The Scarecrow (Marya Grandy), The Tin Man (Joseph Anthony Byrd), Dorothy (Leryn Turlington), and The Cowardly Lion (Jose Antonio Garcia) join together in an adventure down the Yellow Brick Road. (Photo by Liz Lauren)
4 stars
Since “The Wizard of Oz,” first delighted children and grownups back in 1939, L. Frank Baum’s glorious fantasy, has been a continual favorite whether on film, in print or live on stage, as it is at Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
This road story, directed with spirit by Brian Hill and imaginatively choreographed by Kenny Ingram, is about how friends help, comfort and support each other. It also shows how experiencing new places can delight and educate, but ultimately reminds the traveler that, in the end, there’s no place like home.
Living on a colorless Kansas farm with her Auntie Em and Uncle Henry (played by Emily Rohm and Jared D.M. Grant), lovely Leryn Turlington winningly steps into the ruby slippers as Dorothy Gale.
After being threatened by grouchy Almira Gulch, portrayed by Chicago stage veteran Hollis Resnik, Dorothy runs away with her little dog Toto (played perfectly by Derby, the dog), meets clairvoyant Professor Marvel and is swept away to the Land of Oz by a powerful cyclone.
Earnest and charming, with a smile that lights up the stage, Turlington puts her own touching stamp on the soulful ballad “Over the Rainbow.”
On her travels through Oz, Dorothy meets Emily Rohm, transformed into a glittering, pink Glinda, the Good Witch. Dorothy also makes friends with the local Munchkins played by Karla Boye, Timothy P. Foszcz, Jarod D.M. Grant, Haley Gustafson, Aalon Smith, Lauren Smith, Anthony Sullivan Jr. and Kaleb Van Rijswijck who advise her to “Follow the Yellow Brick Road.”
L o R Namir Smallwood (Lee) Francis Guinan (Saul) Jon Michael Hill (Austin) in True West at Steppenwolf. (Photo by Michael Brosilow)
3 stars
Rivalry or jealousy between brothers is as old as Cain and Abel but that may not really be what is going on in Sam Shepard’s “True West” now on stage at Steppenwolf.
It is also not whether the role of Austin is played by Jon Michael Hill and that of Lee by Namir Smallwood in the current revival or that Gary Sinise was Hill opposite John Malkovich in the famous 1982 production.
More of a clue lies in the 2000 Broadway production when the two leads were played by Philip Seymour Hoffman and John c. Reilly who switched roles during the run and when director Matthew Warchus asked the Tony Committee to see Hoffman and Reilly as one.
Even though familiar with Shepard’s work, I thought “True West” would be another play expressing the deep, consumed-by-jealousy expressions found in sibling rivalry.
It’s not. What Shepard said, and is expressed on the Steppenwolf “True West” site is,
“I wanted to write a play about double nature, one that wouldn’t be symbolic or metaphorical or any of that stuff. I just wanted to give a taste of what it feels like to be two-sided. It’s a real thing, double nature. I think we’re split in a much more devastating way than psychology can ever reveal.”
L o R Jacqueline Williams (Mom), Jon Michael Hill (Austin) and Namir Smallwood (Lee) in True West at Steppenwolf. (Photo by Michael Brosilow)
Think about it. You will better understand what is happening when you watch Austin, the clean-cut, Ivy League brother and Lee, a street-smart, thief and wanderer, change character.
Austin has a wife and kids back home but is typing away on a computer so he can finish his screenplay draft while house-sitting his mother’s place east of Los Angeles in the California desert. Hollywood producer Saul Kimmer, originally played by Francis Guinan who reprises his role for this production, is interested in the play so stops by to read it.
Lee, his brother whom he hasn’t seen in years, comes calling. Lee is manipulative. He thinks nothing of stealing from homes in whatever neighborhood he comes across including where his mother lives, or of drinking whatever is available in their bars,
Austin envies Lee’s carefree life. Lee, who likes the idea of turning out a screen play that can make enough money to afford a ranch, knows how to cut a deal with the producer to take a play Lee dreams up and has his brother type.
Act I sets the stage as Lee takes over. Act II turns menacingly violent and almost deadly. But comic relief comes when Mom, originally portrayed by Laurie Metcalf, now by Jacqueline Williams, returns from Alaska\ to find her house trashed and her boys fighting.
Maybe the play will have audiences thinking about their own double nature or that of people they know.
“True West” is at Steppenwolf, 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago, through Aug. 25, 2019. Running time: 2 hours, one intermission. For tickets and other information call (312) 335-1650 or visit Steppenwolf.
Michael Aaron Pogue as Izzy leads the audience into a scene of ‘The Recommendation at Windy City Playhouse. (Michael Brosilow photo)
4 stars
Upon entering the theatre, an attendant gives the patron his ticket in the form of a congratulatory letter of acceptance to Brown University. Theatergoers are then plunged into the world of the play as they’re welcomed to a collegiate orientation by Iskinder Iodouku, nicknamed Izzy (beautifully played by Michael Aaron Pogue)
Jonathan Caren’s thought-provoking play is very interesting. It’s not about what you know but who you know and the favors that people will perform now in exchange for something later on.
Izzy also serves as the narrator of the story. He’s a good-looking African-American young man,whose father immigrated from Ethiopia and married a white American woman.
He is going to tell us about his friend, Aaron Feldman, when suddenly Izzy’s narration is interrupted by a cocky young man who bursts into the lobby clad only in a towel. Izzy introduces us to Aaron (played to perfection by Julian Hester), a handsome, self-entitled, young, white boy whose lawyer father is wealthy and well-connected.
And thus begins Caren’s timely story of power and white privilege in America.
Julian Hester, left, and Michael Aaron Pogue in “The Recommendation.” (Photo Michael Brosilow)
Through the double doors we’re ushered back several years to the college dormitory room where Aaron and Izzy first met. We learn many things about the two roomies, including that Aaron is planning to become a filmmaker while Izzy is hoping to eventually attend a good grad school to become a lawyer.
Aaron promises that his influential father, at his son’s insistence, will gladly write Izzy a glowing letter of recommendation to get him into UCLA.
Flash forward a couple years and the two guys have now graduated from Brown. Aaron has become the pampered assistant to a hotshot director and Izzy is enjoying his graduate work, thanks to Aaron’s father.
While Izzy relaxes beside the pool, Aaron goes on a beer run; however, he’s stopped by the police and arrested for having a suspended license.
Locked up in the jail’s holding cell, Aaron encounters Dwight, a buff, streetwise, black inmate who’s a repeat offender and really knows the system. Dwight has connections of his own within the prison world and he tries to instruct Aaron how to survive the big house.
Aaron’s parents decide to teach him a lesson by refusing to post bail. After a rough night, Aaron promises his cellmate that once he’s released from jail, he’ll convince his influential father to help clear Dwight of his charges. All Dwight has to do is promise to protect the pretty white boy against the other inmates.
Thus begins another series of incidents in which one person promises a favor in exchange for something else in the future. It’s that old adage of “You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.”
Julien Hester and Brian Keys in The Recommendation. (Photo by Michael Brosilow)
Windy City Playhouse has become one of Chicago’s go-to theatre for exciting, emotionally involving, immersive drama. Their long-running hit, “Southern Gothic,” continues at their new south Loop location.
But for this new drama, playwright Jonathan Caren worked together with artistic director Amy Rubenstein to transform his drama, originally written for a typical proscenium stage, into a totally immersive theatrical experience. And it’s a winner.
Directed with amazing skill and tempo by Jonathan Wilson, the production take place in different locales. The various settings are the handiwork of talented scenic designer Lauren Nigri and the result is simply extraordinary.
Such close proximity to the actors and the action totally draws the audience into the story. Sometimes the theatergoer becomes a casual participant in a scene, but more often he’s simply a fly on the wall observing and trying to predict what will happen next.
Julian Hester, left, Michael Aaron Pogue, center, and Brian Keys in “The Recommendation.” (Photo Michael Brosilow)
The play is occasionally funny. But, particularly as the story progresses, it grows darker, more intense and deeply disturbing.
The first act revs up to a traumatic climax while theatergoers share a darkened jail cell with Dwight and Aaron. Vicariously we sense the claustrophobia, desperation and unrelenting terror that Aaron is experiencing while imprisoned.
But the feeling of dread continues and grows throughout Act II, ratcheting up to a fever pitch until it finally explodes during the last scene that’s set in the steamy sauna of an affluent sporting club.
Windy City Playhouse’s riveting production of Caren’s explosive drama is an absolute must-see. The play’s totally immersive, bringing every theatergoer into the story. No one simply sits back at a safe distance and observes.
Director Jonathan Wilson has maintained the drama’s realism by keeping his actors honest, involved and on top of every possible situation that might occur. Sometimes theatergoers are asked to stand; but more often than not, plenty of seating is provided within each of the many locales. Refreshments are occasionally offered to further enhance the theatrical experience.
Make sure you see “The Recommendation.” It’s one theatrical experience you’ll never forget.
DETAILS: “The Recommendation” is at Windy City Playhouse, 3014 W. Irving Park Rd., Chicago, through Sept. 22, 2019. For tickets and more information call (773-891-8985) or visit WindyCityPlayhouse.
Earth Rising over the Moon’s Horizon This view of Earth rising over the Moon’s horizon was taken from the Apollo 11 spacecraft. The lunar terrain pictured is in the area of Smyth’s Sea on the nearside. (Photo courtesy of NASA)
In Chicago, the place to go to hear about and celebrate Apollo 11’s historic moon landing 50 years ago is the Adler Planetarium July 18-20, 2019.
Those folks around 50 years ago likely remember where they were when they heard “The Eagle has landed.” That was July 20, 1969 when the Apollo 11 lunar module, Eagle, landed on the moon.
They likely remember where they were when Commander Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon’s surface six hours later on July 21. Televised across the world, they heard him say the famous “one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Buzz Aldrin, the lunar module pilot, stepped out 19 minutes later. The two of them collected lunar material during their more than two hours outside while Michael Collins kept their command module, Columbia, in the lunar orbit.
They rejoined him, using the Eagle’s ascent stage. Leaving the Eagle in space, they maneuvered out of the lunar orbit and splashed down in the Pacific on July 24.
The Eagle Prepares to Land The Apollo 11 Lunar Module Eagle, in a landing configuration was photographed in lunar orbit from the Command and Service Module Columbia. Inside the module were Commander Neil A. Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin. The long rod-like protrusions under the landing pods are lunar surface sensing probes. (Photo and text courtesy of NASA)
Now, 50 years later, the Planetarium starts its three-day celebration with Adler After Dark, its regular, Third Thursday fun evening for adults that mixes cocktails, music with the museum’s shows and exhibits from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m.
Calling the July 18 event “Moonshot,” the Adler celebrates the anniversary with period-themed cocktails, a special double-dry IPA called “Project Apollo, music by the Stingers covers band, and a tuning-in to The Washington Post’s “Moonrise” podcast in the Grainger Sky Theatre among immersive visuals before it is released to the public. Oh, and late 60’s style apparel or space=age attire is encouraged.
Then, “Moon Bash” programs follow on July 19’ and 20. From 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Incuded with Museum Entry pass and frree to members)
The Adler Planetarium celebrates the Apollo II anniversary July 18-20. (Photo courtesy of Adler Planetarium)
Friday’s events include:
Exploration Stations. Launch a rocket, train like an astronaut, and learn all about the Moon with hands-on programs.
To The Moon, with I Play Games. Relive the Apollo 11 mission in virtual reality. Sit in the cramped cockpit of the Eagle, see Earth from a different perspective, and take steps on the surface of the Moon.
Sketch the Moon. Explore the work of noted space artist Chesley Bonestell and imagine a future mission to the Moon in this art activity.
Small Steps, Giant Leaps – Voices of Apollo. Explore a series of personal stories inspired by this historic event in a temporary exhibition and share your own stories with us. Check out our related online exhibition Voices of Apollo.
Saturday highlights Include:
The Day We Walked on the Moon. This documentary from the Smithsonian Channel tells the story of how he got to the Moon through spectacular footage and interviews with key figures in the Apollo 11 mission.
Exploration Stations. Launch a rocket, train like an astronaut, and learn all about the Moon with hands-on programs.
Performances & Talks. Live puppet performances, museum theater pieces and special talks from astronomers & other experts, some of whom worked on the Apollo program.
Chicago’s Moonshot Mural. Help create a community mural that highlights the Apollo 11 anniversary and your own “moonshots.”
Small Steps, Giant Leaps – Voices of Apollo. Explore a series of personal stories inspired by this historic event in a temporary exhibition, and share your own stories. (11 a.m. to noon)
The Adler planetarium is at 1300 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago. For tickets and more information call (312) 922-7827 and visit Adler Planetarium.
L-R, David Cerda, Kristopher Bottrall and Ed Jones in Hell in a Handbag Productions’ world premiere parody The Drag Seed. (Photo by Rick Aguilar Studios)
4 stars
David Cerda has done it once again. The gifted performer and prolific playwright mines every ounce of humor from his LGBTQ parodies of well-known TV and film classics like “The Golden Girls” and “The Poseidon Adventure.”
This time around, Chicago’s Countess of Camp has loosely adapted “The Bad Seed,” that famous, b & w psychological horror-thriller film from the 1950’s about a seemingly perfect little girl who will stop at nothing—not even murder—to get what she wants.
In Cerda’s gender-bending, mannered melodrama, the perfect little girl has been changed into Carson, the perfect little boy. This child, however, likes to wear outlandish wigs and dress in girl’s clothing. And, since it’s 2019, Carson also prefers to use non-binary pronouns (they, their, them).
Josh Davis (Javert) and Nick Cartell (Jean Valjean) in US tour of ‘Les Miserables.’ (Matthew Murphy photo)
4 stars
Don’t worry If you missed “Les Miserables’” revival on the Oct. 2017, Chicago tour stop.
The Cameron Mackintosh production now in town at the Cadillac Palace Theatre through July 27, 2019, is still composer Claude Michel Schönberg and lyricists Alain Boubil and Herbert Kretzmer’s stirring musical. (Original French text by Alain Boubil and Jean-Marc Natel and additional material is by James Fenton and was adapted by Trevor Nunn and John Caird.)
Also don’t worry if some of the scenes in your mind’s eye from earlier productions have changed. What is important is that directors Laurence Connor and James Powell bring the conditions that spawned Victor Hugo’s famed 1862 novel, to life.
The Orchid Mantis is attractive and deadly. It is among the Field Museum’s Fantastic Bug Encounters. (J Jacobs photo)
You don’t have to be interested in entomology to enjoy and be fascinated by the new exhibit opened the end of June at Chicago’s Field Museum. You are even likely to go home from the exhibit, called “Fantastic Bug Encounters!” with some interesting facts to pass along such as how one of the species, the jewel wasp, performs’ brain surgery” on cockroaches to turn them into zombies.
Meet the bees in their hive. (J Jacobs photo
By the way, the word “fantastic” is a perfect description because the exhibition is on loan from New Zealand’s famed Te Papa Tongarewa museum where it developed the exhibition with the Academy Award-Winning Weta Workshop.
Think “Lord of the Rings” and you will walk in prepared for what you will encounter. The Weta Workshop produced sets, costumes, weapons, armour, and creatures for director Peter Jackson’s film trilogy. And Weta is the name of a giant, flightless prehistoric cricket group native to New Zealand.
So be warned, you walk into giant, pod-like homes of such real bug creatures as the Japanese honey bee and the jewel wasp. Take a selfie if you dare turn your back on one of them.
But for those visitors who would like to know more about the insects and some spiders, there are several interactive stations that tell about different creatures’ wing design, camouflage, speed, reflexes and superpowers.
Not all of insects will be dead. The exhibit includes a small Live Bug Zoo where a museum staffer will handle some of them so visitors can see them up close.
A Field Museum staffer holds a patent leather beetle for visitors from the Chicago Park district to see. (J Jacobs photo)
These encounters are on the hour from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a patent leather beetle, a lubber grasshopper, a death feigning beetle and a Madagascar hissing cockroach.
Plus, there are some live bugs in glass enclosures to see and not touch such as the emperor scorpion, a stick mantis and a pink-toed tarantula.
“Bugs are weird, beautiful, and fascinating creatures, and we’re proud to be able to share them with visitors of all ages in Fantastic Bug Encounters!” said Jaap Hoogstraten, Field Museum Exhibitions Director. “This exhibition is full of gorgeous larger-than-life models that show what these animals look like close-up and how they’ve perfectly adapted to the world around them—our visitors will never look at bugs the same way again.”
DETAILS: Fantastic Bug Encounters!” is at the Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, on Chicago’s museum campus near Soldier Field, Chicago now through April 19, 2020. For hours and ticket information call (312) 922.9410 and visit Field Museum.
Hey Chicago foodies, this weekend is about putting off the diet until Monday because there’s a yummy snack o scarf down or a different cuisine to try out in the neighborhoods and downtown.
Taste of Chicago July 10-14 in Grant Park. (Photo courtesy of Choose Chicago, the city’s visitor bureau)
You know this is the biggie, the one that requires good walking shoes and lots of hollow-leg room to visit the dozens of restaurant booths lining Grant Park. Taste runs July 10-14. Hours are Wednesday – Friday: 11 a.m. – 9 p.m., Saturday and Sunday: 10 a.m. – 9 p.m. Admission is free but you have to buy tickets to use at the booths to get any food and beverages.
Along with the regular booths check out the food trucks, pop-up restaurants and chef demos. Also stop by the Petrillo Music Shell to hear who’s entertaining the day you’re there.
Some streets will be closed (or clogged with traffic) behind the Art Institute and around Jackson for Taste so take public transportation.
For the specific booth layout, chefs and entertainment schedule visit Choose Chicago/Taste
It’s about really good barbecue. Well, it’s also about good beer. And of course, it’s a about great country music.
What you need to know is that this year, Windy City Smokeout has moved from River North to the United Center Parking Lot at 1901 w. Madison St., that the dates are July 12 – 13, 2019 and that gates open at 2 p.m. Friday and at noon on Saturday and Sunday.
The annual festival benefits and is at the 92-year-old St. Andrew’s Greek Orthodox Church on Chicago’s Northside in the Edgewater neighborhood. Celebrating Helenic heritage, it features Greek food, music, dancing and band plus has artisans and kids’ activities.
The festival is July 12-14. Hours ate Friday 5-9 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 10 p.m. at5649 N Sheridan Rd. For more information visit Events/GreekFest.
More than a block party but just as friendly is Roscoe Village’s Chamber of Commerce’s annual Burger Fest. The place to go for great burgers, music on two stages and artisan booths is 2000 W. Belmont at Damen Avenue, July 13-14 from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. B TW you get to vote on Chicago’s Best Burger.
A suggested $10 donation supports the Chamber’s activities. Find more information at Roscoe Village Burger Fest.
Geoff Packard (Harold Hill) and Monica West (Marian Paroo) in ‘The Music Man at Goodman (Photo by Liz Lauren)
3 stars
If old enough to have seen and loved the 1962 film “The Music Man” you’ll likely be expecting someone like Robert Preston to be portraying con man Harold Hill and someone like Shirley Jones as the reserved librarian/music teacher Marian Paroo in the production now playing at Goodman Theatre.
And maybe you would expect the townsfolk to be human beings rather than stereotyped small-town farm characters.
Helmed by the amazingly creative Mary Zimmerman, the Goodman show has several fun moments from the superb opening “Rock Island” salesmen (and woman) train scene and the “Pick-a-Little, Talk-a-Little” hen-clucking number to the delightful quartets by formerly bickering board members.
Heidi Kettenring (Eulalie Mackecknie Shinn), Nicole Michelle Haskins (Alma Hix), Bri Sudia (Maud Dunlop), Lillian Castillo (Ethel Toffelmier) and Danielle Davis (Mrs. Squires) (Photo by Liz Lauren)
But the strong emotions of the lead characters and townsfolk found in the film, the Broadway revivals and some other Chicago and regional productions are missing.
Part of the problem may be that even though the dancers are excellent, the many dance numbers run too long in a show that really is about changing people’s attitudes.
That change was accorded a small nod at the end. However, I was disappointed that the band didn’t march onto the stage from the wings in a more stirring finale.
Broadway and national tour regular and Chicago stage veteran Geoff Packard does an OK impression of Harold Hill but something seems to be lacking in his interaction with Paroo played by Chicago and regional theater veteran Monica West. They have the credentials, (a request often asked of Hill by River city’s mayor) but their interaction seems more surface than substance.
Chicago actor Mary Ernster was delightful as usual as mom Mrs. Paroo. And a shout-out goes to the charming quartet of James Konicek, Christopher Kale Jones, Jeremy Peter Johnson and Jonathan Schwart.
The production is worth seeing for the fine book, music and lyrics by Meredith Willson, the excellent musical direction by Jermaine Hill (not related) and hearing the exciting “Seventy Six Trombones.”
DETAILS: “The Music Man” is at Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago, through Aug. 18, 2019. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes with one intermission. For tickets and other information call (312) 443-3811 and visit Goodman Theatre.
Katherine Thomas and Heath Saunders in ‘Darling Grenadine’ at Marriott Theatre. (Photo by Liz Lauren)
3 ½ stars
When the music is good, the songs are good, the voices are good and the staging is good, the show, in this case, “Darling Grenadine,” deserves to be seen and appreciated even if the subject is not at the top of theater-goers’ list of musicals must-do.
Conceived and written by Daniel Zaitchick about stress leading to alcohol addiction that is often experienced by musicians and others in the entertainment industry , the show is more in line with the personal battles of “Next to Normal” than Marriott’s next play, “Something Rotten,” that is a comedic musical about trying to write a hit show.
Whereas “Something Rotten,” was a full-fledged, 2015 Broadway musical comedy hit, “Darling Grenadine” is more an intimate, chamber musical that is making its way from its concert form at LA;s Rockwell Table & Stage and continued its fleshing out at Johnny Mercer Writers Colony of Goodspeed Musicals in East Haddam, CT before presented by Marriott in what is labeled a Midwest premiere.
