Author: Colin Douglas
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The Fantasticks – Citadel Theatre
Nearing the conclusion of their seventeenth season, a fantastic achievement of its own, one of Chicago’s most reliable suburban theatres presents a gorgeous production of an American musical theatre classic. This little gem premiered at Greenwich Village’s tiny Sullivan Street Theater back in 1960. It went on, not only to become the world’s longest-running musical (playing 42 years and logging in a staggering 17,162 performances), but to become the most widely-produced musical in the world. With its intimate tone, pure poetic story, a gorgeous, lush score (demanding only a piano, harp, perhaps a bass and some percussion accompaniment), an eight-member cast and very modest technical requirements, this musical is a favorite among professional, regional and educational theatres, alike.
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A Musical Bonbon
Emma – Chicago Shakespeare Theatre
In an age when social media has usurped our lives, it’s refreshing to visit a time when people actually spoke to each other, and with eloquence, too. As in all her stories, Jane Austen’s fourth novel is an 1815 comedy of manners, set in Georgian-Regency England. The title character, however, is unlike Austen’s other heroines in that Emma is pretty, smart and rich, but also strong-minded, overindulged and rather full of herself. Because a woman’s goal and main occupation at that time focused on landing a good husband, Emma is also unlike her peers. While she fancies herself an accomplished matchmaker for other young women, Emma isn’t particularly interested in marriage herself. As one of the self-entitled, she finds meddling in other people’s lives far more fun and fulfilling than minding her own business.
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The Way We Were
Boys in the Band – Windy City Playhouse
During the repressive 1960’s a gay man was forced to become very secretive about everything. Being “in the closet” was how most homosexuals survived being hassled or, quite often, brutally attacked for what was perceived as a perverted life style. A small percentage of men braved all the hostility and met their peers at the few underground gay bars and bath houses located primarily in certain large cities. Mart Crowley wrote his groundbreaking drama in response to the prevalent oppressive social attitude of that time. The lives of every homosexual was threatened daily with violence and unfair laws. Gay men continually were the brunt of heterosexual jokes, degradation anger and, although claiming to not be an activist, Crowley felt the need to expose this oppressing milieu to the world through the theatre.
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A Gershwin-ner of a Show
An American in Paris – Drury Lane
Five years ago this highly-anticipated stage version of the 1951 Gene Kelly/Leslie Caron musical film classic burst upon Broadway. After playing Paris, New York and the West End, and launching a two-year National Tour that played Chicago, we finally have our own regional production. It is truly magnificent. It’s elegant, romantic, gorgeously produced and beautifully danced and sung. For anyone who adores those classic movie musicals and big, old-fashioned, splashy theatrical productions, this is the show for you.
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Somebody’s Watching You
Bug – Steppenwolf Theatre
In a foul, frowzy hotel, two lost souls find one another, but that’s only the beginning. Agnes lives in these two fetid rooms while she works at the nearby strip club. The phone rings and rings, but Agnes refuses to answer it because she’s fairly certain that someone’s watching her. And that someone is Jerry, her violent ex husband, who was sent to prison, but may have finagled his way out in an early release. But there are others watching the occupants of the grimy little motel room.
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A Thriller That Disappoints
How a Boy Falls – Northlight Theatre
It seems like mysteries and whodunits are playing in theatres all over the Windy City. At Northlight, under the tight direction of Halena Kays, prolific playwright Steven Dietz’s latest play is being given its World Premiere, right here in Chicago. Like his play, “On Clover Road,” a hit hair-raiser at American Blues Theater a season ago, this new play, although not nearly as filled with tension, is another thriller.
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Rooted in the Mistakes of the Past
Labyrinth – Broken Nose Theatre
Beth Steel’s powerfully intoxicating drama is a roller coaster ride through the whirlwind world of international finance. It’s about swaggering, profit-hungry American banks lending excessive amounts of money to countries on the brink of bankruptcy. The play drives the audience at breakneck speed inside the 1980’s Latin American financial crisis in a hard-hitting trip through a nightmarish Wonderland world of debt and would-be redemption.
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Empathy is a Bird
Do You Feel Anger? – Red Orchid Theatre
Brava to Mara Nelson-Greenberg, a talented, new playwright who, clearly, has a lot to say about toxic workplaces. In her comically absurdist one-act play, she depicts a place of business in which male stupidity dominates and the females have sadly been reduced to babbling idiots, trying their best to survive in this septic environment. Ms. Nelson-Greenberg’s play had its professional debut at the 42nd Humana Festival of New American Plays and went on to its Off-Broadway New York premiere at The Vineyard Theatre. Chicago audiences can now enjoy a powerfully intimate production of this play at A Red Orchid Theatre, under the sharp direction of Ensemble member, Jess McLeod.
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Shameful Feelings and Ideas
How to Defend Yourself – Victory Gardens Theatre
Filled with crude comic moments, views on attracting the opposite sex and all kinds of flirtatious situations, Liliana Padilla’s new play takes place on a college campus. The setting is the university gymnasium where a series of free workshops are being offered. Taught by a perky coed named Brandi, a determined young woman devoted to making a difference, the classes attempt to instruct interested students in how to fend off unwanted sexual advances. The impetus for this informal, student-led lecture/demonstration is the violent rape of the leader’s sorority sister in a brutal assault that’s landed her in the hospital. Brandi, assisted by Kara, her friend and fellow sorority sister, wants to do something positive to prevent this kind of thing from ever happening again. The results are debatable.
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A Woman’s Right to Chose
Roe – Goodman Theatre
In 1973, the Supreme Court heard an historic, controversial case that would continue to remain a point of debate far into the twenty-first century. The Court ruled in Roe v. Wade, in a landmark decision, that the Constitution protects the rights of a pregnant woman to have an abortion, without government interference. In other words, when it comes to her own body, it was finally deemed that a woman had a right to make her own choices. Under the current, coldhearted administration, however, that Court decision could be in peril of being overturned. So it’s only right that this excellent, entertaining and educational play by Lisa Loomer be seen by as many theatergoers as possible.
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