Author: Colin Douglas
Fire and Ice
Loki—The End of the World Tour
The gods and goddesses, as well as many of the legendary creatures, heroes and events from Norse mythology, all come to life on the intimate Lifeline stage. Often spilling out into the house and up the aisles, sometimes even including members of the audience, this epic, ambitious and brilliantly spectacular rock musical may be one of the best shows of the year.
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Born to Entertain
Ruthless!
Sweet, precocious little Tina Denmark is an accomplished and talented young lady…very young, in fact, and very talented. Tina’s only eight years old and already the tiny tyke knows she’s destined to become a Broadway star. In fact, teensy-weensy Tina Denmark was literally “Born to Entertain,” a song the little lady belts out within the first few minutes of the show. Then we learn that Tina’s meteoric rise to fame could begin very soon because her third grade teacher, Miss Thorn, is about to cast the elementary school musical, PIPPI IN TAHITI.
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Family Fugue
Out Here
Self actualization. Being yourself. Becoming comfortable in your own skin. These are different ways of labeling the same act. Recognizing who you are and acknowledging this understanding of yourself and the world around you is usually just the beginning. It’s an act of freedom, of breaking down artificial barriers and starting over again with honesty and pride. This is part of the premise of OUT HERE, a new musical that was developed in a partnership between the University of Chicago and the Arts Lab at the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society. This new work is, as the song goes, also a “Family Fugue.”
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No One Ever Wins
Fault
Chicago Shakespeare Theatre is celebrating The Bard’s birthday this April with 66 performances. The productions include FAULT, called “a wickedly dark new comedy,” and is a World Premiere that will have theatergoers talking for years to come. This edgy, energetic and profanity-filled and very adult 90-minute one-act is a definite departure from the typical, classical fare found on the Yard Stage.
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A Most Unique Comedy
Eelpout!
Are you in the mood for a most unique comedy—a funny, fast-paced farce especially made for smart, very liberal theatergoers? How about a surreal story peppered with bizarre characters, unexpected events and filled with non-sequiturs and homely homilies offered by mild-mannered Minnesotans? Have you been hankering for a camp entertainment in which friends become lovers, fish can talk and the sweet mysteries of life can be found at the bottom of a deep, frozen lake? Well then, have I got a play for you!
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An American Dream Decayed
The Great Gatsby
If the title of this glittery, glitzy, jazzy musical sounds familiar, it may be because you’re experiencing flashbacks to your high school English class. For many members of the audience, their first encounter with this American literary masterpiece was as part of their school curricula. A highly readable and entertaining novel, American author F. Scott Fitzgerald set his story during the Roaring Twenties on Long Island, New York. The Great Gatsby is a tragically romantic story of the Jazz Age that’s almost autobiographical. It tells the tale of a man with a dream. When Jay Gatsby was younger he fell in love with a beautiful and wealthy debutante named Daisy Fay. However, since Gatsby wasn’t a member of the elite, wealthy class, the girl’s father forbade their marriage. So Jay enlisted in the Army and heroically went off to fight in WWI, hoping to be killed.
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Between Activism and Capitalism
Windfall
A Chicago father has lost his child after a clash with the police. It’s not the first time, either. Earlier, he lost his son and the ghost of young Marcus continues to haunt and taunt him. Then three different strangers, all of whom look suspiciously alike, but in different clothes and with different accents, show up at his door. Each woman arrives offering advice and a huge cash settlement for Henri Mano’s loss. The city wants Mr. Mano to simply put aside his grief, take the check and then relocate somewhere else. If Henri chooses to remain in his home all the memories of his two children will continue to haunt him. In addition, the world that Eli, his young activist child, was trying hard to protect for future generations, will always be a reminder of the cash offer he shunned. This tense story about gender, money and resistance turns into a fierce battle between activism and capitalism.
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Theatre People
The Angel Next Door
Hello friends. Are you tired, rundown, listless? Do you poop out at parties? Are you unpopular? The answer to all your problems is in this delightful two-act farce. Paraphrasing the familiar opening words of that hilarious Vitameatavegamin commercial sketch from “I Love Lucy” seems apropos. It brings to mind the special kind of gleeful, gut-busting romantic comedy that actor and playwright, Paul Slade Smith, incorporates into his latest side-splitting, screwball comedy, THE ANGEL NEXT DOOR. Like “I Love Lucy,” the play is a fast-paced entertainment that takes theatergoers away from their personal problems, as well as today’s taxing, troublesome world, and provides a witty, very funny story about theatre people.
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Shake, Rattle and Roll
Heartbreak Hotel
A form of theatre called the jukebox musical continues its popularity in America with two very different variations. There are the musicals that cobble together an original story around the songbook of a famous singer or pop/rock group. Think of AMERICAN IDIOT, with its score by the rock group, Green Day; or the mega popular ABBA musical, MAMMA MIA! Then there are the biographical jukebox musicals that weave songs from a pop, rock, soul or country/western group or star into a show, whose life the musical depicts. Examples include JERSEY BOYS (about the rise of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons), RING OF FIRE (detailing the life and career of Johnny Cash), AIN’T TOO PROUD (about the popularity of the Temptations) or BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL. These jukebox entertainments focus on the personal and professional struggles of the artists.
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A Real Blast From the Past
Father of the Bride
The 1950’s has been called The Golden Age of television. Many of those black & white TV programs form the fond memories from my childhood. Besides some variety shows, the airwaves were dominated by situation comedies. All of these half-hour programs were G-rated stories, and each of them championed traditional family values, suburban life and strong community support. A few of them featured silly slapstick comedy, like the broad schtick once found in vaudeville. But the best-loved most humorous and heartwarming television programs included classics like “I Love Lucy,” “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet,” “The Real McCoys,” “December Bride” and the quintessential family comedy, “Father Knows Best.”
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