From L. Kyrie Courter (Natalie )Keely Vasquez (Diana) David Schlumpf (Dan) and Liam Oh (Gabe). (Photo by Michael Brosilow)
4 stars
“Next to Normal” brilliantly and unerringly brings to the stage what life is like in a home where a family member is mentally ill.
Penned by Brian Yorkey who also did the lyrics and with music by Tom Kitt, the show took three Tony awards in 2009. It also won the Pulitzer Prize for drama because even though it has highly expressive musical numbers, it is not a feel-good musical.
“Next to Normal” is a heart-wrenching drama about a husband who keeps trying to help his wife combat what has been diagnosed as bi-polar depression triggered by the death of their young son early in their marriage and about their teenage daughter who no matter how successful she is in school, can’t get the attention she deserves and craves.
Jeanne (Spring); Édouard Manet (French, 1832 – 1883); France; 1881; Oil on canvas; 74 × 51.5 cm (29 1/8 × 20 1/4 in.); 2014.62 (Photo courtesy of Art Institute of Chicago)
If you are only familiar with 19th century French artist Édouard Manet’s early and middle period styles you are likely to find quite a few surprises in “Manet and Modern Beauty,” a wonderfully extensive, new exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago that showcases his later works.
Before he died in 1883 at age 51 from complications from syphilis and rheumatism, Manet was influencing other painters as he moved from a transgressive style in the 1860s to Impressionism in the 1870s and from historical and religious subjects to modern life and what he could capture “plein air” as influenced by Berthe Morisot.
Now, get to know his late 70’s and early 80’s works plus see some earlier, important Impressionism pieces. “Manet and Modern Beauty” is the first Art Institute show to focus just on Manet in more than 50 years.
Tricia Rogers (Director Gross) in ‘The Mem.’ (Photo by Anna Gelman)
3 Stars
“The Memo” is an interesting if not important piece of theater as it was written by Vaclav Havel who went on to become a player on the world stage in the role of reformer. Havel served as the last President of Czechoslovakia, then as the first President of the Czech Republic from 1993 to 2003.
Written in 1965, it was originally translated into English as “The Memorandum” by British writer Vera Blackwell in 1967. The Organic Theatre production is using the later translation from 2006, encouraged and approved by Havel, written by Canadian Paul Wilson and re-titled “The Memo.”
This is an absurdist black comedy that might be described as Monty Python meets “Office Space” in the “Twilight Zone.”
Cast of ‘Six” at Chicago Shakespeare. (Liz Lauren photo)
3 Stars
The Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents the North American premiere of the energetic pop-concert musical “Six” by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss featuring the story of the six wives of England’s 16th Century monarch Henry VIII.
The fate of the queens are apparently remembered by English school children using the rhyme “divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived” which becomes the leitmotif of the opening number as the women introduce themselves to the audience.
A series of nine musical numbers centered around a common theme with virtually no dialog, this production is more of a pop-concert than what you think of as traditional musical theater.
Presented as a kind of musical competition, each of the “Six” wives takes turns telling her life story, including her relationship with the notorious Henry.
Walter Briggs, Cordelia Dewdney and Debo Balogun in Mary Shelly’s ‘Frankenstein’ at Lookingglass Theatre. (Photo by Liz Lauren)
3 stars
To understand director/playwright David Catlin’s production of “Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein” at Lookingglass Theatre, you probably should go back to the original story conceived during competitive ghost, story-telling sessions at Lord Byron’s Swiss Villa Diodati on Lake Geneva.
Eighteen-year-old Mary Godwin was at Byron’s retreat with lover Percy Bysshe Shelley whom she would marry after his wife, Harriet, died. Also there, aside from British romantic poet George Gordon Byron (6th Baron Byron), was Godwin’s stepsister, Claire Clairmont and Dr. John Polidori.
Mary, using the last name of Shelly before they’re married, directs the people at the Villa to join her in playing the characters in her competitive entry. It’s a clever devise.
Knowing all parts of her “Frankenstein” novel sahead of time will help explain Lookingglass’ opening scene in the arctic where Captain Robert Walton and crew are temporarily iced-in at the North Pole.
Cast of Miracle The Musical 108 years in the Making at Royal George Theatre. (Photo by Michael Brosilow)
4 stars
Audiences at “Miracle: A musical 108 years in the making” know the outcome of the 2016 World Series but they don’t know what will happen to the Delaney’s who own “Maggies,” a longtime, neighborhood friendly, Wrigleyville bar. Maggie is Pops’ deceased wife who is represented by a lit picture on the wall and the gravestone Pops visits.
Directed by Damon Kiely, the entire cast is so good that everyone gasps when it looks like Charlie (Brandon Dalquist) will sell the bar to Weslowski (Michael Kingston) because Pops (Gene Weygandt) missed a few property tax payments. Charlie worries that daughter Dani will grow up stuck in the family bar like he did.
Cast of Augie March at Court Theatre. (Michael Brosilow photo)
2 ½ stars
Free-Style Chaos Defines Augie March
This theatrical version of “The Adventures of Augie March,” at the Court Theatre perhaps serves to illustrate why the popular novel by Chicagoan Saul Bellow has never before been adapted to the stage.
The story line basically follows everyman hero Augie March (Patrick Mulvey) as he meanders aimlessly through life allowing the people he meets to shape his journey. In this way Bellow suggests the arbitrariness of life and is perhaps a cautionary tale of the dangers of undefined goals.
The play opens in the Atlantic Ocean with Augie and his maniacal companion (John Judd) floating in a lifeboat after the sinking of their merchant ship.
During a flashback, Augie’s odyssey begins in the 1930s depression era crowded apartment he shares with his mother (Chaon Cross), two brothers and an overbearing Russian Jewish grandmother (Marilyn Dodds Frank).
Along the way Augie meets an odd assortment of characters which is one of the hallmarks of Bellow’s writing as he reveled in the peculiarities and idiosyncrasies of humanity.
Blocks of tickets have periodically been put up for sale, thus extending the hit Broadway show’s Chicago run since September 2016. But the last block of tickets will go on sale May 17,2019 at 10 a.m.
Those tickets can be bought at the CIBC Theatre’s box office (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) at 18 W. Monroe St., on the Broadway In Chicago 800-775-2000 number and online at BroadwayInChicago.
“More people have seen “Hamilton” in Chicago than any other city, including New York,” said producer Jeffrey Seller. “Chicago has been a cornerstone of our mission to make “Hamilton” as accessible to as many people as possible. We’ve loved our time here, and you can bet that ‘we’ll be back’.”
By the numbers: The Chicago run will be 171 weeks, 1,341 performances, seen by more than 2.6 million attendees plus more than 32,000 Chicago Public School students and teachers have participated in the show’s EduHam, an American history education program.
The musical, “Hamilton,” is based on the book, “Alexander Hamilton,” a biography of the Founding Father by Ron Chernow. Lin-Manuel Miranda who wrote the musical’s lyrics, music and book won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Directed by Thomas Kail, choreographed by Andy Blankenbuehler with music direction and orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire, “Hamilton” took 11 Tony Awards in 2016 including Best Musical, Score, Book of a Musical, Direction of a Musical, Choreography and Orchestrations. It’s produced by Seller, Sander Jacobs, Jill Furman and The Public Theater.
Kate Fry (Hermione), Dan Donohue (Leontes) and Nathan Hosner (Polixenes) in The Winter’s Tale at Goodman Theatre. (Liz Lauren photo)
3 stars
How you react to “The Winter’s Tale” at Goodman Theatre depends on if you like an intensely acted, disturbing tragedy immediately followed by a whimsical, comedic romance that tries to make the tragedy all right in the end.
Among William Shakespeare’s (1564-1616) late plays (published in the 1623 First Folio) is “The Winter’s Tale” which combines many of his themes such as murderous jealousy as in “Othello” with comedy and romance similar to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
Expect to see unconscionable actions and reactions during the tragedy but Act I ends with a foretelling of funny things to come by a bleating shepherd and his son followed by the personification of a wildly announced “Time.” Continue reading “Two tales in one Shakespearean play”
‘Marvelocity” has original artwork by Alex Ross and superhero figures and busts. (J Jacobs photo)
If you follow superhero adventures or appreciate comic-book art should check out the Marvelocity Exhibit at Lake County Forest Preserves’ Dunn Museum.
Walk in and you see a life-size figure of Captain America surrounded by life-size busts of the Hulk, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Silver Sureer, Spider-Man Green Goblin, Iron Man, Dr. Doom. These superheroes and others have been revitalized by famed comic book artist Alex Ross.
The walls are covered with his original artwork. A movie talks about Ross and a board explains how Ross and collaborator Kurt Busiek put together a project tying Marvel heroes to historic events from 1939 to 73 that became “Marvels.” Also highlighted is his “Kingdom Come”project with DC.
But the exhibit also goes back to PBS’ “Spidey Super Stories” that inspired Ross as early as age 5.
Now, Ross and the folks at the LCFP want to encourage future comic book artists with the “Comic Book Cover Contest.” Teens age 13-18 may submit original artwork no larger than 18 by 24 inches that could be used for a comic book cover by June 1. The winner gets a free guided tour of the exhibit with Ross. See Contest for more information and entry form.
Poster for Marvelocity. (J Jacobs of the Lake County Forest Preserves Dunn Museum photo)
In addition there is a poster with a $1 off coupon, shown here as a photo that can be copied and cut, for visiting the exhibit which is up through Sept. 8, 2019
The Dunn Museum is in the Lake County Forest Preserves General Offices building at 1899 W. Winchester Rd, Libertyville, IL 60048. The building is in a corporate center on the south east side of Technology Way. Admission is $6 for adults; $3 for seniors and youth ages 4-17; free for children ages 3 and under. Visit Dunn Museum for more information.
