An Evening Alone with Your Thoughts

The Side Project Theatre Company presents Request Concert

At the Side Project Theatre in Roger’s Park is a show where the front of house staff starts off by telling you there will be no curtain call. The small black box theatre where you will see Request Concert efficiently uses all of the space it has, filling it with what looks like a studio apartment. The show begins without much warning as the audience lights dim and a woman enters the space. She feels very familiar, coming in from the cold Chicago winter and settling into her small home wearily after a long day. The entire play consists of this spinster, Ms. Rasch, going about her evening routine. The production is part of Side Project Theatre Company’s attempt to explore urban loneliness in conjunction with another play by the same writer entitled Through the Leaves. While at first watcingh a 40-something woman eat her dinner, wash dishes, and listen to the radio is a little difficult for a 21^st century fast-paced audience to adjust to, by the end you really fell like you know Ms. Rasch, perhaps better than she knows herself.

Admittedly, this show may not be for everyone. It is a very intimate venture into a very lonely and sad woman’s life. It is also a wordless play, so it sometimes takes a bit of concentration not to let your mind wander. However, even when it does, that only makes you reflect more on how small and far between the joys in Ms. Rasch’s life are. Suddenly the act of treating yourself to cookies after dinner becomes a very special ritual. Meg Elliott, who plays Ms. Rasch, looks perhaps a little young for the role, but is very subtle and skilled in her portrayal of the character. From smoking a cigarette to folding a napkin, Elliott puts great care and meaning into every little action on stage. It is easy to sympathize with her character.

All of the elements of this production are very subtle. In the background, I thought I could hear the sound of cars and traffic. If the theatre wasn’t in quiet Roger’s Park, I would have just assumed it was the sound of Chicago. That environmental design and the compilation of songs playing on the radio’s “Request Concert Hour” were designed by Stephen Gawrit. The very livable and tiny studio apartment set was designed by Carolyn Voss, who even added running water to the set design. It’s funny how the continual drip of a real faucet can add to the ambiance of the moment. The entire production, much like Ms. Rasch herself, come together to form a very neat and tidy package.

Request Concert is certainly not like every play you are going to see in Chicago. It definitely feels like the production of a storefront theatre company, but is surprising in the risks Side Project Theatre Company chooses to take. However, even though the style of the production is inventive, the ending feels a little predictable. Essentially the message becomes: people who live alone in cities are lonely. It would be interesting to see a counter to this production, where a single woman living alone finds ways to make her life meaningful. There is certainly a truth and sadness to Request Concert, but perhaps there could be a brighter side to the urban lifestyle.

Recommended

Reviewed by Clare Kosinski

Presented January 22-February 2 by The Side Project Theatre Company, 1439 West Jarvis Ave, Chicago.

Tickets are available by calling 773.340.0140 or by visiting their website www.thesideproject.net.

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

A Priceless, Peerless Production

Mr. Chickee’s Funny Money

Imagine someone giving you a piece of currency that bares the likeness of African-American R&B singer James Brown, the initials HWMISB and the denomination of 1 followed by fifteen zeros. Your reaction would be much the same as 10-year-old Steven’s in this jubilant musical for the entire family, based on Christopher Paul Curtis‘ award-winning children’s novel of the same name. Not knowing what to call Mr. Chickee’s strange bill or whether or not it’s even real, Steven, the president of the FFD (Flint Future Detectives), sets out to solve this case. With the assistance of co-detectives Richelle and Russell, Mr. Chickee’s giant rag mop dog Zoopy and a little help from his parents, Steven discovers what is really valuable in life. Whether outwitting evil National Treasury Agent Fondoo, learning about the Godfather of Soul or recognizing who’s “My Best Friend,” this terrifically entertaining 60-minute musical is a must-see.

Redemption through Theatre

Our Country’s Good – Shattered Globe

It’s been argued that theatre can be a humanizing force, for the audience but especially for its participants. Timberlake Wertenbaker’s 1990 play, based on Australian Thomas Keneally’s novel, The Playmaker, depicts the origins of Western civilization in Australia. During the 1780’s England began deporting its criminals, accompanied by a crew of Royal Marines, to a newly established penal colony in far off Sidney Bay, Australia. Ms. Wertenbaker’s play, inspired by journal accounts by the actual officers on this voyage, tells how Royal Governor Arthur Phillip appointed 2nd Lieutenant Ralph Clark to stage a play using some of the convicts, with the hopes that such an experience would civilize and rehabilitate these crude, violent men and women.

Back to the Golden Era

Mr. Shaw Goes to Hollywood

George Bernard Shaw and his lovely wife Charlotte have decided to stop at Hollywood’s MGM Studios for a luncheon meeting as part of their 1933 round-the-world tour. The day was apparently fraught with all kinds of difficulties, from their emergency airplane landing on Malibu Beach, hitching a harrowing ride with a young UCLA student and exchanging barbs, zingers and clever witticisms with John Barrymore, Ann Harding and Louis B. Mayer. The luncheon, hosted by William Randolph Hearst and his young actress/mistress Marion Davies, also included Clark Gable and Charlie Chaplin but neglected Shaw’s dietary requirements. GBS was a strict vegetarian and Miss Davies was hard-pressed to find a vegetable anywhere on the MGM lot; however, even though it was during Prohibition, there was plenty of bootleg booze flowing throughout the day.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

The Children’s Hour – Pride films and plays

Kids should be believed unconditionally if and when they confide secrets to the adults they trust, right? In what would become her first hit play, Lillian Hellman examines the tragedy that results from a devastating secret and the subsequent gossip that follows. Ultimately it’s revealed that this secret is nothing more than a vindictive lie, but by then the damage has become irreversible.

The Perfume of Power

Sweet Smell of Success

In 1952 New York City a small-time performer could suddenly become a big name celebrity overnight, thanks to newspaper columnists like JJ Hunsecker. His subtle, enigmatic mention in his column of a venue, an event or an up-and-coming star was akin to someone appearing in today’s National Enquirer, on TV shows like TMZ or sounding off on Twitter. Into Hunsecker’s world comes aspiring young press agent Sidney Falco who hungers for the same power and prestige. When JJ’s pretty younger sister Susan, whom he feels he must protect and shelter, falls in love with Dallas Cochran, a talented but struggling young pianist, Hunsecker promises to help Sidney’s career if he’ll destroy their relationship. JJ’s corrupt influence and control infuses this story of absolute power corrupting absolutely.

Theatrical Gold Awaits in Milwaukee

End of the Rainbow

In a lavish London hotel suite dominated by a baby grand and high windows (that later transform into the venue where the singing legend performed her final concert), Judy Garland, played to perfection by Chicago musical theatre actress Hollis Resnik, bursts onto the scene, sinks her teeth and claws into this production and never lets go until the end. Sharing the stage with the two men currently in her life, her young fiancee and manager Mickey Deans and Anthony, her long-time British accompanist, Ms. Resnik isn’t merely an actress in a role. She IS Judy Garland and this show belongs exclusively to her.

Unchained and Scary

Ghost: the Musical

Blinding, flashing lights, astonishing special effects, loud electronic music that often drowns out the singers, but very little substance…that’s what most audience members will take from this production. After being subjected to more than two hours of overkill, in-your-face theatrics, this beautiful love story that even defies death is all but lost in its stage adaptation. Audience members who loved the romantic 1990 fantasy-thriller film that starred Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg will find the story vaguely familiar. However thanks to Bruce Joel Rubin’s bland script adaptation and the frenetic Dave Stewart/Glen Ballard pop score (in which the Righteous Brothers’ love theme from the movie, “Unchained Melody,” is the highlight), there’s not much improvement to the original. And why should there be? In an era of unoriginal, adapted-from-a-popular-movie Broadway musicals, “Ghost” is yet another example that begs the question, “Why did someone think this was a good idea?” Add to this a visual assault of projections and blinding lights and patrons unfamiliar with the movie will wonder what’s the big deal? Throw in a young, mostly inexperienced non-Equity cast of performers and you have a recipe for certain disappointment.

When this production opened in London in 2011 it received mixed reviews but played a respectable 500 performances, primarily owing to the film’s devoted fans. The 2012 Broadway production didn’t fare nearly as well made it understandable why only a non-union touring production followed.

Steven Grant Douglas and Katie Postotnik work hard to make Sam and Molly, the two leading characters, as strong and believable as possible. But they’re thwarted at every turn by musical accompaniment that often drowns out what they’re singing, dancers who upstage them while flailing around to Ashley Wallen’s puzzlingly spastic choreography and a battery of moving projected images playing over their scenes. In an attempt to rise above the level of frenzy found in this production, Ms. Postonik’s vocals are often strained and painful-sounding. Bobby Haltiwanger does a creditable job as the movie’s main villain, Carl; and Brandon Curry’s Subway Ghost provides one of the show’s best moments. The play’s much welcomed comic relief is provided by Carla R. Stewart as Oda Mae Brown, the African-American pseudo psychic who reluctantly becomes Sam’s spokesperson after he’s killed. But even Ms. Stewart’s welcome presence can only do so much for this musical; and, directed by Matthew Warchus to overplay her role to the point of caricature, the audience soon tires of her over-the-top portrayal.

The only reason to see this production, which certainly doesn’t warrant its high ticket prices, are the special effects. Characters levitate, fly offstage and even walk through doors; objects levitate and glide around the stage; rain falls and umbrellas descend from the sky. Even New York’s cityscape soars toward the audience at breakneck speed making you feel like you’re on a runaway Disney World ride. If your idea of good theatre is bigger, louder, faster you’ll enjoy yourself; for those looking for a musical with pleasant, hummable songs, beautiful choreography and interesting characters honestly telling a memorable story, you might want to look elsewhere. Or better still, just rent the movie.

Not Recommended

Reviewed by Colin Douglas

Presented Jan. 8-19 by Broadway in Chicago at the Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph, Chicago.

Tickets are available at the box office, by calling Chicago Ticket Line at 800-775-2000 or by visiting

www.BroadwayinChicago.com.

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