The Wild West in The Middle East

By Olivia Lilley

The native, the foreigner, and the land that’s rightfully nobody’s is a conflict as old as history itself. Having lived all over the world as a child and having been an adult during the W. Bush years, J. T. Rogers feels like he has something new to say about it. In “Blood and Gifts”, he makes the argument the actions of one American FBI agent in the early 80’s made “The War in Afghanistan” inevitable. Every decision the FBI agent makes is grounded in the American view of the global community and their role in it. The ideal American risks everything for justice. The ideal American sees the world as black and white. The ideal American is a cowboy: we are strong, everyone else is weak. However, when this American tries to do business with a Khan, promises get lost

in translation. The game of Cowboys and Indians finds its modern equivalent.

TimeLine succeeded in translating the cinematic idea of a thriller to the stage. At the heart of this piece, like in films such as “The Bourne Identity” and “Memento”, what keeps us watching is the question, “Who can we trust?” All of the design elements supported this: the way the projections flew and appeared, the stark lighting, the set that kept on going out into the lobby becoming all of these slightly different offices covered in information, the scaffolding that was constantly shape shifting. The acting, on the whole, was a little too big and showy for my taste. There was a potential for intimacy here; however, the acting generally did it’s job. They told the story in a clear way.

“Blood and Gifts” is a play with a bold point of view that needs to be experienced.

Recommended.

TimeLine Theatre presents’

“Blood and Gifts” by J. T. Rodgers

Directed by Nick Bowling

Performances May 9th, 2013 – July 28th, 2013 @

TimeLine Theatre
615 W. Wellington Ave.
Chicago, IL, 60657

Oh, What a Beautiful Production

To avid theatre goers, there’s nothing in the world quite so thrilling as hearing a beautiful, carefully-crafted piece of music being played to perfection by a full orchestra. Hearing those first strains of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s lush overture reminds audiences of what they’ve missed in lesser productions of this show. It’s as if we’ve taken a trip back to 1943 when this groundbreaking classic of the musical stage first opened on Broadway, and oh, what a beautiful moment, that must’ve been.

Sleepwear Fit for the ’50’s

Pajama Game

For those of us who grew up during the Eisenhower years, songs from Richard Adler and Jerry Ross’ score provide a blast from our past. Haunting ballads like “Hey There” and “A New Town is a Blue Town,” and catchy novelty tunes such as “Steam Heat” and “Hernando’s Hideaway” became often-played standards on the radio. George Abbott’s dramatic collaboration with author Richard Bissell of his novel, 7 1/2 Cents, turned into 1955’s Tony Award-winner for Best Musical. The show has been revived twice on Broadway (the latest 2006 version starred Harry Connick, Jr. and Kellie O’Hara) and has become a staple with regional, community and educational theatres. The reasons are many, as demonstrated in Jess McLeod’s grittier, economy-sized version now playing in Highland Park.

A Beautiful Tribute with The Pianist of Willesden Lane

By Lazlo Collins

Recommended

Mona Golabek is a treasure for the ages. Her current appearance in “The Pianist of Willesden Lane” is an amazing story of survival and love.

The audience is curiously drawn in to her story. The story of her own mother, Lisa Jura, and her search for family and freedom in Europe during World War II is a remarkable one. Her love of her mother moves over the audience like a comforting blanket during the show.  Ms. Golabek moves from place to place and character to character with ease. It feels as if she needs to tell this story or she will burst. Her passion for her heritage is clear.

A Breath of Spring

Enchanted April

Slip off your Wellingtons, shed your Mackinaw and fold up your bumbershoot.  Matthew Barber’s stage adaptation of Elizabeth Von Arnim’s novel about four ladies who book a much-needed holiday away from soggy Olde London at a secluded Italian castle is a splendid entertainment after what has been Chicago’s wettest, rainiest April in history. It’s the perfect play presented at the perfect time, and what a welcome delight it is.

Artistic director Scott Phelps has staged this delightful respite from the rain with style and flair. Drab Act I, takes place in Hampstead, England during the monsoon season of late winter. Shades of gray and black dominate both set and costumes against a soundscape of eternal precipitation, and peppered with occasional thunder. Phelps has staged his company of actors amid stiff and stodgy formal settings: in drawing rooms, at tea tables, in church pews. His cast becomes extensions of their surroundings, the personification of the stiff upper lip. Only Lotty Wilton, the play’s narrator and the catalyst for this daring adventure, is able to temporarily break loose from those societal ties that bind. But this is, after all, the 1920’s when women’s roles were more restricted. Lotty’s dream of an all-girl holiday, away from the men who define a woman’s every word and movement, seems wild and almost sacrilegious to everyone but an enlightened “Modern.”

Phelps’ second act bursts with color, freedom and the bliss of living. The rain is replaced by sunshine, flowers and a girl-power camaraderie that turns infectious. Rose, the unhappy, uptight acquaintance who Lotty coerces into joining her in this much-needed getaway, sheds her dark cocoon-like clothing and becomes a butterfly in pastels and parasols. Even elderly Mrs. Graves, whose only London companions were her books and past memories, leaves her walking stick and blossoms into the younger lady she once was. Lotty’s third travel mate, Lady Caroline, relishes in a male-free environment…or so she says. With the unexpected arrival of Mellersh and Frederick, Lotty and Rose’s husbands, and Mr. Wilding, the handsome young landlord of the estate, everyone blooms under the enchantment of April.

Jamie Lee Kearns, whose strong resemblance to film actress Amy Adams is remarkable, is the unsinkable Lotty Wilton. Her spirited performance is the engine that drives this play making Lotty’s eternal romantic optimism as contagious as the sunshine. Kelly Farmer’s Rose is a deeper, more cerebral portrayal of a young woman whose married life has become dull, predictable and inescapable. As Ms. Farmer literally lets her hair down in Act II, all her sorrow and misgivings fall away, her expressive face prompting the audience to cheer her journey to happiness. Katherine Biskupic is stunningly beautiful and composed as the free-spirited Lady Caroline. Her life of ennui dissolves when Mr. Wilding (Matthew Gall in one of the brightest performances of the evening) shifts his interest to her and romance unfolds. Veteran actress Marilyn Baldwin creates a no-nonsense Mrs. Graves, the last bastion of proper British society. However, as the men begin to arrive we see her soften and become the darling of the day. And Rita Simon’s Italian housekeeper Costanza, supplies much of the play’s humor as she reacts to Mrs. Graves’ boisterous demands.

Christine Kneisel and Lisa Hale’s innovative, flexible set and period-suggestive costumes add sparkle to this entertaining production that make April, or any other month, as enchanting and refreshing as a Spring spent in the Italian countryside.

Recommended

Presented Thursdays through Sundays, April 26-May 26 at the Citadel Theatre, 825 S. Waukegan Rd., Lake Forest, IL.

For tickets call 847-735-8554 or go to www.Citadeltheatre.org.

For additional information about this and other productions go to www.theatreinchicago.com

Rachel York, “You’re The Top” in This Revival

Anything Goes

Can there be any better way to shake off the blues inflicted by Chicago’s never-ending winter than with a bright, champagne bubbly, laughed-filled Broadway revival that offers star talent, opulent costumes and sets, a classic score and more tap dancing than any show currently playing? This 2011 Tony Award winner for Best Musical Revival was directed and choreographed by the brilliant Kathleen Marshall for New York’s Roundabout Theatre. In addition, the production deservedly won Tonys for choreography and its lead actress, Sutton Foster. This National Tour which is, by the way, an Equity production, stars the boundlessly talented Broadway star Rachel York as Reno Sweeney and an entire cast of talented triple threats who make this production look effortless in their accomplishments.

Seven brides for Seven Brothers… Wait

By Olivia Lilley

A young woman all in white tears every rose from it’s stem in her bouquet under an ocean of roses and stems. Tears flood her cheeks as a well dressed man with a martini casually remarks, “Hi. I’m Julian.” Straw Dog’s production of Chuck Mee’s “Big Love” shows you a world where girls can have fifty sisters, old women know every word to Carly Rae Jepson’s “Call Me Maybe”, fifty grooms arrive by helicopter, and strangers think they know what’s best for you and your future and their word is law. Under Matt Hawkins’ direction, Chuck Mee’s play is half Greek tragedy, half David Lynch film. From the moment the pianist decides to continue after his song is over, you know you are in for some surprises. One of the most epic entrances I have ever seen happens in this. I will not ruin it. The ending is one of visceral, haunting proportions. I will not ruin that either.

The Catch of the Fall Broadway Season

Big Fish

If opening night is any indication, the next big hit on Broadway this October is bound to be this bewitching musical version of Daniel Wallace’s novel that tells the story of the strained relationship between a father and his grown-up son. The stress reaches a peak between Edward Bloom and his son Will on the boy’s wedding day and continues until the two finally reconcile  on Edward’s deathbed. This new Broadway bound show is a melodic journey to understanding and acceptance that touches the heart, warms the soul and enlightens the mind.