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.
Trio of Skid Row girls above watch the action with Little Shop of Horrors ledes (Photo courtesy Citadel Theatre and North Shore Camera Club)
Recommended
October, when you are asked to believe in the supernatural, is the perfect month to see Little Shop of Horrors at Citadel Theatre.
Director Matthew Silar, production manager Ellen Phelps and scenic designer Eric Luchen have magically figured out how to innovatively cram scenery that includes a skid row tenement stairway, a flower shop, dentist’s office and a growing-by-the-minute voracious plant with evil intentions into Citadel’s miniscule space.
Balancing the evil of the plant are the fun combo of rock and roll /doo-wop dances and songs by a trio of young skid row residents: Chiffon (Ania Martin) Crystal (Isis Elizabeth) and Ronnette (Sabrina Edwards).
The trio also move the scenery, changing an outside wall into the shop and other places as needed.
Ledes are Sam Shankman who wears well the persona of the nebbish shop employee/plant cultivator Seymour and his love interest, fellow shop employee Audrey, nicely portrayed by Dani Pike.
Unseen stars are puppet designer Matt McGee, puppeteer of the plant, Michael Dias, and Audrey II’s voice, Aaron Reese Boseman. Seymour named his plant Audrey II in honor of the girl he works with and really likes.
Secondary characters and the people the audience figure out early on will become Audrey II’s plant food, are shop owner Mr. Mushnik (Alan Ball) and Orin Serivello, D.D.C (Philip C. Matthews).
A horror musical-comedy with music by Alan Menken and lyrics and book by Howard Ashman, the story is based originally on a 1960 film noir titled “The Little Shop of Horrors.” It was later remade into a 1986 film directed by FrankOz.
I did see a young child in the audience but wouldn’t suggest the show for children below preteens or maybe middle schoolers who really like haunted houses.
Since nothing tried seemed to destroy Audrey II, the show is less allegorical than a statement or warning about greed and power. The characters who are originally OK with the plant’s choices in Act I have second thoughts about the plant in Act II.
DETAILS: “The Little Shop of Horrors” is at Citadel Theatre, 300 Waukegan Rd, Lake Forest, IL. now through Oct. 16, 2022. Running time: 2 hours with one intermission. For tickets and more information visit Citadel Theatre or call (847) 735-8554.
Heidi Kettenring as Dolly at Marriott Theatre. (Photos courtesy of Liz Loren)
4 Stars
Of course, you will be leaving the Marriott Theatre production of Hello Dolly singing its famed theme song but what you are likely to be talking about is the shows fabulous choreography and fine acting.
What audience members who already had tickets for Sept. 15 might not know is that after previews, that date was the show’s new opening night. It came two weeks after the original opening Aug. 31 was canceled due to Covid among some cast members.
Possibly they might have noticed that the production didn’t include a staircase that Dolly Levi typically comes down for a grand entrance into her favorite café, Harmonia Gardens. A note with the program said there was a hydraulic problem.
The delay and staircase absence just didn’t matter. The production and performances received a well-deserved standing ovation.
Superbly directed and choreographed by Denis Jones, this old crowd-pleaser, a musical based on Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker. is filled with wonderfully comic and heartfelt moments.
Left Alex Goodrich as Cornelius Hackl and right Spencer Davis Milford as Barnaby Tucker. in Hello Dolly at Marriott Theatre
There is the delightful Act One scene in widow Irene Molloy’s (Rebecca Hurd) hat shop where Cornelius Hackl (Alex Goodrich) and Barnaby Tucker (Spencer Davis Milford), two young Yonkers lads in New York for a night on the town, try to hide from their employer, widower Horace Vandergelder (David C. Girolmo). He left Yonkers to meet a prospective wife with help from matchmaker Dolly Levi (Heidi Kettenring).
And, there is the hysterical moment played to the hilt by Kettenring near the end of Act II when she prolongs a hearing of before a judge that involves the show’s main characters. As everyone waits and waits, Dolly thoroughly enjoys a dinner she had started back at Harmonia Gardens and brought to the courtroom.
As to heartfelt, there is Hurd beautifully singing “Ribbons Down My Back” as she puts on one of her hat creations for her sudden date with Hackl.
There is also Kettenring bringing audience members close to tears with her rendition of “Before the Parade Passes By.”
And speaking of parades, there is a wonderful scene of New York’s 14th Street Association Parade that includes people marching with placards and banners for women’s rights. Although set in the late 1800s, the show proves it is still relevant.
Originally directed and choreographed by Gower Champion you can expect several strong dance scenes. Marriott’s Hello Dolly delivers with Jones’ brilliant interpretations of the sentiments expressed in this Tony Award-Winning Musical with its book by Michael Stewart and music by Jerry Herman.
Shoutouts also have to go to the Marriott Orchestra conducted by Brad Haak, to Music Director Ryan Nelson, Costume Designer Theresa Ham and to Co-Scenic Designers Jeffrey D. Kmiec and Milo Bue. They nailed the musical’s rhythms and time period.
Even though Hello Dolly opened on Broadway in 1964, matchmaking hopes are still alive today with online dating and the desire to participate in life “before the parade passes by,” is still a strong motivator.
DETAILS: Hello Dolly is at Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Dr., Lincolnshire, now through Oct. 16, 2022. Running time: about 2 ½ hours with one intermission. For tickets and more information visit Marriott Theatre.
L-R Connor Brennan, Madeline Logan, Chris Jensen, Howard Raik. in Dracula at The Raven. (Photo: Joe Mazza)
4 Stars
If your idea of summer fun included telling spooky tales around the campfire or listening to audiobooks during your cross-country road trip you might enjoy beginning the fall theater season with Brian McKnight’s “Dracula,” a Glass Apple Theatre production at the Raven.
Based on Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula, the production is an exciting world premiere stage adaptation of Orson Welles’ 1938 radio drama “Dracula.” And it is just in time to prepare your mind for Halloween.
Adapted and directed by McKnight, the show weaves an ominous adventure of suspense centered around the identity and mysterious intentions of the pale skinned Transylvanian Count Dracula portrayed by Andrew Bosworth.
The mystery drives Johnathan Harker played by Chris Jensen, nearly insane and sends his wife, Mina (Madeline Logan), to the edge of her grave.
Meanwhile, Dr. Seward (Connor Brennan) reaches out to the more experienced Dr. Van Helsing (Howard Raik) in a desperate attempt to understand what malady affects the fragile Lucy Westenra (Katie O’Neill), who was Mina’s best friend and in the original story probably was the Count’s first victim.
There’s an eerie old castle, a graveyard, an endangered ship at sea and a number of strange boxes with their curious contents that all have to be puzzled out to save the country from the bloody curse of the undead.
This World Premiere hybrid radio-drama is performed in evocative 19th century period costumes by designer Tina Haglund Spitza (with assistance of Cheryl Snodgrass).
To add dimension to this narrated drama, it is performed in front of projected back wall imagery by scenic designer Lauren Nichols (with Alyssa Mohn).
DETAILS: Orson Welles’ Dracula is onstage at the Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL through September 25, 2022. Running time: 80 minutes with no intermission. Ticket information is available at glassappletheatre.
Felicia P. Fields and band. (Photo courtesy of Writers Theatre)
4 Stars
Closing out their 2021-2022 season at the Writers Theatre in Glencoe is Pearl’s Rollin’ with the Blues: A Night with Felicia P. Fields now through July 24, 2022.
Singing the blues is what Tony Award nominee Felicia P. Fields does best and boy, does she belt. With the help of her mighty talented 5-piece band, she takes the audience on a road trip through the blues.
Created by Fields and Ron OJ Parson who collaborated on WT’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, they celebrate the pioneers of the past including Big Mama Thornton, Son House, Howlin’ Wolf and other blues greats.
They tell stories, engage with the audience and throw everything up for grabs as people listen in amazement.
Look out if you’re sitting at a table as no subject is taboo. But it’s all in good fun and laughs.
On a more serious side, Fields shares her journey about transferring to a high school on the north side of Chicago and the racism she encountered there.
Pearl’s Rollin’ with the Blues is a joyful concert celebration featuring Fields with music director Chic Street on guitar, Ricardo Jimenez on horn and harp, Frank Menzies at the keyboard, Harold Morrison on drums and Julie Poncé on base.
This show, an original and nothing like you’ve ever seen before, takes the blues to new heights.
(Writers Theatre is helmed by Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma and Interim Artistic Director Bobby Kennedy).
DETAILS: “Pearls Rolling in the Blues” is at Writers Theatre, 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe, through July 24,2022. Runtime: 90 minutes, no intermission. For tickets and more information visit Writers Theatre.
(Writers Theatre requires all seated patrons to wear a mask during performances. If you attend without a mask, Writers Theatre will provide one for you. Visit writerstheatre.org/covid-safety for details).
Philip C. Matthews (Freddy), Travis Acsione (Picasso), Dan Deuel (Gaston) in Picasso at the Lapin Agile at Citadel theatre (Photo courtesy of North Shore Camera Club and Citadel Theatre.
3 Stars
It may be hard to imagine what a conversation would be like between Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso if the two 20th century geniuses met in a Parisian bar before they achieved international fame.
Comedic actor/screenwriter Steve Martin conceived just such a scenario taking place in 1904 in “Picasso at the Lapin Agile.” Premiered at Steppenwolf in 1993, the play is once again delighting Chicago area audiences with witty dialogue at Citadel Theatre in Lake Forest.
Reprised 20 years after Citadel co-owner and director Scott Phelps first mounted the show, the dialogue is still meaningful, intellectual, insightful, philosophical and funny.
Mark Yacullo (Einstein) and Juliana Liscio (Einstein’s friend, The Countess) Photo courtesy of North Shore Camera Club and Citadel Theatre).
First to set the scene at the Lapin Agile, a real cabaret frequented by artists in the Montmartre district (18th arrondissement) of Paris, are bartender Freddy (Philip C. Matthews), barfly Gaston (Dan Deuel), waitress and Freddy’s lover, Germaine (Amy Stricker), and a young, yet to be discovered, Einstein.
He is waiting there for a female friend he told to meet him at a different bar but who knows him well enough to show up at the right location later in the play.
Einstein demonstrates his mathematical mind by answering Freddy’s out-loud musings about some supply costs. Meanwhile, Gaston admires a pastoral painting of sheep behind the bar but a small work by Matisse that was just brought in changes the discussion on what constitutes art.
Travis Ascione (Picasso) and Juliana Liscio (Suzanne) in Picasso at the Lapin Agile) at Citadel Theatre (Photo courtesy of North Shore Camera Club and Citadel Theatre)
Next on the scene is Suzanne (Juliana Liscio) who has a sketch Picasso gave her during one of their trysts and who wants to see him again. Also entering the bar is Sagot, (Tim Walsh), an art dealer who has already recognized that works by Picasso will eventually be worth many francs.
Eventually, Picasso (Travis Ascione) whom the theater audience seems to have been waiting for, saunters in. Full of himself, he stops at a mirror near the bar.
As different as the geniuses appeared to be, Picasso with an overblown personality and an Einstein who at the time was reserved, the two found each other to be kindred spirits in their vast observations of the world of tomorrow.
The entire cast is excellent but a shoutout also has to go to Jake Busse who pops in as Schmendiman, a crazy, turquois-top-hat wearing inventor of weird, unusable materials. He points out he is the third man in their scenario.
Cast of Picasso at the Lapin Agile at Citadel Theatre Ian Cummisford as A Visitor, Amy Stricker as Germaine, Philip C. Matthews as Freddy, Juliana Liscio as The Countess, Mark Yacullo as Einstein, Dan Deuel as Gaston, Travis Ascione as Picasso, and Jake Busse as Schmendiman (Front). (Photo courtesy of North Shore Camera Club and Citadel Theatre)
A fourth visitor shows up from the mid-1900’s to as his view of the world. But you have to see the show to find out who.
DETAILS: “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” is at Citadel Theater, 300 N. Waukegan Rd., Lake Forest, now through May 22, 2022. Runtime: 90 minutes, no intermission. For tickets and more information visit Citadel Theatre or call (847) 735-8554.
Addie Morales leads the von Trapp children in “Do Re Mi” in The Sound of Music at Marriott Theater Lincolnshire (Photo courtesy of Liz Lauren and Marriott Theatre)
4 Stars
Wow! “How (do) you hold a moonbeam in your hand?” It’s what I felt I learned walking out of Marriott Theatre Linconshire’s “The Sound of Music.”
It’s been a while since I have left a show thinking it was perfect. With so many factors to consider from vocals, acting and dance to script and music, some elements tend to outshine or are weaker than others.
But upon leaving opening night of Marriott Theatre Lincolnshire’s “The Sound of Music,” April 20, 2022, the word that came to mind was “perfect.”
Of course, given the show’s emotion-packed music by Richard Rogers and the on-point, memorable lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, the “Sounds” of music set the perfect tone.
Addie Morales, L, and Daniella Dalli in The Sound of Music at Marriott Theatre
Add to that there is the clever dialogue of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse who wrote the show’s book based on “The Trapp Family Singers” by Maria Augusta Trapp,
But good as the basics are, there still are a production’s many elements. When going into a show that has been famously portrayed in movies and on soundtracks, audiences can be excused from recalling how in the 1965 movie, Julie Andrews portrayed Maria.
In her debut Marriott role, Addie Morales created her own version of Maria.
Morales who played Eva in Drury Lane’s “Evita” and Maria in “West Side Story” on stages across the country, was exactly what some of us would expect a young girl to look and act like who thinks she want to be a nun. But her star turns are when she joyously leads the van Trapp children in songs.
Which brings us to the seven children, each with their own personality.
They are amazing from Campbell Krausen as Lisel, Brody Tyner as Friedich, and Milia Liss as Louisa to Archer Geye as Kurt, Omi Lichtenstein as Brigitta, Olivia O’Sullivan as Marta and Reese Bella as Gretl. Mention must also be made of Emmet Smith, Lisel’s love interest. He is just right at the bicycle-riding telegram delivery boy, Rolf Gruber.
Daniella Dalli who has performed in national tours of “The Phantom of the Opera” and regional tours of “Les Miserables” has the vocal chops to get “bravo” and long applause in her Marriott debut as The Mother Abbess.
Erik Hellman and Addie Morales in The Sound of Music at Marriott Theatre
The rest of the cast are strong actors. Erik Hellman, a Steppenwolf and Court Theatre regular, makes his Marriott debut as Captain Georg von Trapp and Heidi Kettenring, a familiar name to local audiences (23 Marriott shows) plus Goodman, Shakespeare and other Chicago stages, portrays Elsa Schrader who hopes to capture Captain von Trapp.
Rob Linley who has done national tours of “Phantom” is Max Detweiler, the show arranger who brings the van Trapp Singers to an important festival.
Insightfully directed by Nick Bowling with artistic lead Peter Marston Sullivan, set design by Collette Pollard, charming choreography by William Carlos Angula, period costume design by Sally Dolembo, lighting design by Jesse Klug, and music led by Patti Garwood, the production team also worked its “perfect” magic.
There are so many memorable songs but the one audiences are humming after intermission and at the end of the show is The Mother Abbess and nuns” “Climb Every Mountain.”
DETAILS: “The Sound of Music” is at Marriott Theatre Lincolnshire now thru June 5, 2022. Run time: 2 1/2 hours. For tickets and more information visit The Sound of Music | Show (marriotttheatre.com)
Jason Richards and Ginger Minj in Music Theater Works La Cage (Photo by Brett Beiner)
Four Stars
Prepare for great music, lots of Laughs and gorgeous costumes as Music Theater Works takes you to the swanky nightclub of La Cage Aux Folles in St. Tropez.
Winner of six Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book, La Cage brings an outstanding night of musical theatre to the Performing Arts Center in Skokie with a few surprises throw in!
Based on the hit French farce that also inspired Hollywood’s “The Birdcage,” this Broadway smash features a hilarious book by Harvey Fierstein and a score by the king of show tunes, Jerry Herman (Hello, Dolly! and Mame).
From the moment you enter the theatre, you’ll be immediately transported to La Cage’s elegant St Tropez nightclub, complete with “women” in cages welcoming you, an onstage bar and tables surrounding the stage.
Opening on Broadway in 1983, La Cage broke barriers by becoming the first hit Broadway musical centered on a gay relationship.
Society has come very far from the times when this play opened. Today, gender roles have never been a more contemporary issue.
The plot centers around Georges, the owner of “La Cage,” and his long-time lover, “Zaza.” When their son, Jean- Michel, announces his engagement to Anne, the trouble begins, especially when they find out her father is a very conservative government official, running for office.
Ginger Minj as Zaza in Music Theater Works La Cage. (Photo by Brett Beiner)
With plenty of audience interaction, the musical is filled with not one, but two show-stopping hits you’ll be humming as you leave the show.
“I Am What I Am” is the perfect anthem for everyone – live your own life and do not make excuses for being true to yourself. The cast belts it out loud and clear. “The Best of Times” is another powerful ballad that will leave you breathless.
The production stars RuPaul’s Drag Race headliner, Ginger Minj, as Albin, and he/she is beyond fabulous. She sings, acts and creates a great performance with a touch of whimsy. And oh, those exquisite wigs designed by David Ian Grant!
Jason Richards makes his Music Theater Works debut as Georges. He’s got a great voice and excellent stage presence as both the emcee of his club and his role as husband to Zaza. He demonstrates a sense of vulnerability, afraid to hurt his lover.
Standouts also include Dane Strange as Jacob who keeps the audience in stitches with his antics and Caron Buinis, with her strong operatic voice.
(Top row, L to R) Daniel Hurst, Brian Selcik, Jordan Taylor and Gabe Kohlbeck (Photo by Brett Beiner)
Kudos to project runway designer Justin LeBlanc for his costumes that are over-the-top sparkly, flashy and gorgeous. And to choreographer, Christopher Carter, whose dance moves especially for male bodies, is fabulous. Artistic director Kyle Dougan directs the show with passion and purpose.
As with many shows of this type, the dancers are so graceful it’s hard to believe their gender.
This is the first show of the season for Music Theater Works. The rest of the season includes “The Little Mermaid (March 10 – April 3) Zorro (August 11 -21), Camelot (October 20 – November 13) and White Christmas (December 15 – January 1.)
DETAILS: “La Cage” is playing at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd in Skokie through April 3, 2022. Runtime: 2 hours and 40 minutes with intermission. For Tickets, go to musictheaterworks.com/la-cage-aux-folles/.
Important Notice: All guests will be required to wear face masks regardless of vaccination status and show their vaccination cards.
