Reviews Category
Simpler Times: If Only the Fragrance of Wisteria Guided Our Travels
Rivendell Theatre’s Enchanted April
Is the summer heat lingering too long? Are the patterns of everyday tasks numbing and mundane? Let Director Evan Jackson and the Idle Muse Theater Company transport you to a simpler enchanting time at the Rivendell Theatre in “Enchanted April,” an original adaptation written by Matthew Barber of the 1922 novel by Elizabeth von Arnim. An award winning film was directed by renowned filmmaker Mike Newell.
“Enchanted April” begins with a monologue by Lottie who hopes to be transplanted from the everyday humdrum of caring for her husband. The rain that falls in front of her London windows doesn’t stop and the lines of rain are like prison bars trapping her inside their home. The excitement of living on the edge and appreciating everyday experiences of life, like taking time to enjoy the smell of flowers and seeing the beauty around her, is completely voided and replaced by the calls of her husband reminding her to care for him. Upon reading an ad in the “Times” newspaper about a castle in Mezzago, Italy, Lottie instantly thinks of a woman at her church named Rose who looks like a disappointed Madonna. She asks herself and the audience, “When a choice is presented in front of you, do you answer it?”
Director Evan Jackson brings to life this strong production because it speaks “directly to the heart, bypassing our intellect and reminding us, through our connection to other human beings that are so much like ourselves, that even in our deepest sorrow we all share the promise of a beautiful tomorrow.” The Rivendell Theater on the North Side where this performance is showing is an interesting space. With some 10 rows, the theater seats about 150 people. The front row is a few feet from the actors making it an intimate space and even the loud whispers and footsteps, and raindrops are fully audible. In such a small space, overacting isn’t needed, and the feeling is that you are in the passenger seat right alongside the characters.
The first half and the second half are very different. The first half crisscrosses between dialogues between the lead two women and their husbands, and then the lead two women with two supporting women who conspire to travel together. The second half has the four women laughing and eating on a veranda full of wisteria, roses, and lounging chairs. The intertwined adventure just begins to unfold there.
Staying in the theater during the intermission is recommended just to see the set transformed from English sitting rooms to an Italian castle garden. With no curtain separating the space between the audience and the stage set, and the small space and amount of time that stage manager Sara Robinson and assistant stage manager Cecily Romaynne Shives are given, their hustle and bustle setting up the second act set was engrossing, and the transformation was delightful.. Lighting by Laura Weily and Matthew Nischan was very effective during the train scene when Rose and Lottie are hours late in their journey to Italy. The sounds of the train wheels are audible and the scenery of the countryside flickers over the women’s faces indicating the gloomy first half has come to a close.
”Enchanted April,” which has received numerous awards, will appeal to many folks, from those familiar with train rides where laptops weren’t popped open, navigation by GPS wasn’t heard of, sharing intimate details of one’s adventures online would be unimaginable, and mention of a telephone was novel, to those of us caught up with how we might transform and redefine ourselves when the mundane experiences of our lives appear to trap us. The question then arises: ”What do you do when you lose yourself.” Sometimes the vehicle of life-changes involves travel, and this play will take you away.
The play runs approximately 100 minutes with a 10-minute intermission, is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York; and is produced in part through the support of The Saint Art Grants Program. The local Midwest cast includes: Elizabeth MacDougald (Loyola University Chicago graduate) as Lottie Wilton; Mara Kovacevic (Columbia College Chicago faculty) as Rose Arnott; Joel Thompson (Anderson University graduate) as Mellersh Wilton; Brian Bengston (Idle Muse seven -year veteran) as Frederick Arnott; Catherine Hermes (artistic associate, Idle Muse) as Lady Caroline; Nathan Thompson (Knox College graduate) as Antony Wilding;, Maggie Speer (Azusa Productions Artistic Director) as Mrs. Graves; and, Jean Waller (former LA resident, in Chicago since 2008) as Constanza.
Treat yourself, or take a friend or two. You’ll have a lot to talk about together. That’s what friendship is about. That’s what “Enchanted April” is about.
Somewhat Recommended
Reviewed by Kazuko Golden
Rivendell Theatre’s Enchanted April
Presented August 8th – September 8th, by Rivendell Theatre, 5779 N. Ridge Ave, Chicago, IL.
Thursday, Friday & Saturday at 8PM, Sunday Matinee at 3PM
Tickets are available online via the Idle Muse Box Office or via phone at (773) 340-9438.
Additional information about this and other area productions may be found at www.theatreinchicago.com.
Dance, Art, Science, and Some Catchy Music
Oracle Theatre’s Pink Milk
In the first couple minutes of Pink Milk, a play about the life of Alan Turing performed by Oracle Productions in association with White Elephant, the actors say that this isn’t going to be a history lesson. The play is more of an interpretation of what Alan Turing’s life might have felt like. It verges on an experimental play, heavy with dance, original electronic music, and actors portraying abstract representations of ideas. And it is enthralling. Everything about this performance fit together like a clockwork machine. Even though sometimes the liberties the production took with Turing’s life were a little sappy, it did not bother me in the slightest by the end.
If you do not know, Alan Turing is the father of the modern computer. He strove to create machines that could think for themselves, though he never created a true artificial intelligence. His machines helped decipher enemy codes during World War II and he was charged and convicted for homosexuality in the mid-1950s. Pink Milk focuses on filling the gaps of what is known of Turing’s life. Central to the play is the possible love affair Turing had in his teenage years with another boy named Christopher Morcom. The play does a wonderful job of teasing out this relationship, and making it a continual part of what effects Turing throughout the rest of his lifetime.
Alan Turing is played by Aaron Stephenson, and Stephenson’s shift from the enthusiastic childhood Alan to the Alan at the end of his life when the world has almost literally beaten him down is a moving experience. All of the cast play their multiple parts very well, shifting from parent to lover to persecutor seamlessly. Cole Doman plays Christopher Morcom is great, and even after his character has left Alan’s life, he doesn’t play any other roles. Doman often sits hauntingly to the side as Alan faces many obstacles in his life. Doman also narrates the piece as Morcom, as if the character felt responsible for sharing the Alan he briefly knew. Fairly straight scenes flow in and out of choreographed dance moments and shift quickly into descriptive monologues or seemingly unconnected strings of words. The ensemble works as a whole, each supporting the other even when they are only silent observers.
The sound and the lighting designs for this production were wonderful pieces of art in themselves, but also helped to make the whole piece better. The lighting, designed by Jessica Carson, always managed to heighten the emotion of a moment. The sound was an original score created by Visager, a music producer/composer/performer working out of Brooklyn, New York that specializes in electronic music that samples field recordings, acoustic instruments, old videos, and more. The music from the production can be found at visager.bandcamp.com. In addition, the scenic and props were designed by Emma Pardini and the costumes were designed by Cassie Bowers. Both elements were simple and elegant in their execution.
The play is the work of playwright Alex Paul Young, a founding member of White Elephant Theatre. The play has been staged a number of times prior to this run, being part of a couple of exhibitions on the part of White Elephant and also being part of the New York City and Chicago Fringe Festivals. Oracle Productions has taken the play on as part of its B-Side series, continuing their mission of public access theatre. That means that this exquisite performance can be enjoyed for free by all. A slight word of caution if you have a physical disability, this small theatre sports bleacher type seating for their audience, so if you would like to appreciate it without climbing up steps with no railing, you should ask the theatre to reserve floor seats for you if possible.
Pink Milk, excellently directed and choreographed by Brandon Powers, may not be Shakespeare or Neil Simon type storytelling, but it is a fun, yet heartbreaking look at the life of a man who didn’t understand why the world had to make things so difficult. Whether or not they accurately depicted the life of Alan Turing didn’t really matter. The production expresses some beautiful sentiments about being misunderstood, science and art, and the joys of finding someone or something that can help you make sense of the world.
Highly Recommended
Reviewed by Clare Kosinski
Oracle Productions in association with White Elephant presents Pink Milk
Playing August 10 – September 7 at Oracle Theatre, 3809 N. Broadway, Chicago, IL.
Admission is free but reservations can be made by visiting publicaccesstheatre.org.
Additional information about this and other area productions may be found at www.theatreinchicago.com.
Bedfellows With Van Gogh
Strange Bedfellows Theatre’s Inventing Van Gogh
When you enter the space at City Lit for Inventing Van Gogh, you are greeted by paintings. Some seem to be replicas of Van Gogh’s work, others entirely original, and one was depicting the Blackhawks winning the Stanley Cup. But it all has that signature Van Gogh style of chucky strokes of colorful paint applied almost rashly but upon stepping back, beautifully arranged to create a piece of art that almost moves. The painters live painting in the lobby are doing so in the style of Van Gogh, but it is difficult for them to capture that certain vibrant element that Van Gogh’s great works have. In the play it is called ‘The Glow’. If you have never seen a painting of Van Gogh’s, then it is easy to take that term as a bit haughty. In fact, if you are not the type of person who has ever studied art history or had an interest in why the impressionist are called that, then you can probably bow out now and see another play. However, for those of you who love a discussion on what art is and how it should reflect nature or the truth of a man’s life, then I expect you will appreciate this play.
Inventing Van Gogh is the story of a young artist named Patrick who has been commissioned to forge a rumored lost portrait of Van Gogh’s, not long after the death of Patrick’s beloved art teacher who was obsessed with finding said portrait. But it’s not entirely about that. It’s about the path of Van Gogh’s life and philosophy on art in some of those final prolific years of his life. But it’s not entirely about that either. This play is much like one of Van Gogh’s paintings, an impression of a life without portraying it exactly how it was. It instead uses pieces to create a whole, not all of them true to history. As Patrick tries in vain to begin forging a masterpiece, he sees visions of his dead teacher, Dr. Miller, as well as Van Gogh himself. These ‘visions’ come in and out of scenes without much warning, and often walk straight through Patrick’s scenes with other characters.
The production, directed by Aaron Henrickson, has all of the passion of an eager young artist without much of the refined technique of a master. There are some interesting choices that just don’t work in the space or the structure of the play. For example, when the subject of ‘The Glow’ comes up, the incandescent lights above the audience glow. This is an interesting idea but in such a small space and with quick talking characters, it was a little distracting and noticing it took me away from the action. Another misguided choice was to have the actors’ don accents when representing figures from Van Gogh’s life. As a means of maintaining an authenticity and identifying when an actor was playing a different character, not a bad idea. However, the accents were inconsistent and sometimes even muddled the dialogue. Now, the performance I saw was a preview, so while some of these elements may get worked out, some choices just didn’t seem to work for the space, or stretched the talent of the performers too far.
All of the performers brought an exciting energy to their roles. Riley Mcilveen, who played Van Gogh, has a frenzied intellect when postulating on art that one would expect of the famed painter. Adam Schulmerich played both an arrogant art authenticator in the present day storyline and the artist Paul Gauguin as a boisterous Frenchman lusty for life. While Schulmerich’s French accent wasn’t as good as his British, both performances were enjoyable to watch. By far the strongest actor was Christine Vrem-Ydstie, who plays Hallie, the daughter of Dr. Miller, and one of the women Van Gogh painted. Every time she walked onto the stage I was immediately draw into her scenes. The dialogue for Hallie was so sharp and precise, and Vrem-Ydstie delivered it exquisitely. Patrick Cameron who played the lead role of Patrick perhaps gave the weakest performance but his character was also quite strange, being one of the most passive and silent in the play.
Much of this play seems taken directly from the hundreds of letters Van Gogh wrote to his brother and other artists. The language is very elevated and sometimes it is odd that phrases written down in letters from over a hundred years ago are shouted out as dialogue. Much of the play felt more like an art history class, but some of the language outside of the historical text was really striking. The phrase that stuck with me long after I left the theatre was when Van Gogh the hallucination discovers Patrick knowledge about his many letters, he says, ‘What gives you the right to read my letters?’. He continues on to say that seeing a painting or reading letters doesn’t mean anyone knows him. It is a fascinating comment on how we judge not just history, but artists. All art is an attempt to understand the world and is an expression of the artist trying to share those thoughts with others.
Strange Bedfellows Theatre takes on a very ambitious play and does it’s best with it. It is not a perfectly written play and it is not a perfectly executed production. But perhaps the imperfections of an artist are how we are to understand their message.
Somewhat Recommended
Reviewed by Clare Kosinski
Strange Bedfellows Theatre’s Inventing Van Gogh
Presented August 3 – August 25 by City Lit Theatre, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Chicago, IL.
Tickets are available by visiting www.strangebedfellowstheatre.com.
Additional information about this and other area productions may be found at www.theatreinchicago.com.
The Monster You Love
Redtwist Theatre’s The Beautiful Dark
The Beautiful Dark is a world premiere written by Erik Gernand and directed by Josh Altman. It is performed at Redtwist Theatre’s quaint space in the Bryn Mawr Historic district of Edgewater. It is the story of a mother whose son comes home after being kicked out of school for writing a violent play. The troubled son, Jacob, concerns his family with depressed behavior, angry out bursts, and secret late night outings. This play studies the family dynamic when one child is seriously disturbed, to the point of potentially hurting others.
Read More‘Namosaur!
Scott Oken’s “‘Namosaur!” is exuberant nonsense. It is set in Vietnam in 1968 and follows a group of GIs led by Laura McKenzie’s ass-kicking CIA operative, Weaver, as they search the jungle for an evil genius bent on world domination. Dozens of movies are referenced; Bigfoot is involved, as is an EZ-Bake oven, and at one point there is an attack by several Woody Woodpecker clones. You get the idea.
Every other line feels re-purposed from a movie or TV show and cleverly bent to serve ‘Namosaur!’s giddy circus of a plot. It’s a pop culture mash-up written to amuse all those of us who grew up watching too much TV and re-watching too many movies. The cast energetically mugs to the audience and never lets a joke land un-winked at. Eric Roach as Professor Nguyen Nguyen (pronounced win-win, and constantly milked for eye-rolling laughs) chews all the scenery in sight and spits out his lines in a constantly morphing accent that would be distracting if everything else about the show wasn’t nuclear powered ridiculousness. Its jokes elicit groans as often as laughs, but ‘Namosaur! is so self-aware and referential that it has to be full of bad jokes to be itself. If you’ve ever enjoyed a b-movie, you will have a good time at this show. A couple drinks wouldn’t hurt either.
Recommended
by Eric Tengler
‘Namosaur! by Scott Oken
Directed by Manny Tamayo
Presented by Factory Theater through August 31st
Factory Theater at the Prop Theater 3502 N Elston Ave
For more information on this and other shows, visit www.theatreinchicago.com
More of a Gust than a Gale
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s name is synonymous with big, splashy, adult musical extravaganzas like “Phantom of the Opera,” “Evita” and “Sunset Boulevard;” however, he’s also known for children-oriented shows, such as “Joseph…Dreamcoat,” “Cats” and his recent adaptation of the film classic, “The Wizard of Oz.” His seldom-produced 1996 musical is in the latter category, contrasting children’s innocent faith with the hard-core suspicions found in adults.
A Greek Tragedy set in Pilsen
Victory Gardens Theater’s Mojada
Mojada is the story of an immigrant family who tries to make a new life in Chicago. It is the story of a woman who hopes only to be a true wife and mother. It is a story about ambition and what it takes to survive in America. Frankly, it’s just a good story. It is adapted from the Greek play Medea by Euripides by Luis Alfaro, who has also brought Greek adaptations to Victory Gardens before, with Oedipus el Rey and Electricidad. He has taken Medea and made it about the Latino community in Pilsen, and the hardships they deal with not only in getting to Chicago, but also with making everyday life manageable once they’re here.
This Bee is a Winner
At this years Scripps National Spelling Bee the winning word was Knaidel (a Jewish version of a dumpling). The winner was a 13 year old from New York. Being Jewish myself and having grown up eating Knaidels perhaps I could have won the bee and $30,000. But instead I was quite content seeing Theatre at the Centers 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. TATC is located in Munster, Indiana (a short drive from downtown Chicago.)
At this particular bee we are introduced to six students who have all become finalists. They all, for their own personal reasons are driven to be the one who finally wins the bee and the coveted trophy. Along the way we get to know some of the their quirkiness which makes them charming and endearing.
Read More“Say Yes” to Scott Gryder and His Cabaret
LIFE IS A CABARET! The Music and Words of Kander & Ebb
Recommended
Last Saturday night the full audience in attendance of Roosevelt University’s cabaret series was bid “Wilkommen” and treated to the charismatic exuberance that is Scott Gryder and his one-man cabaret, “LIFE IS A CABARET! The Music and Words of Kander & Ebb” accompanied by Nick Sula on piano and Phil Martin on drums. The show is a 50th anniversary tribute to the songwriters known for Broadway hits like Chicago, Kiss of the Spiderwoman, and many more.
Read More‘AUSTRALIAN BEE GEES’ COMES TO CHICAGO
Broadway Play House Till Aug 4th
Reviewed By Frank Meccia
Chicago Theatre Review
Back in 1979 at the old Chicago Stadium for 2 days there were a group from England/ Australia that were making hit after hit for years. I got to see them finally after having at least 4 of there albums. (For those under 30 it’s now called a CD )They had a 70’s style disco set up and their music was wonderful, even though the sound quality back then was simple and loud. 34 years later a remastered group of talented actors and musicians have recreated that sound and style as a tribute band to the Bee Gees. Over the last several years we have had tribute plays to great actors and bands; The buddy Holly Story, Million Dollar Quartet, Rain, all which made you feel that you were at a great concert. But tonight was different, I really felt I was at a more intimate concert with the Bee Gees. This trio has played all over Europe and have been to Vegas, and other cities across America. And you can tell by the way they use their walk, they have this show down pat.
The members of the Chicago cast include California based Matt Boldoni as Barry Gibbs, and Australian natives Paul Lines as Robin and Jack Leftley as Maurice.
A true retrospective of their 40 year history, with great costume changes and looks. These guys did the job, there mannerisms, voices and style mimicked the great Bee Gees, as evident by the way the audience was up and dancing during the show.
If you missed going to a real Bee Gees concert, then get down to Chicago Broadway Playhouse and see the “Australian Bee Gees” for 2 hours and 20 minutes you will relive some great music from the 70’s 80’s and 90’s.
RECOMMENDED SITES
