Items filtered by date: November 2007

Cirque du Soleil is back in Chicago with its latest touring production, Volta. Volta’s inspiration comes from the culture of street sports and just about any acrobatics that could have originated in an urban jungle.

Written and directed by Bastien Alexandre, the theme of Volta is finding freedom from the judgment of others while finding oneself. The main character, Waz, is a young game show contestant who feels different, but thinks that fame and fortune will make him feel good about himself. Over the course of the show he discovers that love and acceptance come from being true to himself, and that his difference is what makes him extraordinary. As always the case with Cirque du Soleil shows, music accompaniment is provided by a live band; tacked behind the blinds in an enclosure at the back of the stage, it adds a rock musical element to the show. A blend of new age electronic and rock music by Anthony Gonzalez, vocals by Eric DeShan. Costumes for the show have been designed by Emmy award winner Zaldy Goco, famous for his work with Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani and RuPaul’s Drag Race.

First Act starts out with a fun and engaging Mr. Wow Show. Rope skipping performers compete for “wows” from the audience, and wows they get. Next comes visually enticing “Meeting Ela”, with colorfully dressed performers doing Precision Walk, Roller Skating and a Unicycle numbers. “Acro Lamp” is a quietly beautiful aerial performance where a street lamp suspended high from the ceiling serves as a prop. For me, the most memorable number of the first part of the show is “Rise and Shine” – a high energy trampoline-based act. The stage becomes out quipped with a contraption reminiscent of a building construction site; a dozen or so performers jump out the windows and other surfaces, bounce off a trampoline, somersault, then jump back onto the building slowing down ever so slightly before landing with breathtaking precision. It‘s like watching a high quality video game where the characters are not limited by the nature of physics or human capacity.

Second Act opens with Acrobatic Ladders [that look like fire escapes]- a number called “Leaving the City” with performers defying gravity as they swing and fly around in horizontal planes. Following it is “Urban Jungle” - a flawlessly fabulous, albeit more traditional, act of Shape Diving. And then comes magnificent “Mirage” – a hair Suspension act with a Brazilian aerialist Danila Bim suspended only by her hair pulled into a tight bun. As she’s swept up high in the air, the only thought suspended in my head is: how’s this even possible?

Comedic relief is provided by the Russian performer Andrey Kislitsin; his pantomimes are fun and superbly executed, most notably, “La Plage”, that draws lots of laughs from the audience. Volta culminates in “Momentum” – Bicycle Motorcross act. Loud and exciting, it is the perfect ending to another great show that Cirque du Soleil is known and loved for.

Volta is being performed at Soldier Field’s South Parking Lot through July 6th.

With the Cubs finally winning the World Series in 2016 after a 108-year drought, it was probably inevitable a theatrical production would be created at some point to recreate the special magic Chicagoans felt over that incredible year. And so ‘Miracle’, the new musical by William Marovitz and Julian Frazin, has arrived at Royal George Theatre smack dab in the middle of baseball season. Directed by Damon Kiely, the story centers around Maggie’s Tavern in Wrigleyville and the direct effect a winning season has on its owners, friends and patrons.

Charlie (Brandon Dahlquist) grew up at Maggie’s. It was owned by his parent’s and not long after his mother passed away, Pops (Gene Weygandt) passed the family business on to his son. Now Charlie lives upstairs with his wife Sofia (Allison Sill) and his daughter Dani (Amaris Sanchez and Elise Wolf). Everyone helps out. Larry (Johnathan Butler-Duplessis) is Charlie’s best friend and though busy with his law firm, always makes time to lend a hand. Sofia, Pops and Dani also do their part. It is a true family business. But business is slow, back taxes have piled up (thanks to an oversight by Pops) and Charlie doesn’t want his daughter’s future to be the same as his. But they are all die-hard Cubs fans and enjoy every minute of Wrigleyville tavern life. Each year opens with new enthusiasm and optimism for everyone except Charlie.

Charlie, a former college pitcher who gave up a possible Major League career to take on responsibilities at the tavern, asks himself why he and his family keep buying into the Cubs. He knows they are bound to disappoint. They are cursed. But don’t tell that to Charlie’s family or his regulars Babs (Veronica Garza) and Weslowski (Michael Kindston) – both hilarious, by the way. They just know the Cubs are destined to win the World Series.

The story evolves throughout the year, starting with an opening day win. We watch as the wins keep stacking up. A World Series win would sure do wonders for the struggling bar and no one has more faith than Dani.

Each step of the historic journey is captured as the Cubs make the post season and take out the Dodgers to play Cleveland for the World Series Championship. Images are displayed overhead as we relive those seven games that might just go down in history as the most exciting ever to have been played. Fans cheer from the audience as their Cubbies come back from the improbable 3-1 deficit only to snatch victory in an extra-innings Wild West adventure.

‘Miracle’ entertains from beginning to end. There are plenty of humorous moments, touching moments and the story flows smoothly thanks to a well-crafted script and an all-around very talented cast (Weygandt is just terrific as Pops). Even the musical numbers are catchy –Allison Sill really displays great vocal range while Dahlquist certainly holds his own.

There is really nothing to dislike in this engaging production that centers around one of Chicago’s most memorable moments. A great way to recapture the magic of 2016, ‘Miracle’ wins in every way.

Homerun!

‘Miracle’ is currently being performed at Royal George Theatre. Performance schedule for MIRACLE is Wednesdays at 7:30pm, Thursdays at 2pm and 7:30pm, Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 3pm and 8pm, and Sundays at 3pm. Tickets can be purchased at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling the box office at 312.988.9000.

*Extended through September 1st

Really? Another ‘Frankenstein’? The 2018/19 season was the year of ‘Frankenstein’. To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s classic gothic thriller, four theatre companies produced wildly different adaptations of the novel. If you find yourself wondering whether these companies knew of each other’s productions, they surely did. The beauty of the Chicago theatre landscape is that there’s a lot of room for good storytelling. Lookingglass Theatre wraps up their season with a bold adaptation from the same team who brought us ‘Moby Dick’ and ‘Lookingglass Alice’.

Conceived and directed by David Catlin, this take on ‘Frankenstein’ is as visually stunning as it is insightful. The in-the-round staging makes this telling feel more active, as the entire performance space is used throughout. Shifting around in your seat feels like a more engaging way to view the show. Not knowing where the monster or the next loud sound will come from, heightens the sense of terror. Catlin’s production is scary. Many of the other productions discounted that this is a horror story originally intended by Mary Shelley to scare guests at a party.

While nearly all the productions tried to weave Mary Shelley’s personal life into the retelling, Catlin’s version cuts right to the heart. In fluid transitions between Shelley’s life and ‘Frankenstein’, we get to see the range of Cordelia Dewdney’s talents as an actress. The show may be titled after the scientist, but this is a play about Mary Shelley. Dewdney’s dialogue as Mary Shelley is heartbreaking when considering her real life. Cruz Gonzalez-Cadel also turns in a strong performance in a variety of characters, all of which she plays comically large with a faux pregnancy belly.

The balance of good casting, inventive storytelling and arresting staging distinguish this production. Catlin has chosen to frame his version almost as children playing dress up while exchanging ghost stories. And since the characters are adults, there’s a simmering sexiness to this production. Sexy and ‘Frankenstein’ are two words rarely seen in the same sentence, but somehow Lookingglass achieves just that, making this a delicious evening at the theatre. Thrills, chills and titillation, the pillars of entertainment.

Even though we are now 201 years out from the original publication of ‘Frankenstein’, don’t sleep on this striking production at Lookingglass. For those with a grey memory of the novel from high school, or only familiar with the Universal-Boris-Karloff film version, Lookingglass serves up an unforgettable night of scary fun.

*Extended through September 1st

You know if a musical wins the Pulitzer, it’s going to be a sad one. Creative team Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey took home the 2010 Pulitzer for ‘Next to Normal’, an award rarely given to musical theatre. David Cromer returns to Writers Theatre to direct this highly anticipated revival. Cromer has strong roots with the Glencoe-based company and this faithful, yet distinct production contains all the hallmarks of his signature style. Cromer also directed the Tony awarded production of ‘The Band’s Visit’ which just closed on Broadway last month.

‘Next to Normal’ is a rock opera about a suburban mother and housewife dealing with bipolar disorder. Not exactly the sexiest topic for a musical, but lyricist Brian Yorkey cuts through the schmaltz with deeply effective words about the state of mental health in America.

This show relies heavily on the small cast, but probably even heavier on the actress in the lead role. Keely Vasquez is devastating as Diana Goodman. Her performance is realistic and shocking as she rapidly slips from seemingly normal mother into the depths of psychosis, while mostly in song. A tough order to fill without losing your audience. Her daughter Natalie is played by Kyrie Courter who appears to be displaying Cromer’s directorial style the strongest in this ensemble. She has a great voice that she maintains even during the most challenging moments of acting.

Writers’ remount of ‘Next to Normal’ is hardly an area premier, as the national tour starring Alice Ripley made a stop in Chicago, and a few other companies have tackled this one since. Though Writers’ production feels like a definitive regional engagement. Cromer has a knack for these hard-hitting musicals. Some may remember his gritty, raw production of ‘RENT’ at the now defunct American Theatre Company. His vision for this show is unique and tends to go for the emotional gut rather than crystal clear showtune belting. While this may irk some musical theatre purists, the visceral sounds of the cast seem more authentic than the original cast recording.

This show is more like a play in song, than a traditional musical. Its depth lies in that it’s a story about specific characters dealing with an issue that many people can see themselves in. Even if you can’t relate to the character dealing with bipolar, the plight of the characters effected is heartbreaking. ‘Next to Normal’ is a slow builder. It isn’t really until the second act that it all catches up to you and by the finale, it’s hard to find anyone not emoting. This production is well worth hopping on the Metra for. If you missed the tour or the Broadway engagement, fear not, Cromer delivers an equally satisfying product.

Through June 16 at Writers Theatre. 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe IL 847-242-6000

Goodman Theatre’s staging of The Winter’s Tale, loaded with spectacle, would have seemed ridiculous and even unanchored 20 years ago. But with the surging popularity of those magical realms in the movies of the Marvel Universe – Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame - where characters die, then return, and are repeatedly transformed – well, director Robert Fall’s almost (but not quite) overwrought effort fits our times perfectly.

The Winter’s Tale was one of Shakespeare final works, and it is a unique form (perhaps why it is produced less often), neither a comedy nor a tragedy, but devised as a romance.
Unlike the powerful plays that are channeled intellectually to our emotions through telling dialog, as in the tragic Hamlet or comic Taming of the Shrew, The Winter’s Tale was meant as a theatrical confection, and entertains us more than it sways us.

In Goodman Theatre’s magnificent production, director Robert Falls has given us spectacle – five acts delivered as a series of elegant vignettes, presenting different facets of Shakespeare’s spin on several forms: Tragedy, Greek Drama, Pastoral Romance, Comedy & Clowning. At first, I admit I was suspicious of it all, wondering whether Goodman had bankrolled an overproduced folly. But by degrees I came to appreciate Falls' vision, and fell for it.

The Winter’s Tale opens with a brewing tragedy among royals – the deeply bonded kings of Bohemia and Sicilia are like brothers, who have a falling out, leading to tragic consequences and suffering. But Shakespeare uses the stuff of this tragedy as a formula: we are meant to behold the key points of very bad things happening.

For this, Falls puts the cast in contemporary evening wear and paper crowns – suggesting through what is almost a cliché in contemporary Shakespeare style, that this is a throwaway tragedy. The cast delivers it’s Elizabethan dialog persuasively. But the rather convoluted sequence of events is more like an exaggerated operatic storyline, than compelling trough of sorrow.

In a nutshell, Leontes (Dan Donohue - he was Scar in Lion King!) King of Sicilia becomes jealous of his pregnant wife Hermione (Kate Fry) and of his dearest friend, Polixenes (Nathan Hosner), the King of Bohemia, who he deems are cheating on him. Leontes shifts with inexplicable rapidity from bosom buddy to enraged adversary, though friends and advisers try to soothe him. Hermione delivers the baby, and Leontes puts her on trial, and sends the infant girl to die in the wilderness – of Bohemia. Oh and his young son Mamillius (Charlie Herman) dies, leaving Leontes heirless.

Subsequent scenes, including the trial of Hermione, now are given the look of Greek drama, or, Game of Thrones as suggested by the costume of Leontes steward, Paulina (Christiana Clark is a dramatic force). Hermione’s fate is sealed by Leontes' edict, but an appeal is made to consult the Oracle at Delphos on whether his jealousy is misplaced.

The play transitions a more pastoral setting, in wilds of the Kingdom of Bohemia, where the baby in the basket is threatened by a bear – played with convincing ferociousness by Mark Lancaster. The baby is saved when the bear chases after someone else (“Exit, pursued by bear” is the script line).

The curtain falls. And when it rises, we are greeted by a transitional interlude, with the character Time and letting us know in metered verse the clock has moved forward 16 years. This precious scene is like an elaborate decorative embellishment in an antiquarian book, letting us know we are entering a new episode.

The next parts of the play brings us to the pastoral setting of the Kingdom of Bohemia, and Falls gives us celebratory scenes following a sheep shearing, with bales of wool stacked high, and ala Nutcracker, a giant sheep and sheers. Against the setting of plenty we meet the surviving infant, Perdita (Chloe Baldwin) now a teenaged girl, and her boyfriend, Florizel (Xavier Bluell, who brings a real freshness and spark to his role). We are greeted by delightful scenes, and eventually the play makes it’s way back to the Kingdom of Sicilia, for a magical resolution in which all is forgiven, though not all live happily ever after.

For Shakespeare fans this production of a rarity makes The Winter’s Tale must viewing. But anyone who comes will find themselves richly rewarded. It runs through June 9 at Goodman Theatre.

When having non-stop conversations in his head and agonizing over the most mundane decisions becomes daily reality of living with OCD, finding a cure turns into obsession. Of course it does.

The Mushroom Cure is a comedian Adam Strauss’ true tale of his ongoing battle with OCD.  Though he sees a shrink on a regular basis, cognitive therapy doesn’t seem to be working. When Adam learns about a scientific study showing that hallucinogenic mushrooms may help cure OCD, he’s on it. But magic mushrooms are hard to find; his pot dealer doesn’t have any, and inquiries from friends and fellow comedians turn up nothing. His new girlfriend highly recommends a different plant (cactus), so, the two of them spend a long weekend tripping. As a bonus, we learn some useful information about various psychedelics and how to prepare and use them.  Adam even produces a shot glass of already processed cactus concoction, right on stage, and asks if anyone wants to partake. There’re no volunteers, so he proceeds to drink it himself.  

Even the stage is set up to allude to his illness: a small side table next to the performer’s chair has 5 full glasses of water; during the show Adam intermittently drinks from all of them, possibly in some special order. 

It takes real courage to talk (and laugh) about the psychological torment of a one’s mental illness, and Adam’s willingness to have an open conversation about it is remarkable. The show is occasionally funny, but it mostly puts the audience into shrink’s shoes where we just listen to him vent and recall conversations. In the end, he learns how to help himself, and that might be the entire point of his quest.  

The Mushroom Cure is a one man show. Written and performed by New-York based comedian Adam Strauss, directed by Jonathan Libman, it garnered widespread acclaim as well as New York International Fringe Festival’s Excellence Award for Solo Performance.

The Mushroom Cure is being performed at Greenhouse Theater Center through June 9th.

Promethean Theatre Ensemble has brought to stage a very good production of Mad, Beat, Hip & Gone, a play that is a riff on the Beat Generation literary movement – specifically drawing from Jack Kerouac’s 1957 novel, On the Road.

The script by Steve Dietz (Private Eyes) adopts aspects of the free-form writing style Kerouac called “spontaneous prose." Some of Kerouac’s works were drafted in days-long, Benzedrine-fueled writing jags. He famously typed on paper rolls fed continuously through his Underwood typewriter.

Kerouac’s On the Road tells of two young guys thumbing westward in the late 1940’s, on the make, and in search of themselves – aiming to join the Beat’s congregating in San Francisco. (These two guys would be the real life Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassaday, his buddy and fellow writer.) Like Hemingway before him, Kerouac also brought a macho flair to the pursuit of writing – he was a college football star and outdoorsman.

Mad, Beat, Hip & Gone similarly tells of two buddies who have recently graduated from high school in Nebraska – Danny Fergus (Pat King) and Rich Rayburn (Michael Vizzi), who end up on a similar sojourn, but for very different reasons. We meet the boys on their return from a local bar, where Danny was thwarted in his effort to pick up a girl when the real Jack Kerouac (unseen in the play) wows her with some spontaneous poetry – and gets her phone number. "What's the deal with guys like that," asks an astonished Danny. 

On the Road is widely considered a seminal work of 20th Century American literature. Artists including Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, and The Doors credit Kerouac as a significant influence. And successive generations continue to rediscover Kerouac’s accomplishment in this and other writing such as Dharma Bums. Kerouac incorporates stream of consciousness, but with a sufficiently structured plot to bring us along on a story line.

Dietz trades on Kerouac’s tone, but delivers an interesting plot line to hold our attention – working in the back story of Danny and Rich to create a motivation as they depart on a road trip very much paralleling Kerouac’s, but for more personal reasons. (We’ll avoid a spoiler here.) Dietz also captures the post-World War II world where young American’s were hungry for purpose, and seeking themselves.

You don't need to know Kerouac at all to like this play. Dietz has mined the times and developed characters who express the views Kerouac would recognize.Danny's father, Albert Fergus (Ted Hoerl) who runs a gas station, hold's forth on automobiles and their role in the American dream. He sounds poetic, like Kerouac, calling the gas and car a sacrament. 

"A car was a little house you could take along with you," he says. "In a house, your window is your fate. In your car, your window is your vision." 

Kerouac, along with poet Allen Ginsberg’s Howl and William S. Burrough’s The Beat Generation were the seminal literary expressions of non-conformist movement that came to life after World War II, accompanied by free-form jazz, drug experimentation, and sexual liberation. This evolved into the hippie movement, and the continued streams of social change (and reactions to these changes) that brought us to our charged contemporary social landscape.

Dietz uses poetic language that harkens to Kerouac’s style, which doesn’t always provide literal clarity. But it works. 

He also injects (a welcome anachronism given the period of Mad Beat Hip & Gone) a strong female character - Honey Vance (Hilary Williams) – who like the boys is searching for personal answers by hitchhiking to San Francisco. In Dietz’s storyline we are faced with the unconscious machismo that characters like Kerouac (and anti-heroes of the period like James Dean) represent. We also get some choice "Mrs. Robinson" moments between Danny’s mom, Mrs. Fergus (Elaine Carlson) and Rich – well played by Vizzi and Carlson. I especially liked Ted Hoerl as Danny’s Dad; and Hillary Williams’ peformance was excellent.

Strong performances and a script that channels Kerouac make this worthy show, definitely recommended to get a flavor of the period and a sense of how the Beat Generation was greeted by middle America. Promethean Ensemble’s Mad, Beat, Hip & Gone runs through June 1 at The Edge Theater Off Broadway, 1133 W Catalpa in Chicago.

I have to admit up front - I am a full-on West Side Story fan girl. I have seen the movie, released in 1961, probably 100 times. I know the plot, the words to every song, the dance moves, and have viscerally felt the teenage angst that is the underlying basis of the plot...for well over 50 years. I credit Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim and the original writer, Arthur Laurents with kickstarting my love of all things Shakespeare (West Side Story is an updated take on Romeo and Juliet.) I kneel and utter multiple huzzahs to the brilliant Choreographer, Jerome Robbins who, for crying out loud - came up with moves so outrageous and fluid that every dance inspired child of the early 1960’s spent hours learning how to snap their fingers below their knees as they moved stealthily forward while trying to control their rage.

Yes, I am a fan. And as some would say an obsessively, vested fan...I can honestly state that The Lyric Opera of Chicago’s production of West Side Story is spot on. It will not let you down. While it is comforting in its homage to the original Broadway play and subsequent movie, it adds some little idiosyncrasies of its own that makes you nod and realize that yep, this stuff is still going on-500 plus years after Shakespeare conceived of star-crossed lovers and the intolerance of bigotry.
Now, down to the meat of this production.

Mikaela Bennett as Maria, displays the full range of emotions of a young, protected yet curious girl, new to the reality and struggle of leaving her home and trying to break free to embrace her pending adulthood and new life. Ms. Bennett’s vocal range is mesmerizing. She has a clarity to her notes you rarely hear outside of traditional opera. She also personifies the innocence and joie de vivre of a girl stepping forward to become a woman. She is a lovely actress, and her Maria goes deep to the heart.Corey Cott, as Tony steps up into the role that Richard Beymer stamped into our consciousness. He steps up, and over. Realistically, the role written as Tony is kind of light, dialog-wise. But Mr. Cott’s voice is so deceptively amazing, it leaves one almost breathless. The man has mastered the “Devil’s Triangle” of notes. Kudos, Sir. You made us cry.

Amanda Castro as Anita is edgy, punky and truly inhabits a proud Borinquena taking control of her life and love. She has the fricative vocal ability to really emphasize her strength and make you feel that whatever comes out of her mouth should be stamped with an exclamation point!
Manuel Stark Santos as Bernardo, though he doesn’t really have any musical solos-is a presence on stage in and of himself. His big brother slash gang leader is dominating and realistically embodies the macho-ness of Hispanic culture. This is no George Chakiris in brown face...this is an actor who shows us on stage what cultural machismo entails.

Brett Thiele as Riff is more talented, vocally pleasing and better looking than the movie version. He shows us a few more layers into a character that has been generally portrayed as depth-light.

The remainder of the cast is talented and on point in their portrayal as followers to the main characters. All are in of themselves wonderful singers and dancers, and they do this production proud.

The production and stage crew were fluid, efficient and cohesive. I really enjoyed how symbiotic the set changes were. It’s probably one of the more demanding jobs and they did it faultlessly.

Lastly...the orchestra conducted by James Lowe was, as to be expected - stellar. Ladies and gentlemen, you took my breath away.

All in all. I highly recommend The Lyric’s production of West Side Story. For a tragic story, it left me full of joy.

Through June 2nd at Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Too Heavy for Your Pocket at TimeLine Theatre is both an important play, and a good one. Powerful, but not too heavy to bear, with a rock-star cast directed by Ron OJ Parsons, it tells the story of the Freedom Riders – groups of blacks and whites who traveled through the segregated South in 1961 on Greyhound and Trailway's buses, asserting the new freedoms set under the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

It is written by rising talent Jeron Breon Holder, currently a writer on NBC’s New Amsterdam, who developed it while working on his MFA at the Yale School of Drama in 2016. This project was triggered by a remark his grandmother made about a young friend who abandoned college to join the Freedom Riders. What followed were weeks touring locations and studying events that transpired more than 30 years before Holder was born.

The buses were met often with violence, and the passengers beaten and jailed. As stories of the lives of black people's experiences in the South are emerging – think The Butler, Hidden Figures, Selma – our awareness of this heritage of injustice grows. This is valuable.

Evelyn (Ayanna Bria Bakari) and Sally (Jennifer Latimore).

The challenge is that however well intentioned, these stories are filtered – even unconsciously - from a viewpoint of white people’s participation. We get what is called White Gaze, or depictions focusing on White Saviors. The overarching cultural perspectives make us feel good about the values, but we miss the full story. Think of the difference between the sentimental The Green Book, and searing works like August Wilson’s Fences, or James Baldwin’s If Beal St. Could Talk.
Holder takes the Freedom Riders as a backdrop to an engaging and rather incisive portrait of two young married couples, best friends living near each other in rural Tennessee. Bowzie Brandon (Jalen Gilbert) has just won a college scholarship; his wife Evelyn (Ayanna Bria Bakari) is the breadwinner. Their best friends are Tony (Cage Sebastian Pierre) and Sally (Jennifer Latimore).

Brandon decides to join the Freedom Riders. Yet this choice is not instantly celebrated, and instead throws this small circle of friends into emotional chaos. Each embodies a facet of that period’s African-American culture. But what elevates the work is that each represents a slice of the human condition.

Sally is a church-bound social conservative, who questions whether challenging the status quo is the moral path. Hardworking Tony, the salt of the earth and Brandon’s best bro, quickly supports his buddy’s choice. Most complex is the response of Evelyn, a former nightclub singer who has settled into the straight and narrow path with Brandon, and has supported his dreams - until this one. Bowzie goes ahead anyway.

"When I get on that Greyhound bus, it's gonna be the first serious thing I've done in my life," Bowzie says.

But what begins as an exhilarating ride, turns into a grind, and Holder  gives us real people, not symbols. Bowzie is broken and he longs for home, the only jailed protester who doesn't hear from his family and friends, while back home, the tides of change, and the pressure of Bowzie's plight, impact his friends and spouse. 

His wife Evelyn cuts off communication for her own emotional protection. Finally Bowzie reaches Tony, who tells him to come home and take care of his wife, "You ain't no Martin Luther King," And we see Sally hit a breaking point, when she realizes she is mistreated in her home, as well as outside it. In a stunning scene, she laments, "Everyone treats you like a dog," she says. "I want a freedom ride for me! Where is my goddam freedom ride!" 

Jireh Breon Holder

Holder has done a great job establishing the settings and building the emotional dynamics of these characters -though at a couple points the exposition through dialog is a tad leaden. My heart was in my throat and my tears surfaced. But between the melodrama and angst, Holder drops in parodies of church life and services – in which Latimore’s gifts for mimicry, and Gilbert’s impersonation of the church pastor are priceless. Bakari’s irrepressibly beautiful voice surfaces immediately in the first scenes, as she simply hums to herself – and eventually in a nightclub scene with a scintillating song.

Shout-outs are due the dramaturg (Regina Victor) and artistic director PJ Powers) who brought this play to TimeLine; and to the scenic designer (Jose Manuel Diaz-Soto) for blending the household and its rural surroundings. And to whomever is responsible for this exceptional casting – the chemistry of these four is electric. Running at the TimeLine theatre through June 29, Too Heavy for Your Pocket is highly recommended.

I know I’m not the target audience of the current production at the Broadway Playhouse (or of the American Girl store nearby), but I suppose my wallet is. What I do know is that my six-year-old daughter was excited for the show, and I was excited to watch her watch it. There’s something about seeing someone else experience joy that’s even better than experiencing it your own self. And that’s what I got to experience while watching a whole audience full of joyful kids watch American Girl Live.

If you’re considering attending this show, then I needn’t educate you on the line of American Girl dolls that have not only built a successful franchise but have now spawned an actual touring Broadway production. And if you’re considering attending this actual touring Broadway production, then I need only tout its impact on the little girls or guys you’ll be taking along. For the wee ones, this show’s a success, mostly thanks to its spunky cast and the onstage world they inhabit for the two hours (yes, two hours) that the play runs.

We’re greeted at Camp American Girl by Monica Poston’s over-the-top counselor, Alyssa. Alyssa not only greets us, but five girls who’ll be attending camp right along with us. Jenna Bruce plays the hesitant newcomer, Tori. Ashley Diane’s Bella is ready to go, though, as are Shelby L. Miguel’s Rosie and Laila E. Drew’s uber-talented Nia. But the camper who bounced and flexed and made the most of her time onstage was peppy Kelsey Pressnall. Each of the actresses got their moment to sing a solo number, and each of them did a nice job on backing vocals throughout.

Gina Rattan’s direction keeps the story going, even when the story drags, and Lauren Helpern’s scenes and Faye Amon-Troncoso’s props and set design keep things moving, as well — from the bunkhouse to the deep, dark woods.

But back to that dragging story…overall, the show’s a nice-enough tale of girls at summer camp. And yeah, I know it’s about American Girl dolls, but the way that the girls’ six dolls were shoehorned into the show was not at all organic or natural. Each of the six actresses are fine when it comes time to appear as one of the toys from another era (we meet, in chronological order, a Russian-Jewish immigrant at the dawn of WWI, a Hawaiian girl in Pearl Harbor as WWII gets underway, a boomer-to-be in sunny 50s Fla., a Motown hopeful from 1964, a hippie in San Fran, and an astronaut from today). But despite me being a history buff, I couldn’t help feel like my beloved history was being used not to educate or inspire young women, but rather to inspire young people’s future consumerism (or their parents’ present purchases).

But I guess I shouldn’t gripe too much. My daughter and all the other kids in attendance absolutely loved the show, and I was charmed by the cast and crew’s dedication and talent. So as long as you can stomach blatant capitalism, then this show’s not a bad trip to Camp American Girl.