Items filtered by date: November 2007

Dan Clancy’s Middletown is a very true-to-life rollercoaster ride involving two couples that befriend each other in the prime of their lives and remain friends through their senior years. They have dinner every Friday night for thirty-three years and share everything with each other – the good and the bad. They lean on each other and, in many ways, become closer than family.

After a series of successful runs around the country over the past few years, Middletown now makes its temporary home in Chicago’s Apollo Theater in Lincoln Park. The mid-sized venue is a cozy home for the play to settle into for its month-long run. The show is different than most as it comes without a set or props and has the actors reading directly from scripts and writer Dan Clancy has his reasons for this. “I wanted to tell a relatable ‘every-person’s’ story in a direct and straightforward manner where human emotions are front and center – without bells, whistles, special effects, or props,’ says Clancy. “I wanted the show to speak for itself.” 

Adrian Zmed (left) and Donny Most in 'Middletown' at Apollo Theater Chicago through March 22nd

And his approach is very effective, perhaps thanks to the caliber of actors involved. In fact, we are given a powerhouse of talent in this show, each actor skillfully navigating their widely-ranged roles through calm waters and rough waves. Sandy Duncan is a sheer delight to watch as Peg as she pairs with Adrian Zmed, who deftly plays her husband, Tom. It’s clear the two love each other no matter what - through the good and bad times – and they meet plenty of challenges along the way that put their love to the test. Donny Most also delivers an outstanding performance as Don, while Kate Buddeke shines as his wife, Dotty. Even though the actors are delivering lines from a script, so convincing is the quartet, it isn’t long before one forgets they are even reading, and we are just lost in a tremendous relationship between two couples.

The shows starts with a bang as the actors charge into the stage area to a Bruce Springsteen song. An enthusiastic Duncan, Most, Buddeke and Zmed each greet the crowd before heading to their assigned locations. It is then Duncan briefly addresses the audience to prepare them for the show while pointing out, “I’m at the age where I’m not sure if I don’t remember something or if I never knew it in the first place.” 

Middletown is a unique theatre piece. The lack of on-stage distractions has theatre goers really focusing on its rich content, which is exactly Clancy’s intention. It also allows for us to grow more intimately with each character. The show has plenty of humorous moments, plenty of difficult moments and a handful of surprisingly heavy moments. Like I said earlier, it’s a rollercoaster ride. Says Donny Most in describing Middletown, “It’s really a wonderful play that takes you through so many different emotions. There is comedy and then there are very heartfelt moments and very dramatic moments in the play. I think it’s something so many people will relate to.” Most continues, “There is something for everybody. It will hit a chord within, and you’ll have a smile on your face, with that recognition, or the pang deep down where you feel the pain and the emotion. It’s that kind of a piece.”

The story in itself is absorbing from beginning to end and its journey through life is sure to be relatable to most that see this play. Though it’s the story of Tom, Peg, Don and Dotty, it’s also the story of so many we know if not our own. Middletown is the story of friendship – the best kind - plain and simple.

Superbly directed by Seth Greenleaf, Clancy’s story hits its target on point and the special cast that has been assembled performs beautifully and truly connects with the show’s audience, making Middletown a masterfully delivered event to remember.

Highly recommended.

Middletown is being performed at The Apollo Theater Chicago through March 22^nd before taking on dates in Tampa Bay and Miami. For tickets and/or more information visit www.MiddletownPlay.com or www.ApolloChicago.com. 

To read our very entertaining interview with star Donny Most, click here.  

America was a different place in 1965. Jim Crow was alive and well in southern cities, American schools were still on the way to being integrated, African-Americans were getting their heads busted in trying to cross the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Alabama, there were race riots in major northern cities, the Andy Griffith Show and The Beverly Hillbillies were the top shows on television and in New York City Day of Absence was being staged by the newly formed Negro Ensemble Company.

Day of Absence, written by Douglas Turner Ward in 1965, is a reverse minstrel where the white residents of a Southern town wake to find all the black people gone. All the roles are played by Black people in white face. The caricatures are broad and cartoonish. It was written to make white audiences squirm while laughing. The script won the Vernon Rice and Obie Awards.

Fifty-five years later, America has changed. And Congo Square Theatre Company has upped the ante. Instead of Black people disappearing, all people of color (known as “Pox” in this iteration) disappear. The script has been updated to include racial slurs and stereotypes of Hispanics, Asians, East Indians, and everyone not white, with uproarious results.

Anthony L. Irons, a master physical comic himself, has directed this multiracial cast with energy and an eye towards razor sharp comic timing. The cast is phenomenal. Jordan Arredondo, Ronald L. Conner, Meagan Dilworth, Ann Douglas, Bryant Hayes, Sonya Madrigal, and Kelvin Roston, Jr. all play multiple parts, easily shifting from one character to another. The bare bones modular set by Sydney Lynne Thomas was the perfect background for the makeup, costumes and wigs by the talented Rueben D. Echoles.

Of note is Douglas’s Mayor Lee, a cross between Boss Hogg of “Dukes of Hazzard” and Marge Schott (the Owner and CEO of the Cincinnati Reds who infamously called her players "million-dollar n*ggers.”) As the events in the play become dire, she makes a television appeal that will have you crying with laughter. Along with her assistant Jackson (Conner), they steal the scenes they are in with a physicality that is unmatched.

When Douglas Turner Ward wrote Day of Absence his intention was to put a mirror to white people and make them feel uncomfortable. Congo Square’s production doesn’t so much indict white people, but makes fun of ignorant stereotypes, and we all hold ignorant stereotypes, whether we’d like to believe it or not. This is America 2020.

Special Note: It was great to see Derrick Sanders back at the helm of Congo Square Theatre Company. His artistic vision is unparalleled.
Day of Absence by Congo Square Theatre continues through March 22 at the Richard Christiansen Theater at Victory Gardens, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave. Tickets are $35 ($25 for seniors and students) for performances Friday-Sunday.

Where’s Plano? I’m not sure, but it’s a place some characters of the namesake play like to visit often. Perhaps Plano doesn’t even exist.

Presented as part of Steppenwolf’s LookOut Series and directed by Audrey Francis, this Will Arbery’s dark comedy is progressively more disturbing. All of its characters seem to be suffering: Genevieve (Ashley Neal), the outspoken artsy sister, is very unhappy but won’t say why. Her husband Steve (Andrew Cutler) has a split personality disorder, quite literally actually. Anne (Elizabeth Birnkrant) feels un-loved and worthless, and in her quiet desperation she fills her time with killing slugs in her apartment. Her husband John (Chris Acevedo) who is suffering from a “small feet curse” that runs in his family, is “probably gay”. And, according to her cruel sisters, he’s using Anne to get his green card. The youngest sister, Isabel (Amanda Fink), is in most pain because her mysterious illness is spiritual in nature. Which, naturally, makes her a saint. Not to mention that she has a “friend” (Faceless Ghost, played by Andrew Lund), who intermittently acts as her mate and her illness. But if you think the sisters are mad, you should see their mother, Mary (Janice O’Neil). This is no ordinary dysfunctional family, it’s a study in subclinical mental illness: not quite ill enough to seek help, but really, really unwell. Kind of like most of us.

Plano is staged with an admirable efficiency: great use of props (scenic design by Kristen Martino) and clever use of language, which helps to effortlessly span long durations of time and various spaces, bringing continuity to the events without having to change decorations or go through many props. Excellent acting and intimate space that’s First Floor Theater will leave you feeling like you’ve just visited with your own dysfunctional family. It’s funny, all right, but the underlying sadness subtly gets in the way, making Plano more “dark” than “comedy”.

Plano runs through March 28^th at Steppenwolf’s 1700 Theatre. www.FirstFloorTheater.com.

Kids these days…

I went into opening night of Gift Theatre’s production of Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman only knowing that my 16-year-old daughter was excited to be my date. “It’s dark, Dad,” she warned me. Boy, was she right. “But it’s amazing, Dad,” she also assured me. And boy, was she even righter on that count.

So, dark and amazing. The Pillowman is both of these. But what is it?

A buddy cop piece. A murder mystery. The touching tale of two brothers, each all the other has in the world. A warning from some dystopian dictatorship. A volume of grim, gruesome fairy tales. The Pillowman is all of these things, and more. Much more.

I haven’t enjoyed a play this much since Goodman’s Jeff-winning 2018 production of The Wolves. And that’s because — along with McDonagh’s masterful book, Laura Alcala Baker’s visionary direction, and Lauren Nichols and Courtney Winkelman’s dark, stark scenery, of course — the four actors who tell The Pillowman’s story (and its stories within the story) give what’s a pretty soulless premise a whole lot of soul. The four-person cast is The Pillowman’s beating, battered, bleeding, bloody heart.

A word of warning. This play is dark. And shocking. And violent. It’s about child murders. And even worse, childhood trauma. But even more shocking is, coming from the mouths of a couple of the characters, a word I’d figured was too taboo to have to hear in today’s world. The R Word. Of course, its use speaks volumes about the characters who use it. Even as it’s used to describe Jay Worthington’s Michal, a developmentally disabled fellow. Worthington, to his credit, plays Michal with incredible restraint and empathy, never using the character’s condition and lot in life for laughs. Whether climbing the walls or crawling the floor, whether admitting to the unthinkable or revealing unthinkable trauma, Worthington’s Michal draws the eye whenever he’s onstage — an incredible character, but just as incredible a performance.

Michal’s brother Katurian, the play’s main character, is a storyteller and tells this story to us, the audience. Tucked away in some future police interrogation room for the duration of the play, Katurian begins the show with a bag over his head, as in the dark as his audience — us — is. Martel Mannin’s face and expressions do the same heavy lifting that Michal’s physicality do, manufacturing suspense, shock, and sorrow — a lifetime of sorrow. And, along with inventive ways of illustrating Katurian’s twisted children’s tales, Mannin’s face and voice keep the audience enraptured as he tells one story after another, each designed again to suspend belief, to shock sensibilities, and to create a world of sorrow.

In Katurian’s world, his cement holding cell, we also meet the two cops investigating a series of incidents seemingly copied straight from the pages of the fictional storyteller’s fictional stories. Gregory Fenner’s Ariel comes off at first as the prototype “bad cop” (I think one of the two even identifies him as such), threatening (and carrying out) acts of brutality, puffing on a vape, and stalking the concrete cube that is the play’s entire world. But look closer and it’s Fenner’s eyes that tell deeper stories that come to the fore as the play progresses. In Ariel’s eyes, ferocity morphs into fear.

But in a cast where each member could lay claim to being the MVP, my award goes to Cyd Blakewell. Her role, Detective Tupolski — it seems both from the play’s unchanged dialogue and a bit of internet perusing I did after the house lights came on — was written for a man. (Jeff Goldblum played the role in New York.) This is a physical (and violent) play, and Blakewell’s easy and subtle physicality looms throughout, even as others are applying electrodes and murdering children and climbing and crawling and crying and creating dark imaginary worlds, as she just pretends at being the “good cop.” (Full disclosure: when Blakewell first started her bit, my daughter turned to me and said, “It’s mom!” at the same time I turned to her and said “It’s your mom!” so maybe her performance hit close to home.) And it’s the story that Blakewell’s Tupolski tells near the end, using just a blackboard and a piece of white chalk, that was for me the best scene in a play full of contenders.

So if you’re up for a very dark evening of entertainment, you’ll be entertained. And if you can get past some pretty unsettling content in order to admire acting and storytelling at its finest, The Gift Theatre’s The Pillowman is for you, now through March 29.

Set in 1830, Lifeline Theatre’s Middle Passage, beautifully directed by Ilesa Duncan, is an exciting show: absolutely entertaining, well-produced and well-acted.

And yet, entertaining as it is, Middle Passage also recounts the horrific enslavement and transport of Africa’s Allmuseri people, their inhumane treatment by a cruel ship’s captain, and the desecration of their sacred possessions. How do these opposites co-exist in one play? Look to the source.

Based on the bestseller by Charles Johnson (adapted by David Barr III and the director), Middle Passage the book is a fictional first-person narrative by a 20-year-old freed slave, Rutherford Calhoun (Michael Morrow), who makes his way from Southern Illinois to New Orleans to sow his wild oats.

“She’s a town with almost religious pursuit of sin,” Calhoun says of New Orleans, in an aside to the audience.

Johnson gives us a picaresque novel, with a wandering young man, like other 19th century literary characters (think Thackeray’s Barry Lyndon). Both the book and the play recount from the first-person point of view, Calhoun’s experiences – good and bad passing before his eyes - during his adventures. So, as in life, the good and the bad, the lighthearted moments and the tragic, co-exist.

Like Barry Lyndon, Rutherford Calhoun is on the make in New Orleans, and without means – courting young ladies, but also running up debts. This comes to the notice of Papa Zeringue (Bryan Carter), a Creole mob boss holding all Calhoun’s promissory notes. Papa Zeringue tells Calhoun he must pay, or he will be thrown into the deeps of the Mississippi.

Thankfully for Calhoun, he has flirted (chastely) with Isadora (Shelby Lynn Bias), a young black schoolteacher from Boston, whose family has been free for generations. Isadora has some savings, and unbeknownst to Calhoun, negotiates to pay his debts to Papa Zeringue, on one condition – Calhoun will be forced to marry her.

When he learns of the plan, Calhoun stows aboard the ship Republic. When it puts out to sea, he discovers it is a slaver, on its way to Africa to pick up human cargo.
And with that, the story opens to an exciting, rollicking seafaring tale with all the trappings- storms, cannon fire, mutiny, betrayals, slave rebellions. Calhoun is there for selfish reasons - “Of all the things that drive men to sea, the most common disaster, I've come to learn, is women” – as one character puts it.

As an “everyman” character, we watch Calhoun avoid dirtying his hands in the fray, but eventually, he moves from aloof observer to responsible man, developing his moral compass through the trials.

The cast is uniformly good - really good - and most play multiple ensemble roles, as well as their principle character. Particularly notable performances were delivered by Patrick Blashill as Captain Falcon and Andres Enriquez as navigator Peter Cringle. Shelby Lynn Bias’s Isadora is both nicely written, and very well delivered – she is very 1830s Bostonian. Hunter Bryant (Calhoun’s brother Jackson), also, notably plays the role of a young slave learning English who bonds with Calhoun. Bryant launches convincingly into a somewhat lengthy delivery in an Allmuseri language.

Michael Morrow as Rutherford Calhoun carries the weight of the play on his shoulders, also making asides to the audience about the action or his feelings. Opening night, Morrow seemed a little uncertain in the beginning moments – but eventually warmed and really did command the role.

The set (Alan Donohue) is a lovingly crafted sailing vessel with multiple decks, stowage, working winche, mast and beam – all integrated to the projection design (Paul Deziel and Alex J. Gendal) and sound design (Barry Bennett). With this we feel for all the world we are at sea, particularly during storms and battles. A puppet parrot was less compelling.

The play originated at Pegasus Players in 2016 under the title, Rutherford’s Travels. But this version seems very strongly rooted in African storytelling culture, which taps a type of magical realism, to my mind (like Colson Whitehead’s Underground Railroad). Its title is far more resonant today: Middle Passage, the slave shipping route that represents the crucible of emotional and spiritual transformation from free, cultured Africans to impoverished American slaves.

Lifeline Theatre is also making Middle Passage very accessible: Tickets are $20 for military, veterans, and students, and for rush tickets sold 30 minutes before curtain. Middle Passage runs through April 5 at Lifeline Theatre,6912 N Glenwood, Chicago 60626. www.lifelinetheatre.com

It's been 24 hours since I enjoyed this play and I'm still reeling from the super intelligent "trance-formation" delivered with rapid fire accuracy by Robert Dubac's one man show Book of Moron. Dubac plays out the thought patterns of a man who has traumatically lost a portion of his memory and is trying to "remember what he has forgotten". Along the way he employs the inner voices of His Common Sense, His Voice of Reason, His Scruples, His Inner Moron, His Inner Child, His Inner Moron and His Inner Asshole. Dubac even throws in a little real stage magic to show the audience how his character finds his way to the Truth.

In Dubac's world, even The Truth is a multi-leveled thing and he begins opening the doors in his brain to The Illusion of Truth, The Truth and The Whole Truth and Nothing but The Truth.  Along the way, Dubac uses props like a box he climbs in and out of  to represent our thinking "inside the box" and demonstrates clearly how TV has dumbed down an entire population by bombarding us with 9th grade reading level clichés and factoids about the Kardashians. 

Dubac tackles Sex, Media, Politics, and other inflammatory subjects like abortion and the death sentence with humor by pointing out the inconsistencies in thinking behind each and possibly aggravating all the different groups. But he manages to bring it all together by turning a literal mirror on the audience and concluding that when all the other letters of the "Illusions" are erased from the blackboard of his mind all that is left is "US". 

Dubac points out the obvious thing we have all forgotten that we are people who all share the same heartbeat, the same planet who have much more in our minds that unite us than the "Illusions of Truth" we have been programmed to accept which divide us. 

Dubac is also the author of the one man show The Male Intellect, An Oxymoron? and told the audience he is developing a new show called Stand Up Jesus.

I was completely blown away by his total control of his complex, fast moving text AND his audience’s reactions for 90 straight minutes with no intermission that I went to purchase his DVD The Male Intellect, an Oxymoron? After the show, because that's a subject I really love to examine. 

Dubac welcomed a just few questions from the audience at the end of the show because it was a "union house and he needed to get out of the theater faster than usual" but after the show at his merch table I got to ask him my burning question - he brought up Jesus several times during the show and seemed to be working his way to a higher spiritual "Truth" in the show but never really reached it . So, I asked him "Do you believe in Jesus?" 

Without any hesitation at all he smiled broadly and said "Oh, I AM Jesus!" and I laughed and tapped him on the heart center and said without hesitation, "Me too!" 

The show was so full of provocative ideas delivered in such a way to disarm and inform us that it made me eager to see the process of his developing of his new piece, Stand Up Jesus which he will be workshopping at Zanies next Monday (March 2nd) and Tuesday (March 3rd) here in Chicago.  

Book of Moron was delivered in a way that reminded me of a much funnier version of the 1970's transformational group EST,  "It Is" , The Werner Erhard Training which over the course of 48 hours caused participants to rethink their entire belief systems in such a way as to free their minds from the belief systems that were holding them back. 

Dubac manages to do almost the same thing in a record breaking 90-minute show. 

Enjoying Book of Moron live feels much like slowing down your brain long enough to clean it with fizzy water and then hitting it with a pleasant jolt of electricity to get it started again. 

I highly recommend seeing this marvelous and fast paced show right now, especially for thinking people who have become brain weary and overwhelmed by the last few years of the "fake facts' mentality.

You can catch Robert Dubac’s Book of Moron at Broadway Playhouse through Sunday, March 1^st. for more show information click here or visit www.RobertDubac.com.  

There is a saying among the Maasai people that if you do not give an elephant a proper burial, it will haunt you for days. Lynn Nottage’s play Mlima’s Tale is an elephant ghost story. And in it we learn, elephants never forget!

Mlima is a legendary elephant on the savannas of a Kenyan game preserve where he lives. This elephant is personified by David Goodloe. He is a mountain of male beauty as well he should be; Mlima means mountain in Swahili.

Goodloe's perfectly toned body glistens under the atmospheric lighting by Jared Gooding, placed against the stark set by Joy Ahn. The setting foretells the clandestine events to come. As audience members we are ready to hear Mlima's tale.

 He is being pursued by two poachers for his tusks. Mlima tells of his origins and family life in detail.

“I was once a proud warrior, unafraid to be seen,” Mlima tells us. But that was “before the violent crackle, before the drought and the madness.” Now, “I run more than I walk, and I can never catch my breath. They are watching me. Watching always. I hear them all around me. And I run, more than I walk.”

But soon enough, Mlima is hit with a poison arrow. Not wanting to bring attention to their crime, the poachers choose not to shoot him. Instead, they watch him die an agonizingly slow death. When his death finally arrives, Mlima smears his body and face with white paint, reminiscent of the ritual body painting of African tribes.

We see Mlima's tusks travel from place to place, from one corrupt official to the next even more corrupt official, and around the world, until they end up in the home of the nouveau riche as a status symbol.

But the spirit of Mlima travels with the tusks and is present in the dealings between poachers, park rangers, wildlife directors, ivory traders, exporters, businessmen, ivory carvers, art dealers and ivory enthusiast. Everyone involved in the illicit movement and sale of the tusks receives a mark from the ghost of Mlima, a scarlet letter of sorts.

Director Jerrell Henderson has done an excellent job using 6 actors (Lewon Johns, Michael Turrentine, Collin McShane, Ben Chang, Christopher Thomas Pow and Sarah Lo) to portray 18 characters in this tale of greed, treachery and ivory to stunning results. The ensemble was some of the best work I’ve seen from a cast. Special mention must go to Lewon Johns for his interpretation of a Nigerian Government Official. His accent and characterization were spot on, as was the entire cast. Scene and costume changes are done quickly and effortlessly making the 90-minute runtime flies by.

Nottage, a graduate of the Yale School of Drama has won two Pulitzers for Sweat and Ruined, and is a MacArthur genius grant recipient among other honors. (My personal favorite Nottage play is Intimate Apparel.) Mlima's Tale is different in structure than her previous character driven plays. This is a tale told in the African folklore style.

Griffin Theatre's Mlima’s Tale is a beautiful, mesmerizing story that I promise you won’t forget. It runs at the Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark February 23 – March 21, 2020,  Thursday, Friday & Saturday at 7:30 pm. Sunday at 3:00 pm.

There’s something about a good mystery that keeps us engrossed. Maybe it’s the colorful suspects, maybe it’s the dissecting of clues involved, maybe it’s our own morbid curiosity that comes with murder - after all isn’t Forensic Files still one of the most watched TV shows? We like the detective work, plain and simple – the search for motive and opportunity and the gathering of evidence. And we certainly like the thought that everyone in the room is a suspect, no matter how unlikely they might seem. There’s a reason that Shear Madness has been running for forty years and is now one of the longest running non-musical plays ever (the whodunnit The Mousetrap leads all stage productions with the longest ever run). Well, amateur detectives, get ready because there’s been another murder in Chicago and your help is needed to solve the case. Once a mainstay in Chicago from 1982 through 1999, Shear Madness has returned, this time making its temporary home at Mercury Theater.

Taking place inside Shear Madness, a Chicago salon, life seems normal for the most part until the landlady upstairs is brutally murdered – stabbed repeatedly with a pair of – guess what - shears. But fortunately, Detective Nick Rossetti (Joe Popp) has been working undercover and is on the scene and through a bit of interrogation and deducing we find that everyone has a motive. Suspicion runs rampant as accusations fly everywhere and it soon becomes clear – the audience will need to help in bringing the killer to justice.    

Like in any engaging whodunnit, Shear Madness gives us a handful of intriguing characters and though the play starts off a bit sluggish to the point where one asks themselves where the story could possibly be going, the excitement quickly accelerates once the murder occurs and its direction is no longer in question. After a few scenarios are tossed around onstage, Detective Rossetti asks the audience to participate as the cast reenacts everything that had happened prior to the murder with as much detail as possible. If something is amiss or does not match what had actually happened, theater goers are invited to call out the discrepancy to help the detective put the pieces together. We are then encouraged to toss out any theories we might have to Detective Rossetti during the intermission where he makes himself readily available, at the same time we prepare questions to ask the play’s characters once the second act begins. Yes, we get to interrogate the suspects.

Best put, Shear Madness is just plain old fun. It’s a hilarious show that gives us a chance to crime solve along with the detective, some of its funniest moments the participation between audience and cast. Also entertaining are the many references to Chicago and several jokes that have been updated to include todays politics and pop culture. Sure, some of the humor is dated. The show was created in 1980. But it works – and works well. Thanks to Warner Crocker’s well-piloted direction and a superb cast that works well together and can also seamlessly interact with the audience on the fly, we see that funny is funny no matter when it was written so long as it’s delivered well. And no one was off limits. Touching on famous personalities from Taylor Swift to Bill Clinton to Joe Biden to Rod Blagojevich to dot, dot, dot, the play certainly takes its share of swipes. And while some of its jokes might be geared to ruffle a few feathers, the audience clearly takes them as just that – jokes. Even in its more contrived moments where predictable humor is used, a laugh is usually found. In the end it’s a silly comedy, not a show to be taken seriously, and lord knows we could all use a laugh or two.

The show does get a boost from audience involvement and even some good-natured heckling, but it naturally relies heavily on its cast. Ed Kross is a sheer delight to watch as Tony Whitcomb, the flamboyant salon owner, both his well-timed innuendos and physical comedy garnering one laugh after another. Mary Robin Roth as Mrs. Schubert also has many scene stealing moments as does David Sajewich as “used antique dealer” Eddie Lawrence while Brittany D Parker’s Barbara DeMarco hits the mark, as well. Detective Rossetti’s partner Mikey Thomas is played well by Sam Woods to round out an overall solid cast. Joe Popp as Detective Nick Rossetti is perhaps the most noteworthy of the bunch, as his character is kind of the glue that holds everything together in this production. As theater goers bounce one question or theory off the detective (sometimes with spot on observations and often quite absurd), Popp impresses repeatedly never wavering from his character and never absent of a quick, often humorous, response.

Shear Madness is also a play that can be enjoyed more than once. The story has four possible outcomes based on how the audience votes, and even if one gets the same outcome twice, you can be sure the audience participation will differ each and every time.

A unique theatre experience that has the audience laughing as much as it has them guessing, Shear Madness breaks down the fourth wall and delivers two one-of-a-kind fun-filled hours.

Shear Madness is being performed at Mercury Theater through March 29^th. For tickets and/or more information visit www.MercuryTheaterChicago.com.           

Some reviews are as easy to write as 1, 2, 3; an intro, a body, and a conclusion. Some reviews are more difficult to write, even when following that simple formula. Even time is broken into three parts: past, present, and future. Well, I cannot go into the past to change watching The Queen of Spades, now playing at the Lyrics Opera, and I cannot predict I won’t read the Russian novel the opera is based on sometime in the future. But presently, I find three large issues with this opera that prevent me from simply writing a review.

The Queen of Spades is a story of obsession and deceit, following Gherman (Brandon Javanovich) an officer obsessed with gambling who also fancies a young noblewoman Lisa (Sondra Radvanovsky) who is engaged to another. As luck would have it, Lisa’s grandmother, the countess (Jane Henschel) could hold the secret to Gherman winning the girl and a fortune as the countess holds the secret to 3 winning cards that won her fortune. The countess has already revealed the secret of the cards to two people, and if she tells one more person she will die. Gherman manipulates and uses Lisa to get close to the countess and learn the secret of the 3 cards. These three characters' lives are intertwined and obsession eventually leads to everyone’s demise. 

The sheer talent that goes into an opera is astounding. The stage, the orchestra, and most importantly, the singers. It’s such a rare and exceptional gift to sing such powerful lyrics in this way, and Javanovich and Radvanovsky were no different. The audience frequently ooed and awed at their musical prowess. But their acting fell short, and it was difficult to decipher what the characters were feeling through the body language, staging, and acting portrayed. In one scene, it was unclear if Lisa  was fighting her feelings of love for Gherman, or if she was fearful that he would take her virtue. In another scene, it was impossible to understand if someone was paralyzed with fear or simply forgot their lines. The story is intricate but it’s not complex, so it might have been that the opera singers are simply not triple threats in singing, acting, and dancing, but just uniquely talented singers.

Russian is a difficult language. It’s difficult to learn, to speak, and even more difficult to sing in if not a native speaker. Chicago is home to a large Russian population, a population that represented a large portion of The Queen of Spade’s audience. Throughout the opera, Russian speakers could be heard exclaiming, “that’s not what they said,” as the English translation of the Russian lyrics displayed across the prompters for the audience to read. One Russian couple behind me was frustrated with the translation and wanted a Russian or cyrillic counterpart. At times, there was no translation at all. Multiple lines belted out in Russian only for no translation to appear on the prompters, no doubt adding to the confusion around what the audience was hearing and what they were seeing. Did we miss a character’s motivation? Wait, why is she crying? The Russian couple did not return for the second act and the remainder of the play, and intermissions were time for native Russian speakers to remark about how bad the accents and pronunciation were. I have sympathy for the opera singers as the language is not easy to learn and native speakers are not very forgiving to those who do not speak, or sing, the language well. 

The third and final issue of The Queen of Spades is that the opera is very long. The Queen of Spades novella can be read within an hour, so the opera lasting over 3 hours is difficult to sit through. Tchaikovsky as a composer composed a beautiful opera, but it convolutes the story and is challenging to follow. There isn’t a gut wrenching climax or surprise twist, and (spoiler alert) there isn’t much surprise when the three main players die. The opera is just left wanting. Perhaps it was merely this interpretation and production of The Queen of Spades, or perhaps it was a combination of acting, storyline, and translations. Afterall, a good story needs three elements: character, setting, and plot. If one element is lacking, the others won’t be able to support it. All three are needed to put on an exceptional play.

In Russian, the number 3 is “troika” which means “satisfactory.” Unfortunately, even with so much illusion and elements of 3, this play did not satisfy the opera scene in Chicago.

Remaining performance dates for The Queen of Spades are February 23, and 26 and March 1 at the Lyric Opera House, 20 N Wacker Dr., Chicago. For tickets and information visit lyricopera.org/spades. The Queen of Spades is performed in Russian with projected English translations. Estimated running time is 3 hours 45 minutes, including two intermissions.

When I remember John Denver, it’s hard not to think about crisp country air, clean rivers, pristine mountains and, well, just a healthy planet. John loved nature. It was abundantly clear in his music. His life was cut short at just 53 years old when a plane he was piloting crashed into Monterey Bay, but the folk and country singer left quite an impression on the world in his four decades with not only the music he wrote and performed but also his work as an activist and humanitarian.

In Almost Heaven, a musical revue created by Harold Thau, the singer’s longtime manager, John Denver’s life and music are celebrated in brilliant fashion. Currently being performed at nearby Theatre at the Center in Munster, Indiana, Artistic Director Linda Fortunato skillfully directs this wonderful tribute as William Underwood lends his special touch as the productions’ Music Director to bring Denver’s most memorable songs to life.

(left to right) Actors Steven Romero Schaffer, Tommy Malouf, Sara Geist and Andrew Mueller - Photo by Guy Rhodes

While telling the story of Denver’s life from the start of his music career in the 1960’s through his untimely death in 1997, the musically gifted cast takes turns singing and playing songs that include fan favorites “Rocky Mountain High,” “Annie’s Song,”, “Sunshine on My Shoulders” and, of course, “Take Me Home, Country Roads”. The often-moving story touches on Denver’s anti-war stance despite growing up in a military family, his meteoric rise in becoming a household name, his marriage, his love for a rich, clean environment and the impact his music had on so many people. A particularly touching moment occurs when a letter is read from a young fan in China who shares what a positive effect Denver has left on her and her music teacher – even at a time when it was illegal to listen to his music in their country. We are also made privy to Denver’s shortcomings in his later years, since he, too, is after all human.

A rotating cast commands the three-quarter round theater. Steven Romero Schaeffer, Shannon McEldowney, Andrew Mueller, Sara Geist and Tommy Malouf each deliver strong solo and group performances, beautiful harmonies filling the venue as the five also impress on stringed instruments playing along with the Underwood-led band that also features musicians Malcolm Ruhl and Alison Tatum.

Almost Heaven is a well-crafted musical work that flows at the perfect pace while grabbing its audience from the very beginning - and it never lets go. Whether a fan of John Denver’s already or for those that have been recently introduced to his work, this production is sure to entertain and touch hearts.

Highly recommended.  

Almost Heaven is being performed at Theatre at the Center through March 22^nd. For tickets and/or more information visit www.TheatreAtTheCenter.com.