Reviews – Page 3 – Chicago Theater and Arts

Everything is coming up roses for Gypsy

3 Stars

Lauren Maria Medina as Louise (Photos by Liz Lauren).

A musical fable comes to life at the Marriott’s fine production of GYPSY. Its all-star cast showcases the tale of the ultimate stage mother, Rose, who fights for her daughters’ successes while really wanting her own moment in the spotlight.

Opening on Broadway in 1959, Arthur Laurents’ GYPSY was nominated for eight Tony awards and has been a beloved classic for generations.

Taking her daughters across the country in search of that next big gig in the waning days of vaudeville, Rose continually dreams of seeing daughter June’s name in lights. A three-times divorced mamma, nothing will get in Rose’s way, not even a new suitor by the name of Herb, who is kind and loyal.

Make no mistake, this is a woman’s show, empowering and emotionally problematic.

When June tires of the act and runs off to get married, Rose channels her interest in her other daughter, Louise, to make her a star.

The musical features Broadway star Lucia Spina as Rose whose loud, brassy, and booming voice perfectly captures the pushy stage mother. She belts out every song, reminiscent of Ethel Merman who played Rose on Broadway.

Lucky for the audience, a warm welcome back to the Marriott stage is given to the Jefferson award-winning Nathaniel Stampley as suitor Herbie who is charming and authentic. But having seen Stampley in other Marriot roles like “Man of La Mancha” and “Ragtime,” his amazing talent seems somewhat wasted.

Nathaniel Stampley (Herbie) and Lucia Spina (Rose )

The audience watches as Lauren Maria Medina who plays Louise is transformed from a mousy little girl into a confident, successful burlesque superstar, the legendary Gypsy Rose Lee. Her voice is powerful and strong.

With music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, the show boasts a memorable score including: “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” “Let Me Entertain You,” “Some People,” and “Together Wherever We Go.”

Kudos to J’Kobe Wallace who plays Tulsa and an ensemble member for his outstanding dancing that took the house down.

The Marriott production will likely feel different from other GYPSYs because director Amanda Dehnert working with choreographer Stephanie Klemons and music director Jeff Award Winner Ryan T. Nelson emphasized its emotional toll and darker side.

On a different note: Fans of Nathaniel Stampley will be happy to know he takes the stage in an intimate evening of solo songs and stories for one night only, October 15 at 7:30 p.m. In Songs & Stories: Nathaniel Stampley in Concert, Mr. Stampley traces his career from Milwaukee to Chicago, Broadway, London and beyond.

DETAILS: GYPSY is at the Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire, IL through October 23, 2023. Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes with one intermission. For tickets and other information, visit www.marriotttheatre.com or call the Marriott Theatre Box Office: (847) 634-0200.

Myra Temkin

For more shows visit Theatre in Chicago

Music Theater Works produces a fun time out

(Photo courtesy of Music Theater Works)

Highly recommended

The North Shore Center for the Performing Arts’ Center Theatre is the perfect space for Music Theater Works’ The Producers.

Unlike the company’s “Camelot” which was crammed into the small theater, it has the space for Producers director Walter Stearns,’ choreographer Darryl K. Clark’s’ and scenic designer Jonathan Berg-Einhorn’s interpretations of Mel Brooks Tony Award winning musical comedy. They need the space for their terrific dancers and talented cast.

With the excellent singer-actor Thomas M. Shea in the lead as Max Bialystock and David Geinosky as the nerdy accountant-turned producer sidekick, the show rollicks from a scheme to make millions with aBroadway flop to their unintentional, probably disastrous, success as a hit. Kelsey MacDonald as their Swedish bomb/secretary/receptionist Ulla, is a bonus.

The show, which would likely not appeal to conservative theater goers, is what anyone who attends should expect from Mel Brooks who rejoices in off-color dialogue, surprising topis and action. So blame him and co-book writer Thomas Meehan. The funny, rousing, music and lyrics are also by Brooks.

The Producers is a fun break in the theater season.

DETAILS: The Producers is at The North Shore Center for the Performing Arts” Center Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie, IL through Aug. 20, 2023. Running time:2 hours, 30 minutes with one intermission. For tickets and other information visit MusicTheaterWorks.com or call Music Theater Works Box Office: (847) 673-6300.

Jodie Jacobs

For more shows visit Theatre in Chicago

Marriott keeps the music alive

Marriott Theatre's joyful revival of "Buddy -- The Buddy Holly Story" stars Kieran McCabe, left, as the titular rocker, Jed Feder as drummer Jerry Allison and Shaun Whitley as bass player Joe Maudlin.

(Kieran Mcabe, Jed Fedder and Shaun Whitley)

4 Stars

After seeing “Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story,” an extraordinary musical production that opened at Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, June 28, it’s hard not to think of Don Mclean’s version of ” American Pie” (see Rolling Stones and the “Day the Music Died) .

Of course, the show ends with a darkened stage for the tragic plane crash that took the lives of Holly, two other performers and the pilot. But the lights come back on, the music returns to high intensity and the audience knows Holly’s music lives on.

With “Buddy,” Marriott Theatre introduces another generation to Holly’s rock ‘ n’ roll style and songs. In doing so, the Marriott brilliantly cast Kieran McCabe as Buddy.

Written by Alan Janes, directed and choreographed by Amber Mak with music direction by Matt Deitchman, the production deserves the long, standing ovation it received on opening.

Other versions of the show have been mostly on national and international tours, but if it returns to Broadway where it opened at the Shubert Theatre Nov. 4, 1990 (and ran for 225 performances), it should star the exceptionally talented McCabe as Buddy.

More than a “jukebox musical” featuring the songs of Holly, those of the “Crickets,” as they were known when they backed Holly, and later, after he died, other rock n’ roll songs of the 50s and 60s time period, it’s clear it takes more than just knowing how to play a guitar. A lot of “Buddy” is showmanship.

You see Holly turn audiences onto rock’n’roll as he moves from a less than successful start in Lubbock, Tx at age 19 where a recording studio manager wanted country, not rock’n’roll, through Nashville, TN and on to the NorVaJak Studios in Clovis, NM, where his and the Crickets “That’ll be the Day” recording was released, May 1957, reached number three on the Billboard Top 100 by mid-September and went on to future successes including in Harlem.

By the end of the show you see McCabe play his guitar backwards, over his head and stop at the piano to add a riff similar to what audiences see in “Million Dollar Quartet.”

Indeed, some of the musicians in Buddy” have played in that show. McCabe was Fluke, the drummer/ Crickets’ bassist Joe Maudlin was Carl Perkins.

The show, a rocking 100 minutes without intermission, magnificently proves, once again, that Buddy Holly’s musical vision, personality and ground-breaking style made him the super star that would live on past his tragic plane crash in 1959 at age 22.

DETAILS: “Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story” is at Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Dr., Lincolnshire, IL, now through Aug. 13, 2023 Run-time approx 100 minutes with no intermission. For tickets and other information visit Buddy.

Jodie Jacobs

For more shows visit Theatre in Chicago

Music Theater Works does justice to the Pippin dreamworld

Connor Ripperger as Pippin at Music Theater Works in the North Shore Performing Arts Center. (Photo Courtesy of Music Theater Works)

Highly Recommended

Music Theater works brings Pippin to the North Shore Center for Performing Arts in a production that is a feast for the senses and uses the entire spectrum of theater craft.

Explaining the plot of Pippin is as useful as trying to recall the details of a dream. What exactly happened is not important but the fact that your brain was trying to help you organize your thoughts and work through your anxiety is important.

But for context I’ll tell you that Pippin (Connor Ripperger) who has recently completed his education in Italy is the eldest son of Charlemagne Thomas M. Shea.) Ripperger’s Pippin has a longing boyish quality that is spot on.

The boy is anxious to make his way in the world but the problems in his way are stepmother Fastrada (Savannah Sinclair) and stepbrother Lewis (Andrew Freeland). They want to get rid of Pippin so Lewis will become first heir to the throne.

Though Lewis is purported to be a better warrior, Pippin sets out to prove himself in battle where he learns war is a deadly and dirty business.

Pippin’s grandmother, Berte (Kathleen Puls Andrade), encourages the lad to enjoy life and have more sex. He tries but his experiences bring him little pleasure and take him no closer to a fulfilling life.

Then Pippin falls into the arms of a wealthy widow,, Catherine (Desiree Gonzalez) who has a small b oy, Theo (Di’Aire Wilson). Again the promise of a quiet and distracting domestic life is not fulfilling to the restless youth.

Ultimately, Pippin is back in Charlemagne’s palace where he becomes king after the untimely death of his father. Saddened by the injustices of the world, Pippin attempts to right some wrongs but learns that the problems are more complex than they appear.

The phantasmagoric experience is orchestrated and narrated by the Leading Player (Sonia Goldberg) who promises a finale we will never forget. Goldberg has the needed commanding stage presence that lets you know she is in charge.

The action will not have anything to do with the actual life of Charlemagne. In fact, it includes video games, tv reports and images on large screens mimicking fragments expected from a dream.

Pippin was co-written and originally directed and choreographed by Chicago native Bob fosse in 1972 at the epicenter of his successful and frenetic career. (Possibly his drug addiction might help explain this bizarre tale of how Pippin’s quest for meaning plays out.) Fosse’s fingerprints (or say footprints) are all over this psychedelic fever dream.

Many of the characters, notably Pippin and The Leading Player, are gloved which is a nod to Fosse’s iconic “Jazz hands” and his desire to accentuate hand movements as part of dance.

This production’s co-choreographers, Mollyanne Nunn and Kaitlyn Pasquinelli, got all they demanded from their talented company who kept the non-stop action energetic and entertaining.

Director Kyle A. Dougan with assistant director Patrick Tierney did an expert job wrangling the large cast of about 20 players around a limited area of the smaller North Theater in the Skokie complex.

Shane Cinal supplied the needed multilevel set design that provided additional room for movement including clever areas for unusual entrances and exits. Andrew Meyers lighting effects were key components of several scenes.

Jazmin Aurora Medina’s colorful fantastical costumes, augmented by Alice Salazar’s hair, wig and makeup, added the right look for the chaotic action. Charlemagne’s toys sealed in plastic and his plastic crown added a subtle brilliance of detail to the array of often absurd imagery.

The music and lyrics of Stephen Schwartz who gave us the highly acclaimed Wicked is high caliber. It doesn’t have a break-out number with the possible exception of “Corner of the Sky.” When performed by the Jackson Five it became #18 on Billboard. Schwartz almost simultaneously wrote Godspell. My initial response was to characterize Pippin as The Fantastiks meets Godspell.

On the surface, Pippin seems weird and fragmented but in retrospect, the Tony Award winning musical is deeply reflective of the competitive and often, tormented mind of Fosse. In a larger context, its the reflection of us all as we strive to live more meaningful lives.

Details: Pippin, a Music Theater Works production, is at the North Shore Center for Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie, IL ,through June 25, 2023. Running time: 2 and 1/2 hours with a 15 minute intermission. for tickets and information visit Music Theater Works or call (847) 673-6300.

Note: Though the production has an overall comedic tone it contains adult themes and language as well as allusions to sexual activity, murder and suicide so may not be appropriate for everyone.

Reno Lovison

For more shows visit Theatre in Chicago

A tragic love story and cautionary tale of intolerance

West Side Story at Lyric Opera of Chicago (Photo by Todd Rosenberg)

Highly recommended

For a professional theater experience in Chicago this month you can’t do much better than West Side Story at the Lyric Opera. This Leonard Bernstein / Stephen Sondheim musical deemed cutting edge and somewhat avantgarde when first introduced, is now a classic.

The story by Arthur Laurents is a rather faithful mid-century modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet. Rival teenage street gangs, the Sharks and Jets, battle in New York City streets to maintain what they feel is control of this small piece of Manhattan. Caught in the crossfire of this conflict are Tony (Ryan McCatan) and Maria (Kanisha Feliciano) two tragic lovers from opposite ends of the divide.

The production is a natural for this venue. West Side Story leans more toward opera as the story is told primarily through song, with many that found a firm foothold in the Great American Songbook, such as Maria, Tonight, and One Hand One Heart. They are augmented by the accompaniment of a full live pit orchestra led by conductor James Lowe, a rare treat that would likely not be included in a smaller company.

Director Francesca Zambello has largely remained faithful to the original production directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins that includes a substantial amount of modern ballet, executed here by choreographer Joshua Bergasse and the production ensemble. The Lyric’s massive Civic Opera House stage gives the dancers ample room to move.

The set design of Peter J. Davison featuring the iconic fire escape, towers over the audience. When Maria sings Somewhere to Tony as they embrace on the balcony while the dance company interprets her message of hope below, the scale of the proscenium provides an opportunity to suggest both the intimacy of the lovers as well as the suggestion of a world beyond.

The depth of the stage allows for a glimpse of the larger city, amplifying the claustrophobic feelings of the gang members whose view of the world is so limited they can not see further than their small neighborhood and the immediate “problems” that they largely have created themselves.

The story of street violence, turf warfare and ethnic battles are all too familiar in today’s environment illustrating that these often-deadly disagreements are nothing new, and difficult if not impossible to eradicate from our communities.

The “Gee, Officer Krupke” musical number comically reminds us of the continuous effort to understand and curb youthful anti-social behavior including psychology, sociology, and criminology as well as the conditions that lead to “delinquency.” Our mothers all are junkies / Our fathers all are drunks / Golly Moses, naturally we’re punks!

In America, Anita (Amanda Castro) and Rosalia (Joy Del Valle) expose the promise versus the realities of “The American Dream,” while in The Jet Song, Riff (Bret Thiele) and The Jets express the perceived value they get from being part of a gang.

I was happy to see a number of young people and children at the matinee performance I attended but caution parents to keep in mind that not all musicals are written for a Disney audience

In the nineteen-fifties and sixties there was a decisive movement to create musical theater with mature themes. Some of these included Carousel and Oklahoma (both of which have been staged at the Lyric) depicting or suggesting domestic abuse, murder and rape. This trend has continued and expanded since then, proving that the American Musical has a place in high art because it has the ability not only to entertain but also to inform, reach us emotionally in a profound way and expand our thinking.

The original West Side Story production ensemble of Laurents, Bernstein, Sondheim, and Robbins with Robert Griffith and Harold Prince did not shy away from difficult topics and instead embraced the trend by exposing the challenges related to depicting racial conflict, disaffected youth, street gang violence, murder and death, through music and dance.

West Side Story is a tragic love story that ultimately encourages us to be more tolerant and thoughtful as to how we perceive, judge and react to each other, particularly those with whom we have perceived differences. It is suggested that there is space for everyone if we open our hearts to each other.

Details: West Side Story is at the Civic Opera House, 20 North Wacker Drive, Chicago, through June 25, 2023. Running time is 2 hours and 30 minutes with one intermission. For tickets and information visit LyricOpera.org

Reno Lovison

For more shows visit Theatre in Chicago

Good ‘Lucy and Charles’ music and cast are not enough

Aurora Adachi-Winter and Matthew C. Yee in“Lucy and Charlie’s Honeymoon” at Lookingglass Theatre. (Photo by Liz Lauren) — Aurora Adachi-Winter and Matthew C. Yee in “Lucy and Charlie’s Honeymoon” at Lookingglass Theatre. (Photo by Liz Lauren)

Somewhat recommended

Lucy and Charlie’s Honeymoon by Matthew C. Yee is a light romp with a dark twist followed by a hasty, muddled ending wrapped up in a cloud of very good music – all of which is performed by a remarkable cast of actor musicians.

This adventure revolves around Asian identity, Asian stereotypes and the experience of being Asian in America so I will simply set the stage now.

The following characters are all presented in the production as Asian or Asian-American: Charlie (Matthew C. Yee) and Lucy (Aurora Adachi-Winter), Grandma (Wai Ching Ho), Peter (Rammel Chan), Jeff (Daniel Lee Smith) and Bao (Harmony Zhang).

Characters presented as non-Asian are senior security professional agent Feinberg (Mary Williamson), Gabriel (Matt Bittner) and Martin (Doug Pawlik).

Lucy and Charlie met two weeks ago. Charlie has dubbed himself an Asian-American renegade and recently reinvented himself as a cool cowboy which attracted Lucy to him. They married and are on a poorly conceived amateurish crime adventure.

Charlie’s brother Peter, a security agent trainee, finds himself in the awkward position of investigating a convenience store robbery involving the pair.

In the meantime, at a rest stop, Lucy befriends Bao, a recent arrival from China, who is waiting to be picked-up by her sponsor, ostensibly to work for a cleaning company which Lucy quickly determines is really a front for a sex slave operation.

Peter gets his boss Feinberg, his grandma, and uncle Jeff involved to help rescue the couple, who, with Bao, have taken refuge at Grandma’s cottage in Winnebago, WI where the two hope to elude the sex-slave operators, Gabriel and Martin.

Kudos to Matthew C. Yee who wrote the book and music, plays the role of Charlie and performs a significant amount of the accompaniment as an onstage guitarist and does it all very well.

I feel Yee shot himself in the foot by not making his songs a little more universal and slightly less specific to the production.

All of the great commercially successful musicals have songs that can break out of the confines of the story and speak to a larger human condition. allowing them to stand apart and take on a life of their own.

The storyline had a spark of brilliance in the tradition of many classic screwball comedies, crime mysteries or culture clash stories. My major complaint is the use of gratuitous gun violence to resolve and ultimately squander the conflict that Yee spent the first act rather expertly crafting.

Additionally waving guns around in a post Alec Baldwin “Rust” era can be a bit disconcerting to audience members who find themselves looking down the barrel for extended periods of time. (Note to violence designers R+D Choreography, direct the action upstage as much as possible).

In act two the story takes a jarring turn, resulting in a schizophrenic tone. If you want to have fun then have fun. If you want to be serious then do that. Mixing the two has been done but it takes a deft hand. In this case it just seemed like an easy way out. This might be satisfactory in an improvisation or workshop but not as a finished production in a downtown theater especially if there is any thought of wider distribution.

Much of the overall production credit goes to director Amanda Dehner. The entire cast is outstanding, while also being exceptional musicians, breathing life into the material provided by Yee.

It was apparent they understood his vision and executed it expertly in front of a dizzying and whimsical array of floor to ceiling Western and Far East artifacts assembled by scenic director Yu Shibagaki.

Screen projections by projection designer Paul Deziel were helpful for sharing song lyrics and interjecting a bit of humor when referencing images we would were not be able to see. Sully Ratke provided a thoughtful and amusing costume selection.

Yee’s portrayal of Charlie affects a kind of deep silent type cowboy image that definitely takes a backseat to the over-the-top energy of Lucy who is driving much of the action. Peter, Grandma, and Jeff as a comical triumvirate of stereotypes handle the material well. It is obvious the playwright and the actors understand how far they can go when working with ethnic humor.

This group would make a very effective sitcom or web series. But I caution Yee to treat them and their situations with more respect.

Here is my dilemma. I work with an Asian non-profit organization in Uptown, have a number of close Asian friends and some individuals of Asian descent in my extended family. When I think about recommending Lucy and Charlie’s Honeymoon to them, I cringe.

The Boomers and GenX folks especially those who were not born here might find some of the content offensive or at least sophomoric and it’s a bit too rough for the teen and preteen crowd.

That leaves the middle 20- to 40-year-olds who were born here and grew up in a cross-cultural environment that at times, confused and maybe even embarrassed their elders. It’s full of a lot of insider humor. I get this and I know two thirty-something Asian guys who would love this and totally get it. Though this limited target audience is probably not adequate to create the level of success the essence of this play deserves.

Every American-ethnic group has experienced what Yee is trying to convey and it’s an important story. But it has to be told in a way that a general audience can understand and appreciate.

Sex-trafficking and other exploitation of immigrants is a very serious topic that deserves more than a cursory glance and cartoonish treatment.

So as much as I love the actors, characters and the music and appreciate the premise, I can only somewhat recommend Lucy and Charlie’s Honeymoon.

It’s an entertaining Asian-American rockabilly musical but playwright Yee should give “Lucy and Charlie” a second look.

Details: Lucy and Charlie’s Honeymoon is at the Lookingglass Theatre, 821 N. Michigan Avenue through July 16, 2023. Runtime is 2 hours and 15 minutes with one intermission. For tickets and information visit lookingglasstheatre.org

Reno Lovison

For more shows visit Theatre in Chicago

Teenage tale dominates the Tonys

Kimberly Akimbo, a new musical, took five Tony Awards. (Photgo courtesy of the Tony Awards and the Kimberlyh Akimbo musical production company) — Kimberly Akimbo, a new musical, took five Tony Awards. (Photo courtesy of the Tony Awards and the Kimberly Akimbo musical production company)

Watching the American Theatre Wing’s Tony Awards was refreshing Sunday night

We didn’t have hosts trying to be funny or clever. And whether our idea of who should win actually took home the Tony, we got to see some excellent Broadway performances.

In case you missed the show here are the Tony winners:

Best Play – Leopoldstadt plus Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Play, Brandon Uranowitz, Best Director of a Play Patrick Marber and Best Costume Design of a Play Brigette Reiffensteul in a 50-year-long family saga of love, faith, identity by Tom Stoppard. If you get to NY this June try to see it at the Longacre Theatre before it leaves July, 2, 2023.

Best Musical – Kimberly Akimbo by multi award winners David Lindsay Abaire and Jeanine Tesori is among the show’s five Tony Awards. The show also won awards for Best Book of a Musical (Abaire), Best Original Score, Best Actress in a Musical (Victoria Clark) and Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical, Bonnie Milligan. The theme is a very different teenager tale about struggles that range from family secrets to her own disease of rapid physical aging.

Best Revival of a Play – Top Dog-Underdog by Pulitzer Prize winner Susan Lori-Parks that is a dark comedy of two brothers back on Broadway for its 20^th anniversary.

Best Revival of a Musical – Parade, a Jason Robert Brown and Alfred Uhry musical about a dramatic, true, grave injustice in Georgia.

Best Actor in a Leading Role – Sean Hayes for Good Night, Oscar, by Doug Wright about troubled entertainer Oscar Levant. The show with Sean Hayes in the starring role came from Goodman Theatre in Chicago where it was a sell-out hit.

Best Actress in a Leading Role – Jodie Comer as Tessa in Prima Facie by Suzie Miller about a young, brilliant barrister facing a moral conflict. A short Broadway run, the show opened in April at the John Golden theatre but closes July 2, 2023.

Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical – J. Harrison Ghee for Some Like It Hot. Yes, it’s the old story of two musicians (played by Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in the 1959 Billy Wilder/IAL Diamond film) who are fleeing the Chicago mob by train during Prohibition. The current show’s Book is by Matthew Lopez and Amber Ruffin with Music by Marc Shaiman and Lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman. It has an open run at the Shubert Theatre.

For Best Actress in a Musical see Kimberly Akimbo/Victoria Clark above.

Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Play – Miriam Silverman in The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window which takes place in Sidney and Iris Brustein’s Greenwich Village apartment where ideals sardonically clash with reality in the 1960s.

Best performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical -Alex Newell for Shucked, a show with the unlikely theme of mixing a NYC comedy writer with two Nashville stars.

Best performance by an Actress in a Featured role in a Musical – Bonne Milligan see Kimberly Akimbo above.

For more Tony categories and winners visit Tony Awards.

Jodie Jacobs

COVID gave birth to a remarkable play

The Porch on Windy Hill, Morgan Morse, Lisa Helmi Johanson, David M. Lutken. (Photo courtesy of Northlight) — **The Porch on Windy Hill,**
**Morgan Morse, Lisa Helmi Johanson, David M. Lutken. (Photo courtesy of Northlight)**

It is impossible not to move the shoulders or tap the feet when Lisa Heimi Johanson as the bi-racial Mira, David M. Lutken as her Appalachian grandfather, Edgar “Gar,” and Morgan Morse as her boyfriend, Beckett, pick up their instruments and treat audiences of “The Porch on Windy Hill” to a couple of hours of well-played, traditional bluegrass.

The three actors, make up the cast of a show playing now through May 14, 2023, at Northlight Theatre in Skokie.

Lisa, a Broadway, national tour, regional and tv actress/singer/musician, David Lutken, a noted Broadway, Carnegie Hall, Nashville, musician/actor, and Morse, a talented musician and popular regional actor, are also three of the show’s four writers.

They are led by international, off Broadway and regional playwright/director/choreographer Sherry Lutken who conceived the play.

Arguable, there is another cast member: the play’s traditional Appalachian music.

“We used music to tell the story,” Sherry said, noting that people from different backgrounds could amicably come together when appreciating music.

And thus, “The Porch On Windy Hill” was conceived to incorporate a beloved regional music form into a fragile family reunion as a healing lotion. Its writers hope the show will spark discussions on COVID’s disturbing byproduct of anti-Asian sentiment.

A recent telephone interview with Sherry delved into how the show and its theme came to be. After all, except for one-person celebrity interpretations, most theater productions don’t have the play’s writers doubling as the cast.

Sherry Lutken (Photo courtesy of S Lutken)

It started with COVID changing what Sherry could substitute in her theater schedule. The venue wanted something small, instead of the multiple set and costume changes required by the slated production.

“It was a scary time for a lot of people. There was all this messiness. We had a show scheduled for 2021. We still hope to do it. It had a large cast.”

The “we” are Sherry and husband David. He co-devised and starred in the multi-award-winning Woody SEZ: The Life and Music of Woody Guthrie which included other talented musician/actors and has played internationally and in the United States including Chicago.

So, while stuck indoors, sheltering from COVID but looking for a different play, “a story that would resonate,” Sherry said, her thoughts turned to how a close, bi-racial friend would be feeling given all the hate expressed against Asians and what her friend would tell her children.

“There was a mindset out there leading to rising aggression,” she said.

Explaining that Lisa who was passionate about justice was biracially white and Korean, Sherry said, “We thought of Lisa and how she expressed herself in her poetry on social media.”

The Lutkens then added Morgan, an actor/musician, writer they knew from his regional work. The four of them started developing what became the script for “The Porch on Windy Hill.”

“We’d dive into ideas developing the basic premise,” Sherry said. “We were on zoom with long discussions on the subject matter, adding and then cutting. It was creative. It became magical.”

She compared the process to a sculpture that starts with a block of wood or stone. “You whittle and chip away until a bird emerges,” she said.

She added that during this time, “David was mining the American landscape of music. Its roots.”

Lisa Helmi Johanson, David M. Lutken, Morgan Morse in The Porch on Windy Hill

“We often talk about how music melds the sounds carried to this country. Music is part of our culture. There are the indigenous peoples, the enslaved, the folks who try to forge a better life. Music speaks to people at a very deep level.”

She thought it brought people “who deserve to be in the same space, together.”

“In our personal life, I was thinking of my friend and what she experienced and that started me thinking about using the idea of Korean/white, and what it means to be different, to be biracial… what it feels like. I imagined my friend whom I dearly loved, speaking to her children.”

She added, “This story needs to be told.”

That became a seed for the basic plot of feeling different. Plus it could combine with music and see where music could lead.

“Once music was in (the play), we still had to start a conversation. It became what we’re hoping to achieve. We all wrote together. And we worked on it some more in a workshop with dramaturg Christine Mok”.

There was a lot of the talk is not in the play.”

In “The Porch on Windy Hill,” music led Mira, a biracial Korean-white classical violinist, to “Gar,” her estranged Appalachian, banjo-strumming grandfather and change their conceptions and misconceptions of previous family interactions.

The music and action is facilitated by Mira’s boyfriend, Beckett who is doing his doctoral dissertation on American folk music.

“David and I were talking about it – what was in my head. It’s how different people coming to America brought their music and how indigenous people and enslaved people had theirs. Music evolved in this country,” said Sherry.

“We all wrote together. And we worked on it some more in a workshop with dramaturg Christine Mok.”

The play premiered at the Ivoryton Playhouse in Connecticut, fall of 2021.

“It’s an exciting way to create theatre. We were living the theater process when we were all stuck inside wondering what would happen to theater.

“Music can be really purposeful. As a healing concept, it’s perfect.”Sherry said.

“The Porch on Windy Hill” will be at Northlight Theatre in Skokie through May 14, 2023 before moving to Weston Theater in Vermont in August and Merrimack Repertory Theatre in Lowell, MA, April 2024.

Jodie Jacobs

For tickets and other information visit Related: The porch where music reconnects a family

Listen up Ravinia music and Hamilton show lovers

It’s time to plan your summer and fall because tickets are now available for the Ravinia Festival and for “Hamilton.”

Ravinia Festival

Tickets to classical, pop and everything in between on Ravinia Festival stages are now available.

Located at the southeastern end of suburban Highland Park between Sheridan and Green Bay Roads, Ravina hosts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra every summer plus stand-out pop concerts such as Counting Crows and Santana.

For the 2023 schedule visit Ravinia Festival – Official Site | Online Schedule / Calendar. Don’t be fooled by other ticket sites that aren’t Ravinia.org.

Hamilton

The mega musical that makes history and our founding fathers sound like more than museum notes and figures, will be back in Chicago fall of 2023 at the James M. Nederlander Theatre.

But if you can figure out your date ahead of time, you can snag some tickets before they go on general sale. Offered by Broadway in Chicago, the early ticket sale ends by 11:59 p.m., May 8. Visit BroadwayInChicago for tickets. Use the Code: ELIZA23 to unlock the offer.

Jodie Jacobs

Around town: Three happenings to know about now

Plan a field trip to see 'Beyond Antiquity' at the National Hellenic Museum. — Plan a field trip to see ‘Beyond Antiquity’ at the National Hellenic Museum.

While Chicago’s March-like weather is still encouraging indoor things to do through April and into early May, check out these three, very different ideas.

At The Mart

The Spring One of a Kind Show returns to The Mart on the Chicago River this weekend. A fun art show that also includes gourmet foods, One of a Kind features aisles of fiber art, jewelry, glass, wood and metal objects, ceramics, photography and paintings. The show runs 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. April 28-29 and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. April 30. For tickets and more information visit One of a Kind/spring.

Dunn Museum

All forms of racing from boat and harness to motor and running are part of Lake County, IL’s history. The when and what is part of “Ready, Set, Go!, a new exhibit of artifacts and photographs at Lake County Forest Preserves’ Dunn Museum’s exhibit now through Sept. 10, 2023. For directions and more information visit Exhibitions/LCFP.

National Hellenic Museum

Plan to visit the National Hellenic Museum, a cultural gem on Halsted Street that adds special exhibitions to its fine permanent collection. Its next exhibit is “Beyond Antiquity,” a traveling show of paintings, digital artworkds and drawings by architect/artist John “Yanni” Fotiadis, that opens May 12 and continues to Sept. 30, 2023. The museum is at 222 S. Halsted St., Chicago. For information visit nationalhellenicmuseum.org

Jodie Jacobs