Charlie Brown at Marriott Theatre. (Photo by Liz Lauren)
Highly Recommended
A perfect introduction to children’s theatre, “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” is a one-hour production in the Marriott Theatre for Young Audiences series.
It’s amazing how timeless this musical, written in 1967, continues to be as it highlights the anxieties and insecurities of children in every generation.
Based on the characters created by cartoonist Charles M. Schultz in his comic strip, Peanuts, the play remains delightful in its simplicity and poignancy.
Charlie Brown and his rag-tag group of friends create a series of vignettes that explore life’s great questions and their relationships with one another. Through it, they play baseball, struggle with sibling rivalry, sing and celebrate their own happiness.
The production stars Patrick Michael Tierney who is a perfect Charlie Brown. Tafadzwa Diener is Lucy who is not only bossy but delivers wonderful vocals as well. Matthew Bettencourt plays Schroeder. Jackson Evans is Linus and Amanda Walker is Sally.
The star of the show really is Andres Enriquez who, as Snoopy, must convey a variety of “doggie” emotions. Hysterical.
One of the lyrics to the final song, “Happiness,” is “Happiness Is anyone or anything that is loved by you.” Could there be anything sweeter?
This production is directed and choreographed by Linda Fortunato, with musical director/conductor Rick Bertone and musical supervisor Ryan T. Nelson.
The show includes additional music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa and dialogue by Michael Mayer from the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival.
This is the first show in the 2023 Young Audience season. Next up is “Elephant and Piggies: We Are in a Play” from July 14 to August 1.
Details: You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown is at Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire, through April 1. For tickets and more information visit Marriott Theatre Charlie Brown and Marriott Theatre.
Dana Saleh Omar and Matt Mueller in Once at Writers Theatre. (Photo by Michael Brosilow)
3/1/2 Stars
I fell in love with “Once,” a musical based on a John Carney 2007 film, when it first played in Chicago in 2013 and again in 2015.
But the word, “musical,” may erroneously bring images to mind of such full-stage touring shows as “Chicago and “Les Miserable.”
Appearing now at Writers Theatre where it can intimately be performed almost in-the-round, the audience’s focus is on its main characters beautifully portrayed by two popular regional theater actors: Dana Saleh Omar (national tour of “The Band’s Visit) as Girl, and Matt Mueller (“The Play that Goes Wrong” tour) as Guy.
Girl is a sympathetic but stubborn musician who pulls Irish musician/song writer Guy away from severe mental despondency when the person he wrote and sang about leaves him for New York City.
Her vehicle to getting through to him is, surprisingly enough, a Hoover Vac that he can fix for her in his father’s shop where he lives above the store and works when not writing and performing.
The dialogue, a creative play on words often infused in the script, is something like: “It (the Hoover) doesn’t suck,” she tells him. “Are you serious,” he asks. “I’m always serious. I’m Czech,” she says.
On the way to bringing Guy back to a mental state where he wants to live and perform, the audience meets her Czech family, Guy’s father, Da, the Irish bartender and band members.
They all make up the show’s musician/performing cast. And they all, including Girl’s 8-year-old daughter, Ivonka, played by Kajsa Allen, are terrific. (She alternates with 11-year old Viva Boresi.)
As with the national tour production, they also (except for Ivonka) stay on stage, usually seated when not performing. The staging is simple.
The main differences I found were that the focal point is an upright piano instead of a stocked bar and the musicians/performers had more choreographed stage time that included pre-curtain Irish music.
Kudos to the talented supporting cast: Elisa Carlson (Reza), Yuchi Chiu (Bank Manager), Matt Deitchman (Band music director/ Eamon), Elleon Dobiaa (Ex Girlfriend), Matt Edmonds (Billy), Jordan Golding (Emcee), Lucas Looch Johnson (Svec), Liam Oh (Andre), Ron E Rains (Da) and Bethany Thomas (Baruska).
The show is well directed and choreographed by Katie Spelman with excellent music direction by Deitchman.
Music and lyrics are by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova with book by Enda Walsh.
“Once” picked up 11 Tony Award nominations in 2012, winning eight awards that included Best Actor, Book and Musical. It had also won the Academy Award for best song “Falling Slowly.”
Details: “Once is at Writers theatre, 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe now through April 2, 2023. Running time 2 hrs, 20 min. with one intermission. For more information and tickets visit. Writers Theatre.
L to R: Danny Ferenczi as Elder Shumway, Julie Peterson as Ethel Merman and. Alex Iacobucci as Elder Braithwaite. (Photo courtesy of MadKap Productions
3 1/2 Stars
Fans of the late, great Ms. Ethel Merman will love this spoof on the Broadway Diva as it comes to life at Skokie Theatre. The show has everything – memorable music, high-energy dancing, gorgeous costumes, and a heartfelt message about being true to yourself. It’s no wonder the performance was sold out the night we went.
Two Mormon missionaries who are down on their luck in selling souls ring the doorbell of the brash and brassy Ethel Merman. Misunderstandings of all kinds take place and hilarity ensues.
The audience gets the benefits of fabulous show-stopping numbers belted out by the trio. But listen carefully as the lively songs with music and lyrics by Leo Schwartz and book by DC Cathro play off Merman’s greatest hits; some subtle, others not so subtle, because you’ll recognize this legend’s most beloved music among Broadway’s best.
The two Mormon missionaries are played by Alex Iacobucci as Elder Braithwaite and Danny Ferenczi as Elder Shumway who are funny and talented. They will sing and dance their way into your heart. Perhaps if start singing as soon as they ring the doorbell they will get better results!
Julie Peterson is the soul of the show as Ethel Merman. She has the same loud, booming belter voice that was Merman’s trademark.
No wonder. Peterson was the understudy and performer in the role when it launched off-Broadway in 2018. She perfectly captures the mannerisms, intonations, and sassiness of the star.
Produced by Wendy Kaplan of MadKap Productions with Wayne Mell as associate producer, the show is directed and choreographed by Ty Perry. Musical direction is by pianist Jeremy Ramey and percussionist Craig Buckner who sit behind the stage.
Set design is by Scott Richardson, lighting design is by Pat Henderson and kudos once again, to costume designer Patti Halajian whose dresses for Ethel are simply dazzling.
In Act 2, the show changes and real identities step forward giving the audience new appreciation for the characters and the show.
Concluding the season for Skokie Theatre is Neil Simon’s hilarious farce, “Rumors,” March 31 to April 25, 2023.
Details: “Book of Merman” is at Skokie Theatre, 7924 Lincoln Ave in downtown Skokie, IL through Feb 26, 2023. Run time: 2 hours with one intermission. For information and tickets visit SkokieTheatre.org or call (847) 677-7761.
L-R (far back) Ellen Phelps, (front left) Abby Chafe), Scott Phelps and Manny Sevilla in ‘The Christians’ at Citadel Theatre. (Photo by North Shore Camera Club)
4 Stars
No matter what the religion espoused at home, “The Christians,” an Obie Award winning drama by Lucas Hnath, is bound to provoke discussion on the way home.
A remarkable production in both acting and set design, the play does not advocate a specific organized religion but raises theological questions about heaven, hell, G..d, the bible, sin and why members attend – all in an approximately 80 minutes of action and debate.
The setting is primarily Pastor Paul’s mega-church, enhanced by Pangaea Technology’s grid of 90 two-foot-square, state of the art digital video monitors to crate the church’s large interior. Also creating the right look are Intelligent Lighting Creations, BI (background Images), cinematographer Ian Merrin and scenic designer Johnathan Berg-Einhorn.
Audience members immediately become part of the congregation as Pastor Paul, played by Scott Phelps, walks in through the same door they used to enter, and welcomes the people he passes to the service.
Phelps then proceeds to mesmerize the audience with the first part of Hnath’s viewpoints in his sermon followed by theological disagreements argued by Associate Pastor Joshua, well portrayed Manny Sevilla.
Adding to the interplay are temperate thoughts from Church Elder Jay, quietly presented by actor Frank Nall, and agitated disagreement from Pastor Paul’s wife, Elizabeth, played by Scott Phelps wife, Ellen Phelps. (Both the Phelps are also production managers.)
In addition, Jenny, a congregant played with just the right emotional intensity by Abby Chafe, relays the problems she is facing from people who agree with the now former Pastor Joshua.
Members of Forte Chicago singers are in the choir who seem to be seated behind a screen at the back of the stage.
Tying it all together to create an atmosphere about to explode atmosphere is Director Scott Westerman who explains in the program how important the particular technical aspects used by Citadel are to a production on stage in the age of Zoom and selfies.
His note also raises meaningful questions about being good and doing good, rightness and righteousness and the source of people’s beliefs.
Hnath certainly deserves the Obie and Citadel and its excellent actors and crew deserve the standing ovation they received opening night.
Details: “The Christians” is at Citadel Theatre, 300 S. Waukegan Rd., Lake Forest, IL, now through March 12, 2023.
(Top l-r) Aimee Kleiman, Debra Rodkin, Declan Poll bottom David Whitlock and Tim Walsh) Photo by North Shore Camera Club
Recommended
Instead of going the Dickens or Christmas Story route, Citadel Theatre is doing “It Runs in the Family,” a classic British farce by comedic playwright Ray Cooney of “Run For Your Wife” and “Funny Money” fame.
Its setting is a London hospital right before Christmas where presents for children are hidden like a body beneath a covered gurney and references to a Christmas Panto (a nutty pantomime) give it the requisite holiday note.
But anyone familiar with farces know that what really is important is a fast-paced rhythm of entrances and exits, revelations, mistaken (or not) identities and flow of ribald, fat fanny and rear-end gags.
The Citadel cast is excellent but on the Sunday I went, the first half of the first act felt slow and the audience didn’t pick up the gags until later.
Timing and pace is everything in a farce. It finally picked up speed and the characters threw their lines out with gusto during the second half of the first act which the audience appreciated with loud snickers, guffaws and applause.
All the action takes place in the doctors’ common room where Dr. David Mortimore is trying to prepare for his important, possibly career-making, speech to a conference of neurologists- when.
The not-so-morally-good doctor, played by Tim Walsh, had lots of reasons to be overly anxious. Walsh is believable as Mortimore if this were a regular play and not a farce. It’s actually OK to overplay anxiety.
Former nurse Jane Tate (Aimee Kleiman who also played her role as if it were a regular play) confronts Dr. Mortimore with the reason she had to quit 18 years and 9 months ago. Their illegitimate son, Leslie, is downstairs with a policeman because he drove drunk but wants to meet his father.
Mortimore’s wife, Rosemary Mortimore, portrayed by the consummate actress Ellen Phelps, shows up, is not supposed to know about the nurse or Leslie but sympathizes with all the tall tales her husband tells to cover up everything that is going on.
Matron, a terrific foil for all the goings on is perfectly played by Debra Rodkin as she is in and out with the gurney, holds a needle to subdue Leslie who has made his way upstairs to the doctors’ room, and she is yelling outside the window that she can’t hold on any longer while stopping Leslie from falling, entering or leaving.
Dr. Hubert Bonney, a good friend of Dr. Mortimore, well-portrayed by David Whitlock is also an excellent foil for the shenanigans and agrees to temporarily pretend he is Leslie’s father.
Leslie, the misbegotten reason for the action, is done by Declan Poll as a punk-rocker-style teenager who elicits sympathy because he just wants to meet his Dad.
Pompous Sir Willoughby Drake who wants to go over Dr. Mortimore’s speech, is well-handled by Ed Kufferft and elicits a fine chuckle when he sees Leslie bending in front of Mortimore.
Dr. Mike Connolly whom we meet early on when he tries on a tutu and other costume items for the Panto is delightfully portrayed by Philip J. Macaluso.
Police Sergeant. Don’t most farces need a policeman? Chris Bruzzini takes on that role but he could be played as more befuddled or with more personality than shown.
Scenic designer Eric Luchen makes full use of the small Citadel stage with two hospital-like doors, two regular doors and a window that is just right for some hilarious scenes.
Costume designer Elizabeth Monti had us believing we were in a hospital and Leslie was a nutty punk rocker.
Directed by Pat Murphy, the show is a nice change from the tear inducing Christmas dramas trying to make a statement this time of year.
DETAILS: “It Runs in the Family” is at Citadel Theatre, 300 South Waukegan Rd, Lake Forest, IL., through Dec. 18, 2022. For tickets and more information visit Citadel Theatre. Citadel Theatre or call (847) 735-8554.
Leg lamp award dance sequence featuring Lorenzo Rush Jr at the Old Man (Photo courtesy of Mariott theatre)
3 Stars Recommended
In a city filled with theater companies producing traditional holiday fare, Marriott Theatre has chosen a show usually seen as a film replayed on TV but seldom performed live.
First, what it’s not. “A Christmas Story Is not a moralistic Dickens’ style redemption piece that appeals to the whole family or a Jane Austen type upstairs, downstairs manners piece with sophisticated appeal.
Marriott Theatre’s “A Christmas Story: the Musical,” is a comedy that captures some of the frustrations and coping mechanisms of the middle-class, Midwestern Parker family, and particularly, those of its nine-year-old boy named Ralphie. Middle school aged kids and their parents would appreciate Ralphie’s and the Old Man’s challenges.
Based on a 1983 movie by Jean Shepherd, Leigh Brown and Bob Clark and Shepherd’s collection of vignettes published in 1966 as “In God we trust: All others pay cash,” the musical version has a book by Joseph Robinette with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.
The songs, such as “The Genius on Cleveland Street” and “When You’re a Wimp,” are insightful instead of memorable and hummable.
Playing during the holiday season through Jan. 1, 2023, the show introduces another generation to Shepherd’s famed, sexy “Leg Lamp” that sits in the Parker family’s front window in Homan, IN.
Actually, filmed in Cleveland, OH in an old yellow house that has since been turned into a museum, the “Lamp” is still there and can be seen despite having supposedly been broken and buried during the play.
Won by “the Old Man,” the Parker family dad who means well, works hard, battles neighbors’ dogs and is not as smart as his wife, he is excited to receive the lamp as a “Major Award” for a contest he entered and won. To the Old Man, the lamp award redeems his self-worth.
The Parker family, in A Christmas story the Musical at Marriott Theatre (Photo courtesy of Marriott)
More importantly, Marriott has introduced another generation to nine-year-old Ralphie who desperately wants a Red Ryder BB Gun for Christmas. Made by the Daisy company, it is named for a heroic comic strip cowboy.
Ralphie fantasizes how he can stop the terrorizing by bullies Scut Farkus and Grover Dill of him, friends, Flick (of tongue stuck on icy pole fame) and Schwartz and classmates if he had a bb gun that looks like a Winchester rifle.
Set about the early 1940s, warnings by his mom, teacher and the Santa at Higbee’s Department Store that you’ll “shoot your eye out,” would have been a sufficient talking point.
However, given today’s anti-gun legislation and school shootings attributed to bullying, families seeing the show may either object to a bb gun that looks like a rifle or want to take the discussion several steps further.
Directed perfectly by Scott Weinstein as both entertaining and perceptive of family and school dynamics, “A Christmas Story: the Musical” has several funny incidents, excellent character portrayals, terrific dance sequences and wonderful vocals.
Kavon Newman who has appeared on TV and New York’s Radio City stage, is amazing as Ralphie
Local theater veteran Sara Reinecke is the can-do mother the Parker family needs and has a terrific voice. Her role is well matched with that of the Old Man, delightfully portrayed by another local veteran, Lorenzo Ruch, Jr.
Levi Merlo who has a string of TV credits, is adorable as Ralphie’s young brother, Randy. He will likely be remembered by audiences as the kid who couldn’t move his arms or get up because of his ballooning-style snowsuit.
The fun, over-the-top character of teacher Miss Shields was deftly handled by local veteran Jenna Coker-Jones.
Narrator Kevin McKillip as Jean Shepherd (Marriott photo)
A “Christmas Story” is narrated by Kevin McKillip who as Jean Shepherd, reminisces as he somewhat relates to each scene and experience as a much older, adult Ralphie.
After seeing a very strong Marriott production of “Sound of Music” with a terrific cast of child actors, I was not surprised by the high quality of the “Kids” ensemble that appeared in several sequences.
Which brings us to Tiffany Krause’s choreography. Marriott typically has superb dance numbers. But they are usually performed by the main characters backed by a dance ensemble. In “a Christmas Story,” it’s the talented Kids and Ralphie who primarily take center stage.
That is except for Rush, Jr’s exuberant dance celebration of “A Major Award” and talented song and dance actor Jackson Evans delights audiences in the second act as the Higbee’s department stores’ disgruntled Santa Clause in “Up on Santa’s Lap.”
A shout out has to go to costume designer Izumi Inaba for setting the period and mood.
Details: “A Christmas Story: the Musical,” is at Marriott Theatre at 10 Marriott Dr. Lincolnshire, off Milwaukee Avenue just south of Rt. 22, through Jan. 1, 2023. For tickets and more information visit www.marriotttheatre.comor call (847)- 634-0200.
Note: A Christmas Story Christmas begins streaming Nov. 17 on HBO Max with Peter Billingsley reprising his Ralphie, who is now an adult, a struggling writer and the head of the Parker household.
Skillfully presented, this streaming audio play “A murder in the court of Xanadu” presented by A Theater in the Dark is a jumble of characters and events that in the end I simply did not care about.
I truthfully cannot give you a synopsis of this play. I enjoyed listening to it but ultimately do not understand anyone’s motivation for doing whatever they did and am not sure why it was interesting or important.
It was kind of like listening to a Chinese opera. I do not speak Chinese but I might walk away understanding that someone was rich, someone was a conniving trusted advisor, someone got killed, and in the end, someone got something of value that maybe was surprising and undeserved. But I could not catch the details. In the meantime, it was oddly enjoyable to listen to because the vocal tones and rhythm of the presentation with its evocative incidental music was pleasing.
The place of Xanadu is known to most of us a symbol of utopian excess perhaps best remembered from the Samuel Coleridge poem of the same name. In fact, as a result of a recent Jeopardy question on the popular TV game show, I was able to immediately recall the opening words “In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree,” though I have no recollection of ever reading the entire poem.
We might also be familiar with “Xanadu” as the name of the mansion in the well know movie “Citizen Kane.” In this case I can tell you that Kane was a Khan-like business ruler with a strong desire for beauty and excessive wealth. I know this because I learned as much through the storyline. The story of Citizen Kane challenges us to try to understand the motivation behind the main character’s actions.
In “A murder in the court of Xanadu” we are basically told, though a narrator, who the characters are rather than have them reveal themselves to us. There is no discernible mystery to unravel and no reason to be interested in the fates of a number of greedy self-centered individuals who do not seem to have derived their wealth or status through any particular talent or ability of their own.
The standout performance for me was Erin Lin as Marla who acts as a kind of narrator. Her voice was clear, expressive and well modulated with a kind of musical quality. I would be happy to listen to her read or recite virtually anything.
The theater’s website suggests that the character of Marla is inspired by Marco Polo who incidentally provided the earliest description of the Khan’s pleasure retreat. However, this relationship is totally lost to the uninformed listener, and one or two periodic allusions to Venice in my mind only added to the confusion. I feel strongly that a theatergoer should not have to bring any previous knowledge to the experience in order to understand the action.
Nessa Amherst as Marigold provided nearly all of the much needed auditory contrast, providing a kind of comic quality and strong characterization.
I felt that all of the male actors including Robinson J. Cyprian (Kane), Van Ferro (An Actor Who Plays Many Parts), and Gabriel Fries (Ahmad) understood what they were saying (even if I did not), delivering their lines with conviction. I would have enjoyed more vocal variety between the three of them and a little more resonance from Cyprian who I remember gave us more vocal depth in his performance of Ahab in the company’s performance of “Moby Dick.”
If there is any fault to be assigned it belongs to the author Cory Bradberry who has demonstrated through his previous works a real ability and commitment to this genre. That said, this is not a disaster but rather a miss. Perhaps with a bit more work and revision he can overcome whatever it is that is lacking.
Bradberry does partially cover his tracks through his exceptional direction. The performance does have an overall lyrical quality and pleasing tone that is enhanced through just enough foley work to provide some needed ambiance with a very enjoyable use of an original musical score by Paul Sottnik.
DETAILS: “A murder in the court of Xanadu” presented by A Theater in the Dark is available for streaming beginning November 3, 2022 at www.atheaterinthedark.com Runtime is about 90 minutes.
Christine Mayland Perkins (Guenevere)) and cast in Music Theater Works’ “Camelot” (Photo courtesy of Music Theater Works)
Recommended
The good part of “Camelot” now playing at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, is the beautiful voice of Christine Mayland Perkins as Guenevere and such wonderful Lerner and Loewe songs as “Camelot,” “How to Handle a Woman,” “If Ever I Would Leave You” “What Do the Simple Folk Do? and “I loved You Once in Silence.”
The problem this writer has with the show is that even though it is put on by Music Theater Works it has nothing like the scope and theatrical impact that the company’s productions had at Kahn Auditorium in Evanston which included a memorable “Mame” and “Pirates.”
The current slim-down, post pandemic offering is held in the Performing Arts’ smallish North Theatre which works well for Northlight’s plays, but is likely to disappoint Music Theater Works longtime subscribers.
Ann Davis’ set worked well for the stage and small cast of nine but the production felt more like good community theater than the excellent full-scale musicals and operettas that gave Music Theater Works its reputation.
However, current audiences might look beyond scale and appreciated director Brianna Borger’s focus on ideals clashing with desires.
DETAILS: “Camelot” presented by Music Theater Works, runs now through Nov. 13, 2022 at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie, IL. Running time: 2 hours with one intermission. For tickets visit Musicaltgheaterworks/camelot or call (847) 673-6300.
From L: Sean M. G. Caron, Mandi Corrao, and Sean Michael Barrett (Photo MadKap Productions)
Recommended
The duo of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart were the genius songwriters behind several hit Broadway musicals with many of their numbers going on to become standards in the Great American Songbook.
This Madkap Production of “Falling for Make Believe” at the Skokie Theatre purports to be “The Real Story Behind the Music of Rodgers and Hart,” but might more accurately be called the real story behind the suffering of Lorenz Hart.
In recent years Hart has been widely known to be an alcoholic though this reality was skillfully avoided during his lifetime and at the time of his death, as alluded to in this version of events. His homosexuality was also a tabu topic in the mid-century “don’t ask don’t tell” era, but is front and center in this updated retelling of his life by Mark Saltzman.
It is notable to mention that Saltzman began his career writing for Muppets creator Jim Henson and in an interview caused a stir when he suggested that he had created the popular characters of Bert and Ernie as a gay couple. He has also written a number of successful movies, and he demonstrates in this well written production that he knows how to tell a story and handle dialog.
The story pivots around the character of a gay farm boy from Pennsylvania, Fletcher Mecklen (Nate Hall) and his on-again-off-again relationship with Lorenz Hart (Sean Michael Barrett), known as Larry to his friends.
: Sean Michael Barrett, Nate Hall, Mandi Corrao, and Donaldson Cardenas (Photo MadKap Productions)
I could not find any reference online to an actual Fletcher Mecklen and therefore assume he is a vehicle for representing the more private, and indeed, hidden side of Hart’s life.
The story suggests that this secret pressure and his inability to openly receive love is perhaps the seminal reason behind Hart’s psychological turmoil.
It is likely a potential factor in his alcoholism, as well as possible drug addiction which is suggested here through the character of Doc Bender (Donaldson Cardenas), a sometimes talent agent and former dentist who tells us that he keeps his license up to date in order to keep his prescription pad valid.
Sean Caron portrays the long-suffering business partner Richard Rodgers who works tirelessly to keep Larry on the straight and narrow in order to keep him working but also to protect his reputation and later his legacy.
Mandi Corrao as Vivienne Segal is basically their on-call chanteuse. Cheryl Szucsits rounds out the cast playing three minor roles but is given the honor of singing “Falling in Love with Love” which features the title lyric “Falling for make believe.”
The production features a number of notable Rodgers and Hart tunes such as” Bewitched” (a/k/a Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered), “The Lady is a Tramp, ” “I Could Write a Book” and “Where or When.”
DETAILS: “Falling for Make Believe” is at the Skokie Theatre, 7924 Lincoln Ave in Downtown Skokie through Oct 16, 2022. Running time is about 90 minutes including a short intermission. Tickets can be purchased online at SkokieTheatre.org or by calling (847) 677-7761.
L Tevye (Steven Skybell and young violinist (Drake Wunderlich) in “Fiddler on the Roof.” (Photo by Todd Rosenberg Photography)
3 stars (Recommended)
That the US premiere of Komische Oper Berlin’s “Fiddler on the Roof” that opened in 2017, is on stage at Lyric Opera of Chicago now through early October.
It does more than merely fit this productions’ large-scale scenery and cast. Judging by comments heard during intermission, audience members who had not attended an opera here were dazzled by the size and make-up of the hall and building. Maybe, they will return for an opera.
Lyric’s production, directed by Barrie Kosky, definitely takes advantage of an operatic stage with its large chorus of villagers, remarkable dancers, its many main cast members and enough other actors to fill the shtetl of Anatevka in the Pale of Settlement in Imperial Russia.
Of course, when talking as writer Sholem Aleichem (the pen name of Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich) did in stories about the challenges dairyman Tevye had with his many daughters and life in a Russian village (Tevye and his Daughters) what became ‘Fiddler on the Roof” could seem operatic in nature.
The voices of the main characters and chorus and the dances choreographed by Silvarno Marraffa, particularly the spectacular “Bottle Dance,” are worth the visit to the Lyric for the show.
“Fiddler on the Roof” at the Lyric Opera House. (Photo by Todd Rosenberg)
What bothered me was that by going grand, the production, at least for me, lost the small-scale, intimate, Dickens-like peeking in the window that gave “Fiddler” the folk-tale, dream sense Jewish Russian artist Marc Chagall pictured in his works about Jewish life and his painting of the “Green Violinist” used on the program’s cover.
But what brings “Fiddler” to life now is how it ends with the Jewish villagers forced to leave back in 1905. Consider how many of the residents of the region which later became part of Ukraine, are sadly part of a war-driven exodus in 2022.
What was meaningful to me and beautifully brought out in the musical’s book by Joseph Stein, music by Jetty Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick was the underlying theme of tradition vs change. You hear it and think about it the song “Tradition” and “Sunrise Sunset” and in Tevye’s musings with G…d.
Note: I should explain that “Fiddler” is personal. My father’s family of several sons and daughters left that region for the United States. His father whom we called Zaidi, was a tailor and they were Orthodox Jews. My father talked about how horrible the Russian Cossacks were to the villagers.
Adam Kaplan and Austen Bohmer. (Photo by Todd Rosenberg.)
The “Fiddler” family in the Lyric production are Steven Skybell who is a perfect Tevye, Debbie Gravitte who is excellent as his wife, Golde, and oldest daughters Maya Jacobson as Chava, Lauren Marcus as Tzeitel, Austen Bohmer as Hodel and younger daughters, Omi Lichtenstein as Bielke and Liliana Renteria as Shprintzel. It’s the older daughters who are changing the family’s traditions.
As to their chosen mates which definitely went against tradtion, they are Drew Redington as Mote), Adam Kaplan as Perchik and Michael Nigro as Fyedka.
Mention should also be made of Yente, the Matchmaker, nicely portrayed by Joy Hermalyn and the Fiddler, Drake Wunderflich, a fifth-grader who is a member of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. He starts out with a scooter he trades in the opening scene for a fiddle and is on the roof in most scenes, then appears again at the end.
“Fiddler on the Roof” is at the Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker, now through Oct. 7, 2022. Running time: 3 hours, 15 min. with one intermission. For tickets and more information visit lyricopera.org or call (312) 827-5600.
