Total Insanity

Iceboy!

Wacky! Bizarre! Absurd! Stupid! Those are some of the audience reactions heard on opening night, following the curtain call of ICEBOY! One patron commented that it was like seeing “All About Eve” on ice! I agree with all of these comments…and many more. At this point in time, like practically every show that’s had its eye on a successful Broadway run, ICEBOY! has already gone through countless script rewrites, musical tweaking and cast changes. As the production opens to Chicago audiences eager to see an original hilarious musical and live, comic performances by its two high profile stars, I guarantee you won’t be disappointed. And there’s no denying that the supporting cast for stars Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman is equally as talented. These local actors all share high accolades for their versatile characterizations, comic timing and musicality. But at this stage in its development, ICEBOY! still has a couple problems to address before the show is ready for a New York audience.

The Power of the Vampire

St. Nicholas

In a commanding and brilliant tour de force, multitalented and prolific actor Kevin Webb delivers a one-man performance that completely captures the imagination of his audience. The two-act presentation is storytelling, at its best. Mr. Webb mesmerizes his audience and envelopes them in a frightening, sometimes humorous, tale of the supernatural. Through Kevin’s polished performance and ingenuity, he recounts a series of related events experienced by the nameless character he plays that, by the end of the evening, chronicles the power of the vampire.

In Praise of Women

A Little Night Music

As Summer in Chicagoland begins to heat up, what could be more delightful than A Weekend in the Country? This is also the title of the grand, magnificent musical number, performed by the entire cast, that brings Act I to a rousing, comic closure. The fast-paced, syncopated melody, with humorous patter-song lyrics, offers a promise of the plot complications to come in Act II. The song’s soaring, intertwining operetta style counterpoint is an absolute delight. It’s one of my favorite songs from one of the most treasured of all Broadway musicals.

The Greatest Show on Earth

Water for Elephants

Jacob Jankowski, an elderly gentleman living in a senior citizens home, sneaks out alone to visit the circus that’s come to town. After the show ends, Mr. Jankowski befriends a couple of the big top employees, sharing with them that, in his youth, he was the veterinarian with the Benzini Brothers traveling circus. Then, magically, the musical travels back to Depression Era America, where a younger Jacob Jankowski hops a train going somewhere, anywhere. He just wants to leave behind the tragedy that’s befallen his family and him, after both his parents are suddenly killed in an automobile accident and the bank has foreclosed on their house. Having recently finished veterinary school and with nowhere to go, Jacob just wants to leave his sadness and tragedy behind. Hoping to start anew, the young man begins working as a big top roustabout, but is eventually promoted to circus veterinarian. Soon the thrills and chills of the greatest show on earth take stage. 

A Work in Progress

 A People

Avi Hoffman, the talented director of A PEOPLE, a theatrical work written by LM Feldman, says that for him this “mosaic is less a play and more a living conversation across generations, languages and lands.” That statement might prepare the audience somewhat for the performance piece they’re about to experience…but not entirely. This presentation of short scenes, stories, songs, passages told partly in Yiddish, and using a couple puppets and masks, is much more confusing than it is enlightening. Mr. Hoffman concludes his introduction to A PEOPLE by saying his hope is “that you leave the theatre feeling not that you have seen a play about Jews, but that you have been invited into a communal act of remembrance and imagination…” I agree that leavingTheater Wit, there was no  satisfaction of seeing a fully fleshed-out, polished production. The “communal act” that the audience experiences is more like being given a peak at a work in progress.

When You Got, Flaunt It

The Producers

Remarkably BrightSide Theatre has done it again! Naperville’s only live professional theatre brings its 14th season of magical main stage productions to a close with a musical comedy classic by Mel Brooks. And if you’ve never treated yourself to an evening at BrightSide Theatre, this hilarious show would be the perfect production with which to begin and see what you’ve been missing. Following BrightSide’s recent delightful production of PRIVATE LIVES, producing Artistic Director Jeffrey Cass has followed it up with this beautifully embellished almost intimate, slightly scaled-down production of THE PRODUCERS. But Cass’ production is an absolute gut buster and, with respect to lavish sets and special effects, illustrates the old adage that “Less is More.” And you know what they always say—and as Ulla sings in Act I—“When You Got It, Flaunt It!”

Heavenly Voices

Nunsense

Oh, dear Lord, in Heaven, help me! The Little Sisters of Hoboken have a huge problem on their hands. It seems that the convent cook, Sister Julia, Child of God, accidentally poisoned 52 of the nuns with her tainted vichyssoise! The Mother Superior and the remaining nuns, all of whom were out of town when the incident took place, have buried all but four of the deceased sisters. These poor nuns have been temporarily laid to rest in the kitchen freezer…for now, at least. 

Fangtastic Fun

Untitled Vampire Play

Have you ever met a vampire? Well, you might have and not known it because, despite the way these creatures are depicted in novels, horror films and television shows, vampires look much different today. The 21st century undead don’t resemble the bloodthirsty vamps in fictional works, such as “Nosferatu,” “Twilight,” “Interview With a Vampire,” “True Blood,” “What We Do in the Shadows” and the upcoming sitcom, “Eternally Yours.” The vampires who have been the subject of popular theatrical  plays and musicals, such as DRACULA, DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES, LESTAT, and the current broadway hit musical and Tony Award-winner, THE LOST BOYS, are always easy to identify by the way they look. But Kevin Douglas, the talented Chicago playwright and Lookingglass Theatre ensemble member, paints a much different, more contemporary portrait of today’s vampires who blend in with everyone else, and are apparently living among us in every big city…like Chicago.

A Fascinating Fulfillment

Catch As Catch Can

Trying to do the best you can with whatever resources, opportunities or methods are available to you can be challenging. Often this will result in a kind of improvised or disorganized process. Another way of putting it is attempting to do as much as you’re able while trying to get everything else finished. That’s the gist of the idiom, “Catch as catch can.” And the phrase seems to be Mia Chung’s inspiration for or theme of her comic drama, now having its Chicago premiere. The play concludes Steppenwolf’s 50th Anniversary Season. The result is certainly a fascinating fulfillment of that idea, but an often confusing evening of theatre.

A Sweeping Epic

Leopoldstadt

Before his death, theatre critic Dominic Cavendish called the late playwright Sir Tom Stoppard, “Britain’s greatest living dramatist.” He burst onto the theatre scene in 1966 with his daring and hilarious spin-off of HAMLET, entitled ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD. Known for his razor-sharp wit, deep intellectual curiosity and playful exploration of language, Stoppard went on to write for film, radio, television as well as for the theatre. 

Over his lifetime Tom Stoppard penned more than 30 tragicomedies. They include TRAVESTIES, THE INVENTION OF LOVE,  JUMPERS, THE REAL THING, ARCADIA, ROCK N’ ROLL and THE COAST OF UTOPIA. Reviewing LEOPOLDSTADT, his last play, Greg Evans called Stoppard’s final work “a late career masterpiece.” He went on to wisely comment about this sweeping epic that “any summary of the scenes and timeline descriptions of LEOPOLDSTADT can’t begin to convey the richness of Stoppard’s work.” And I absolutely agree. 

LEOPOLDSTADT premiered in 2020 in London’s West End, but was forced to close due to the Covid pandemic. It returned again when the theaters were reopened, and then transferred to Broadway two years later. In New York, Stoppard’s three-hour masterpiece won four Tony Awards, including Best Play. However, the presentation at Writers Theatre features a few cuts and script revisions made by Stoppard and his frequent collaborator and friend, Carey Perloff, who also brilliantly directed this production. There could not have been a more perfect choice as guest director. The Glencoe theatre’s incredibly intimate presentation marks the largest production in the theatre’s history, as well as a beautiful rendition of the final play by one of our greatest playwrights.

LEOPOLDSTADT is Stoppard’s most personal, elaborate and semi-biographical play. It follows the lives of four generations of a large Jewish family. The story is set in the luxurious drawing room of their family home in Vienna, Austria. The clan’s complicated history spans from 1899 to 1955. In two-acts, Stoppard’s saga recounts the intricate journey of an affluent, assimilated family as their enjoyment of prosperity is taken for granted, and until the family’s good fortune descends into  the perils of the Great War and the ravaging realities of the Holocaust. Stoppard based many of the characters in this play on the stories he remembered about his family relatives. As the epic narrative continues, the playwright comes to explore the painful and lingering guilt of those few family members who survived.

It’s imperative that every theatergoer has a printed program in his hands throughout the performance, in order to follow along and thoroughly understand the relationships of each character. The  characters are featured in three ways. There’s a nicely illustrated family tree, and the clan is also listed by the various eras. Then there are the headshot photos of the entire cast, so that the audience can match faces to the character names.

Although there are many newcomers treading the boards in this production, the cast is led by some of Chicago’s finest, best-known and well-loved actors. They include Barbara E. Robertson, (THE DETECTIVE’S WIFE, Writers Theatre), Kate Fry (WIFE OF A SALESMAN, Writers Theatre), Emma Rosenthal (THE FLYING LOVERS OF VITEBSK, at Northlight), Hannah Dworkin (PICNIC, Writers Theatre), Jessie Fisher (EVERY BRILLIANT THING, Writers Theatre), Sarah Coakley Price (EURYDICE, Writers Theatre), Ian Barford (Salieri in Steppenwolf’s AMADEUS), Sean Fortunato (Malvolio in TWELFTH NIGHT, Writers Theatre), Joey Slotnick (AMADEUS, Steppenwolf), Erik Hellman (TRANSLATIONS, Writers Theatre) and Andrew Mueller (TRANSLATIONS, Writers Theatre). The actors range in ages, from children to adult. Many are making their Writers Theatre and/or professional debut. They include Justin Albinder, Sam Bell-Gurwitz, Ella Boparai, Levi Charnay, Asha Dale Hopman, Rachel J Jones, Theo Clark Leber, Morgan Medina, Grainne Ortlieb, Adeline Rosenthal, Sebastian Rus, Caleb Scherr and Brenann Stacker. An award for Best Ensemble was created for such a talented, multi-generational cast as this!

In addition to a large, gifted cast and the brilliant guidance and staging by director Carey Perloff, a few members of the artistic technical team must be acknowledged for their superlative contributions to production. Ken MacDonald’s gorgeous and detailed scenic design is absolutely jaw-dropping. Keith Parham’s exquisite lighting design adds color, depth and mood to each chapter of the story. The sumptuous, multi-piece costume design by Alex Jaeger spans an amazing 56 years of political and cultural change in Vienna, and must be seen to be fully appreciated. The period look for each character is further enhanced by Tom Watson’s excellent hair, wig and makeup design. And Jane Shaw’s spot-on sound design and original music gives an additional layer of realism to this magnificent production. With this breathtaking, must-see presentation of Tom Stoppard’s sweeping epic tragicomedy, Writers Theatre once again shows why it’s consistently regarded as one of the brightest jewels in Chicago’s theatrical crown.       

Highly Recommended

Reviewed by Colin Douglas

Presented June 4-August 9 by Writers Theatre, 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe, Illinois.

Tickets are available in person at the box office, by calling 847-242-6000 or by going to www.writerstheatre.org.

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com. 

Photos by Michael Brosilow