Author: Colin Douglas
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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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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Queen of Disco
Summer: The Donna Summer Musical – Broadway in Chicago
They sound like a good idea on paper, and there have been dozens bouncing around Broadway and on National Tours over the years, but the jukebox musical isn’t much more than a concert with some narrative. There are two formats in this style of musical theatre. There’s the show that creates an original story and characters, but instead of using new music to further the plot, the songs of one or more artists are featured instead. This idea began in the 1980s, with shows like “Return to the Forbidden Planet;” then “Mamma Mia!” in the 1990’s, became a theatrical pop cult classic, despite the strained attempt to incorporate ABBA’s music into a bizarre, convoluted plot. The original story form of jukebox musical flourished in the twenty-first century with musicals like “All Shook Up,” “Rock of Ages,” “Escape to Margaritaville” and the excellent, new “Jagged Little Pill.”
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Seemingly a Work in Progress
Roan @ the Gates – American Blues Theatre
In playwright Christina Telesca Gorman’s one-act feels like the beginning of a contemporary, timely story ripped from today’s news. But the main problems is that it doesn’t feel like she’s finished writing it. It’s like a work in progress that could possibly be exciting if it went somewhere and had a satisfying ending. As it now plays…it doesn’t.
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Becoming Her Own Person
A Doll’s House – Raven Theatre
Henrik Ibsen’s groundbreaking, 19th century drama was, in its 1879 Danish premiere, considered shocking and controversial. The play was based on the life of his friend, Laura Kieler, and depicts how Victorian women lacked opportunities for personal fulfillment in a male-dominated world. Although times have changed significantly, equality among the sexes is still an issue everywhere, which makes this production in 2020 especially timely. In Ibsen’s play audiences witness a vital young woman becoming her own person.
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