Items filtered by date: November 2007

Imagine walking through an art gallery, where each piece of art brings up different emotions and makes you think of a different story. Now let each story come to life through intensely raw and emotional songs and you get 35MM A Musical Exhibition, playing at the Circle Theatre through April 10th.  

The intimate space of the Circle Theatre is set up as part stage and part art gallery. Entering the theater, the audience was milling about, enjoying their wine and the photographs on display. As they take their seats, and after a quick introduction by one of the cast members, the show opens and we are taken through the musical exhibition. Unlike most major production musicals, 35MM does not have a narrative. The show is entirely comprised of songs – 22 of them to be exact, each corresponding to a photograph by Matthew Murphy displayed in a prominent position on stage. There are 5 actors who play all the roles and they are supported by a small orchestra, creating a show that almost feels too big for the small space.

Without a clear narrative or any dialog, this musical can feel disjointed as it moves from song to song, story to story, and even the character’s roles continue to shift which can be confusing. However, aside from the fragmented flow of the show, it was a very strong production. The music and lyrics, written by Ryan Scott Oliver, were powerful and sometimes reminiscent of rock musicals such as Spring Awakening or spoken word performance art. While the intensity was unwavering, each song had its own style befitting of the story it told, keeping things exciting.

All of the actors in the show were singing powerhouses and collectively they created raw and moving moments that took your breath away. They sung with such passion and emotion, there were times when the tears welling in their eyes were clearly visible, causing the same reaction in the audience. The most outstanding piece of the show was “Leave Luanne”, telling the sad story of domestic abuse. The intensity of the music and the passion coming through the voices was palpable in the room and at the formidable conclusion of the song the audience erupted in applause. 

Cameron Turner choreographed and directed this production beautifully. The choreography was clean and creative. It took into account the intimate space of the production and the fact that the actors were singers first. The movements seemed to flow with the music perfectly, punctuating moments in the songs and creating nice visual effects. In keeping with the gallery setting, the costumes were normal everyday clothes one would wear for a night at a small art gallery.

The immediate response to this show may be mixed. Audiences will be moved by the honest intensity of the songs that make up this show, but may also be perplexed by the lack of a clear story line. However, a shift in perspective to consider this show as a stroll through a photography gallery where each image comes to life and tells its story through music, allows the beauty and power of this show to shine through.

It is not often that small musical productions pack a punch as big as this show does, so if you are a fan of less mainstream rock musicals get your tickets now to check out 35MM before April 10th . 

After a successful run last winter, Hershey Felder will be returning to reprise his role as Irving Berlin in "Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin". Bringing his one man show back to the Royal George Theatre beginning on April 9th, Felder's wonderful production will returning for just one month. Posted below is our previous review of "Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin", which gives one an idea of what a unique and heartfelt experience it really is. This is warm, funny and educational production that should not be missed.

"Hershy Felder as Irving Berlin"

Royal George Theatre

April 9th - May 8th

HERSHEY FELDER AS IRVING BERLIN - THE UNMITIGATED KING OF ONE PERSON SHOWS

“Irving Berlin has no place in American music—he is American music. Emotionally, he honestly absorbs the vibrations emanating from the people, manners and life of his time and, in turn, gives these impressions back to the world—simplified, clarified and glorified.” - Jerome Kern

There are shows that make one proud to be an American, proud to be Jewish and proud to be of immigrant descent and Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin currently performed at Royal George Theatre is one show that does all three. 

Felder proves yet again that he is a consummate master of the one person show. While his bio/docu/musicals about famous composers, from his George Gershwin Alone, to Fryderyk Chopin, to Ludwig van Beethoven, to Maestro Leonard Bernstein thrilled Chicago and LA audiences and critics alike, this production and his  portrayal of Irving Berlin is quite simply the icing on the cake of his career.

Irving Berlin, whose real name was Israel Isidore Baline and whose musical background included that his father was a cantor (singer for the Temple), was only eleven years old when he left his house to find work as a singing waiter because "there were too many mouths to feed" even with his pennies earned as a paperboy.

Although Berlin's first hits were more comical and vaudevillian like “Marie from Sunny Italy”, and “Alexander’s Ragtime Band”, to grab people's attention, it was the grief over the tragic death of his first wife that he credits with teaching him how to write a real song.

Like a chapter from a sad Lifetime movie, Berlin married his adorable twenty-year-old sweetheart took her to fashionable Havana for their honeymoon and five months later she died from typhoid fever she contracted on their week-long stay. 

Later he married socialite Ellin MacKay the daughter of the richest man in the United States, and wrote his classic, timeless love song, “Always”, about his pure joy at finding her. They were married for 62 years, and ironically her father disowned Ellin and Berlin for years for marrying a Jewish immigrant songwriter - until right after the stock market crash in which Mr. MacKay lost his entire fortune but Berlin wisely having purchased the publishing rights to ALL of his songs kept his finances relatively intact during the depression.

Everything went wrong,
And the whole day long
I'd feel so blue.
For the longest while
I'd forget to smile,
Then I met you.
Now that my blue days have passed,
Now that I've found you at last -

I'll be loving you always
With a love that's true always.

Days may not be fair always,
That's when I’ll be there always.
Not for just an hour,
Not for just a day,
Not for just a year,
But always.

Berlin’s songs include, “Blue Skies”, (composed for his daughter), “Heat Wave”, “How Deep is the Ocean”, “Puttin’ on the Ritz”, “Steppin’ Out with My Baby”, “What’ll I Do”, and the scores of “Annie Get Your Gun”, “Holiday Inn”, “Easter Parade,” and many more. We also learn that Berlin wrote “White Christmas” years after his son Irving Jr. was tragically found dead on Christmas morning at just three-weeks-old. In all, Irving Berlin composed 232 top-ten hits and 25 number one songs, and over 1500 published songs including one of his biggest hits, “God Bless America”.

I really loved the set which consisted of a lovely Christmas tree and piano with windows that opened onto a wonderful video presentation of the actual people, Berlin, his wives, etc as he tells a story about each. My only note for Felder is that he reconsiders having an intermission in any show he directs or stars in that is longer than 90 minutes as this one was. The audience was rapt the entire time but I felt the break in the middle would have allowed them to enjoy the show even more as a whole evening of entertainment with time to absorb and refresh between the two acts.

The artistic team for Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin is outstanding and led by Director Trevor Hay. Scenic Design is by Hershey Felder and Trevor Hay, Sound Design is by Erik Carstensen, Lighting Design is by Richard Norwood and Video Design is by Andrew Wilder. The Scenic Decoration is by Meghan Maiya.

“Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin” is a rich and fully enjoyable experience that is playing at The Royal George theatre through December 6^th. For more show information, visit www.theroyalgeorgetheatre.com. 

Blind dates can be interesting enough but add in a few surprises and things can get pretty uncomfortable in a hurry. In Recent Tragic Events we meet a couple, Waverly and Andrew, who gets together for a date on the recommendation of mutual friends and as the night progresses they have more in common than they could have possibly thought. 

The date starts precariously. It's the day after the September 11th attacks and Waverly's twin sister has not been heard from. Waverly is somewhat certain that her sister would not have been at the World Trade Center during the attacks but still has a bit of doubt. Andrew, who manages a book store at the airport, is awkward and shy but quickly notices that Waverly has the exact same books as him when picking her up and their admiration for the same authors quickly creates a bond between the two. With Waverly upset about her sister's status the two decide to stay indoors to hand out and order pizza. It's not long after that down-the-hall neighbor Ron intrudes on the date. Ron is a happy-go-lucky musician who doesn’t seem to take too much in life very seriously. The three of them tune in and out of news broadcasts covering the attack, but try to keep things light-hearted though a heavy cloud overshadows their evening. Soon Ron’s married girlfriend joins the group hair disheveled and clad only in an oversized t-shirt and panties. She doesn’t speak, only nodding and making slight sounds in agreement or disagreement. 

The intrigue begins when Andrew tells Waverly that he had met her sister just two weeks prior at a bar. Recollecting his encounter, he tells Waverly and Ron that she had been discussing a position for a company located in the World Trade Center. Of course, that naturally amplifies Waverly’s worst fears. 

Recent Tragic Events is full of funny dialogue and subtle mannerisms, especially once Ron enters the scene, played hysterically by Maximillian Lupine who can induce laughter with the slightest of looks or gestures. Though Lupine gets most of the big laughs, Rachel Christianson is also hilarious – not so much as Ron’s girlfriend Nancy, but as Andrew’s favorite author, Waverly’s grandmother Joyce Carol Oates, who is portrayed by a sock puppet on her hand. Oates even knocks down a few beers with the gang during her visit if you can imagine a sock puppet chugging during a drinking game. Naturally when Joyce Carol Oates needs to use the bathroom, Nancy shows her the way, waits for her before returning together. Matthew Nerber also puts forth a humorous performance as the dweeby bookworm Andrew along with Laura Berber Taylor who displays a fine emotional range.   

The story is well-balanced with both the humor of the gang interacting (often awkwardly)and the drama that a tragedy more personal than expected may have taken place. Once really gets to like the characters, probably because there is a lot of truth in them. The question of free will is challenged, pondering if we really do make our own choices even when we think we do. This is brought to the surface in many ways not only with parallels to the September 11th attacks but even in the actors reading from a script after the “stage manager” alerts the crowd that the story could go in different ways by changing lines every time a chime is heard. Ron and Joyce Carol Oates also have a heated exchange on the subject. 

Recent Tragic Events is worth checking out. It is a show that will make you think past the many good laughs it offers. The characters work well together thanks to a well-assembled cast and solid scripting while the story keeps your attention, though it seems to run a bit longer than it should, quickly changing tone and opting to linger rather than closing on a prior opportune moment or two. 

Recent Tragic Events is being performed at Athenaeum Theatre through April 10th. For tickets and/or more show information visit www.athenaeumtheatre.org .   

Jazz legend Ramsey Lewis can take the melody of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” and turn it into a work of art. After watching and listening to him, I am sure of this. Eighty-years-old, he has the musical energy of a much younger man. He also brought to MacIninch Art Center a very talented group of musicians. 

First up was Henry Johnson on guitar. The first thing I thought of was Wes Montgomery. For those of you not familiar with Montgomery’s style, Wes mostly played with just his thumb on his right hand. Henry switched between that and a pick which he must have held in his palm while using his thumb. Johnson’s other influences include Kenny Burrell and George Benson. As a fledgling jazz guitar player myself, I found him to be a tasty player and learned a lot watching him play.

Joshua Ramos was on bass. He switched between upright bass and a five string electric through the set. Ramos got some serious applause from his solos. He played with the fluency most lead guitar players might envy. Having said that, he stayed in the pocket when he needed to do so.

On drums was Charles Heath. Heath is an amazing jazz drummer, switching from sticks to brushes depending on the song.  I found out he started playing drums at an early age and I am not surprised. He started working as a musician at the age of fourteen and earned a degree in music at Shaw University. His list of playing credits is quite long.

Then, of course you have Mr. Lewis, “the great performer”. Ramsey certainly lives up to the title. Though understandably a bit slow walking across the stage, it did not reflect his musical energy. He took Pop melodies to new heights. The Beatles’ “Here There and Everywhere” was my personal favorite. Another Beatles song he did amazing things to was “Hard Day’s Night”. Stevie Wonder’s “Living For The City” was very nice as well. I didn’t hear too many songs that one would consider jazz standards, except possibly his own compositions. Lewis did have a few hits in his heyday, most jazz musicians cannot claim that. The ability to take a familiar melody and turn it into something greater is truly an art. I overheard someone say how he never played one of the songs the same way twice. The jazz musical mind just seems to work like that. Lewis did not give you a heavily rehearsed, boring performance. It showed the listener how music can be spontaneous and structured at the same time.

The art of jazz is not as popular as it once was in America. You could tell this from the crowd. The average age was at least sixty, if I had to estimate. Personally, I find it so refreshing to see great musicians actually perform without the use of gimmicks. The raw energy of the performance was the key on this particular Saturday night. 

If you have any interest in seeing real music played the way it was supposed to be played, go see it now before all the classic players are all gone. At eighty-years-old, Ramsey won’t be around forever. The music will live forever, but the performers will not. I don’t want to sound like a cynic, but I think a lot of this is lost in music today. Go support music being played by real musicians like The Ramsey Lewis Quartet. Good music elevates you mind, body and soul to new heights. 

In the end, I found the performance inspirational and highly rewarding. The reward was an emotional sense of elevation. Music is the ultimate escape. For one hour and forty-five minutes I had no problems in my life. Even after coming back to reality, I felt better. I wish to thank “the great performer” for this. Ramsey Lewis is simply amazing and it was great to see and of course hear him.

Ramsey Lewis Quartet

March 12, 2016-7:30 PM

MacIninch Art Center

College Of DuPage

Glen Ellyn, IL

The curtain rises about two and a half feet, revealing the iconic image of fifty or so legs clad in tap shoes of every color of the rainbow.  And with that, the tap dancing spectacle of 42nd Street begins with an exciting, energy-packed dance number as Broadway hopefuls dance their hearts out at the audition for what is destined to be the next great Broadway musical. Set in 1933, famed director Julian Marsh, played by Matthew J Taylor, is preparing the next show stopping musical, Pretty Ladies. A group of energetic young hoofers are joined by the talented, but a bit clumsy, out-of-towner Peggy Sawyer, played by Caitlin Ehlinger, who comes to New York City from her home in Allentown PA for her chance to be a star. This musical within a musical takes a turn when the leading lady breaks her ankle on opening night creating the opportunity for Peggy to take center stage.

42nd Street is packed full of tap numbers and some of the most iconic songs of Broadway including “We’re in the Money”, “Lullaby of Broadway” and of course “42nd Street”. While Peggy becomes the star of Pretty Ladies, the star of this production of 42nd Street was certainly the exceptional tap dancing. With new choreography by Randy Skinner, it maintained some of the classic original choreography known and loved by many while updating some parts to keep things exciting and fresh. The dancing was clean and the sounds strong and clear. The opening song “Audition” and the finale “42nd Street” were spectacular bookends to an overall strong show.

The set is fairly simple letting the dancers and amazing costumes take center stage, perfectly setting the scene in 1933 NYC from auditions, to parties, to trains, to the Pretty Ladies musical. Amazingly and with seemingly lighting speed, a cast of over 20 dancers seem to change from rehearsal costumes to show costumes in the blink of an eye. With number after number, the cast reappears on stage in everything from casual rehearsal wear to tails and top hats, to glamorous gowns, to flower costumes and sequined gold dresses. 

42nd Street really is an ensemble show, but this production has its standout individual performances as well. Caitlin Ehlinger in the role of Peggy was fantastic. As she takes on her first performance as the star of Pretty Ladies after a mere 48 hours of rehearsal, you can feel her nerves and watch as she finds comfort in the spotlight of the show and transforms into a star. Matthew J Taylor was fantastic as Julian Marsh and proved he was more than just a strong actor when he wowed the audience with “Lullaby of Broadway”.  And Natalia Lepore Hagan, playing the role of Annie, really gave Ehlinger a run for her money in the tap dancing department!

36 years after its original opening in 1980, 42nd Street is still a fun and crowd pleasing musical. With outstanding choreography and tap dancing, paired with dazzling costumes, iconic music and the over the top characters you expect in musical theater, this national tour production has the whole package. 42nd Street is playing at the Cadillac Palace Theatre through March 20th. Get your tickets before the show shuffles off to Buffalo!

Filled with clever and rapid-fire dialogue exchanges, The New Sincerity is a fast-moving comedy written by Alena Smith, one of the nation’s top young, up and coming women writers. The play’s title is explained well in its press release - "Erudites among us know "New Sincerity" is an actual term used in music, aesthetics, film criticism, poetry and philosophy, generally to describe art or concepts that run against prevailing modes of postmodernist irony or cynicism." And there is plenty of cynicism and irony to be found in the latest comedy/drama at Theater Wit that deals with millennials and the idealism of the Occupy Movement. 

As co-founder of a highly regarded online political journal, Asymptote, Benjamin, a Harvard literature graduate, is always looking for hard-hitting and thought provoking material to maintain status among their peers and competitors. Just less than a block away from their office is the Occupy Movement where protesters converge in the park all throughout the day and night. Benjamin’s newly appointed senior contributor, Rose, has a strong interest in doing a piece on the protest, but he is insistent she stay far removed for fear of taking sides. Disregarding Benjamin’s direct order, Rose not only checks out the movement firsthand but creates a relationship with one of the protesters, Django. As feared, word gets out about an Asymptote staff member being associated with the Occupy Movement and Benjamin not only takes the criticisms from his co-owner and faithful readers, but he fears how this will affect his fiance's upcoming book release since her last book, Death of the Left Wing clearly believed that the modern protest is dead and ineffective. Furious at Rose for screwing up the journal’s branding, she finally convinces Benjamin to visit the movement, which he reluctantly does. 

The story then becomes that of an opportunist and the hypocrisies that come about as Benjamin realizes the potential afoot and does a complete turnaround to where he can’t get enough coverage on the movement, even to the point that he lies about being involved from day one. We also see the hollowness in Benjamin regarding his relationship with women as he states he does not really believe in love and deep connections, much the opposite of Rose. 

Smart and brutally honest, The New Sincerity offers tremendous acting performances by each of its four cast members. Drew Shirley as is energetic and finely projects the qualities to make a convincing Benjamin who is incapable of fully connecting emotionally. At the same time, Maura Kidwell as Rose is perfectly cast as the grounded one who seems to get it in the play while Erin Long as the very funny tell-it-like-it-is intern Natasha and Alex Stein as the protest because there’s a protest protester Django also provide a huge spark.

I really enjoyed the set which was a cozy two-story office with large windows giving us a peek at New York City. As the scenes changed, large computer monitors would tell us what month it was giving us a nice idea of a time frame.

I liked the direction of this play by Jeremy Wechsler, as I felt he outstandingly captured the essence of millennium living, ideals, social media marketing and stereotypes. The often overly politically correct gender pronoun usage was also addressed when a friend of Django’s insisted on being called dragon as she did not identify with male or female. I wasn’t quite sure if Smith was taking a jab at renaming our own gender to whatever we want or embracing the fact that we can.   

The New Sincerity has plenty of very funny dialogue exchanges and provides a story that is paced very well with plenty of memorable moments. I recommend this fiercely funny play, which is being performed at Theater Wit through April 17th. For more show info visit www.TheaterWit.org.            

You know it's been a strong performance when you find yourself cringing in your seat from the action onstage. Just such an evening I had watching Irish Theater of Chicago's In a Little World of Our Own.

This play by Gary Mitchell set during the Irish "Troubles" premiered in 1998, following the Good Friday Agreement that year which put an uneasy end to the Catholic versus Protestant dispute in Northern Ireland. While memories may be fuzzy, the world at large - and the Irish neighborhoods of Chicago - were at the time emotionally and politically charged, and highly invested in the battles in Ireland. They still are invested.

The drama centers on an Irish Protestant family - less familiar terrain for Chicago - and incorporates a tense whodunit regarding a heinous murder, committed offstage, thankfully. Trapped in the claustrophobic community of one of Northern Ireland’s most notorious housing projects, family members wrestle with how to mete out justice on their own after one of three brothers is accused - the plot twists and turns as we try to determine what really happened on the evening in question. When the moment of truth arrives on The Den stage, I covered my head with my arms.

The production is a noble endeavor, and the Irish Theatre of Chicago continues its estimable mission in bringing us this staging. Directed by Associate Artistic Director Jeri Frederickson, and featuring ITC company members Jeff Duhigg, Matt Isler, Rob Kauzlaric, and Jodi Kingsley, this play will appeal to those who are willing to risk being challenged. One slight quibble would be in the Irish accented English, which performers mastered unevenly under coaching. Sometimes the playwright's language got lost in translation.

By way of background, in Northern Ireland, the British army was charged with keeping the peace, but neither Catholic nor Protestants trusted justice could be found through formal means - and so they took justice into their own hands. As the action unfolds at the Den Theater, we watch a Protestant family struggling with such a dispute - and not wanting to involve the formal authorities. In a Little World of Our Own holds up, after all this time, as a portrait of a society in dissolution - showing us the dire consequences for a community that has made its peace with such rough justice.

A quarter century before the play's premiere, the Bloody Sunday incident took place, in which 14 people were killed by British soldiers during a protest march in Derry, Northern Ireland. (It was around that time, in 1971, that Paul McCartney recorded his protest song, "Give Ireland Back to the Irish.")

From the late 1960s until the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, Ireland's "Troubles" - the political and social antipathy between the Catholic minority and Protestant majority in Northern Ireland - had a strong hold on the world's attention, and especially on Chicago, the largest Irish American city. Interventions and negotiations over the years have reduced the tensions in Northern Ireland to a largely uneasy peace.

These matters are far from settled. There are still 4,000 protest marches held each year by Catholic and Protestant groups in Northern Ireland, population 1.8 million. Playwright Gary Mitchell, who won the Belfast Drama Award, and the Irish Times Theatre Award for Best New Play for the work in 1998, was forced from his home in Rathcoole, Belfast in 2005, after it was attacked by Loyalist [loyal to British rule] paramilitaries. He now lives with his family in a secret location.

In Strawdog Theatre’s final performance at the popular northside theatre bar, Hugen Hall, we are presented with Elizabeth Lovelady’s world premiere adaptation of Rudolph Mate’s film noir thriller D.O.A.

Intrigue is the name of the game in this whodunit and audience members are kept guessing to the end.

When Frank Bigelow walks into a police station to report a murder, the intrigue begins immediately as we find out the victim is none other than himself. Poisoned and running out of time, Bigelow frantically searches for the reason he has been targeted and the people responsible. Going over past events leading up to the present and speculating on all possibilities as to why someone would want him dead, Bigelow puts the pieces of the puzzle together, bringing to light a few surprises along the way. As the sixty-minute play unfolds, clues are slowly revealed at a nice pace and the plot steadily gains traction.

The plot has enough to keep one interested though not necessarily keeping one on the end of their seat. What makes the play special is its setting. Thanks to commendable efforts by costume designer Raquel Adorno, lighting designer John Kelly, sound designer Heath Hays, prop designer Jamie Karas and scenic designer Mike Mroch, the simple space is nicely transformed to which D.O.A. embodies a classic flatfoot detective style with scenes reminiscent unforgettable films such as The Third Man or Double Indemnity.

Capturing the smallest of details to add a genuineness to the proposed era are the women made up in black lipstick, the stylish 1940s suits and dresses, the smoke-filled room that creates moving shadows amongst the white spotlighting and the snappy dialogue filled with film noir jargon. Actors gracefully walk around the stage and seating area as the scenes quickly change, often leaving a cast member standing or sitting right alongside a member of the audience, making this a unique theatre experience.   

The play also offers its share of humor as a handful of scenes over-emphasize the drama with extended freeze frames, gazes and deadpan deliveries of cheesy lines.

Mickey O’Sullivan leads the capable cast as a desperate Frank Bigelow with fellow cast members contributing nicely – many in dual roles, especially getting strong performances by Sean McGill (Harry, Bartender, Chester) and Kelsey Shipley as Elaine/Ms. Foster.  

Strawdog Theatre’s D.O.A. is being performed at Hugen Hall (3829 N. Broadway) through April 5^th. For tickets and/or more show information visit www.Strawdog.org.      

Based on the 1988 cult film “Heathers” starring Wynona Ryder and Christian Slater, the talented cast of “Heathers: The Musical” bursts onto the stage with enough energy to "bully" the audience right back into the mean late 80's when this particular tale of murder in high school first raised the issues of teen cruelty over twenty-five years ago. Dark and questionable is the subject matter that it be made into a musical, but the show does have its moments. After all, we are talking about a film that may have forewarned us of the tragic school shootings to come in its wake. 

Veronica, the nerdy girl who becomes a "Heather" at the expense of her friendship to the truly kind "fat girl" in her class is well played here by Courtney Mack. Mack shows a full range of emotions as she realizes what has begun as simple teen angst and bullying has turned her new outsider boyfriend, J.D., whom she meets hanging around a 7-11 store all day into a serial murderer. Adding to Mack’s solid performance, Chris Ballou also does a fine job in taking on the role of J.D..  

Haley Jane Schafer, Rochelle Therrien and Jacquelyne Jones, are each fantastic as the “Heathers" - the meanest, prettiest girls in school who rule with an iron lipstick case. Each of the Heathers' has her own unique flavor of comedy and delivery and each are very good dancers as well as vocalists.

That said, the set which was a big colorless lump full of doorways did not make you feel you were in a high school at all and was actually a distraction at times. Also, the costumes the Heathers DID wear were great - very sexy period costumes, but then they never changed clothes until almost the end of the show, leaving some disappointment. As gorgeous, skinny, fickle fashion mongers, this inconsistency made the show feel much to be desired when it came to dressing them as the story progressed with the lack of colorful, sexy clothing and accessory changes as occurs in the movie and would be a big part of their real high school lives. 

The songs may not have been on the most memorable side, but the show did have a few good laughs. There was some terrific physical comedy in the slow motion fight scene between the two jocks who terrorize all the girls in school with jokes about date rape, etc. 

Certainly a challenging task at hand, James Beaudry's direction in this small venue with so much young and energetic talent falls short in that it seemed the play starts at a very high level of energy and volume and continues at that exact same volume even during the ballads. Instead, there needed to be some genuine reflection and time to rest for the characters to be fully formed and also to rest the audience’s ears – simply put, more dynamics. 

All in all, this cast did a great job with the materials they were given and delivered a funny, bitter and scary version of what life in high school was like then and now. See "Heathers" with the expectation of a few decent yuks, a handful of entertaining musical numbers ("Big Fun" comes to mind) and a sometimes pretty accurate nostalgic peek at high school in the late 1980's.   

Kokandy Productions of “Heathers: The Musical” is being performed at Theater Wit through April 24th. For more show information, visit www.theaterwit.org.  

The Compass, a powerful Steppenwolf for Young Adult premiere, concerns an Entrepreneur (Tim Hopper) who has launched the Compass app, a seemingly harmless and fanciful social media tool aimed at saving users the nuisance of worrying over minor decisions, like which shirt to wear today. 

Trouble ensues, however, when Marjan, a high school senior (played by Ariana Burks) follows the guidance of the Compass app in committing a crime: She calls in a false bomb threat at her school. This is a felony - albeit perpetrated in this case to avert likely violence. 

The action of The Compass turns on a subsequent trial. And it is here that The Compass rises to a very engaging two hours. If theater is society's way of holding a live debate with itself, the impact of social media is high on the list of topics. And The Compass does that with an inventive theatricality - one that will appeal audiences of all ages. Through it's multiple levels, we get a kind of Minority Report meets 12 Angry Men - and an encounter for all of us with ideas that matter.

Two years in development, The Compass was not "scripted" but instead "devised" by director Michael Rohd. Over the past two seasons, Steppenwolf for Young Adults hosted a series of "Project Compass" events aimed at engaging multi-generational theater audiences in a dialog about what goes into making a decision, and how we are each guided by our own moral compass. 

The team even researched with Google, which affirmed the feasibility of an app like Compass - which scans a user's total online behavior to predict choices for him or her going forward. From that arises another the crux of the play's topicality: What is our obligation to make sure we are guided by our own sense of right and wrong, and not to be driven by the prevailing winds frequently expressed through social media? 

Steppenwolf can benefit as well, through all this, using this as a focus group, helping it to devise a type of theater that could appeal to the next generation of ticket buyers. 

The feedback from the pre-show events played a major role in the structure of the play - which is decidedly multi-media and driven by audience participation. Big screens display the feeds from the characters' social media feeds, and far from distracting, seem naturally to advance the actio of the performance. The play also jumps back and forth in time; and 

actors play multiple characters, variously from perches above the stage, on jumbo video screens, and even in the aisles. All the shape and time shifting flows pretty seamlessly.

In another departure from a standard staging, ten Facilitators are cast within the audience. Each one also plays a juror in the trial on stage, while periodically stepping off the boards to lead a section of the seating in a discussion on topics being discussed on stage. Actor Sean Parris did this winningly for our group.

Leading the conversation, and taking notes, these Facilitators return to the stage to argue their audience sections' viewpoints from the jury box, then vote guilty or not based on each group's feelings - adding to the investment ticket buyers have in the action. 

After jury deliberations reach a third day (a real-time time-lapse gets the idea across very well), Marjan is found guilty by the 10 jurors. The vote for  the 210 ticket holders is also rolled across the stage on a white board. We the audience at the Steppenwolf downstairs theater voted Marjan guilty, 126 to 94. So the action changes, based on the audience sentiment at each performance. 

The play is set in the near future (Elizabeth Warren is Vice President, the Compass app, widely adopted,  now offers 99 cent filters that turn it into a Beyonce-based advisor.) All of it is very believable - including a falling out between Hopper's Entrepreneur and his programmer Ada - played by Cruz Gonzalez-Cadel. The branding for the Compass app has been professionally developed - and rows of theater seats are emblazoned with it - further fostering the impression that we are in a real-world exercise.

The cast of The Compass also features Bryan Bosque, Cheryl Lynn Bruce,Jasmin Cardenas, Melissa DuPrey, Krystel McNeil, Johnathan Nieves, Abby Pajakowski, Sean Parris, Emilio G. Robles, Alejandro Tey and Lindsey Barlag Thornton.

The production team includes Courtney O'Neill (scenic design), Sully Ratke (costume design), JR Lederle (lighting design), Rick Sims(sound design), Joseph A. Burke (projection design) and David Masnato (content creator). Additional credits include Cassie Calderone (stage manager) and Jessamyn Fuller (casting).