Monthly Archives: January 2020
Written By Kids, Enjoyed By All
PlayMakers Laboratory Presents That’s Weird, Grandma: Travels Through Time
That’s Weird, Grandma: Travels Through Time is a hilarious and ingenious show brings the light from Chicago’s public schools to life. Currently in its 18th year, That’s Weird Grandma features 17 stories from creative writing students in the greater Chicago area.
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No Real Heroes
Thirst – Strawdog Theatre
In a bleak, dystopian world, not too far in the distant future, another civil war has ravaged America and taken its toll in many ways. Bombs have fallen, many lives have been lost, natural resources are at a premium and former relationships have been destroyed while new families have been forged. Water is particularly scarce, and an African-American warlord named Terrance, who has taken the moniker of the King and the Water Man, controls the nation with an iron hand.
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Hit Me With a Hot Note
Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies – Porchlight Music Theatre
How long has it been since you’ve attended a musical production and wished you could simply press a magic replay button and immediately see it all over again? Well, this is that show. Don’t let this one pass you by because there’s just not enough superlatives in the dictionary to do justice to this wonderful, professionally polished production. It’s that good!
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Because Someone Has to Be
The Adult in the Room – Victory Gardens Theatre
Shining a respectful spotlight on Nancy Pelosi, this solo performance by Orlagh Cassidy is a reverent look at a woman about whom everyone has his own opinion, but few actually know or understand. In Bill McMahon’s fascinating one-act play, he imagines the current Speaker of the House engaging in an interactive internet conversation with a group of young women who are considering entering politics. Ms. Pelosi has some very good advice for her audience. Her shared wisdom comes with an interesting peek into her background and what brought Nancy Pelosi to become the highest-ranking elected female official in history, the second in line to the presidential succession and the first female Speaker of the House.
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A Passion to Make Music
Verboten – House Theatre
Back in 1982, a group of talented Evanston tweens, who shared a close friendship and a mutual love for creating music, formed their own punk rock band. For the most part, the four youngsters just enjoyed writing songs and playing them in their basement for each other. But then things changed. Suddenly they were performing at a bar. It was the Cubby Bar on Clark Street near Wrigley Field, and it was, for this Evanston band of preteens, the Big Time. They continued playing together for a while, but after they were asked to perform on a Chicago children’s TV show called “Kidding Around,” the band broke up.
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Awakening Ghosts From the Past
The Leopard Play, or Sad Songs for Lost Boys – Steep Theatre
A gay, young man is summoned home to El Paso for the memorial service his Dad is giving for his brother, the Son’s beloved Uncle Max. Once again finding himself captive in the stifling Texas border town where he grew up releases a floodgate of past memories. The death of the young man’s Uncle is shady and definitely mysterious. When Dad, his Older Brother and his Other Uncles are questioned by the Son, hoping to learn how his dear Uncle died, the men try to bury the truth, saying Uncle Max died of a heart attack. However, when the truth is finally unearthed, the devastating horror of the event leaves both the young man and the audience shocked to the core.
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Slapstick and Silliness Aplenty
Short Shakespeare! The Comedy of Errors – Chicago Shakespeare Theatre
Already William Shakespeare’s shortest of his plays, this 75-minute adaptation by David H. Bell is a streamlined version of the Bard’s most farcical and fanciful plays. The play, especially in this Short Shakespeare production, offers an excellent introduction to the Bard of Stratford Upon Avon for young audiences. Historically, this play may be one of Shakespeare’s first, with the first performance dating back to 1594. Although scholars have remarked that the comedy shows very little thematic depth, everyone agrees that the play demonstrates Shakespeare’s mastery of action, character and stagecraft. It appeals to lovers of low comedy, with slapstick and silliness aplenty.
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The Road Not Taken
If/Then – Brown Paper Box
If one had the chance for a do-over, to go back in his life and relive a significant moment all over again, the outcome would undoubtedly be quite different. The rest of his entire existence would be changed. This is the fascinating premise of this musical, in which Elizabeth, an urban city planner, meets two friends in a New York City park. Lucas, a bisexual buddy from her college days, suggests that she should reclaim her nickname from college, Beth. Her new friend Kate, a lesbian kindergarten teacher, tells Elizabeth that the name, Liz, suits her much better. In that moment the story breaks in two. While Beth leaves with Lucas to join him at a protest against a development in Brooklyn, Liz stays with Kate to enjoy a park musician where she chances to meet Josh, a young doctor returning home from his Army tour of duty. Throughout the musical, Elizabeth’s life unfolds as two tales, depicting the if…and the then…two sides of the events of her life.
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Wonderful Escapist Entertainment
The Mousetrap – Court Theatre
The Granddaddy of all theatrical chillers, Agatha Christie’s most famous murder mystery is still playing 68 years later in London’s West End. It has the distinction of being the longest running modern play. With well over 30,000 performances to its credit, Ms. Christie’s crime drama is a favorite with regional and educational theatres alike. The Guinness Book of World Records calls Dame Agatha Christie the best-selling crime novelist of all time, but in 1930 she began a second career as a successful playwright. From over a dozen scripts, which include “Ten Little Indians” (or its original title “And Then There Were None”) and “Witness for the Prosecution,” it’s “The Mousetrap” that remains Agatha Christie’s most popular theatrical work.
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You’re The One That I Want
Grease – Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre
The Marriott Theatre’s 2020 season of American musical classics opens with Jim Jacobs’ and Warren Casey’s much-produced, tuneful, nostalgic satire of Chicago high school life during the 1950’s. And unless you’ve been living under a rock you know that it was turned into the highest grossing movie musical of all time, starring Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta, in addition to becoming an international staple for both amateur and professional theatre groups, alike. But there are some very good reasons for making the drive up to Lincolnshire, where Grease is still the word.
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