How I spent my week…theater, art, music
Posted: September 25, 2013 Filed under: Art & architecture, Music, Rock and roll, Theater | Tags: Athenaeum Theatre, Interrobang Theatre, Museum of Contemporary Art, Steve Earle, the Bauhaus, The Vic, Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art 1 CommentA great theater experience, plus some cartoon art and memories of the Bauhaus. The finishing touch was a Steve Earle concert. Am I lucky to live in Chicago or what?
Terminus at Interrobang Theatre Project
Mark O’Rowe is one of the new generation of Irish playwrights whose work was first seen in the 1990s. In Terminus, being presented by Interrobang Theatre Project, he displays his fascination with language and his passion for words. Terminus isn’t so much a play as a series of stories, intertwined in monologues by three characters, known only as A, B and C. Their stories, set in the streets of Dublin, begin separately and gradually become more connected, until they are finally merged in a glorious fantasy of blood, sweat, tears and sex. That’s how my review of Terminus begins. It’s a terrific play with thrilling language. Truly a treat to listen to. I recommend it highly.
Modern Cartoonist: Daniel Clowes exhibit at MCA
Daniel Clowes is a well-known graphic novelist, who has published nearly 50 books and magazines. Modern Cartoonist: The Art of Daniel Clowes is his current exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art, which runs until October 13. The show is beautifully designed and curated and has many lovely little graphic surprises.
It was very interesting to see the progression and process of Clowes’ work, sometimes from sketch through inking and printing. For some publications, a series of pen and ink on tissue pages was shown. Since so much art today is created on the computer, it’s fascinating to see so many of Clowes’ pages drawn by hand on paper.
Image: Collection of Daniel Clowes. Courtesy of the artist and Oakland Museum of California
Chicago’s Bauhaus Legacy at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art
It’s been years since I visited this little gem of a museum on Chicago Avenue in Ukrainian Village. Do not think it’s only about Ukrainian art; it’s really a center for modern and contemporary art. The Bauhaus exhibit is fabulous and it’s open through this Sunday, September 29. If you are interested in modernism, you don’t want to miss it.
The legacy starts with Lazslo Moholy-Nagy moving to Chicago to establish the US version of the famous German citadel of design. The Bauhaus’ existence was threatened in the 1930s by Hitler’s aversion to modern art. Moholy-Nagy was followed by other artists and designers who moved to Chicago (including Mies van der Rohe). The New Bauhaus went through many name changes and locations and in 1949 became part of the IIT Institute of Design.
The exhibit includes about 150 pieces by 90 artists and designers. Work includes painting, sculpture, photography, architecture plans, furniture and design pieces. A lovely example of the latter is a bar of Dove soap, designed by three students in 1952 as part of a special project funded by Lever Brothers. Dove still uses the same shape for its soap bars. (The original carved wooden prototype is on show at the Chicago History Museum.)
In addition to the main exhibit in the west gallery, the east gallery includes Bauhaus work from the institute’s permanent collection. There’s also a very interesting wall that shows the birth and development of the Ukrainian institute.
I’m going to write a feature on the institute for Gapers Block and I’ll provide a link to it here when I do.
Steve Earle at the Vic 
Steve Earle and the Dukes played a great concert at the Vic Saturday. The setlist included many of his fine old songs as well as tracks from his new album, The Low Highway. His band is made up of four musicians: a drummer, upright bass player, lead guitarist and fiddler/mandolin player. Earle plays a number of stringed instruments himself (guitar, mandolin, banjo) and sings lead vocals. Many of his songs (and his occasional patter between songs) involve social commentary. Here are a few lines from the song “The Low Highway.”
Heard an old man grumble and a young girl cry
A brick wall crumble and the white dove fly
A cry for justice and a cry for peace
The voice of reason and the roar of the beast
And every mile was a prayer I prayed
As I rolled down the low highway.
His novel–I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive–is on my reading list and coming up soon.
Theater update: Three you can see
Posted: September 16, 2013 Filed under: Movies, Music, Theater | Tags: American Blues Theater, Hank Williams, Shattered Globe Theatre, Sideshow Theatre, Theater Wit 3 CommentsIt’s theater season again and I have three new reviews that you’ll be interested in. Plus a special tip on what to see in the future.
Theater picks
9 Circles at Sideshow Theatre
From @HistoryinPix
9 Circles takes us through the depths of Dante’s Inferno by telling the story of an Iraq war veteran who is accused of a terrible crime. The play presents a series of two-person scenes between the ex-soldier and a series of helpful or surreal professionals. The story moves from accusation to trial to execution. The play is gripping, intense and discussion-provoking. It’s a terrific performance by Andrew Goetten, who plays the ex-soldier, and by the other actors in multiple roles. You can read my Gapers Block review here.
The photo at left is the one I reference in the first paragraph of the review. The photo is from the @historyinpix Twitter page and titled “Soldier in Vietnam, 1965.” Click to enlarge it and read what the soldier has written on his helmet.
Hank Williams: Lost Highway at American Blues Theater
This is a lively musical biography but of course the underlying story is tragic. Hank Williams was a brilliant country-blues singer/songwriter in the 
1940s and early 1950s. He influenced many performers who followed him and the play suggests how he was a link to the African-American blues musicians of the period. His life was cut short at the age of 29 because of his addictions to alcohol and prescription drugs. The ABT play does a good job of telling both the tragic story and making you happy to hear a healthy setlist of Williams’ songs. The band (Williams’ Drifting Cowboys) is made up of some excellent Chicago musicians and Matthew Brumlow as Hank comes close to channeling his image, his voice and musical style. Read my Gapers Block review here.
Photo by Johnny Knight; courtesy of American Blues Theater.
Other People’s Money at Shattered Globe Theatre
This is a witty and fast-moving play about corporate raiders in the late 1980s. You remember them, don’t you? Michael Milken, Victor Posner, Carl Icahn? The financial crisis of five years ago this month has brought other corporate names to the forefront. Jamie Dimon, Richard Fuld and Hank Paulson; companies like Lehmann Brothers, Bear Stearns and AIG. So the raiders and their takeovers seem a bit dated now. Nevertheless, this is an interesting and entertaining play and I recommend it. Ben Werling is terrific as Larry the Liquidator. Think of it, as I said in my Gapers Block review, as a drawing room comedy of the 1980s.
NT Live in HD
The Audience, a National Theater Live encore presentation
The National Theatre of London broadcasts live performances of some of its productions to theaters around the world, similar to the Metropolitan Opera Live in HD broadcasts. NT Live broadcasts a live performance and several encores at the two Northwestern University theaters in Evanston, at the Music Box in Chicago and Renaissance Place in Highland Park.
Last week we saw the final broadcast of the commercial, West End production of The Audience by Peter Morgan. Helen Mirren stars as Elizabeth II of England and some talented actors as her various prime ministers over the years. The play is a series of scenes, in random, not chronological, order, in which Mirren ages or reverses her age with very quick changes of wig and costume. It’s brilliantly acted and riveting as it takes the viewers through historical events of Elizabeth’s long career. Her first audience was with Winston Churchill in 1952 and the latest with David Cameron in 2012.
Future NT Live productions this season are three Shakespearean tragedies: Othello, Hamlet and Coriolanus.
Mirren as Queen Elizabeth; photo copyright National Theatre Live.
Remembering Chile’s 9/11
Posted: September 13, 2013 Filed under: Movies, Music, Politics, Theater | Tags: Ariel Dorfman, Bruce Springsteen, Victor Jara, Victory Gardens Theatre 8 CommentsRemembering 9/11/73, the day that changed everything–in Chile
We observed the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center this week. News channels had at least one story on the memorial observances. MSNBC relived the entire experience, replaying the NBC news footage from that fateful morning, minute by minute.
In Santiago, Chile, they remembered their own 9/11, which had an even more profound impact on Chilean society. The Christian Science Monitor reported that “President Sebastian Pinera marked the 40th anniversary of the military coup that overthrew Salvador Allende on Wednesday by urging Chileans to heal from—but never forget—the events of Sept. 11, 1973, that launched a bloody 17-year dictatorship.” Allende was a democratically elected socialist who launched the “Chilean path to socialism.” He nationalized the copper industry (mostly owned by US companies) and used the money to improve education and health care for his people. The US–meaning the CIA–found a way to sow chaos and provoke the military coup. Chile’s national history museum opened an exhibit this week to mark the anniversary.
Chilean writer Ariel Dorfman had a poignant article in the September 8 New York Times, titled “9/11: The Day Everything Changed, in Chile.” He and his friend Claudio Jimeno were among four advisers to President Allende when the government was under threat of a military takeover by the forces of General Augusto Pinochet. The advisers rotated nights at La Moneda, the presidential palace, to keep watch and alert the leader to any emergency. Dorfman was to keep watch on Monday night, September 10, but changed nights with his friend because of a family obligation. The rest is history, of course. Jimeno was taken prisoner in the coup, tortured and became one of the desaparecidos.
Dorfman is author of the novel and play Death of the Maiden, which has been dramatized on screen as well as stage. Victory Gardens Theatre will mount a production of the play in June 2014. The 1994 film starred Sigourney Weaver as the activist who believed she had been raped and tortured by a doctor who befriends her husband. The events could have happened in most any country under siege today, but it was Chile. Chile after 9/11.
Bruce Springsteen honors Victor Jara, Chilean hero
image courtesy backstreets.com
Bruce and the E Street Band performed in Santiago, Chile, on September 11, their first show in South America since the Amnesty International Human Rights Now! tour in 1988. Bruce took the opportunity to honor Victor Jara, Chilean poet, activist and Allende supporter, by performing his song “Manifiesto” during the encore set. Jara was tortured and killed after the 1973 coup.
Labor Day agenda: Food, art and street signs
Posted: August 31, 2013 Filed under: Art & architecture, Chicago, Food, Theater | Tags: A Red Orchid Theatre, Blue Sky Bakery, Jack Kerouac, Michael Shannon, Sam Shepard, State and Madison streets 1 CommentA few things on my mind today, some of which you might want to think about too.
Bakery love
I’m fond of the fruits and vegetables from the farmers’ market but I’m also a superfan of good bakeries. I discovered 
a new one today and you should try it. It’s Blue Sky Bakery at 3720 N Lincoln, just north of the Addison stop on the Brown line. Street parking should be pretty easy too. I bought some delicious berry scones and an apple-brie croissant baked in a muffin cup. Mmmm-mmm. Lots of delicious-looking cookies and cakes too.
There’s another reason why you should visit Blue Sky Bakery. They provide employment and training for homeless and at-risk youth. So those deliriously luscious baked goods are also helping bring about social change. CBS Channel 2 did a story on Blue Sky recently. Check it out.
Borders at Solti Park
I wrote about these intriguing figures earlier this week in my Art Around Town roundup. Here’s another photo.
Photo by Nancy Bishop
Theater pick
Simpatico by Sam Shepard runs until September 15 at A Red Orchid Theatre. It’s a terrific show with a gripping first act so get a ticket if you possibly can. That may not be easy because (1) the play has gotten four-star reviews and (2) it’s showing in the tiny A Red Orchid Theatre on Wells Street. The theater describes it like this: “High society meets low life in the slippery netherworld of thoroughbred racing. This tragic-comedy explodes when a simple phone call threatens to undo years of blackmail and false identities.” The small tough cast features Michael Shannon and Guy Van Swearingen. It’s sold out but a standby ticket line forms one hour before each performance.
Reading list
The Mexican Girl by Jack Kerouac. I confess that every once in a while I look at the obituary page if I’m reading an actual newspaper, to see if anyone interesting or important died. One day last week, there was a gem of an obit. The woman who inspired the character Teresa or Terry in Jack Kerouac’s On the Road died at 92. The wonderful part is that she didn’t know the identity of the young man with whom she had a brief affair in 1947.
The short story, The Mexican Girl, was excerpted from the manuscript of On the Road and first published in The Paris Review in 1955. The review paid Kerouac $50 for the story. It was a big hit and resulted in the whole book being published by Viking Press in 1957. I thoroughly enjoyed rereading the story–it starts on page 74 of my edition of On the Road. If you can’t find yours, you can listen to an audio version of the story recorded in 2003.
Chicago street signs
Chicago has a lot of weird and amazing engineering achievements. Reversing the flow of the Chicago River, sending it downstate rather than into Lake Michigan. Raising the grade of the city and all its buildings by five feet to lift the city above the mud and sludge of the unpaved streets. My favorite bit of reengineering, however, happened in 1909, when all the streets in the city were renumbered with State and Madison as the zero point. State Street became zero for east-west streets and Madison for north-south streets.
Hear that, Manhattan? In Chicago, you know exactly where an address is going to be because you have memorized the arterial streets in each direction. Every good Chicagoan does that. You know if you are going to the 2700 block of Halsted Street that it will be a block south of Diversey, which is 2800. In New York, you have to ask what the cross street is because streets are haphazardly numbered as they were built in centuries past.
Patrick Reardon did a nice story on this in the Tribune this week. The story marked the occasion of officially naming the corner of State and Madison streets as Edward Brennan Way, in honor of the private citizen who devised the plan and fought for its acceptance by the City Council.
Gapers Block recap: Art and a little more
Posted: August 28, 2013 Filed under: Art & architecture, Movies, Theater | Tags: American Made Movie, Expo Chicago, Gapers Block, Solti Park, Strange Bedfellows Theatre Leave a commentHere are a few events I’ve been writing about recently on Gapers Block to pique your interest in current and future art events in Chicago.
Art Around Town
Borders, 26 Icelandic Sculptures, in Solti Park
Next time you’re near the Art Institute, meander south to Solti Park at the southeast corner of Jackson and Michigan. You’ll find these pairs of figures – one iron, one steel – that seem to want to talk to you or make you sit down and reflect. And you can sit down next to one of them and look into his eyes. My friend Linnea and I had a conversation with one of them. The Icelandic artist, Steinunn Thórarinsdóttir, modeled the figures after her oldest son. Read my article.
Expo Chicago to Display Art from 120 Galleries
The massive annual art exhibition known as Expo Chicago will return next month with displays from 120 galleries at the Festival Hall at Navy Pier. There will also be contributions from other organizations and a citywide week of arts and culture called Expo Art Week. Included in the week’s activities will be museum and gallery exhibits, music, theater and dance performances. The exhibition is open for public viewing September 20-22. See my Gapers Block story for more info.
Constantly Consuming Culture to Showcase Work of Little-Known Chicago Artists
It may not attract curators and collectors from around the world, but this exhibit September 7-13 at 222 N. DesPlaines St. should be very intriguing. It will show the work of eight local artists, who work in painting, sculpture, found art and video art. Who knows? You may fall in love with a piece of art that you can actually afford to buy. Because the expenses of mounting the show are funded by crowdfunding, the artists will receive 100 percent of any sales at the show. Read about it here.
Theater
Strange Bedfellows Theatre Invents Van Gogh
Strange Bedfellows, another one of our creatively crazy storefront theaters, just finished a run of Inventing Van Gogh, an imperfect but intriguing story about Vincent Van Gogh’s rumored last painting, another of his self-portraits. Strange Bedfellows’ motto is “Redefining mischief,” which makes me want to see what their next play promises. See my Inventing Van Gogh review.
And a movie
American Made Movie Tells Story of Manufacturing Decline, Revival
This 82-minute documentary opens this Friday and runs for a week at AMC Loew’s 600 N Michigan. It repeats the familiar story of US manufacturing’s decline over the last 30-40 years and suggests a rather naïve solution: Buy local, buy American and that will build a new domestic manufacturing base. The story is told with some compelling personal stories and anecdotes about half a dozen businesses, large and small, that changed their practices to survive. Buy local and buy American are practices that some of us can follow. But the big-box stores sell lowest-cost products made overseas and those are the products that many American families can afford. So this film, while well made, is “preaching to the choir.” Read my review.
Image of stars and stripes jewelry by Merrily Made Jewelry, courtesy of the producers; see review for the jewelry story.
Weekend focus: Chicago
Posted: August 17, 2013 Filed under: Chicago, Movies, Music, Politics, Theater Leave a commentIt’s Air and Water Show weekend
I can hear the airplane acrobats flying very very close to my roof. If you come to the lakefront for the show, take public transportation. Traffic will be bad before and horrible after the show each day. And parking is impossible in that neighborhood. Trust me. It’s my neighborhood and I know.
Photo by Runaway Wind from thechicagoist.com. For five reasons to go even without the Blue Angels, see DNAinfo.com.
Movies
The Act of Killing. This is a new documentary about the genocide in Indonesia in the late 1960s. It’s not your standard-issue genocide doc. No blood. But it’s a very surreal, gripping film — I’ll write more about it later. It’s showing at the Music Box for a few days. This film will generate lots of buzz, heated conversation, and certain award nominations
Twenty Feet from Stardom. This great music doc about female backup singers is showing at Landmark Century Centre for at least another week. I wrote about it recently. It’s a grand, joyful story about these terrific performers whose voices made all the difference for many big-name musicians. But they never really got the credit or success they deserved. This film showcases their personalities and their voices.
Picasso Baby. Another plug for this intriguing performance video by Jay Z. It will only take 12 minutes of your time to find it and view it. And it will make you think about performance art and celebrity.
Theater
Invasion is showing at Silk Road Rising in the Methodist Temple building on Washington and Clark. It’s an imperfect but thought-provoking play about Arab-American identity and assimilation.
Reading
Don’t miss the Peter Maass article on Edward Snowden and how documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras “helped Snowden spill his secrets.” As she went about her work, she was subjected to incredible surveillance by the US government. The article is in tomorrow’s New York Times Magazine and has been available online for several days. It’s an excellent article with examples of how journalists are pressured by their own governments. Poitras has been working with Glenn Greenwald, who broke the Snowden story in The Guardian.
Weekend focus: Chicago
Posted: August 10, 2013 Filed under: Chicago, Movies, Theater | Tags: Chicago Film Lovers Exchange 2 CommentsWhat’s better than a gorgeous summer weekend? Here are some things I’m checking out and you can too.
Farmers markets on Saturday. Corn, tomatoes and peaches, yes.
Movies. Lots of things in theaters, but if you’re staying home, I strongly recommend two political films that are streaming on Netflix and Amazon. Brother Outsider: The Story of Bayard Rustin, is a biopic about the little-known civil rights and gay activist who was a force in organizing the MLK 1963 March on Washington. Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing still holds up as a story about race relations and attitudes in Brooklyn. My film group discussed it this week (Hi, CFLXers!) and found it still very potent.
Community events. Ginza Festival at Midwest Buddhist Temple. Japanese food (grilled teriyaki chicken is a specialty), artisans and entertainers (taiko drummers, classical and folk dance). Saturday and Sunday.
Theater. I recommend Slow Girl at Steppenwolf — a thought-provoking, quiet play with terrific performances by William Petersen and Rae Gray. Also Inventing Van Gogh at Strange Bedfellows. Here’s my review of the latter. And I recommend Rooms: A Rock Romance at Broken Nose Theatre. I loved that one.
I don’t recommend Belleville at Steppenwolf. I know it got great reviews, but to me it was tedious. And the knife thing? Really. That was Chekhovian overkill.
Want to argue with me about anything? Come on. You must disagree with some of my opinions. Comments, please!
A tale of three cities: Mostly Manhattan
Posted: July 31, 2013 Filed under: Art & architecture, Punk rock, Theater | Tags: Irish Repertory Theatre, Movies, theater 3 CommentsNew York was fascinating as always, despite being beastly hot. My favorite thing about New York is always tramping uptown and downtown, east side and west side. Unfortunately, since temps were in the high 90s, my tramping was focused on finding cool buildings for respite or walk-thrus. In my next tale, I visited friends in Connecticut and I finished up with a family wedding in Brooklyn in the neighborhood known as DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass).
Manhattan
First we’ll take Manhattan, as Leonard Cohen sang (or sort of sang). The highlight was my visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and its special exhibit on Punk: Chaos to Couture, which runs until August 14. I also saw two very good plays – one at Irish Repertory in Chelsea, my regular favorite New York theater, and the other a Richard Greenberg drama on Broadway.
Punk: Chaos to Couture was the Met’s 2013 Costume Institute exhibition and it celebrates both the look that punk musicians adopted in the 1970s in the UK and the US and the impact it had on couture (meaning clothes-not-going-to-be-worn-by-the-average-woman). Original punk clothing was shown, especially that worn by some performers and some designed by Vivienne Westwood for her London punk boutique. Couture by name designers of that period and later decades is also shown. The exhibit was visually and aurally appropriate with period music and videos.
The DIY (do-it-yourself) nature of the punk scene was celebrated in the organization of the exhibit. The section DIY Hardware displayed the use of safety pins and metal ball chains in both punk and couture looks. DIY Bricolage used trash materials in costuming. Here we had the use of bottle tops, plate shards, plastic shopping bags and Tyvek envelopes to create wearable garments. Best of all, black trash bags were shredded or chopped to make glamorous gowns. Really. They were couture and I would wear one of them.
Most of the couture seemed fakey to me, especially that from the last two decades. The use of safety pins or other metal and shredded and torn fabric doesn’t make sense outside of its musical context.
Gibraltar. At Irish Rep, the two-character play Gibraltar, “an adaptation after James Joyce’s Ulysses,” was being presented in its tiny basement studio. I felt like I was at home in a Chicago storefront venue. The play was written and performed by Patrick Fitzgerald, along with Cara Seymour as Molly Bloom, and directed by Terry Kinney, one of the Steppenwolf founders. It’s beautifully done, retaining Joyce’s language, and leading us through many of Leopold Bloom’s errands and encounters on Bloomsday. (I was a month or so late for Bloomsday.) It ends with Molly’s monologue, usually called the Eight Beatitudes. Beautiful lighting and sound design make this scene magical.
The Assembled Parties by Richard Greenberg is a family affair set in a large old Central Park West apartment in two acts on two Christmas Days, 1980 and 2000. Judith Light and Jessica Hecht give fine performances as sisters-in-law in a family in decline. The dialogue is charming, funny and vivid and we glory in their lives in act one and grieve for them in act two. It’s a terrific play. (Greenberg also wrote Take Me Out, The Violet Hour and Three Days of Rain.) The revolving set displays five rooms of the apartment, designed as only Santo LoQuasto can furnish a room.
Stamford
Stamford was a short visit, punctuated by shopping (I learned that Stew Leonard’s is a destination, not a supermarket), eating, visiting, exploring Stamford and Greenwich, and going to a movie. We saw The Way Way Back with Steve Carell and Toni Collette. Carell is Collette’s obnoxious boyfriend, a character you love to hate. The movie is funny and sweet, one of those coming-of-age stories about the Collette character’s 14-year-old son. Sam Rockwell (remember him in Seven Psychopaths?), a very talented actor, manages to give it an edge and keep it from lapsing over into sentimentality. His performance is the treat of the movie.
Brooklyn
Short story. Family wedding at a lovely old temple with a lively reception in DUMBO. The bride and groom were darling and it was nice to see friends and relatives. Just before we reached the reception, we passed an intersection that offered a fabulous view of the bridges (Brooklyn and Manhattan) and we walked back to take lots of photos. I took this one with the Empire State Building playing a cameo in the distance.
Storefront theaters shine in Chicago
Posted: July 24, 2013 Filed under: Chicago, Punk rock, Theater | Tags: Bailiwick Chicago, Broken Nose Theatre, CBGB, Jackalope Theatre, Nelson Algren 1 CommentI’ve been seeing a lot of theater lately and I wanted to post my last three reviews for Gapers Block. Two of these shows close in the next week, so hurry up and see them. We have an unbelievable wealth of theater talent in Chicago. These plays are worth your time – and these small theaters will appreciate your support.
My next post will get out of Chicago and report on my visit to New York, featuring one off- and one on-Broadway show.
Mahal at Bailiwick Chicago: It’s a Family Affair
Mahal by Danny Bernardo is a story about a Chicago Filipino family, the first play with that ethnic focus, to my knowledge. Bailiwick Chicago is presenting it at Stage 773 at 1225 W Belmont, formerly the Theater Building. The Stage 773 owners have upgraded the space, especially the entrance and lobby area, to be very attractive and contemporary—a great improvement.
My review begins:
“Mahal is a family story. A Filipino family with strong roots in the Philippines adjusts to life, love and loss in its new country. The family members – father, two sons and a daughter – are each recovering in their own way from the recent death of their mother. (Some family members call the mother’s phone number to hear her voicemail greeting – and leave messages for her until the mailbox fills up.)”
Bailiwick Chicago presents Mahal until August 2 at Stage 773, 1225 W Belmont Ave. Read the review here. Photo of Kevin Keyes and Jillian Jocson by Michael Brosilow.
The Casuals at Jackalope Theatre: Exploring Life in the Atomic Era
The Casuals is set in 1955 Nevada and involves personal as well as political issues. It’s a new play by Jackalope Theatre Company with script by Chance Bone and Andrew Burden Swanson, and direction by Jonathan Berry. Here’s how my review starts:
“Some things about The Casuals might make you uncomfortable–nuclear testing, for instance. Government agencies that hide the truth (and insist you don’t ask questions). Stories that may be lies or truth. A mother who tells her son how his father died a hero. An uncle who tells his nephew’s wife how his brother really died.”
The Casuals runs until July 28 at DCASE Storefront Theater, 66 E Randolph St. Tickets are cheap: $10-$15.
Read the review here. Photo by Alex Hand: Watching an atomic test.
Rooms: A Rock Romance at Broken Nose Theatre
I hardly ever get to indulge my love for rock and roll at the theater. So I was very excited to get to review this show, which includes a scene set at CBGB, the famous New York rock club. Rooms features a talented live band and some straight-up rock as well as a little punk. My review starts this way:
“The sign outside the theater says, “This is a rock musical. It will be loud.” And it starts loud with a four-piece rock band playing preshow music including the classic ‘Seven Nights to Rock.’
“Rooms: A Rock Romance is a fairly traditional musical, punctuated by some great rock and punk rock songs performed on stage with a band. It is, at its heart, a love story about two people with different visions of life. Monica (Hillary Marren) wants to be a rock star, to travel and perform all over the world and Ian (Matt Deitchman) is a musician who prefers to stay at home in his own room with his guitar.”
Broken Nose Theatre will present Rooms until August 11 at the Collaboraction Pentagon space in the Flat Iron Arts Building, 1579 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Read my review here. Photo of Matt Deitchman by Taryn Goodge.
Broken Nose Theatre, by the way, takes its name from the way Nelson Algren describes my favorite city in his book, Chicago: City on the Make.
“Yet once you’ve come to be part of this particular patch, you’ll never love another. Like loving a woman with a broken nose, you may well find lovelier lovelies. But never a lovely so real.”
Molière to Levon on stage & screen
Posted: July 14, 2013 Filed under: Movies, Music, Theater | Tags: Court Theatre, Levon Helm, The Artistic Home, The Band, The Last Waltz 3 CommentsMore theater suggestions, one from a Gapers Block review, plus two music films. My rock and roll and film commentary is coming back. I’m working on something now about rock lyrics — and an essay on art and fashion is on the horizon.
Molière in Hyde Park
Not only is the Court Theatre’s new play showing in Hyde Park, Court’s home territory. Director Charles Newell has set this new production of Molière’s marvelous Tartuffe in modern dress in Hyde Park/Kenwood. (His name was really Jean-Baptiste Poquelin; Molière was his stage name.) The delicious touch is that Newell has cast the same ensemble of actors, mostly African-American, to play Tartuffe as performed The Misanthrope, the first play in the Court Molière Festival. Tartuffe is the religious fanatic hypocrite who almost takes over Orgon’s family and wealth.
The acting is superb and the cast does a splendid job with Moliere’s witty dialogue. The mansion setting and contemporary costuming are beautiful … with the possible exception of Mariane’s and Valère’s outfits. Mariane, Orgon’s daughter, wears some silly-looking pink frocks (to emphasize her youth?) while Valère, her love interest, wears shorts he would never wear on the streets of Hyde Park and a White Sox cap that doesn’t know where to go.
The two-hour-plus-intermission play is immensely entertaining. The translation by poet Richard Wilbur is the gold standard and isn’t hurt by some modern interpolations. The Tartuffe run ends this weekend.
Beaten at The Artistic Home
Beaten is a new play by Scott Woldman at The Artistic Home, a storefront on Grand Avenue. It’s a family drama about three generations of women living in the same home and provides meaty roles for Kathy Scambiatterra, Kristin Collins and Kathryn Acosta as grandmother, mother and daughter.
My review begins:
“Put three generations of women in a house together and you’re sure to have an eruption of personalities; eventually, long-kept secrets slip out and lies are undone. Beaten, a world premiere drama by Scott Woldman, gives the Artistic Home actors a searing and emotionally charged script, and they all come through with fine performances.”
I also noted that the play “was inspired by a 2009 workshop at Chicago Dramatists where female actors expressed their dissatisfaction with the lack of challenging parts for women; when asked to name their dream roles, all named parts written for men. Playwright Woldman listened.” (Photo courtesy of The Artistic Home; Scambiatterra and Acosta.)
The play runs at The Artistic Home, 1376 W Grand Ave, until August 11.
Read the complete review here.
Two new music documentary films
20 Feet From Stardom is about the mostly anonymous female backup singers behind some of the greatest bands of the 20th century. The 90-minute film directed by Morgan Neville features singers such as Darlene Love, Merry Clayton and Claudia Lennear, plus interviews with some of the musicians they performed with. It’s at the Landmark Century Centre Cinema now but it’s probably one of those films that will disappear from theaters after a short run.
Ain’t In It for My Health is a film about Levon Helm, the late great drummer and singer with The Band. You’ve heard him on songs like “The Weight” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.” Levon died last year of throat cancer and was a musician until the end although he lost his voice in 1998. His Midnight Rambles at his home and studio in Woodstock, NY, were famous. The Levon film had three showings at the Music Box last month and I missed all of them so now I have to find it elsewhere or wait for the DVD to be released.
You can find Levon’s music on levonhelm.com and if you want to see him in top form, watch the 1978 documentary The Last Waltz, directed by Martin Scorcese.
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