Monthly Archives: June 2019
“We Are Pussy Riot (or) Everything Is P.R” with Red Tape Theatre
Red Tape Theatre has closed their 15th season with Barbara Hammond’s We Are Pussy Riot (or) Everything Is P.R. Directed by Kate Hendrickson, the show recounts the true story of Pussy Riot, a collective of anonymous Russian activists, who stirred the nation with their 48-second performance of “Virgin Mary – Chase Putin Away!” in the Church of Christ the Savior in Moscow, Russia. A show that had the potential to illuminate the story of a group of women whose actions were adjusted to fit the agenda of the patriarchy of the Russion Church and government was muddled by the contradicting use of narratives and the stumbling pace within the script, inconsistent performances throughout the ensemble, and a flood of auditory and visual elements. Noise must be made to bring awareness to causes, but how are we to permeate it through culture and history if we can’t discern and replicate the melody?
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Time to Get With the Times
The Ballad of Lefty and Crabbe – Underscore Theatre
Just as free broadcast television was blamed for the weakening popularity of the motion picture and theatrical industries, the less expensive ticket to the more readily available silent films and early talkies is believed to have been the final blow that killed vaudeville. In former vaudeville venues, already established as entertainment palaces, motion picture projectors were being installed as early as 1910. Lured by more lucrative work, greater salaries, better working conditions, fame and fortune, many vaudevillian performers, such as Al Jolson, W.C. Fields, Fanny Brice and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, began jumping ship and heading off to Hollywood. In less than four years, a half century of vaudeville tradition was wiped out by the motion picture industry.
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Give Them What They Want
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels – BrightSide Theatre
It seems unbelievable that this crackerjack professional theatre company, which only began producing plays and musicals in Naperville, back in 2011, is successfully completing its eighth season of quality entertainment. Over the past seven years, BrightSide has been dynamic. Incredibly, the company has reinvented themselves. They’ve upped their game, nurtured and increased their season ticket base and wisely added a fully-cast children’s production each season. With the new season on the horizon, another new addition to their already busy calendar has been announced: a concert version of another musical, presented with full orchestral accompaniment. This is a theatre that’s always moving and changing, continually learning what works best and growing with the times.
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Playing It the Company Way
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying – Music Theater Works
The bouncy overture winds down, the curtain rises and we find a young man in coveralls descending from above. J. Pierrepont Finch, an ambitious young window washer, is discovered reading Shepherd Mead’s tongue-in-cheek instructional book of the same name, while dangling from scaffolding above Madison Avenue. Narrated for this production by NPR news quiz host, Peter Sagal, the book progresses chapter-by-chapter, charting the recommended course for Ponty’s rise to power in the business world. Now, bear in mind that this how-to manual, a 1952 best-seller by Shepherd Mead, subtitled “The Dastard’s Guide to Fame and Fortune,” was written as a parody of the popular self-help books of that era. Between this book’s unfailing advice and Finch’s pluck and pizzazz, this likable kid is undoubtedly destined to rise to the top…or is he?
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“Ms. Blakk For President” at Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Ms. Black for President – Steppenwolf Theatre
Steppenwolf has kicked off the early summer with a one-of-a-kind theatrical experience, Ms. Blakk for President, which brings the audience along Ms. Blakk’s run for United States President, an endeavor that started as an attempt to bring awareness to the AIDS crisis and queer issues and make it to the floor of the Democratic National Convention. Marketed as play, party, and campaign rally, the entire evening includes a pre-show party, art-displays, historical timelines, and a one-hour and forty minute long play that introduced the audience to Ms. Joan Jett Blakk, the drag name of Terence Alan Smith. Tina Landau directed while also co-writing the script with Tarell Alvin McCraney, who portrays the title character.
Read MoreIt IS an Honor Just to Be Nominated…
2019 Non-Equity Jeff Awards – Anthaneum Theatre
I’ve always liked the Tony Awards more than the Oscars, and it’s because of the speeches. They are just more fun. I think that is due, in no small part, to the fact that stage actors have more experience speaking in front of a live audience. But largely, I just always feel the passion more directly. Acting is not an easy life, and there’s something about seeing someone succeed at something they truly love that is compelling. That lesson was reinforced last night at the Jeff Non-Equity Awards, the regional theater awards for non-Equity shows.
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The Monsters Within Us
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein – Lookingglass Theatre Company
This magnificent new production, suitably housed within Chicago’s Gothic-inspired Water Tower Pumping Station, is the most recent of four Windy City adaptations of Mary Shelley’s classic horror story. The novel, which just celebrated its 200th anniversary, has been read, reinvented and enjoyed for generations. Each theatrical variation has been unique, offering Chicago audiences a quartet of compelling, valid retellings of this impressive literary classic, the work of a young writer who had not yet turned 20 when it was created. As with Court Theatre’s 2018 production, Lookingglass’ beguiling original adaptation begins with, and continually returns to its source, reminding us how Mary Shelley came to write her remarkable story. But, more than that, this production focuses on the monsters that lie within each of us.
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Yearning for Fame and Fortune
Queen of the Mist – Firebrand Theatre
Tired of living from hand to mouth, 63-year-old Anna Edson Taylor decided that, in an early twentieth century world dominated by men, she would be the one woman who’d achieve celebrity and fortune with a single unconventional act. Mrs. Taylor desperately wanted celebrity and her own piece of the pie. She yearned for her share of fame and fortune, while also striking a blow for feminism. Convinced that with careful scientific research she could become the first person to successfully go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. After hiring Frank Russell, a smooth-talking, wheeler-dealer of a manager and promoter, she carefully researched and drew up detailed plans for a barrel-like vehicle that would allow her to safely take the fateful plunge.
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