Items filtered by date: November 2007

This excellent stage production of the 2013 musical Far from Heaven was based on Todd Haynes‘ 2002 motion picture of the same name. 

Far from Heaven is set in 1957 Hartford, Connecticut, well before the advent of the sexual revolution. Cathy Whitaker played by Summer Naomi Smart discovers that her handsome, successful businessman husband Frank is having affairs - with other men! Frank was played very well and very selfishly - if not compassionately - towards his wife whose world is crushed unexpectedly by actor Brandon Springman. 

After a time of trying to convert her husband back to heterosexuality by a psychologist, Cathy and her husband realize the emptiness and futility of their sexless and coldly critical relationship continuing just for the sake of the children.

Cathy's new gardener and widowed single father of a ten-year-old daughter, Raymond Deagan (Evan Tyrone Martin), becomes her friend and the scandal of her own life in spite of their necessarily platonic enjoyment of each other's company.

Evan Tyrone Martin has a wonderful rich smooth voice, arguably the best in the show and a nice natural quality to his acting. Summer Naomi Smart is stunning to look at as the real life "Stepford Wife" whose world comes crashing down when she tries to surprise visit her husband on a night he is "working late again" and gets the shock of her life when she finds him in the office in the arms of another man.

I've seen Ms. Smart in many musical comedies but this is the first time I have seen her really let loose in a dark way, especially in the scene when she confronts her husband about his homosexual affairs and lets out a terrifying and mournful wail that truly came from deep inside her character’s psyche. It was nice to see her tackle then take the reigns on this multi-dimensional role.  

Grant Saban‘s set seemed too much like a doll house to me, very one dimensional in color and shapes but perhaps that was intentional in terms of the subtext of the repressive 1950's. However, William Morey‘s gorgeous period costumes, which reminded me of a cross between Lucille Ball and Mary Tyler Moore's beautifully tailored and colorfully designed outfits in their respective series, brought the whole set to life.

Bri Sudia‘s performance is rich and dynamic as Cathy’s best friend Eleanor, who is very sympathetic about the sexless and lovlessness of Cathy's picture perfect marriage yet deserts her best friend over the issue of an interracial friendship. All of the supporting characters and girlfriends of Cathy Whitaker in this production do an excellent job in their respective roles and deliver as many ironic laughs as possible with subject matter that really is just a lot of sad statements about the wasted loves of many marriages in the fifties - marriages, which were built on lies and social and financial convenience rather than genuine love and real sexual attraction. 

Turning this subject matter into a musical may have made it more fun and palatable, but also detracted from the seriousness and tragedy of a woman who has given birth to two children and ends up totally alone, a single mother in the fifties, because of years and years of lies from a man who was supposed to be her best friend and true love. Yet the accompaniment of a great live orchestra really brings this sometimes somber score to life when needed. 

Finely directed by Chuck Larkin, Porchlight Musical Theatre's Far from Heaven is playing at Stage 773 through March 13th. For more show information on this absorbing and well-pieced-together production, visit www.prochlightmusictheatre.org.  

I haven't enjoyed a full night of dance as much as these three pieces presented by Joffrey Ballet at the Auditorium Theatre in a very long time, the first a world premiere and two marvelous pieces back by popular demand.

The world premiere is Ashley Page’s Tipping Point. Page refers to Adès’ music as the “primary investigator”, transforming its dark, dramatic tones into physical form. “It’s not easy to write so specifically about an abstract dance work that hasn’t been created yet,” he said, “but I want to stress that this will not be a narrative ballet… My task as choreographer is to try to harness this complex, often powerfully dark material and make it ‘visible’ to the audience.” And Ades does just that.

In Tipping Point twelve dancers, sometimes in pairs or groups of three, sway and are swept away by the music in beautiful free flowing gowns which reveal a hint of red or orange colors each time they leap, which is very powerful to watch. 

Although Page mentions this piece is not a "narrative" one, it does seem to allow the audience to unleash our own inner narratives while watching especially as it ends with a couple "trapped' or perhaps "saved" in what seems to be a box made entirely of white light. 

With lush, yet melancholic music by Benjamin Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem, Jiří Kylián’s 1981 creation (performed by the Joffrey four years ago) its inspiration is Edvard Munch’s Dance of Life portrait from 1899 of a group of women staring hopefully at the sea.

In "Forgotten Land" six couples move in and among each other, sometimes dancing with modern and complex movements of joy and other times pulling apart in anger. It seems that all are haunted by some memories of loved ones and sometime delight and revel in their memories - while other times they are overcome with despair defeated or aggravated by the same ghosts floating like foam put of the gray seas  painted on the massive backdrop behind them.

The story ballet RAkU is artistically honest and truly narrative with a smashing score by Shinji Eshima. RAkU retells with beautiful video screens and exquisite choreography the torching of Kyoto’s Golden Pavilion in 1950, the work of an evil monk sexually obsessed with the Emperors wife. With the emperor away engaged in battle, the Monk takes advantage of the lonely Empress and after a frantic dance to get away from what seemed a dance meant to comfort her, she is raped by the priest, thrown finally way up against a giant white wall like a butterfly finally pinned into a glass case. Then the monk sets fire to her castle which was also her temple and their home. 

When her dutiful soldiers return and find her in this bedraggled state, using her last sword as a cane in order to crawl across the stage as if she still believes she has the strength to avenge her family, they have the awful duty of presenting her with a box full of the ashes of her own home and possibly the Emperor himself.

It is a moment in ballet that I will never forget when the Empress, played with magnificent emotion and perfection to craft and detail by the phenomenal Victoria Jaiani, takes down her jet black hair and pours the white ashes her own face and body before succumbing to her wounds with one last graceful breath and the deathly uncurling of her graceful white fingers and legs. Brava! 

I highly recommend seeing the well-chosen pieces in "Bold Moves" for a full night of dance that will leave you feeling both refreshed and deeply moved at the same time. 

How do you categorize a musical that is part comedy, part drama, and part burlesque? The answer is: you don't need you. Like Kander and Ebb's later popular Broadway hit Chicago, Cabaret uses flashy and often funny nightclub performance as a device to embellish and expound upon the more serious and sometimes grim events of the story. In Chicago, shameless homicide by two murderesses is explored through jazzy nightclub acts, while in Cabaret, the grisly beginnings of WWII and the anxious pall it casts over the characters' lives is explored through fearless, garter-brimming club performances.

Cabaret is a unique musical, one that will sneak up on you and knock you in the chin if you try to pigeonhole it. The songs are inordinately catchy and the story turns unpredictably. On opening night at the inaugural show of the newly named Private Bank Theatre, I was surprised to hear so many shocked reactions from the audience around me. Every Nazi reference was met with gasps, one short scene of drug use left the audience deadly silent, the never-even-mentioned-by-name subject briefly implied by Sally's doctor visit caused an audible "Oh my God!", and Cliff's apparent bisexuality was received with total confusion. "But he kissed a boy. How could he fall in love with a girl?" Please. If audiences could survive it in 1962, they should certainly be able to handle it now. The reactions only serve to prove that Cabaret has a timeless impact.

When American self-described "starving novelist" Cliff (a capable if slightly bland Lee Aaron Rosen) travels to Berlin in pursuit of literary inspiration, he discovers it in the form of the buoyant and provocative English cabaret dancer Sally Bowles (a character brilliantly committed to by Andrea Goss) and the seedy nightclub crowd with which she surrounds herself. They soon begin living together and befriend landlady Fraulein Schneider (a subduedly wise Shannon Cochran) and fellow tenant, the Jewish Herr Schultz (a cute and gentle Mark Nelson), the latter of whom begin a sweet but eventually controversial romance. Sally and Cliff's lives are an ecstatic chaos of gin and sexual liberation until Cliff's friend and confidante Herr Ludwig (flawlessly portrayed by Ned Noyes) reveals his disturbing true colors, triggering the destruction that floods the characters' lives from that point on and effectively bursting their bubble of delusion. The omniscient Emcee of Berlin's sordid Kit Kat Club (a delightfully snarky Randy Harrison) guides the viewer between the actual plot events and their corresponding cabaret acts.

My favorite of the over-the-top club performances cleverly mirroring the real life drama is the titular showstopper "Cabaret." Many folks, likely many of the shocked theatre-goers seated around me, may associate this song with a charismatic, triumphant Liza Minnelli from the 1972 film (or even an older, sequined-out Liza cheerily vamping her way through a showtune medley) and thus were not expecting the heavier tone rendered in the stage version. At this point, Sally has lost everything. She's alone, she's ill, she's broke, she is out of a job after this final performance. Her life has spiraled into a living hell. Goss made a powerful impression as Sally throughout and nothing showcased her acting talents more than her raw, enraged delivery of this song. The eerie juxtaposition of Sally's unabashed ruin with jaunty lyrics celebrating a wildly fun, carefree lifestyle gave me chills, the last line all but screamed at the audience before she knocks down the mike stand in her fury.

This is a musical that everyone should see at least once in their lifetime. It will not meet your expectations, in the best way possible.

Cabaret is playing at the Private Bank Theatre at 18 W Monroe now through February 21st. Tickets can be purchased at Ticketmaster or by going to BroadwayInChicago.

How much sex and booze can a Shakespeare staging stand? A lot, it turns out, as "Fifty Shades of Shakespeare" showed at its opening Feb. 5.

And it proves again that Shakespeare is so good a playwright that his language, and stage dynamics, cannot be denied - even with Juliette played by a comely bearded man in polkadot bathrobe (Zachary Lee Schley) to an "unconventionally handsome" Romeo (played in a gender reversal by Kelly Schmidt).

Evidence that "something 'wicked' this way comes [Macbeth]"  was littered about the cabaret at Lincoln Avenue's Fizz Bar: various sexual trivia cards, "spanking sticks" and gift bags from the Pleasure Chest adult emporium. All to let the audience know this would not be your father's Bard.

The (re)discovertheatre production calls it an "orgy of hilarious, powerful, and revealing explorations of gender roles, sexuality, kink, and relationships, all told through the bard's sexiest scenes."  It leans toward the hilarious and light-hearted, supporting the troupes' mission to make theater more casual. And that it was.

Awaiting the 8:00 performance, the audience, seated cabaret style, watched the actors running through bits, as they mingled and collected trivia that later made its way into improvised scene breaks. A fully stocked bar was open during the performance, and the audience was exhorted to visit continuously.

As the show unfolded so did its structure: 11 Shakespeare scenes from several plays (Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth, Othello, Hamlet) covered by four actors (Zach Schley, Kelly Schmidt, plus Shaina Schrooten and Jesse Hinton). Scenes ran five to seven minutes, with mostly pairs of actors.

Each piece was re-imagined from the original script, and given a name. "Virginity," (drawn from Act 1 Scene 1of All's Well that Ends Well,) finds Helena (Zach Schley) asking Parolles (Jesse Hinton) how to defend her virginity against the relentless efforts at her seduction by soldiers and men in general. This is artfully reimagined as a 1950s sex education film strip with Parolles as the lab-coated science prof in safety glasses dispensing know-it-all advice to the innocently persistent Helena, who knows better than to take it. This was one of the most fun scenes in the show.

"Pleasure," (drawn from Act. 2, Scene 4 of Measure for Measure) posed the players as a cat and dog with S&M overtones. Isabella (Schley) and Angelo (Hinton) made the action expressive of the text as Angelo jousted for dominance. Shakespeare played along. Angelo's "Show it all by putting on the destined livery," fit nicely with bondage props. Isabella's "I have no tongue but one," fit the moment on stage, though probably not as the author intended.

For Shakespeare purists, how does performing in a bar measure up? A case could be made this approach very much matches the original intent of the playwright, whose work was served up in tavern courtyards, along with mead and wine. And as is generally known, men played the women's roles in Shakespeare's time. (Charles II ended that, as the 2004 movie "Stage Beauty" relates.)

For some scenes portrayed with more physicality than speech, the words got lost. And the show relies on a familiarity with the material to get what Shakespeare's original intent was, and the riff that we are witnessing. The opening night audience was keeping up and laughing steadily, so the performers were connecting.

That said, these are serious Shakespearians, and at times the intensity of the material took charge. In "More the Man," Shaina Schrooten as Lady Macbeth and Kelly Schmidt as Macbeth captured the essence of the scene and the power of the language.

"The Cause" with Othello (Hinton) and Desdemona (Schley) took the floor to high seriousness.

The witches scene from Macbeth plays the language for all its worth as the witches (Hinton, Schley, Schmidt) writhe and squirm lecherously ("Open locks, whoever knocks"), then having placed a bondage mask on Macbeth (Shaina Schrooten), and binding his (her) hands, they disappear - true to the playwright, and the production, this scene should not be missed.

The cast switches roles evening by evening. So the experience will be a bit different depending on who plays whom. As an immersive experience and a fun, relaxing event - you will enjoy 50 Shades of Shakespeare.

Fifty Shades of Shakespeare features Jesse Hinton, Zachary Lee Schley, Kelly Schmidt*, and Shaina Schrooten*. The creative team for Fifty Shades of Shakespeare includes Janet Howe* (director / costume design), Molly Donahue* (assistant director / fight director), Paul Hovey (stage manager), Abby Gillette (assistant stage manager), Jack Wallace (text coach), Matt Wills* (sound design), Andrew Lund (choreographer), Laura Wiley (Lighting Designer), and Tristan Brandon (props design). Fifty Shades of Shakespeare was created and developed by Jess Shoemaker and (re)discover theatre.

Fifty Shades of Shakespeare will run February 5 - 28 on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings at 8 pm— with additional 10 pm shows on February 12 and 13— at Fizz Bar (3220 N. Lincoln, Chicago, IL). Tickets can be reserved at: rediscovertheatre.com/tickets

After thirty years of bringing Chicagoans some of the city’s finest theatre, Mary-Arrchie will be closing their doors after its current and final production, American Buffalo. In this sharply written piece by David Mamet, Mary-Arrchie co-founder and jack of all trades Richard Cotovsky is joined by Stephen Walker and Rudy Galvan, creating a strong cast fully capable of pulling off such a dynamically written script. And that’s exactly what they do.

Taking place in a rundown resale shop, owner Don (Cotovsky) along with his young hired help and “go-fer” Bobby (Galvan) have hatched a scheme to burglarize a nearby residence in the hopes of stealing a valuable coin collection. But when Don’s longtime pal Teach (Stephen Walker) gets wind of the “thing” he pushes to replace the kid with himself, a man of more experience. Everything happens in a single day as the three small time crook wannabees run through a gamut of emotions with each other in trying to get on the same page. Teach is pushy and talks the big talk but clearly has little experience while Don is more laid back and subdued, often influenced by Teach’s strong presence and facade of confidence. Slow-witted Bobby just wants in for some quick bankroll – or maybe just wants to be a part of something. As the plan progresses it snowballs back and forth until its inevitable unraveling – and the journey is nothing short of hilarious.

When entering the theatre, we are met with what appears to be an authentic resale shop. “Don’s Resale Shop” is printed backwards on the large picture window so as to face correctly for those to read on the outside. Worn shelves are filled with dented gas cans, ratty knickknacks, old toys and assorted vintage items. Power chords hang from the wall with other random merchandise for sale behind a battered counter that supports an antique cash register. Quickly immersed in the set’s genuineness, one really gets the feeling they are inside a dingy thrift store that could be located on any given Chicago street.    

Richly directed by Carlo Lorenzo Garcia, Mary-Arrchie’s American Buffalo offers incredibly talented performances, generally a given with this veteran theatre company. Delivering Mamet’s cutting and quick-fire dialogue with the true essence of how it was intended, Walker knock’s the role of Teach out of the park. Whether generating laughs with the simplest use of body language, convincingly overusing repetitive hood lingo or completely erupting like Mount Saint Helen, Walker rolls up his sleeves and puts forth a gutsy, no-holds barred performance that should long be remembered. All the while, Walker successfully displays his character’s vulnerability beneath the blanket of false self-assurance, making Teach believable, creating someone with whom we can really emphasize. Within moments of Walker’s first appearance where he loses his cool and takes out his frustrations out on a beat up refrigerator over something pretty insignificant, it is apparent we are about to take a pretty bumpy ride. 

Cotovsky, the seasoned pro that he is, also provides an outstanding performance going toe-to-toe with Walker on many heated, sometimes humorously nonsensical and profoundly funny dialogue exchanges. The two pair together like butter on toast, getting a nice occasional boost from Galvan who contributes many of his own well-timed lines. Like a freight train taking off, the production gets stronger and stronger as it progresses. The more we get to know the characters the more we can’t help but take a liking to each of them, regardless of the fact that they are small-time crooks bent on pulling off a caper that comically unstitches more and more the closer the job gets. 

Mary-Arrchie is going out on a high note with this must-see presentation of American Buffalo. The prestigious Chicago theatre company will certainly be missed and we can only hope to continue to see its talented players in future productions around the city. Jeff Award winner, Chicago theatre staple and all-around talent Richard Cotovsky was recently given the honor of having an Honorary Way dedicated in his name that can be seen at the theatre’s intersection of Sheridan and Broadway. An honor well deserved.

American Buffalo is playing at Angel Island (735 W. Sheridan) through March 6th. Honest, funny and thoroughly absorbing, it is with strong recommendation that I urge theatre lovers to catch this final production from this talented company in their apropos farewell. For tickets and/or more show information visit www.maryarrchie.com or call 773-871-0442. 

Christian Gray and Jim McCance pair up once again for another Jeeves adventure, this time in Margaret Raether’s latest adaption from the stories of P.G. Wodehouse “Jeeves At Sea”. Gray, who was simply tremendous in his last First Folio appearance in “The Madness of Edgar Allen Poe”, this time plays the lovable, but somewhat dim-witted Bertie who has come to rely on the wisdom of his ever faithful manservant Jeeves (McCance), who faithfully provides sound advice never daring to crack the slightest of smiles. Paired to perfection, modestly said, McCance and Gray are nothing less than terrific together.

The play is performed at First Folio Theatre’s home, the Mayslake Peabody Estate in Oakbrook, where it doesn’t take much too imagine a “Jeeves” presence to exist.  

The story takes place aboard a yacht that is anchored off the coast of Monte Carlo, which is owned by Lady Stella Vanderlay, to whom Bertie has proposed to on multiple occasions. Miss Minerva Pilbeam is Stella’s paid companion and is secretly doting over Jeeves, while Stella is having too much fun as the object of affection of several suitors to fully commit to a lovesick Bertie. Kate McDermott nails the role of Lady Stella as the roaring 20’s saucy socialite.   

But alas, a mystery has unfolded when Bertie’s best friend Sir Percival Everard Crumpworth (Andrew Behling) confesses that he may have murdered someone while being blind drunk the night before – worse yet, he believes it might have been a visiting German prince. Once German heavy Count Otto von Dietrichstein (Joe Foust) starts sniffing around the yacht in search of Percival, a plan is quickly put into action.

Throughout the mystery, which is fun in itself, many humorous situations arise based on several Three’s Company-like misunderstanding’s where one is caught with another at the wrong moment or something is only partially overheard. Alison C. Vesley’s superb direction along with a funny script, timely physically comedy and impeccably delivered dialogue thanks to the show’s collection of talented actors, make “Jeeves At Sea” a charming production that flows seemingly effortlessly through and through.  

This fourth Jeeves installment of Wodehouse’s delightful tales is a thrilling ride from beginning to end with just the right doses of humor and intrigue, but best of all is the genuine connection that is felt by audience members between Jeeves and Bertie, leaving one with the feeling of excitement for what Jeeves adventures may be in store for the future.     

Yet another strong First Folio effort, “Jeeves At Sea” comes highly recommended. Catch “Jeeves At Sea” through February 28^th at the Mayslake Peabody Estate located near 31^st Street and 83 in Oakbrook. For tickets and/or more play information visit www.firstfolio.org or call 630-986-8067.  

Truth should be at the heart of every good drama piece. Truth, honesty, a bit of realism, something that makes the audience connect with the story, or the characters. Terrence McNally's Mothers and Sons playing at Northlight Theatre in Skokie attempts to reach a truthful depth, but leaves audiences shrugging with indifference wondering what exactly to take away from the play.

Nearly twenty years after her son’s AIDS related death, Katharine (Cindy Gold) pays an unexpected visit to the New York apartment of his former partner, Cal (Jeff Parker), who is now married to another man and has a young child. Over the course of the play Katharine and Cal exchange stories, sass, and sarcasm as they awkwardly interact and attempt to reconcile. Katharine remains judgmental and curt throughout her visit to the apartment, portraying the stereotypical conservative, old fashioned, bitter woman well. Cal, on the other hand, attempts to be gracious and overtly friendly in the face of this judgmental woman. Things heat up when we meet Cal’s partner Will (Benjamin Sprunger) and their son Bud (Ben Miller). Katharine’s disdain for the household and the situation is apparent but predictable as are the interactions with the two men. The remainder of the play is both forced and at time self-righteous and does nothing to move the needle on the many themes it attempts to tackle.

At the heart of the play is a conservative, judgmental woman “challenged’ to accept that her son was gay and that a same-sex couple is raising a child. This theme might have been provocative ten years earlier, but now is played out. Mothers and Sons also touches on homosexuality, AIDS, same-sex marriage, same-sex parenting, loss of a child, loss of a husband, and tries its best to address all of them within the 90 minute run time. There are so many themes that we forget that the son was the driving force that brought this woman to this apartment. He is used more as a prop, much like the journal that was hardly mentioned - though we come to find was the reason for Katharine’s visit. What’s more is the themes and how the play chooses to address them are not profound or thought provoking. Nothing is said that the audience doesn’t already know, or even what the characters don’t already know, which borders on the preachy versus clever. And these themes don’t do anything to change the characters or bring them closer together. At one point, Will’s character is so offended that he asks Katharine to leave, though she stays, shares a self-indulgent “woe-is-me” story that highlights her selfishness more, and suddenly Cal is embracing her as if he understands her after all these years. This sentiment is entirely lost on the audience. Will, the character who was ready to throw the woman out, is suddenly calm, cool, and collected. The young boy offers cookies and milk to everyone, refers to this strange woman as grandma and they all sit around and all but sing Kumbaya. And that is where the play ends. 

Isn’t that truth? That in a matter of a single awkward visit, a selfish, self-loathing, gay-hating conservative becomes accepting of gay marriage, same-sex parenting, and her son’s death? And that her son’s former partner who felt the cold sting and shun of this woman would be so moved as to invite her into his home and his family? It isn’t truth. It’s trite and contrived. Call me a cynic, a millennial, jaded, what have you. The truth might be that people like Katharine still exist in the world, but would someone really be swayed in such a short amount of time? Was it out of sheer loneliness on her part and pity on his end that these two characters accepted one another and will move forward? Mothers and Sons did not offer us this depth, so it’s hardly worthy of such deep analysis.

Truthfully, there isn’t much one could take away from Mothers and Sons. You could reach and say it was a profound dialogue about how the definition of family continually changes and evolves. You could speculate that people in mourning can come together to find comfort and support in one another. But Mothers and Sons does nothing to challenge the audience or the characters, or create a worthwhile dialogue in today’s world.

Directed by Steve Scott, Mothers and Sons runs through February 27th. Tickets are available at http://www.northlight.org/.

Playwright Neil LaBute earned a bad boy reputation early on, putting the spotlight on the extremely politically incorrect, while challenging audiences - and critics - along the way. 

In Vices & Virtues, his newest effort running at Profiles Theater, LaBute also stretches the performance format, queuing up twelve one-act 'playlets,' each with separate cast and directors, served up in two courses, intended to be viewed in two evenings. 

It it fun? In a word, yes. These bite-size theatrical plot lines are delicious, and laced with LaBute's signature sinister layer. The plot is sketched in inferences, as characters (the script calls some just "A" or "man") deliver commonplaces, then with an insidious slip of the tongue drop  bombshells: 

In Kandahar, a lone soldier addressing at length an unseen inquiry panel, dispassionately describes in gruesome detail the jealous rage in which he bayoneted his wife and shot up a soldier he suspected of being her lover.

In 10K, a young father (Tom McGregor) encounters and joins for an impromptu a young mother (Betsy Bowman, awesomely weird in the role), who reveals  unsettling details: she leaves her two-year-old home alone while running and shopping ("Is that horrible?" she asks); she may fancy calling a plumber over for sex. They almost pair up, but decide to leave it as a fantasy - for the moment, anyway. 

I'm Going to Stop Pretending finds two women at the end of a relationship. Why has it failed? We learn, eventually, the she (Brookelyn Hebert) was once a he, who changed sex to win other woman (Marie Wiegle) - a lesbian. The relationship fails when the object of his desire finally decides that she just doesn't like him (now her) as a person. 

Fans of Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf will relish The Great War. A couple meet to split their property following the divorce. After some bitter, bitter cruel jousting, they both discover neither wants custody of their two young children, ages 8 and 10: "They will always be C students, and they will die of heart disease in their mid-60s," says the anything but doting mother. "I don't want them." Elizabeth Birnkrant is deliciously vicious; Brian Goodman plays the hapless schmuck.

LaBute may want to trim a minute or two from some of these pieces, which sometimes continued to hammer home their point well after it was delivered. But his star-power is clearly a performer magnet, with 20 screen-ready actors, all, really, so very good, and giving it their all. It's hard to imagine Hollywood won't be scouting this show. You should be, too.  

But four hours - two nights - in the theater is a big commitment. If you have to choose one, the Virtues set is a better value on a cost per character basis: eleven performers, versus nine actors in the Vices set.

Virtues also carries a likely portrait of the playwright in Swallowing Bicycles, about a scriptwriter battling a producer; and Good Luck in Farsi a backstage drama about mean-spirited competition between two actresses (Sarah Brooks and Sarah Ruggles) vying for the same role. But Vices wins out for sheer intensity and more fully realized characters. 

One may ask how much LaBute is too much. It wasn't. That is a testament - or really, a verification - that this is a serious playwright, whose work carries some of that flavor of Albee, Pinter, Miller, if the finest moments of these 11 works ultimately is distilled further. 

The audience is a party to a worthwhile experiment. The star power of LaBute, an accomplished screenwriter and even a bit of a Hollywood force, drew top talent to this effort. And they delivered. It's definitely recommended for those who love a real theater event. 

Riveting. Arresting. Barry Shabaka Henley's performance as Louis Armstrong in Court Theatre's one-man-show Satchmo at the Waldorf is surely one of the great stage performances delivered in Chicago - or anywhere, for that matter. 

Lone actors on stage can be dry - and we were only mildly curious about the real-life Louis Armstrong, among a handful of jazz performers who grew rich with his music. Born in 1901 in New Orleans, the son of a prostitute, Armstrong was the most important jazz improviser - the free-form restyling of a song's melodic line that is the essence of the form. 

But it is not Armstrong's music (there is really very little of it here) that makes this such enthralling theater. It's Henley, a popular television and movie actor who has starred against Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx, played the manager in the biopic Ali (with Will Smith) and as a U.S. customs agent (with Tom Hanks) in Spielberg's Terminal. 

Henley would make a convincing Armstrong just sitting in a chair under a spotlight. His exacting impersonation of the trumpeter's low growl nails it. But as he spins the yarn that traces Armstrong's rags to riches life, Henley's skill as a story-teller (and credit here to Terry Teachout's script) draws in the listener.  

The one-man-act is also leavened (again thanks to Teachout) by the appearance of two other characters: Armstrong's Jewish manager Joe Glaser, who led him to fame and fortune. And Miles Davis, the more cerebral and far less kindly jazz trumpeter. Both are also played by Henley, who changes characters by a power of voice as dramatically as if he had changed costume.

Henley's performance as the conniving Glaser who outfoxed the mob, is really off the charts. Under contract to Glaser, Armstrong performed for Al Capone in his Chicago speakeasies.

Miles Davis felt Armstrong was a sellout, too cordial with the white establishment. But he did give him his due as a jazz innovator.

These two characters provide relief, and a useful counterpoint, to Armstrong's view of the world. Big credit is also due to Charles Newell's refined direction.

The one-man show wows regardless of whether you liked the music of Louis Armstrong, or even knew that this jazz player was a rock star celebrity before rock appeared.

His long career which blossomed in the post World War II era, and really took off, especially among white Southerners, during the Jim Crow period, as Teachout's book tells it. Louis Armstrong is known these days by students and followers of jazz, or from his standard, "What a Wonderful World." 

Satchmo at the Waldorf comes strongly recommended. It plays through February 7 at the Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Avenue, Chicago. www.courttheatre.com

When Black Sabbath formed in 1968, who would have guessed they would be playing a farewell tour 48 years later? In fact, after their notorious partying throughout the mid-1970s, who would have thought they’d all still be alive? But here they are, circling the world once more with a collection of Sabbath hits to satisfy their most hardcore of fans, and then some. Only original drummer Bill Ward sits on the sidelines, much to the dismay of Sabbath fans, thanks to a dispute between the famed band members. In the meantime, Ozzy Osbourne along with guitarist Tony Iomi and bassist Geezer Butler take to the stage Tommy Clufetos, Ozzy’s solo drummer. The tour, simply called The End kicked off in Omaha on January 20th. 

Black Sabbath is not only responsible for countless bands in the metal genre as a true pioneer in their music field, they have also survived in many ways most bands could not. One of the few bands that maintained their success level after changing lead vocalists - Ronnie James Dio in 1979 then Ian Gillan in 1983 – Black Sabbath remained in the forefront of heavy metal and even found moderate triumph when switching to more unknown singers (Glenn Hughes, Tony Martin) before reuniting with Dio in 1992 for the Dehumanizer album. After bringing back Martin for two albums in the mid-nineties, the band found big success once again touring alternately with Osbourne and Dio. In 2013 Black Sabbath released their first album with Osbourne since 1978’s Technical Ecstasy, a release that received critical acclaim, modestly titled 13.  

With dates scheduled through September, Black Sabbath’s second stop on their new – and final – tour was Chicago’s United Center. With crowd pleasing support from The Rival Sons, Sabbath started off their set by kicking into the powerful self-titled song “Black Sabbath”, a song that features the dreaded devil’s fifth. Naturally the band threw their most notorious hits into the mix  like “Iron Man”, “N.I.B.” and “War Pigs”, but most impressive was their use of lesser played songs over the years like “After Forever”, “Fairies Wear Boots”, “Under the Sun” and a song they haven’t played live since 1978, “Hand of Doom”. 

The set props were as basic as they should be for the metal icons – stacked amplifiers lined up behind the musicians and an overhead jumbo screen for the benefit of those with farther seats from the stage. It wasn’t until the last few songs that pyrotechnics were used, allowing fans to devote their focus entirely on the band and its music. While Iomi and Butler’s riffs were as punctual and deadly as ever, Osbourne struggled with his range often dropping out when attempting to hold a note or singing a key or two below the song as we know it. And so what. Osbourne’s performance was still inspiring. The now 67-year-old singer had command of the crowd since walking onto the stage, getting the arena to clap, cheer and shout simultaneously as had had been doing since the 1970s, but most of all he seemed to be having the time of his life – and that’s the Ozzy we all have come to know and love.

Black Sabbath played just one song of their latest release 13, “God is Dead?” though “The End of the Beginning” might have been the more desired choice off that album. Still, it was played with the flavor and power we can only except and Black Sabbath song to be played. Surprisingly, the band did not play anything off Ozzy featured albums Sabbath Bloody Sabbath or Sabotage, and not so surprisingly Never Say Die. Still, no complaints on their set list, as it was both fulfilling and played with the ass-kicking punch as only Butler and Iomi can deliver. Sabbath chose to incorporate a heavy dose of the Paranoid album, reaching into it for six of their set’s sixteen songs. 

After rattling off a blistering version of “Paranoid”, the final number on the 13 Tour and finale for Sabbath’s previous Omaha date, Osbourne and company left the arena of screaming fans with an earth-shaking effort of “Children of the Grave”. 

For metal lovers, seeing Black Sabbath perform is a must. For Sabbath lovers, you can’t really see them enough no matter what incarnation but especially with Ozzy himself at the helm. Fortunately, if you missed the United Center show, the band will return on September 4th at The Hollywood Amphitheatre in Tinley Park for their final goodbye to Chicago.  After all, this is The End.

Set List United Center January 22nd Show 

Black Sabbath

Fairies Wear Boots

After Forever

Into the Void

Snowblind

War Pigs

Behind the Wall of Sleep

N.I.B.

Hand of Doom

Rat Salad

Iron Man

God Is Dead?

Under the Sun

Dirty Women

Paranoid

Children of the Grave