News & Reviews Category
Play on PigPen
Making the trek up north of Chicago can be a very daunting task for some. In fact, I’ve heard people tell me that anything past Evanston is practically Wisconsin. I am sure there are plenty even who do not dare to venture out of the city limits. However, for those of the adventurous nature, there is a story to be heard and it hails from the north in Glenco at Wrtier’s Theater.
The Old Man and the Old Moon (TOMATOM), written by PigPen Theater Company and produced by Writer’s Theater, is the tale of an old man and his duty to fill the leaking moon back up with light each night as it drips away. The old man’s wife leaves for an adventure and the old man is then forced to follow after his wife around the world. Once the old man finally arrives back home, he is then reminded of a promise he made to his wife on the day they met.
TOMATOM, is very much a classic tale but told in a modern way. With the use of puppetry, shadow puppets, re-imagined objects and music, it seems to me like it is the beginning of a new wave of storytelling, possibly musicals. I feel I can justify calling TOMATOM a musical tale because the music is propelling the story forward. It is more than just a play that has music in it. The music is indicative of what is actually happening in the tale. Ryan Melia, Alex Falberg, Matt Nuernberger, Dan Weschler, Ben Ferguson, Curtis Gillen and Arya Shahi, all members of PigPen Theatre Company, each play a variety of instruments and characters showing much versatility and creativeness to the play. The music has a very Mumford and Sons feel to it. With the use of banjos, violins, irregular percussion pieces set to a driving beat, the music has very much a folk feel to it, which correlates directly to the folk like tale it accompanies. It was like watching a music video to an entire Mumford and Sons album.
Other than some minor flaws with the inconsistency of dialects, TOMATOM is a remarkably entertaining show. From the moment you walk into the theater you are immersed into the world of the play, being surrounded by a beautifully crafted wooden set and mason jar lighting that drops from the ceiling. The play has such a genuine quality to its foundation even the roughest of souls can sit back and let the players take them away into the world they have created.
**Highly Recommended**
Review by Dan Haymes
The Old Man and the Old Moon begins Septmeber 3rd 2013 at Writers Theater
Located 325 Tudor Court in Glenco.
Written by: PigPen Theater Company
Directed By: Stuart Carden and PigPen Theater Company
For more information on The Old Man and the Old Moon and other shows, please visit www.theatreinchicago.com
A Recipe for Following One’s Dream
To Master the Art
Be warned: do not attend this production on an empty stomach! And you don’t have to be a foodie; but, by the end of this exquisite production, you may become one. In a production that teases all the senses, audiences will not only laugh while learning how being an expatriate in 1950’s Paris influenced this famous cook, author and teacher, but will fall hopelessly in love with her, as well. In a remounting of TimeLine Theatre’s 2010 Jeff-nominated play (thanks to the newly-formed Chicago Commercial Collective, whose focus is on producing outstanding, quality area productions with a proven popularity), audiences have another opportunity to discover the woman that was Julia Child, her loving husband Paul, their family and inspirational friends, and how the famous French Chef followed her dream to create her culinary series, Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
It is a Journey Up “The Mountaintop” at Court Theatre
By Lazlo Collins
Highly Recommended
“The Mountaintop” is a well-acted, sometimes surprising, and ultimately moving theater treat. The Court Theatre spares no expense for the Chicago premiere of this emotional mine filled journey of Martin Luther King Jr’s last hours.
Written by actress/writer Katori Hall, “The Mountaintop” delivers the eve of Martin Luther King’s assassination in bold delicious strokes; painting Dr. King in a more accessible light. Of course, Mr. King is an American dignitary, a Nobel Prize winner, and galvanizing political figure, whose virtuous church and family life shaped him as devoted saint. But like all men and women, behind closed doors, life’s day to day tasks can be challenging for those that have been moved toward exceptional lives in the public eye.
Read MoreA Death Story
Terminus – Interrobang Theatre Project
The lives of A (Christina Hall), B (Michaela Petro) and C (Kevin Barry Crowley) are strung together by a series of monologues, depicting some of the gruesome horrors of death. A is trying to save a former student, who is about to take a life. B has a demon that is about to take her life, but falling in love ends up being her saving grace. C made a deal with the devil and has gained the unfortunate habit of taking a few lives himself.
Mark O’Rowe’s Terminus, is the live depiction of a nightmare. To clarify, not a production, writing or theatrical nightmare, but actual horrifying stories that leave just enough of a creep on your mind, you might need a distraction before the night’s slumber.
Read MoreTaking a chance on Other People’s Money
Other People’s Money – Shattered Globe
Jerry Sterner’s Other People’s Money opened in New York 24 years ago in 1989. The premise of the pay focuses around buying and selling businesses at the corporate level. To put it simply, a large corporation will target a smaller failing business that has stock going for pennies to the dollar. The corporation will buy that stock, driving the price of the shares up. Once the price of the shares for the smaller business are up, and the corporation holds the majority of the shares, the corporation will sell the failing business for a greater profit. In more recent years, we have seen this business equation with companies such as Yahoo!, Microsoft and Starbucks.
Read MorePart Two of a Thrilling Theatre Fantasy Trilogy
The House Theatre’s The Crownless King
The Crownless King, being performed at The Chopin Theatre, is the second part in a three-part fantasy trilogy about the adventure of an orphaned young man who realizes his destiny as the King to unite all the lands. No, you are not reading a review for a summer blockbuster film. The Crownless King is a unique theatre experience that rivals the enjoyment I’ve had at any of the recent big budget Hollywood sequels.
Read MoreSpamalot is Ham-a-Lot. A Successful Fete’
By Lazlo Collins
Recommended
In this black box version of a big box office musical, this comedy is put to the test in NightBlue’s “Spamalot”.
The scaled down version of “Spamalot” has a big heart, and some great theatrical innovations. The execution of cast members taking on two or three roles is great. The musical numbers fill the small stage at 773 with frenetic dancing. The actors seem to be having a great time throughout the show. It crosses over to the audience in so many ways. Using every inch of the space provided, this show has an intimacy of a comedy club.
Read MoreThe Curvature of a Circle
9 Circles – Sideshow
Private Daniel Reeves (played by Andrew Goetten) is a troubled youth who joined the ranks of the United States Army to seek a change in his life. Cain’s 9 Circles, journeys us through the life of Private Reeves, post honorable discharge from the war in Iraq, as he awaits his judgment due to hideous war crimes.
The best way to visualize 9 Circles, and I apologize a head of time for the reference, is to think of a parabola. Yes, I do mean a parabola, as in calculus. A parabola is a two-dimensional curve, which is typically U-shaped. In conjunction to the parabola, Goetten and the Lieutenant, played by the physically intimidating Jude Roche, start the show off on a high note with the discharge of Pvt. Reeves. Roche and Goetten have such ease with the dialogue and precision with their characters, the both of them give the show a strong start.
Read MoreIf Gothic Theatre Is Your Thing
Trap Door Theatre’s The Balcony
At The Trap Door Theatre’s production of The Balcony, you are greeted by two young women in Victorian style undergarments and corsets. They check your reservation and you are guided into the small theatre space by another woman with a red brazier underneath her suit jacket and pencil skirt. In the space, a woman in dark but elegant late 18th century dress paces the space and often stops and stares intently at an invisible disturbance just behind you. This is a wonderful start to this production, creating the beautiful but strange and disturbing tone that is carried throughout the play. The Balcony is about the characters at a brothel during the final moments of a revolution. Jean Genet, who was a controversial French playwright of the first have of the 19th century, originally wrote the play. This production was translated by Bernard Frechtman and directed by Max Truax.
Double Trouble: More than a two person musical.
Double Trouble – Porchlight Theatre
Reviewed by Dan Haymes
Double Trouble is a musical farce about two brothers, Jimmy and Bobby Martin, who just moved to Hollywood to start writing songs for MMG Studios; a spoof of MGM studios. After the brothers are given only a few hours to write a hit song, the complication of a mutual love interest adds to the equation. Putting their new song writing career on the edge of destruction.
Double Trouble is the definition of an ensemble show, but without an ensemble. The show is headlined by two true triple threat brothers, Adrian and Alex Aguilar, who display incredible vocal variety, impeccable comedic timing, dancing with enough grace Gene Kelly is weeping, and so much charm that it’s practically seeping out of their pores.
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