Chicago Theatre Review
Carrie Fisher Lives to Tell in “Wishful Drinking”
By Devlyn Camp
When Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli had Liza, a star was born. When Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher had their daughter, star quality was born. A girl, who could have taken it easy after sci-fi fame surprised her, pushed forward into her own kind of enchanting celebrity. Though she sang, wore all black and shot glitter into every nook and cranny of the Bank of America Theatre, Liza she ain’t. Triumphing over the insanities of celebrity parents, drug abuse, her stay with a mental institution and more, Carrie Fisher gladly points out, “If my life wasn’t funny, it would just be true.” And that’s what the wonderful Wishful Drinking is all about.
Fisher’s one-woman show is comedic therapy, a sort of audience-interactive stand-up show for the crazy lady in all of us. Carrie lets her viewers ask her questions about waking up in bed with a dead guy, and she’ll even buy you a drink if she really gets along with you. She’s up for anything, as long as it’s funny. If it’s not, she knows how to make it so. Carrie invites her audience into her wacky, eclectic set like she’s been waiting in her living room for years to tell you her story. Two couches sit between side tables holding nick-knacks and Star Wars toys. It’s warm and inviting, welcoming everyone into Carrie’s living scrapbook, where she tells stories using the upstage screen’s old photos and videos. And yes, she plays Star Wars. And yes, she remembers all her lines.
Former Princess Leia runs around her stage barefoot and wigged telling the whole world all about “Hollywood inbreeding” among her divorced parents who habitually remarried other stars. The woman is a delightful wreck. If you’re looking for Nerd Nirvana, here it is: Star Wars, celebrity pop culture past and present, and hundreds of gays on the edge of their seats waiting for Carrie’s next syllable. For anyone that ever wondered, “What happened to Carrie Fisher?” they can safely say she turned lemons into some delicious lemonade, and Obi-Wan is far from her only hope.
WISHFUL DRINKING
Bank of America Theatre
Now through October 16th
Tickets $25-65
Available at www.broadwayinchicago.com
Photo courtesy Cylla von Tiedemann
Contact critic at devlynmc@yahoo.com
Rodgers & Hart: A Celebration
Rodgers & Hart: A Celebration at Light Opera Works
Light Opera Works Second Stage
1420 Maple Avenue, Evanston IL
Runs October 2-November 6, 2011
Box Office (847) 869-6300; $27-42
Recommended
A classy night of music by Rodgers and Hart
Review by Darcy Rose Coussens
Light Opera Works offers the best of the music of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart in one entertaining review. The six performers covered a whopping 57 songs, mixing it up with selections such as “Blue Moon,” “Sing For Your Supper,” “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” and “The Lady is a Tramp.” The singers were excellent and the show well planned, with a concept by Richard Lewine and John Fearnley.
Although there were such a large number of songs represented in the review, the performers smoothly transitioned from one to the next. The first act felt a bit long, but the second act picked up with much more energy and the medleys of old favorites were accompanied by props and personality. Director and choreographer Rudy Hogenmiller, also artistic director of Light Opera Works, and music director Linda Slein have polished the works of Rodgers and Hart into a single cohesive show with plenty of variety.
The audience stood at the end for the charming performers, who wore tuxes or black dresses and sparkly jewelry. Altogether, this was a class act. The show is for ages 12 and older, and tickets are half price for guests ages 21 and younger. If you’re a Rodgers and Hart fan, this is absolutely a night you will enjoy.
"Starting Here, Starting Now" at Theo Ubique
By Devlyn Camp
Theo Ubique at No Exit Café is currently presenting a vibrant cabaret performance of Starting Here, Starting Now.
The Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire story-song show takes on a 1970s atmosphere, right at home as a show first produced in ’76. The three-person show about various forms of love is set around a single bed where they charmingly disco and try to entreat each other for attention. Hillary Patingre is particularly charming. She’s quite funny and quirky, and completely capturing in her solo “Autumn.” Equally entertaining, Stephanie Herman is a total joy. She’s confident, silly and smart.
The second act is made up of more meaningful solo numbers, still focused around stories and love. The wonderful performances, and fantastic directing by Fred Anzevino, prove that the best kind of theatre is non-spectacle theatre. While no judgment is held against the big glittering Broadway smashes headed into town, the little cabarets like Theo keep us aware of what really matters.
STARTING HERE, STARTING NOW
Theo Ubique at No Exit Café
Now through November 6th
Tickets $25-30, available at theoubique.org
or call (800) 595-4849
Contact critic at devlynmc@yahoo.com
Moby-Dick at Building Stage
By Devlyn Camp
When you step onto the Building Stage to cross to your seat, you’ve stepped onto the Pequod and out to sea with six dueling Ishmaels that tell the tale of Moby Dick and Captain Ahab’s chase for revenge.
The boat is backed by a chalkboard where the facts are written out throughout the show. The audience is in a sort of Moby Dick School, following the story as obsessively as Ishmael studies his strange captain. Above the chalkboard, three percussionists and several drums represent the ocean in fantastic music by Kevin O’Donnell. Proven here, if ever the sea should be an instrument, it would be drums. The musicians are incredibly quick and talented, and their performance is half the fun of the show.
Each cast member portrays all the members of the ship, passing the character with the costume piece. The boats taken out to sea are miniature ships and waves are played by handkerchiefs. This show is high-scale backyard playing with much better acting, and it’s actually rather funny, too. The play is so fun and moving that the language of the novel is hardly noticeable. It’s absolutely captivating.
With the smart directing of Blake Montgomery, the beautiful set, and welcoming, warm people of The Building Stage, this revamp of their 2006 production is a wonderful must-see to put on your calendar immediately.
Also, have you seen their ad? It’s hilarious.
MOBY-DICK
The Building Stage
Now through October 30th
Tickets $22 (Students $12)
available at www.buildingstage.com
or call (312) 491-1369
Contact critic at devlynmc@yahoo.com
Seven Less-Than-Scary Stories at Pastime
By Devlyn Camp
Clock Productions at National Pastime Theater is currently presenting “Seven Scary Stories.” As the title here suggests, this work is far from scary. In fact, they’re barely “stories.” Just “seven” pieces. In an attempt at a Halloween show, the simple, dull script hardly communicates feelings of trepidation or anxiety. The costumes are cheap, the jokes are lame, and the acting is less than average. After a bit, one might think this is an attempt at some kind of camp, like The Evil Dead or Killer Klowns from Outer Space, but it’s somewhere lost in between comedy and drama. The actors’ gumption is, of course, half-baked as they push through such an unsuccessful script by David Denman. There are plot holes, unlearned lines, and frankly, a complete Young Frankenstein rip-off. There comes a point in production when an artist must look at their work, admit it’s not right, and head back to the drawing board. This is that moment.
SEVEN SCARY STORIES
National Pastime Theater
Now through October 31st
Tickets available at www.npt2.com
Contact critic at devlynmc@yahoo.com
The Amish Project at American Theatre Co.
By Devlyn Camp
Sadieh Rifai leads the one-woman show The Amish Project as seven different characters.
She enters in a side door, the outside light streaming ac
ross the blackened stage. She slides her apron on, ties her bonnet, and sets to work on the floor with a large piece of chalk. She’s a little girl drawing and explain her friends and family, the soon-to-be-traumatized victims of a non-fictional schoolhouse shooting from which the play is based. Her chalk childhood is juxtaposed against other characters’ adult issues.
Rifai changes characters so quickly and fluidly with assistance only from beautiful lighting changes. Her monologues are powerful and touching, even rather funny at parts. Various perspectives on the shooting that killed five girls open problems to Amish families that seem to wonder if secluding themselves could ever actually help avoid problems. The characters battle each other over their opinions of how to feel about the man that followed his urges, but also murdered the Amish girls.
Creepy and twisted, yet somehow spiritual, American Theatre Company’s production gets intellectual gears turning.
THE AMISH PROJECT
American Theatre Company
Now through October 23rd
Tickets $35, available at www.atcweb.org
Contact critic at devlynmc@yahoo.com
Burying Miss America at New Leaf Theatre
By Devlyn Camp
A world premiere, Burying Miss America is a one-act play about two siblings who attend the funeral of their mother, Nebraska’s Miss America.
The show is not about theatrics. In fact, it’s quite simple. The only lighting cue is at the top of the show when gorgeous lights brighten in the windows behind the casket. The rest of the set, the theater, is a normal funeral setting. The audience is seated around the sides of the room. I actually thought I had stumbled into a real funeral when entering the theater. The simple setting allows the play to focus on the story.
The beauty queen’s children are very plain, normal people. Her son, Boxer, is a trumpet player living in New York City, and her daughter, Jean, still lives in Nebraska raising her children. Their conversation examines their relationship with each other and with their mother, who may not have been the kindest woman when out of the spotlight. Boxer has returned home for the first time in a while to settle the will, but realizes he has other unsettled problems with his sister. Going home can be an experience that lifts a weight off one’s back, but can also open forgotten emotions.
New Leaf’s newest production is well written and well acted, and a recommended show to catch when you’re down in Lincoln Park.
BURYING MISS AMERICA
New Leaf Theatre
Now through October 29th
Tickets $15-25, available by calling (773) 980-6391
or at newleaftheatre.org
Contact critic at devlynmc@yahoo.com
Inaside and Cirqua Rivera unite for a night of “Constant Motion”
Dynamic dance collaboration by two groups to keep on your radar
Constant Motion
Inaside Chicago Dance and Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre
Harris Theater, Chicago
September 24, 2011
Recommended
Review by Darcy Rose Coussens
Two different companies. Two mission statements. Two acts. One satisfying and heartening night of dancing at the Harris Theater. This weekend, Inaside Chicago Dance and Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre had the opportunity to collaborate and perform at the Harris Theatre near Millennium Park in Chicago. Recognized as one of Chicago’s finest venues for dance performance, this space is usually out of the budget for these professional, not-for-profit companies. However, the MetLife Foundation has awarded a grant to Dance/USA to support New Stages for Dance pilot programs in Chicago, San Francisco, and for the third year in Philadelphia. Through these programs, the cost of venues such as the Harris is subsidized, allowing these companies more exposure.
The performance was a success, especially in that it promoted two companies with a lot to offer. The first act was made up of several different pieces by Inaside. The jazz dance company opened with an exciting swing number full of seamless partnering that will make you want to head out to the Green Mill and try some yourself. I didn’t feel a blast from the past, though– the four-part piece had a contemporary feel that Inaside maintained throughout the entire act. Their pieces varied in style, and they also allowed their youth ensemble to perform. I believe my younger self would have been motivated by both the company and the youth ensemble, because their styles were familiar enough to be accessible, while still experimental and artistic.
Inaside left me with an impression of sunshine between their bright dresses and music that could have been the soundtrack to a romantic comedy. Most importantly, they all smile! I found it extremely refreshing to see dancers enjoy themselves instead of being serious artists, and it certainly helped the audience enjoy them, as well. At times the choreography felt more fit for TV’s “So You Think You Can Dance” than the Harris, but I mostly found it to creatively make use of space and explore partnership.
The second act was Cerqua Rivera’s, and their first number snapped me to attention. Eddy Ocampo choreographed a riveting, political piece juxtaposing the concept of home with that of war. This included projections of children’s drawings of houses and photographs of child soldiers all over the world. These were accompanied by gunshots over the music and the dancers’ disturbing but impressive interpretation of play and self-exploration in a frightening setting.
Their opening number set a very high standard that took the show to an entirely new level, and they definitely lived up to it in all following pieces. A collaboration between acclaimed musician and composer Joe Cerqua and Artistic Director/choreographer Wilfredo Rivera, this company features an excellent nine-piece band with additional vocalists. The live music infused the performance with energy and a quality of style for each piece, and several fantastic soloists were featured. The company truly accomplishes the diversity and representation of different cultures they declare in their mission statement while allowing for beautiful choreography. In each number, however different the style, they establish a vocabulary of movement, which is important in creating the world of each piece. This is a company I would jump at the chance to see again.
Dance/USA’s New Stages for Dance programs are clearly a wonderful idea, and it is fortunate for Chicago that the MetLife Foundation is funding the exposure of groups like these. The numbers were somewhat brief, which allowed both companies to show off many styles of their repertoire and the audience to digest and really appreciate what they saw. It also gave the musicians of the second act their own moments, as they played interludes between each piece. The finale was comprised of both companies and included selected repetition from different numbers, which tied the show together nicely. Inaside and Cerqua Rivera are very different types of companies, but both made a great impression. Although perhaps not entirely polished, Inaside Dance Chicago’s budding youth and blossoming company achieved a delightful performance of varied jazz styles. Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre is a company in full bloom, with outstanding dancers, choreographers, and musicians. This really was a night of constant motion, but it was also a night of beauty, humor, and a celebration of music and dance in all its styles.
“Elling” at Red Twist
by Devlyn Camp
If ever there’s a black box to be seated in, it’s the Red one.
Opening their season last Saturday, the Chicago-premiering play is moving and meaningful, yet so completely funny. Red Twist’s production of Elling is a stimulated, welcoming look into the unrested minds of two openhearted men.
Played by Jeff-winning Peter Oyloe and set designer/new Co-Artistic Director Andrew Jessop, two uneasy men in an institution, Kjell and Elling, are finally permitted to leave and restart their adult lives. Through their experience together, the audience sees the world from their perspectives of unknowing, realizing the oddness of everyday life.
Elling sends the two childlike adults through a quick birth into a new society where they learn that to act normal is to be normal. Following natural instinct isn’t what is always socially acceptable, which is proven by Kjell’s uncontrolled hyper-concern with sex. Oyloe’s body language perfectly reflects the perplexed nature of Kjell. He rocks and wanders, looking for the answers (and women, if he can figure out what exactly he’s supposed to say to them). Meanwhile, Elling is uptight and unable to leave his home, because why should one have a home if they want to leave it? He’s paranoid and unable to make decisions after relying on his mother for his entire life until her death.
The relationship that develops between the lonely friends speaks for how much we rely on others, and asks what might fill the void when the one we depend on is gone. Experiencing the world and learning how to operate among the unknown is a crucial piece to being alive.
As Chicago theatregoers know, the imagination prerequisite for black box theatre is a must-have to enjoy the experience, but Red Twist takes the small box further now with this production. The brilliant set designed by Andrew Jessop (also in the title role) imagines the one-bedroom apartment into nightclubs, a poet’s library, a cabin and a mental institution. Tables raise from the floor, the wall empties out beds, and kitchen appliances double as makeshift devices. The set is simple, yet remarkably crafty.
“Innovative” doesn’t begin to describe the level of box theatre creativity at Red Twist. They are proof that expensive, thousand-person spectacle shows don’t hold up for a moment next to great drama, originality and a small playbook of people who know how to get the job done.
ELLING
Red Twist Theatre
Now through October 30th
Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 7:30 PM
Sunday at 3:00 PM
Tickets $25-30, available at www.redtwist.org
Peter Oyloe and Andrew Jessop, photo courtesy Kim Schechter
Contact Devlyn Camp
“Spunk” Fiction
by Devlyn Camp
Court has a little more to offer than spunk tonight. They’ve got fearless voices, smart comedy, and a joyful presentation of life’s common struggles. Perhaps “spunk” really does cover it. Spunk is an adaptation of three short stories by Zora Neale Hurston. The show taps into its soul through musical numbers by Chic Street Man, and illuminates the characters of the Harlem Renaissance writer.
From the top, the “Folks” want their audience in on the fun. A guitarist (Kelvyn Bell, also the music director) enters, nonchalantly asking “How you doin’?” and opens the book to this fun little world. The Folks enter joyfully, narrating their own stories in a charming, comical fashion, painting Hurston’s pages out in animation.
The three short pieces illustrate struggles that are still relevant today. On the worn, wooden set, they tell a story that ultimately has one message: You reap what you sow. Along with being alive, each person must connect with karma and face their pain. Although however true this is, watching these six actors (and a wooden puppet), it hurts so good. The audience is butter in their frying pan, sizzling and melting into the smooth, thick vocals. The catchy bantering of “I’m Too Good Lookin’ For You” between the guitarist and the main narrator, Blues Speak Woman, causes the audience to have trouble hearing the music over the outrageous agreeing laughter. These quick accounts and peppy tunes prove that while there are the weeds of everyday life to pull, we can still enjoy ourselves, and grow into our own little place in the world.
SPUNK
Court Theatre
Now through October 9, 2011
Tickets $10-$50
Available at www.courttheatre.org
Kelvyn Bell and Alexis J. Rogers, photo courtesy Michael Brosilow
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