Reviews Category
Farm Aid 2024
Against the backdrop of the beautiful Adirondack mountains in upstate New York the 39th Farm Aid took place at the Saratoga Springs Performing Arts Center (affectionately known at the SPAC). The last time the event was held there was in 2013.
21,000 people attended the event enjoying a day of music and celebration all for a good cause.
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Freedom of Thought
Inherit the Wind
Almost 100 years ago the famous Scopes “Monkey” Trial took place in rural Tennessee. The courtroom case charged John Scopes, a high school teacher, with the crime of violating a state law that prohibited the teaching of Darwin’s theory of evolution in the classroom. The publicity of the Scopes Trial was overwhelming. The event attracted so much national publicity, that it prompted dozens of reporters from all over the country to descend upon tiny Dayton, Tennessee. Then the Trial was broadcast on radio, which was a new invention in 1925. Chicago’s WGN transmitted the proceedings making it the first time the media had turned a trial into a national event. Suddenly history was being made.
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Sardines and Slamming Doors
Noises Off
Mrs. Clackett, the elderly housekeeper, reels off her lines in a concocted Cockney accent, and then begins her exit, all the while balancing a telephone, a newspaper and the ubiquitous plate of sardines. Suddenly she stops, turns to the audience and asks, “I take the sardines? No, I leave the sardines. No, I take the sardines…” Audiences who aren’t already familiar with British playwright Michael Frayn’s laugh-a-minute farce begin to wonder if the actress (played by the magnificent Ora Jones, portraying English actress Dotty Otley who’s playing Mrs. Clackett) seems to have lost her way. And indeed she has, but that’s just one of the gimmicks behind this play-within-a-play.
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Nothing Gold Can Stay
The Outsiders
A literary classic can be difficult to adapt from page to stage, but the late playwright, Christopher Sergel, spent most of his career translating popular novels into theatrical works of art. Known for his adaptations of such time-honored books as WINESBURG, OHIO, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and THE OUTSIDERS, among many others, Sergel has gifted theater audiences by providing way to make a few select books come alive. Recently staged to great acclaim in Elgin, Illinois, Director Jonathan James has transferred his production to Chicago’s Athenaeum Theater, for a limited run.
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A Stiff Upper Lip
The Cottage
Actress and Playwright Sandy Rustin, originally from nearby Glenview but currently living in New York City, is known for her plays and musicals. Recently she adapted the film “Mystic Pizza” into a stage musical; but, in my opinion, her greatest theatrical work is her hilarious stage adaptation of the cult film, “Clue.” Opening their 2024-25 season, Citadel has scored a win by becoming the first theatre in Illinois to present Sandy Rustin’s THE COTTAGE. The comedy was recently produced on Broadway, directed by “Seinfeld” comic actor, Jason Alexander, and featuring the star of “Will and Grace,” Eric McCormack.
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Cry About It
Never Better
There are topics that were once considered taboo or simply inappropriate for the stage. But times have definitely changed. Subjects that might have shocked early 20th century audiences have become almost commonplace today. Seeing people being baked into pies, humorous Nazis in over-the-top production numbers, singing and dancing pussycats competing for an afterlife and young Mormons preaching Joseph Smith’s religion to Africans are examples of how musicals have come a long way. 21st century musicals are a far cry from shows about turning a Cockney flower girl into a princess, farmers challenging the cowhands in song and dance or teaching the Siamese King’s children.
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Love and Literature
Light Switch
In this, only my second visit to the secret gem that is the intimate Open Space Arts theatre, I once again became impressed with the consistent high quality of this company. I’m not just talking about the talented casting of their shows, although that’s a big part of my admiration for this theatre. It’s also about the excellence of the scripts, the consistency of the direction and this company’s ability to present captivating productions in such a modest setting. The venue, which can become stuffy, is about the size of small studio apartment. Add to this a couple of annoying pillars that become challenging for both the actors and the audience. But the sparse scenic design for each production always works around these problems and provides just the right suggestion of locale to make each play work.
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The Horrors of War
Henry V
In a limited, four-week run, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre has revived and reimagined one of the Bard’s most popular history dramas. The company’s sensational new, eloquent and rousing production is as stirring as ever. For theatre scholars, this is William Shakespeare’s final chapter in his tetralogy of historical dramas, which includes “RICHARD II and “HENRY IV,” Parts one and two. It’s also noteworthy in that this play was the company’s premier production on the rooftop of Lincoln Park’s Red Lion Pub, back in 1986. Naturally, time has brought changes to one of Chicago’s finest professional theatrical companies, but the Theatre’s ability to share the dramatic power of Shakespeare has only become stronger.
Read MoreJackalope Theatre Company’s 15th Living Newspaper Makes Art from Headlines.
“How to make a living newspaper: Pick and prod through current events from around the country, choose five. Pair stellar playwrights and directors and assign each pairing an article. Let sit for a bit, let a 10-minute play bake. Cast from Chicago’s talented actor pool. Rehearse for a smidge. Meet at the Armory to share our stories.”
Thus opens the program for Jackalope Theatre Company’s Living Newspaper Festival, and I couldn’t have described it better myself. Tucked away in a corner of the Armory on N. Broadway, The Jackalope space is warm and inviting. The theater itself is small, the backdrop a wall papered by newspaper. The stage is plain black, the sets or props for each short play simple and suggestive: A tool cart, a leather chair, a corner table, hot stones, and a picnic blanket. Ryan Emens’ thoughtful, specific scenic design suggested just enough of an environment to ground each story in its own reality. Sound Designer Anna Jackson filled each show with atmosphere that was engrossing and affecting. Each play opened with a tightly designed, humorous video intro by designer Tony Santiago.
This year’s memorable headlines included the retirement of the Chuck E. Cheese Animatronic Band (Out of this World by Rammel Chan and Directed by Wendy Mateo), the shocking loss of the Titan Submersible (The Depths by Paloma Nozicka and Directed by Gus Menary), the closing of many maternal wards in the rural U.S. (Into the Breach by Madhuri Shekar and Directed by Wendy Mateo) The Mi’kmat Nation’s choice to use opioid settlement funds to open a sweat lodge to treat addiction in Maine (A Drop in the Bucket by Ireon Roach and Directed by Sydney Charles, and the small movement of “pronatalists” furiously having babies to save the world (The Best of Us by Ike Holter and Directed by Gus Menary).
The headlines served more as a jumping-off point than content. This approach lent itself to an imaginative, sharp, thoughtfulness to each play. While it seems nearly impossible to find a headline these days that isn’t a at least a little bleak, it’s often mixed with a ridiculousness that clearly inspired each playwright. The night began with Out of this World, a slightly surreal, heartfelt story of an Uncle accepting his beloved niece’s transition to college, with the help of a nihilistic Chuck E. Cheese. Alex Hand made a particularly creepy Chuck.
The second play, The Depths, is a dark fever dream about a billionaire who meets her reckoning after playing fast and loose with a submersible’s design. Actors Christina Gorman and Claudia Quesada had wonderful timing, occasional saying lines in unison that created an unsettling, skin-crawling feeling that is released with a horrific thrill at the end.
Into the Breach is a satirical, razor-sharp take on a dystopian future when AI assisted births through smart phone apps are the only option for some young mothers. It was funny, but it was also scary, because it came so close to the truth. So much so that the play felt more like a prediction than a fantasy. Claudia Quesada also managed to keep her face in a blank, unmoving smile that is exactly what an AI midwife’s face would look like.
Fourth, we were swept into A Drop in the Bucket; a complete immersion into a poor soul, detoxing not only drugs but inner demons. The cast, Ashli Funches, DeVaughn Loman and John-Payne moved around the stage in what felt like a blend of dance and poetry. The heady mix of emotion, politics, legacy, grief and love felt like story telling from inside the mind of the storyteller, rather than viewed as an audience.
The final play, The Best of Us, brought everything home on a lighter, if still stinging, note. Niko Kourtis and Liz Sharpe play a pronatalist, Silicon Valley power couple, hiding from their insufferable, eight children. They’re conversation runs like an unhinged Twitter rant by a certain billionaire even more insufferable than the fictional characters he has inspired. All five plays combined made for a sleek, polished, funny and incisive body of work.
The night served as a reminder that local, topical, immediate theatre can take the social conversation and make it into art. I am looking forward to seeing more of what Jackalope Theatre Company has to say next year.
Highly Recommended
Reviewed by Alina Hevia
Tickets are $15 – $30 and are available at www.jackalopetheatre.org or by calling 773-340-2543.
Show times are: Saturday, Sept. 14 at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 15 at 3 p.m. and Monday, Sept. 16 at 7:30 p.m.
Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com.
The Power of Love
Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812
Writers Theatre has once again brought Chicago audiences a musical that’s both thrilling to the eye and ear, while remaining deeply and unbelievably moving. Harkening back to the theatre’s extraordinary musical productions of both INTO THE WOODS and ONCE, this show will be remembered for its sweeping, immersive spectacle contrasted with an intimate, almost personal love story. Exquisitely Directed and Choreographed by Katie Spelman (Choreographer of Broadway’s, THE NOTEBOOK) and sumptuously Musical Directed by Matt Deitchman (Musical Director for this company’s INTO THE WOODS), this talented creative team is remembered for making ONCE sparkle and explode with romance and spectacle on the Writers stage. Once again they have worked their magic.
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