News & Reviews Category
Baby, Let’s Get Good!
Some Like It Hot
After innocently witnessing a Mafia murder, Joe, a saxophone player and his partner, Jerry, a bass player, come up with a risky plan to escape Chicago before they’re rubbed out. The musicians are broke so they need to earn some fast cash to survive. But it’s 1933 and the Depression is on. There are no jobs for instrumentalists— except, perhaps, in an all-girl jazz band that’s about to tour the country, eventually ending up in sunny California. Does this plot sound familiar? Well, as the song says, “Baby, Let’s Get Good!”
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A Play in Letters
Dear Elizabeth
Beginning in 1947, the intimate thirty-year friendship between two brilliantly talented writers becomes the subject of Sarah Ruhl’s work, “DEAR ELIZABETH: A PLAY IN LETTERS. Adapted in 2012 from Words in the Air: The Complete Correspondence Between Robert Lowell and Elizabeth Bishop, Ruhl’s play fills in the blanks. The two 20th century literary giants’ epistolary relationship began when American poet Elizabeth Bishop wrote a fan letter to fellow poet and contemporary, Robert Lowell. More than 400 pieces of correspondence connected these two writers over three decades. Their relationship was close and almost romantic, but remained strictly platonic throughout the years. Although the pair never married, they shared a love, along with a profound admiration and respect for each other’s works. Robert wrote to Elizabeth, “I seem to spend my life missing you,” which sums up how close they were until Robert’s death in 1977.
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A Near Miss
By the Way, Meet Vera Stark
Prolific playwright Lynn Nottage is known for her challenging and often forgotten stories, focusing her works on members of the African-American working class community. She’s also known as the first and only woman to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice. RUINED and SWEAT have earned her that illustrious accolade, followed by such other excellent dramas as INTIMATE APPAREL, MLIMA’S TALE, CRUMBS FROM THE TABLE OF JOY and the book for MJ THE MUSICAL. BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK, one of Lynn Nottage’s lesser known plays, is now in an interesting new production by Artistic Home. The production is a rare near miss. And the play itself just doesn’t seem to be in the same league as Ms. Nottage’s other plays.
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Just in Time for Halloween
Bram Stokers’ Dracula
Bela Lugosi’s name is synonymous with the character of the aristocratic vampire king, Dracula. The actor rose to fame, both on stage and in film, playing this iconic role. The popularity of Dracula and vampires in general is still going strong, even to this day. There are, to date, well over 200 films that feature the Transylvanian Count, as well as many plays, musicals and even operas. Prolific American playwright Steven Dietz’s faithful adaptation of the novel kicks off BrightSide Theatre’s lucky 13th Season, just in time for Halloween.
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Food, Wine and Relationships
Dinner With Friends
Writer Donald Margulies, a Yale Professor of English and Theatre Performance, has a great many plays to his credit. They include such dramas as THE LOMAN FAMILY PICNIC, SIGHT UNSEEN, COLLECTED STORIES and BROOKLYN BOY. Several of these plays have garnered a variety of accolades and awards, such as Margulies’ 1998 DINNER WITH FRIENDS, the current production by Bluebird Arts. This Pulitzer Prize-winner for Drama in 2000 opens the company’s sixth season of presenting intimate stories about real people and their relationships. In this production, the talented Chicago-based theatre company truly lives up to their artistic goal.
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Overstuffed and Overwhelming
Becky Nurse of Salem
Distinguished writer, poet, professor and essayist Sarah Ruhl is one of America’s most highly-respected and often-produced playwrights. She’s created some of theatre’s finest plays, such as IN THE NEXT ROOM (OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY), THE CLEAN HOUSE, EURYDICE and the soon to open in Chicago, DEAR ELIZABETH. Ms. Ruhl is the recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship, the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater, a Tony nomination for Best Play and a two-time nomination for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. In other words, Sarah Ruhl is undeniably a recognized and talented writer. But in her 2019 play, currently having its Midwest Premiere by Shattered Globe Theatre, the gifted playwright overwhelms her audience with far too many ideas.
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A True Winner
Primary Trust
Have you heard of Eboni Booth? She belongs to an elite group of distinguished playwrights that include Edward Albee, Thornton Wilder and Tennessee Williams, and more recently Lin-Manuel Miranda, Lynn Nottage and August Wilson. Ms. Booth is the greatly deserving recipient of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her glorious one-act, PRIMARY TRUST. And, if that accolade wasn’t enough, consider that this deeply moving 80-minute play, which premiered in New York at the Laura Pels Theatre just last year, also won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play. And now the Goodman Theatre is presenting this sparkling theatrical gem in its Chicago Regional Premiere. And this play, particularly this production, is indeed a true winner!
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The Mystery of the Haunted Bush
The Golden Girls Meet the Skooby Gang
They say that timing is everything. Well, just in time for Halloween, Hell in a Handbag is presenting another hilarious original episode of their Golden Girls series. These beloved parodies have always delighted audiences, particularly the LGBTQ+ community, as well as all those Liberal-minded theatergoers who have good taste. So don your masks and head on over to the Chopin Theatre where the fun and frolicking is just beginning.
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the love object
by Emerging Playwright-in-Residence Justine Gelfman, directed by Northwestern MFA Directing alum Jasmine B. Gunter.
This play explores defamation, also the title given to Ramona’s Roger’s new sold-out stadium tour. Ramona is an oppressive, self-centered bubblegum celebrity in the early 2000s pop music culture. The show depicts all the ridiculousness of scandal, whether that scandal is fabricated or real, in the behind-the-scenes antics of the performers and Ramona’s assistant Paula.
The play explores betrayal and power and runs October 10 – November 3, 2024 on Raven Theatre’s Schwartz Stage, 6157 N. Clark St. (at Granville) in Chicago.
In the crunch before the performance, Ramona’s supposed best friend and trusted assistant Paula announces she is leaving to pursue her own artistry. Ramona freaks out, fearing the loss of her closest confidante, and reveals that a sex tape she made is about to be released which will taint her image and possibly destroy her reputation and ticket sales. How Paula reacts reveals whether she can escape her oppressive boss Ramona and put herself first. Ultimately this shows questions what it takes to climb the ladder and if there are any regrets from actions taken to get ahead. Although these dilemmas are captured within the music industry, they evoke the distasteful antics in corporate life, politics, etc. What is a lie? What will someone do to get ahead? To win?
The love object also examines the hyper-sexualization of women celebrities, the power struggles of interracial friendship and the tragedies of late-stage capitalism.
Damaging the good reputation of someone, whether through slander or libel, is an everyday occurrence in our society. Our society is obsessed with getting ahead, distractions, and attention.
The story develops a bit slowly, then picks up, with some nice technical effects and dance moves. The Raven Theatre is a real treat for an intimate performance experience.
Recommended
Judy Nathan – Chicago Theatre Review
“SAME SPOOP, NEW TAILS” Theatre Above the Law’s GRIMM returns for the fourth year in a row.
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm first published their collection of folktales, Kinder- und Hausmärchen (Children’s and Household Tales) in 1812. As any English-Lit nerd can tell you, it was originally meant as a scholarly collection of traditional German folktales, not children’s bedtime stories. When the collection began to gain popularity, the brothers gradually sanitized their collection for children, and the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm have since become a foundational text here in the US, helped in part by Disney. In more recent times, the Grimm brothers themselves have entered the stories as adventurers, monster killers, con-men and/or heroes, depending on the re-telling.
GRIMM, written by Michael Dalberg is a new spin on the old stories and the characters of the Brothers Grimm. It is the ninth version of a production written for Theatre Above the Law each autumn. Given the rich legacy of the Grimms and the inventive, enthusiastic team at Theatre Above the Law, I can see why this particular show has been re-imagined four times, and opens the company’s ninth season.
The play opens with Jacob Grimm being dragged into a bar that is a sort of half-way house outside of time, and home to many characters from the stories. He’s hunting the Big Bad Wolf, who was apparently involved in the disappearance of his brother Wilhelm. The characters, including Little Red, protect the Wolf, and insist that Jakob will have to endure the re-telling some of his own stories before they will allow him to confront the Wolf. Throughout the play, characters remind Jakob that he must participate in the telling of his stories and must “go through” them to find the answers he seeks.
The set is a simple bar. Light and Sound Design do most of the work, to great effect. Sound Designer Nathan Goldberg provides several moments of comedy, and Lighting Designer Britany Pearson helps set the tone in several pivotal scenes. Director Tony Lawry is obviously well-versed in making a production work with a small budget and a big imagination, using all the elements available to him to create an immersive and joyful experience.
What ensues is a delightful, creative re-telling of several Grimm fairytales, both popular and lesser known: Little Red Riding Hood, The Goose Girl, The Pied Piper, Hans in Luck and Cinderella. The ensemble members all take turns playing the main characters, sliding between genders and ages, good guys and bad, with humor and enthusiasm. The costumes and props are simple and portable. Once again, I was reminded that with a talented and charismatic cast, all you need is a strand of golden beads to stand in for a ballgown, a stuffed doll for a horse, and a cocktail spoon for a sword. Appropriately for Halloween, the stories grow increasingly dark as it progresses. Jacob is slowly drawn into his own stories while hunting for answers on the disappearance of his brother.
At times, the framing device of Jakob’s search for answers was a little hard to follow. The reason behind Jakob’s need to hear the stories again remains vague, as does the reason that he blames the Wolf for Wilhem’s disappearance. The story of Little Red Riding Hood is used to explain all of this, but it’s not told till the very end of the show. Frankly, none of it really seemed necessary. The stories themselves, re-written with a modern sense of humor and portrayed by a charming, fully committed cast is more than enough to keep the audience engaged. Overall, there is a feeling that the cast is letting you in on the joke, creating an inclusive, jovial vibe that is irresistible.
The ensemble as a whole really shines in this production. The opening story is The Goose Girl. Told in broad, silly strokes, the cast adopts exaggerated poses reminiscent of Commedia Dell’Arte to great comic effect. Shea Lee as the damsel in distress, embraced the Woe is Me, dramatic physicality perfectly. Later, when she’s an enigmatic and evil fairy, her stiff-backed, deep voiced performance leaves all that behind. Dina Perez is also a blast as a VERY old and loving Queen. She is also instrumental to several sight gags that work wonderfully, and a vapid Evil Stepsister in Cinderella. The shortened vignettes of each story are broken up by silly dance sequences engineered by the Pied Piper (Kevin Woodrow), or Jakob Grimm’s complaining about having to be there at all. Kevin Woodrow leans in hard to camp as Lucky Hans – his tongue in cheek “smolder” is reminiscent of Flynn Rider’s. Sophie Civetta makes a archly funny, evil Chambermaid in The Goose Girl, and a sympathetic Cinderella. Newcomer Aditi Gadhvi is a sweet, wise beyond her years Little Red and the other, equally vapid Evil Stepsister – vocal frying with the best of them. Nick Barnes as Jakob, and Taylor B. Hill as Wolf provide most of the grounding for the audience, reminding us that these stories are told by, and reflect, real people. While Jakob participates in the stories, it is grudgingly until the end, when he takes a turn as a grieving father. Taylor B. Hill is the most common narrator until the end and a warm and solid presence, keeping the bar-outside-of-time a real place, with real feeling and stakes. Her scenes with Nick Barnes are a moving testament to the connections between the stories we tell and the people we love.
Part of the mission of Theatre Above the Law is to foster and educate young artists, and that mission is displayed beautifully with this production. Inclusive, funny and never condescending, this show is a wonderful way to spend an evening with the entire family.
Recommended
Reviewed by Alina C. Hevia
Presented at the Jarvis Square Theater, 1439 W. Jarvis Ave. in Chicago.
Tickets for GRIMM are $15.00 – $25.00 and can be purchased at theatreatl.org or by calling
773-655-7197. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 3pm, Thursdays October 10 & 31 at 7:30pm. Previews October 10 & 11 Press Opening October 12 @ 5pm.
Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com.
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