage and in film, playing this iconic role. The popularity of Dracula and vampires in general is still going strong, even to this day. There are, to date, well over 200 films that feature the Transylvanian Count, as well as many plays, musicals and even operas. Prolific American playwright Steven Dietz’s faithful adaptation of the novel kicks off BrightSide Theatre’s lucky 13th Season, just in time for Halloween.
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Food, Wine and Relationships
Dinner With Friends
Writer Donald Margulies, a Yale Professor of English and Theatre Performance, has a great many plays to his credit. They include such dramas as THE LOMAN FAMILY PICNIC, SIGHT UNSEEN, COLLECTED STORIES and BROOKLYN BOY. Several of these plays have garnered a variety of accolades and awards, such as Margulies’ 1998 DINNER WITH FRIENDS, the current production by Bluebird Arts. This Pulitzer Prize-winner for Drama in 2000 opens the company’s sixth season of presenting intimate stories about real people and their relationships. In this production, the talented Chicago-based theatre company truly lives up to their artistic goal.
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Overstuffed and Overwhelming
Becky Nurse of Salem
Distinguished writer, poet, professor and essayist Sarah Ruhl is one of America’s most highly-respected and often-produced playwrights. She’s created some of theatre’s finest plays, such as IN THE NEXT ROOM (OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY), THE CLEAN HOUSE, EURYDICE and the soon to open in Chicago, DEAR ELIZABETH. Ms. Ruhl is the recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship, the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater, a Tony nomination for Best Play and a two-time nomination for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. In other words, Sarah Ruhl is undeniably a recognized and talented writer. But in her 2019 play, currently having its Midwest Premiere by Shattered Globe Theatre, the gifted playwright overwhelms her audience with far too many ideas.
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A True Winner
Primary Trust
Have you heard of Eboni Booth? She belongs to an elite group of distinguished playwrights that include Edward Albee, Thornton Wilder and Tennessee Williams, and more recently Lin-Manuel Miranda, Lynn Nottage and August Wilson. Ms. Booth is the greatly deserving recipient of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her glorious one-act, PRIMARY TRUST. And, if that accolade wasn’t enough, consider that this deeply moving 80-minute play, which premiered in New York at the Laura Pels Theatre just last year, also won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play. And now the Goodman Theatre is presenting this sparkling theatrical gem in its Chicago Regional Premiere. And this play, particularly this production, is indeed a true winner!
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The Mystery of the Haunted Bush
The Golden Girls Meet the Skooby Gang
They say that timing is everything. Well, just in time for Halloween, Hell in a Handbag is presenting another hilarious original episode of their Golden Girls series. These beloved parodies have always delighted audiences, particularly the LGBTQ+ community, as well as all those Liberal-minded theatergoers who have good taste. So don your masks and head on over to the Chopin Theatre where the fun and frolicking is just beginning.
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The Ten Commandments, 2.0
An Act of God
Try to imagine God portrayed by the late, great comedian, Don Rickles. His famous manic riffs and insults are legendary. If you’re too young to remember Mr. Rickles, picture the high-energy comedy of Jim Carrey, Dave Chapelle, Aziz Ansari or John Stewart in the role of the Almighty. This will give theatergoers an image of Alex Weisman’s portrayal of God in Paramount Theatre’s new production of this one-act comic play by Emmy Award-winner, David Javerbaum.
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Groovin’
Blue Eyed Soul Sung By Brown Eyed People
As in “2001: A Space Odyssey,” the film that made Richard Strauss’ classical tone poem so familiar to theatergoers, the, dramatic chords of “Also Sprach Zarathustra” opens Jackie Taylor’s new musical revue. It’s skillfully performed by Instrumentalists Adam Sherrod (keys), Oscar Brown, Jr. (guitar), Walter Harrington (bass) and Musical Director/Arranger and Percussionist, Robert Reddrick. This classical work magically conjures up images of outer space and an ethereal location, because that’s precisely where this revue is set. As the ten talented performers make their way down the aisles to the stage and introduce themselves, the audience discovers that we’ve been transported to a mythical locale called The Oracle. We come to understand that this concert will be both musical, celestial and spiritual.
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