Monthly Archives: February 2020
Happiness is a Warm Puppy
Dex & Abby – Pride Films & Plays
People who don’t understand their canine companions may say that dogs can’t talk. However, someone once wisely mused that dogs do speak; but only to those who know how to listen. In playwright Allan Baker’s heartwarming play, his two human characters, Sean and Corey, do indeed hear the voices of their beloved canine companions and usually pay close attention to what they have to say. And Dex and Abby have a lot to say about an array of topics. In honoring the memory of his own dearly departed pup, who has sadly crossed the Rainbow Bridge some years ago, Baker creates this warm, comic drama in which theatergoers are able hear the thoughts and feelings of both of the irresistible dogs in this play.
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Haunting the Shadows
Mlima’s Tale – Griffin Theatre
Premiering two years ago at New York’s famed Off-Broadway venue, the Public Theater, Lynn Nottage’s 90-minute one-act cautionary drama is a departure from her other, better-known plays. Ms. Nottage holds the distinction of being the only female playwright to twice win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Her dramas “Ruined” and “Sweat” earned her this highly-respected accolade, while her other plays, which often focus on the world’s most marginalized individuals, include such titles as “Intimate Apparel,” “By the Way, Meet Vera Stark” and “Crumbs From the Table of Joy.”
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Making History Come Alive
Middle Passage – Lifeline Theater
Winning the 1990 National Book Award for Fiction, Charles R. Johnson’s novel is a sprawling two-and-a-half hour saga about a freed, young African-American man who comes to understand firsthand the horrors of the slave trade. Co-adapted for Lifeline Theatre by Ilesa Duncan and David Barr III, this ocean adventure is a tale of self-discovery and growth, detailing a young African-American’s journey toward maturity.
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Black Lives Matter!
Kill Move Paradise – TimeLine Theatre
TimeLine Theatre is the place in Chicago where we revisit those special individuals, real people or fictional representations, who’ve left a mark in history. At times, these wonderful plays and musicals remind us of events from the past, taking a close look at another time and place. But once in a while this treasure of a theatre forces audiences to examine events from the present, and we are presented with history—good or bad—in the making.
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Melodramatic Flirting and Antagonism
The Layover – The Comrades
In this Midwest premiere of Leslye Headland’s 2016 drama, a one-act play about infidelity and the consequences thereof, theatergoers may walk away feeling disappointed. The play begins promisingly but, before long, it begins to veer into the land of incredible melodrama. Like most soap operas, we don’t really get to dive into the psyche of its characters, so we end up feeling kinda empty by the end. Yet, despite hungering for more information about these people, audiences may, after 100 long intermission-less minutes, be thankful to simply escape from these characters and their hokey and perverted world.
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You Can Have It All
The Secret of My Success – Paramount Theatre
Such exciting news comes from Aurora! After last season’s somewhat disappointing premiere of the theatre’s first original musical, Paramount is sizzling with excitement over a fantastically entertaining, beautifully produced and superbly acted/sung and danced new show that has “Broadway” written all over it. In this perky premiere, dramatically guided by Gordon Greenwood, a topnotch director with credits both on Broadway and in the West End, this musical is an adaptation of the popular 1987 film that starred Michael J. Fox and Helen Slater. Greenwood co-wrote the much updated book with Steve Rosen, and the show features a rousing, toe-tapping, head-bopping score by Chicago’s own prolific musical wunderkinds, Michael Mahler and Alan Schmuckler. Coupled with energetic, athletic choreography by Paramount’s New Works Development Director, Amber Mak, the resulting musical is, in short, magical.
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Rocky Mountain High
Almost Heaven: John Denver’s America – Theatre at the Center
There are so many shows nowadays that sport the label of jukebox musical. They’re either plays that provide a clever, original story that’s enhanced by the well-known tunes of a popular musician (the excellent “Jagged Little Pill,” supported by the songs of Alanis Morissette, is currently taking Broadway by storm); or a musical group (one of the first jukebox musicals,“Mamma Mia!” which is a vehicle for the songs of pop group, ABBA). Then there are the biographical jukebox musicals, such as the brilliantly written and performed “Jersey Boys,” or the less successful “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical,” that claims to present the life story of a musical group or individual singer through the songs they wrote.
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A Season Long Salute to the Knight
Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago has announced its 2020/2021, promising blood and guts, love and jealousy, and a season-long celebration of Sir Andrew Davis, who is stepping down from his current position as music director at the season’s end.
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Curl Up and Dye
Shear Madness – Mercury Theater
Set in a Chicago unisex hair salon called Shear Madness, the two coiffeuse, Tony and Barbara, answer their telephone with the clever, but innocently prophetic phrase, “We curl up and dye for you.” Because little do they know that a murder will take place under their roof within the next two hours and the killer will be someone in the salon. In addition to flamboyant Tony Whitcomb and sassy Barbara DeMarco, the two hairdressers who create all the hirsute hocus-pocus, their customers today include the elderly, prim and proper Mrs. Shubert; Eddie Lawrence, a handsome, but shady, “used” antiques dealer; Mikey Thomas, the first customer, who turns out to be a young Chicago cop; and Nick Rossetti, the CPD police captain who, along with Mikey, is also undercover, disguised as a construction worker/Blackhawks fan. It’s soon discovered that the building’s landlady, Isabel Czerny, the world famous pianist who lives in the apartment above the salon, has been brutally murdered. Suddenly something’s afoot and the audience is about to become involved.
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Watching Them Squirm
Stick Fly – Writers Theatre
During the 2011-2012 Broadway season, New York saw the arrival of three important plays. What made them especially significant and historically groundbreaking is that this trio of dramas were all penned by African-American women. They included Suzan-Lori Parks’ reworked production of “Porgy and Bess,” Katori Hall’s “Mountaintop” and Lydia R. Diamond’s “Stick Fly.” This particular play has enjoyed a couple other Chicago productions before this revival in Glencoe. Another play by Ms. Diamond, the highly-respected production of “Smart People,” was seen at Writers Theatre just two years ago, so it makes sense for Resident Director, Ron OJ Parson, (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “East Texas Hot Links”) to helm this new regional production.
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