Displaying items by tag: Chicago

If all the world’s a stage and we are all merely players, then we must be prepared when we are thrust into the spotlight. Not everyone will be ready. Some of us might freeze or forget our lines or simply wave the spotlight on, forgoing the opportunity to perform, content with playing in the shadows or the wings. Others, however, crave the attention and demand to be center stage, presumably because they have something to say. Whether or not you signed up to be in the play or part of the production, it’s essential to be prepared, to know what you would say or do when given a stage. This past weekend, I witnessed just such an opportunity during a performance of Off-Nights at the Sometimes Café. The stage was set, the players cast, and an attentive audience seated. The trouble was, when the spotlight was on, nothing was said.

Off-Nights at the Sometimes Café is billed as a campy parody of a noir mystery, following a cafe pianist in lieu of a detective. As the pianist/narrator plays his way through the show, he guides the audience through the tangled web of attraction, seduction, and general silliness that occurs when a bunch of attractive queer people end up in the same place.

On its surface, Dave Walther’s Off-Nights at the Sometimes Café aims to be a delightful, poignantly unserious celebration of queer joy and desire, and a heartwarming portrayal of how to find a chosen family— warts and all. But that message, along with the representation it aims to spotlight, is completely lost in a story lacking in formula, pace, or purpose. There is no particular plot with a beginning, middle, and an end. There’s no catalytic event or climax. It’s more of a drawn-out setting of a café scene, focusing on the introduction of six characters that takes over one hour of the play’s seventy-five-minute run time to fully explain. There is no protagonist – or spoken scenes for that matter -- save for the curmudgeonly monotonous narrator who tells the story in the same sad minor keys the musical numbers are played in. The only time the characters speak is through song. While the players have exceptional voices, the choice of opera as a medium is an interesting one. The operatic numbers all focus on love (both absent and unrequited), but they don’t particularly move the story forward or really accentuate or explain the characters’ motivations or sentiments. Save for a few witty one-liners and repetitive drag numbers, there isn’t much depth or substance to this story, so it begs the question: Why was this put on?

Off-Nights at the Sometimes Café is simply doing too much for a message of love, acceptance, and community to shine through. At least that is what I took away from the production. It’s neither an homage to film noir nor a parody. It’s lacking in elements such as a femme fatale, lover’s quarrels, a whodunnit with high-contrast lighting, nonsensical voice narration, hyperbolic metaphors, or, said succinctly, a storyline, something nearly every film noir/parody possesses. The same goes for the opera homage and lack thereof. Key operatic elements are also lacking, such as libretto (text/story), aria (emotional solo), a recitative (speech-like narrative singing), and most importantly, the theatre and spectacle that opera is known for. None of that is found in this play. To be fair, perhaps that was the whole point, and it simply missed me as quickly as the 70-degree day in Chicago. If you squinted, you could see where Off-Nights was trying to go. The problem was in the execution and pace of the story. It was simply doing too much and not enough at the same time. Director Clare DiVizio’s introduction to the play provided more grounding and heart than the entirety of the run of the show, the reminder to all that queer and trans rights matter, now more than ever in today’s volatile and violent world. Off-Nights lingers so heavily in the descriptions of characters and their identification that we miss the ‘why?’ Why are we here? Why should we care about these characters? What do you want the audience to take away from this production, outside of a love story that references the last great love was when dinosaurs were drinking beers? Off-Nights, unfortunately, misses their mark.

When given a spotlight, one must be ready and prepared to step into it with something to say. No matter the medium chosen to convey one’s story, the story still needs to be easy to follow. It should have heart and depth even if it’s told through parody and satire. If the message you wish to impart to your audience is lost in translation, or simply doesn’t exist, was it ready for its moment on the stage? Did the story linger in the shadows too long, or was it simply not ready for the spotlight? With some rewriting, staging choices, and script alignment to any of the formulas the play aims at parodying, Off-Nights at the Sometimes Café could become the queer extravaganza it bills itself as. Until then, the audience is waiting for something great to take the stage and have its moment in the spotlight.

Check out the other 2026 season of events and shows at Bramble Arts Loft and learn more about The Thompson Street Opera Co. and their mission to bring inclusivity to the operatic art form.

Comedy Dance Chicago is bringing their family-friendly show to The Second City! (Fun fact: this group was born out of a Second City Training Center class back in 2014). The show is a high-energy laugh-riot for ages 5 to 95. Comedy Dance Chicago's joyful mashup of sketch comedy, physical humor, music, and dance is sure to have you (and your kids and their grandparents) smiling, laughing, and bopping in your seats! These dancin' fools bring relatable situations to life... anything from the importance of hugs to a good old-fashioned staring contest. And who knows, you might even find yourself on stage! Don't miss this joy-filled experience, perfect for anyone in need of a laughter boost.

People often ask "What is Comedy Dance?" Here's what audiences say:

     "It's one of the funniest, most enjoyable hours you'll spend on a Friday night."
-Chicago Reader

     "My face hurts from smiling!" & "That was so joyful!"

     ""We had SO much fun and Olivia giggled her little head off the whole time."
            -Blair (parent)

Comedy Dance Chicago presents HAPPY DANCE, Saturdays March 21, April 4, April 18, May 2, May 16, May 30 at 2:00pm at The Second City in the e.t.c Theater (230 W. North Ave., Piper's Alley, Chicago, IL). Show runs 60 minutes with no intermission. Tickets are $35 for adults and $29 for kids.

Notable credits include: "8-BITS" and "Oh, the Mundanity!" at The iO Theater; Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival, Charlotte's Queen City Comedy Experience; San Francisco Sketchfest; Laugh Out Loud Schaumburg; I AM Fest at House of Blues; Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival; Chicago Women's Funny Fest, Stevenson High School Odyssey Festival; among others. 

About Comedy Dance Chicago

Comedy Dance Chicago. A different kind of comedy show. A different kind of dance show. Unique entertainment for Chicago and beyond. But... what is comedy dance?! In Layman's terms: they dance, you laugh. Still confused? You'll just have to see it.

Comedy Dance Chicago has been delighting and entertaining audiences for over 10 years.  They are a turnkey option for performing arts venues, K-12 schools, colleges and universities, and corporate events looking to add joy to their next event. Company members bring a range of comedy and dance styles to the show and have trained with the Second City Training Center, iO Chicago, American Theatre Conservatory, Accademia dell'Arte, among others. Having performed at the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival (Stage 773), iO Chicago, Dance Chicago (The Athenaeum Theatre), Woodstock Opera House, the Association of Applied and Therapeutic Humor Conference, and (that one time) at the House of Blues, Comedy Dance Chicago is thrilled to share laughs and spread the love of comedy dance to the rest of the US. 

Created in 1904, Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly has become one of the world’s greatest and most popular operas.  New York’s Metropolitan Opera alone had performed it 902 times prior to the beginning of its 2023-24 season.  Renowned for his gifts for melody, Puccini’s musical component is ravishingly beautiful.  His manner of intermixing cultural references into his orchestration also makes it exquisitely complex.  Enhanced with a gripping story about the power of trust and the fragility of love, Madama Butterfly qualifies as an irrefutable masterpiece. Throughout its existence though, the opera has also been an artistic triumph with issues.

An adaptation of a one-act play written in 1900, which itself was based on a short story by an American author, John Luther Long two years earlier, it’s been criticized as being a flawed fantasy.  One created by white men about the essence of another culture.  In this case, Japan.  In Madama Butterfly, an American, Lt. B. F. Pinkerton, arrives in the island country and soon begins a quest for love.  A love that he never plans to be lasting.  Once he returns state side, he’ll re-enter the mainstream and marry traditionally.

Since its origin, issues of perception and portrayal have always haunted Puccini’s Madama Butterfly.  He composed it in partnership with Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica who wrote the text or libretto.  For most of the opera’s existence, the way Japanese culture and its people were projected robbed them of dimension and ultimately diminished their humanity.  In both early productions of the opera and in virtually all that followed, Japanese men saw their virility erased while Japanese women watched their deference be reduced to an exaggerated docility.  As intrinsically lovely Madama Butterfly is as a creative jewel, for the Japanese people and many others of color, it has also been deeply problematic.

For Matthew Ozawa, Director and Chief Artistic Officer of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, it was as well.  As a Japanese-American director of operatic works, his relationship with Puccini’s masterpiece has been fraught.   He knew intrinsically as a director he could never present it in a conventional way.  If he were ever to take on the challenge of staging the piece, he would do it through more enlightened eyes.  The current production of Madama Butterfly he directs at the Lyric, running through April 12^th, shows how spectacular a 122-year-old classic can look and feel with a total makeover by a gifted artisan.

Ozawa’s Madama Butterfly, co-produced by the Cincinnati Opera, Pittsburg Opera, Detroit Opera and the Utah Opera, dismantles the old format and completely rebuilds it in a contemporary context.  The overhaul was so comprehensive, keeping the original orchestration and libretto unaltered and intact was a condition for greenlighting his vision.   

The Company of Madama Butterfly.

Like many men of his generation, Ozawa loved playing video games growing up.  It wasn’t a leap for him to envision Madama Butterfly taking on the features of a machine generated video game offering a portal to an alternate reality.  Pinkerton (tenor Evan LeRoy Johnson) would travel to Japan through his headset and begin a journey that would lead to the devastating consequences we all know will follow.

But first, like any talented leader, Ozawa needed to assemble a team to bring his concept to fruition.  Based on opening night’s performance at the Lyric, a better dream team probably doesn’t exist.  Recruiting all females as his key collaborators, who were either Japanese or Japanese-American, cultural accuracy and agency would no longer be a concern.  Each of them a heavy hitter in her respective craft, the composite experience they created was so remarkable it could easily be considered revelatory.  The superb impact of Kimie Nishikawa’s set designs and Yuki Nakase Link’s lighting talents made on the production’s visual potency and dynamism can’t be overstated. 

A muted background would suddenly blaze in dramatic color and fill with subtly ornate splendor when Pinkerton donned the goggles that would transport him to Japan. There, Maiko Matsushima’s costume designs bowled you away with their texture, imagination, sophistication and beauty.

Even when we first finally meet Cio-Cio-San, Butterfly, played by Karah Son, we’re visited with the unexpected.  She’s as small and delicate as butterflies are, but in her words and carriage you sense the steel in her spine.  At 15, she may have become a geisha to support herself, but she’s clearly proud of the fact that she’s also “well-bred”.   That inner dignity is an ever-present element of her character. 

Son has played this crucial character in houses around the globe; in her native Korea, Warsaw, Berlin, Bologna, Los Angeles and San Francisco just to list a few.  This production marks her Lyric debut.  She knows this part.  From the excellence of her soprano Saturday night, and the flawlessness of her acting abilities, she is this part.   

Johnson, a wonderful tenor who’s also making his debut at the Lyric, makes a compelling Pinkerton.  He doesn’t quite comprehend the import of his words when Sharpless (Zachary Nelson) tells him to “Be Careful, she trusts you”, until it’s too late.  Finally realizing what that trust has cost releases his humanity.  But it can’t stop the payment deception exacts.

In the final scene, where only pathos is expected, this presentation all but blinds you with the complex beauty of real life through the fiction of a story.  Ozawa’s brilliant directing, Son’s gifts as a marvelous actress/vocalist and Puccini’s stunning score converge to cause the soul to quake.  

Puccini’s Madama Butterfly now truly soars.

Madama Butterfly

Through April 12, 2026

Lyric Opera of Chicago

20 N. Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL  60606

For more information and tickets:   https://www.lyricopera.org

Highly Recommended

This review is proudly shared with our friends at www.TheatreInChicago.com. 

The Joffrey Ballet has completed a major refresh of its Chicago-based home, The Joffrey Tower (10 E. Randolph Street), featuring interiors by Rubiostudio, and vivid environmental graphics by acclaimed artist & designer Bob Faust, renowned for crafting work with typography at its core, and showcasing visually-stunning examples of Concrete Poetry, courtesy of the national Poetry Foundation, also based in Chicago.  Together, this interdisciplinary collaboration of art, design, architecture, dance, and poetry aims to re-imagine Joffrey Tower as both a home for ballet and a living work of art; creating an environment as inspiring and dynamic as the Company itself.

Under the direction of Joffrey President and CEO Greg Cameron, Joffrey leadership began re-thinking the environment of The Joffrey Tower post-COVID, aiming to create an integrated campus within the Tower’s four floors to strengthen engagement between the Company Artists, its Grainger Academy of The Joffrey Ballet students, Community Engagement students, and administrative personnel. Key elements of the resulting $2.5 million restoration, funded by generous Joffrey supporters, include the creation of an industry-leading Health and Wellness center and the installation of new Harlequin Wood Sprung Floors. The project also expanded the Tower’s Anne L. Kaplan Costume Shop, the Grainger Academy lobby, and administrative facilities, adding meeting rooms and workspaces.

“To support their work on stage, it is of the utmost importance that our Company Artists and students are taken care of off stage, so we sought for Joffrey Tower’s surroundings to be mindful of both the artists’ physical and mental wellbeing.  A great deal of attention was paid to providing leading-edge fitness equipment and spa facilities in our expansive new Health and Wellness Center, along with offering a variety of comfortable and vibrant spaces for our artists to both individually renew and to congregate for camaraderie,” offered Cameron.

To carry out this first renovation since the Tower opened in 2008, the Company enlisted architect (and Joffrey Board Director) Elva Rubio and Corporate Concepts Inc. to facilitate the interior architecture. Rubio, founder of Chicago-based Rubiostudio, has over 30 years of experience in various practice fields, including urban design, interior design, design education, communications design strategy, and the built environment. 

“My firm clearly understood the assignment put forth by the Joffrey Board: to design a practical and functional floor plan that brings the administrative and artistic functions together, enabling a great exchange of energy and ideas. Given my 20 years as a supporter of the Joffrey, it has been an honor to help deliver a space that serves all the Company’s needs, and I’d like to think our design has created a ‘wonderful chaos’ of interactivity,” said Rubio.

Upon completion of the structural foundation, and with over 6,000 sq. ft. of wall space as his canvas, Faust then dramatically embellished walls throughout Joffrey Tower with his signature “Wallworks,” larger-than-life kaleidoscopically re-mixed photographs. Seeking to interpret themes of movement, the origin photos – now remixed in sizes up to 50 x 400 feet – ranged in subject from Joffrey rehearsal and performance shots to behind-the-scenes costumes and scenic props.

“Working closely with Elva and her team, the ‘Wallworks’ installation for the Joffrey is unique in that she made the decision early on to design the space, knowing there would be art activations throughout. Many of the usual design details were omitted in exchange for clean white space. I sourced imagery, not usually celebrated but no less critical to performance making, for its details, colors, and textures to create ever-evolving and ‘moving’ patterns across these key walls. Visitors will encounter fragments of costumes, props, backstage mechanicals, and even former advertising remixed into contemporary patterns to bring a definable visual identity to Joffrey Tower,” added Faust.

And, in furthering the Joffrey’s commitment to Chicago artists and culture, Faust’s colorful wall installations are accompanied by inspirational lines of poetry, designed as site-specific Concrete Poems, works that are as much a piece of visual art as they are poems.  Curated as part of a new collaboration between the Joffrey and the Chicago-based Poetry Foundation, incorporated into the environment are excerpts of work by six local poets: Alfonso Carrara, Tarfia Faizullah, Angela Jackson, José Olivarez, Anne Stevenson, and the former (and inaugural) Poet Laureate of Chicago avery r. young.  

The Joffrey Ballet concludes its 2025-2026 70^th Anniversary Season with the highly anticipated Chicago Premiere of Yuri Possokhov’s Eugene Onegin, a richly layered and deeply human exploration of love, loss, and redemption inspired by Alexander Pushkin’s poetic novel. From the acclaimed creative team behind Anna Karenina, Eugene Onegin—a co-production with San Francisco Ballet—features an original score by the award-winning composer, performer, and conductor Ilya Demutsky and an immersive set design that plunges audiences into the fragility of the human heart. Eugene Onegin is presented for ten performances only at the historic Lyric Opera House, 20 North Upper Wacker Drive in downtown Chicago, from June 4 to 14, 2026.

ABOUT THE JOFFREY BALLET
The Joffrey Ballet is one of the premier dance companies in the world today, with a reputation for boundary-breaking performances for 70 years. The Joffrey repertoire is an extensive collection of all-time classics, modern masterpieces, and original works.

Founded in 1956 by pioneers Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino, the Joffrey remains dedicated to artistic expression, innovation, and first-rate education and engagement programming. The Joffrey Ballet continues to thrive under The Mary B. Galvin Artistic Director Ashley Wheater MBE and President and CEO Greg Cameron.

The Joffrey Ballet is grateful for the support of its 2025–2026 70^th Anniversary Season Sponsors: The Abbott Fund, Alphawood Foundation Chicago, Daniel and Pamella DeVos Foundation, Gallagher, The Florian Fund, Anne L. Kaplan, and Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation. Live Music Sponsors Sandy and Roger Deromedi, Sage Foundation, and The Marina and Arnold Tatar Fund for Live Music. The Joffrey also acknowledges our Season Partners: ATHLETICO and Chicago Athletic Clubs.

For more information on The Joffrey Ballet and its programs, visit joffrey.org. Connect with the Joffrey on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

King Odysseus returns home to Ithaca after twenty years’ absence: ten years’ fighting the Trojan War (it takes time to build a big enough wooden horse), followed by a ten-year journey during which everything that could go wrong does go wrong: think rush-hour traffic on the Kennedy under construction. When he finally arrives, Odysseus finds yet another complication: in his absence a hundred men have undertaken to lay claim to his throne, actually taking up residence in Odysseus’ palace, scarfing down his harvests, seducing his servants, and harassing his wife.

Penelope has made every effort to discourage the putative suitors, her most recent gambit being a challenge to string Odysseus’ mighty bow, then use it to shoot an arrow through a line of a dozen axe handles. That’s pretty serious and, unsurprisingly, none of the opportunists manages. Everyone is amazed therefore when a stranger (Odysseus disguised as a beggar) nails it. The disappointed contenders aren’t happy about this, and are further aggrieved when the ‘beggar’ throws off his rags, identifies himself, and advises the intruders to hit the road.

Odysseus, legitimately vexed at the situation, answers their disgruntlement with violence and all hundred freeloaders are … well, the proper verb is in question, as it’s unclear whether Odysseus righteously executes or viciously murders them. This is the issue we explore in TRIAL OF ODYSSEUS: is Odysseus a champion, heroically defending his title, his home, and his family? Or is he a villain, goaded by jealous rage into a frenzy of unwonted slaughter?

TRIAL OF ODYSSEUS was … what to call it? to be honest it was not truly theater. TRIAL OF ODYSSEUS was presented as an actual trial, with Antonio M Romanucci and Daisy Ayllón of Romanucci & Blandin LLC prosecuting and Patrick M. Collins and Tinos Diamantatos of King & Spalding LLP arguing for the defense. A panel of four judges (Georgia M Alexakis, Sara L Ellis, Jeffrey G Chrones and Anthony C. Kyrikopoulos) and twelve jurors examined and cross-examined both the witness Phimeus (Leonardo Sfondouris) and Odysseus, played by Christos Vasilopoulos.

The final decision, however, was ours. Each audience member was provided with their choice of two tokens, blue for guilty and white for innocent. At the close of examination these tokens were collected and their count served as the verdict: Odysseus was found Not Guilty., I suspect that those voting Guilty did so from the viewpoint of twenty-first century law. I can’t believe anyone in the Bronze Age, roughly 1200 BCE, would not fully sympathize with Odysseus’ reaction, however grisly.

I’m totally ignorant of judicial matters, and someone better acquainted with legal procedure might have found problems with how the trial was portrayed, but I thought it was as credible as it was entertaining. For one, it certainly reflected the delay encountered in our modern magisterial system, as the event under arbitration occurred more than 3,000 years ago. A real trial for first-degree murder would probably incorporate less humor, but the Court had no difficulty drawing parallels across the three-millennium time difference; many of these comments were quite amusing and were certainly appreciated by the audience.

TRIAL OF ODYSSEUS was instructive, engaging, and just plain fun! The bad news is that it was a single production; there will be no further performances. But keep your eye on the National Hellenic Museum, as they offer regular events and exhibitions.

This review is proudly shared with our friends at www.TheatreInChicago.com. 

Get ready - those phones are about to explode, and Sam is already spinning like a top trying to catch every single one. It’s a full‑blown ring‑storm, and he’s diving into it with the hectic energy of someone who knows the chaos is coming and still can’t outrun it.

A brisk, razor‑funny powder keg of a play, Fully Committed tracks a single frantic day in the life of Sam, the lone reservationist at one of Manhattan’s most elite - and most impossible - restaurant. Becky Mode’s script is a full‑tilt high‑wire act, and Mike Newquist tears across nearly forty characters with the kind of breakneck precision that makes your head spin. As Sam, he’s already a live wire - but then he’s also snapping into entitled celebrities, neurotic assistants, tyrannical chefs, and every flavor of fine‑dining madness that dares to ring his desk. It’s dazzling, anxious, and wildly fun to watch him juggle it all without ever dropping the thread. The comedy snaps because each character is so sharply etched, and Newquist seamlessly shifts among them with the kind of finesse that turns mayhem into art.

At its heart, the nearly 90-minute play gleefully skewers the rituals of status and the agitated, almost feral hunger for exclusivity, exposing just how ridiculous people become when a reservation turns into a badge of power. Sam becomes the unseen fulcrum of that world, and his day unravels from merely hectic to outright surreal as he absorbs tantrums, negotiates impossible demands, and fights to keep a grip on his own sense of worth. Watching Newquist as Sam behind that reservation desk in a constant tinderbox had me instantly aware that I wouldn’t survive two hours in his shoes. His frantic charm and barely contained panic sells the chaos and sparks a whole new respect for the people who actually thrive in that kind of daily combustion.

Fully Committed lands as hard as it does because it’s rooted in real industry absurdity. Mode shaped these characters straight out of real restaurant‑world encounters, giving the show a mix of satirical whirlwind and a bite of truth that feels both sharply recognizable and wickedly real.

Throughout the play, I loved how Sam’s dad kept slipping into the heavy commotion with that gentle, grounding voice - just long enough to let the whole room exhale. Each time he called, Sam’s entire demeanor flipped in an instant; you could watch him go from frazzled to peaceful like someone had hit a reset switch. Those brief check-ins made it clear how a few steady words from a gentle, supportive father (or friend/family member) can cut straight through the noise, offering a tiny pocket of calm even when everything else is burning down around him.

Mike Newquist is pure kinetic joy onstage, delivering a commanding turn in Fully Committed. The Chicago‑based actor and improviser thrives in the city’s storefront trenches, bouncing between sharp‑edged comedy, character chameleon work, and the kind of ensemble disorder where anything can - and usually does - happen. He’s popped up with PrideArts, AstonRep, and The Comrades, tackling everything from contemporary drama to high-velocity comic mayhem. In Fully Committed, it’s his quick‑switch agility that makes him a blast to watch.

Directed by Derek Bertelsen, this Chicago staging arrives with a jolt of fresh energy and real immediacy. Newquist’s performance becomes the engine that drives the whole night, while Bertelsen keeps the momentum razor‑sharp, the pacing tight, and every character shift snapping cleanly into place.

The Den Theatre hosts the run March 13–28, 2026, with performances on Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for Fully Committed at The Den Theatre are just $26. For tickets and/or any more show information, click here.

Recommended.

This review is proudly shared with our friends at www.TheatreInChicago.com. 

It was the flippant statement heard round the humanities. An errant comment, a sweeping generalization, and another dismissive remark towards the arts. While the internet might have lambasted the commentator, the commentary at its core is the erroneous belief or misunderstanding that the arts are a relic of a bygone era. Despite repeated talks of automating away human interaction and computers replacing all the creative elements of life, art, opera, ballet, and more thrive in Chicagoland. One cannot walk anywhere in Chicago without seeing works of art in all their forms, celebrated and muraled and inviting to visitors and locals alike. There is no truer testament to the lasting power of an art form than in its inclusive programs that empower the next generation, offering them time and space to captivate audiences of all generations. I can recommend no finer program than Winning Works, now playing at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Winning Works is a mission-driven, access-oriented initiative that upholds The Joffrey Ballet's core values of “Joffrey for All.” Performed by students and trainees of the Grainger Academy of The Joffrey Ballet, the program provides opportunities for everyone, regardless of background, to experience, support, and participate in dance. The goal of the award is to recognize talented, emerging choreographers whose unique perspectives will inspire creativity in the form of original works of dance. Through Winning Works, the Joffrey aims to broaden access for artists who have been historically excluded from the art form and empower those who embody its values to shape the future of dance.

The Grainger Academy and Winning Works is the strongest example we have that ballet might change and grow and evolve with the times, but will never fade into obscurity. The performance at the Museum of Contemporary Art is itself an exhibit of movement, exploration, love, and light. Set against its contemporaries, Winning Works features incredible performances that leave you spellbound, each more unique than the last. Each performance features a brief introduction by the choreographer, detailing their reflection on the program and staging a performance offering a unique perspective only the artist themselves could give the audience. Audience members will love the contemporary movements of To Carry Our Own Names by DaYoung Jung, enjoy the whimsicality of Alexandra Schooling’s Hushed Power, shimmy and shake along with Daniel Ojeda’s Visitors, bask in the glow of the light and airy Eclat by Julia Feldman, and marvel at the uniqueness of Fran Diaz’s A Strange House We Must Keep. There is truly something for everyone, all performed by the incredibly talented young dancers who will no doubt grace the stages of the grandest theatres across the world.

For as many years as I have lived in Chicago, I have heard “the arts are dying,” that they are old-fashioned and outdated. Truth be told, it’s rarely heard from Chicagoans, mere projections from those who would never visit the city let alone entertain the arts. Like the many seasons (and false seasons) of this great city, the arts and humanities have their seasons of flourish and seasons of slumber. Like Spring itself, Winning Works ushers in the new season with new performances filled with light, love, and beauty. Commentators may come and go, but ballet and the arts will always stand the test of time.

Winning Works is performing for a limited run from March 13-15 and March 19-22 at the Museum of Contemporary Art (220 E Chicago Ave, Chicago). Tickets are available at https://joffrey.org/. As a bonus, audience members can show their Winning Works program book to receive a free admission voucher to the MCA, proving that the arts are inescapably intertwined and will always win.

The year is 1952. Television is rapidly gaining popularity over radio, to the delight of some and the disgust of others. Senator Joseph McCarthy has just been re-elected and is accusing hundreds of people of having connections to the Communist Party, provoking a nationwide climate of paranoid hysteria. Thousands of people, particularly in the mass media, are being blacklisted and expelled from their jobs. One would think (hope!) the lessons of this Red Scare might relieve us of government overreach and of accusations due to differing ideologies … sadly, not so much, as attested to by Stephen Colbert.

CHANGING CHANNELS opens in a backstage dressing room at the DuMont Television Network, a dressing room tenanted by Maggie Carlin (Kat Evans) for her popular comedy show. Kat Evans as Maggie Carlin and Orion Lay-Sleeper as her comedic partner Eddie Gilroy are both absolutely terrific. I don’t generally like comedy; a television laugh track is like fingernails on a blackboard to me, but as CHANGING CHANNELS takes place on the set of a comedy TV show, some jokes are inevitable. Happily, they are truly good jokes. We all know the sound of an audience trying to laugh cos they know it’s expected, as opposed to honestly breaking up over a droll line delivered skillfully, and in CHANGING CHANNELS even I was LOL! And later when the script turned serious, Evans and Lay-Sleeper both demonstrated superior range.

Skyler Tipton played Maggie’s husband Peter Bell, a truly stellar spouse, unswerving in his devotion and succor (I love using the word ‘succor’ – it’s like getting away with talking dirty). Andrew Pappas plays the handyman Kenny, a role that might have been a bit part but turns out to be pivotal. It’s not easy to flesh out a character from only a handful of appearances and lines, but Pappas succeeds in making Kenny real, a person whom one might like to have around.

Eddie’s lawyer, misfortunately (albeit appropriately) named Bullets, is played by Johnny Moran. The lawyer arrives bearing tidings of great joy – a breakthrough advance for Maggie and Eddie’s show! Next, however, he has to deliver the caveat: in order to accept the promotion they must sign a document that amounts to a loyalty pledge. Here is the crux around which the story turns: refusal to sign is not so much what anyone wants to do; it’s being expected to sign that rankles.

The set, designed by Joe Larkin, was inspired. The entire show takes place in Maggie’s backstage dressing room, giving the performance a pleasing sense of intimacy – Maggie can make all her many costume changes right onstage behind the big dress/costume rack – it is, after all, her dressing room! The wall is hung with posters showing some of Maggie and Eddie’s performances, and I was delighted to see on the coffee table a vintage copy of True Confessions – brilliant prop, Meg X McGrath! Emily McConnell’s costumes were spot on, totally in sync with the characters and the period, as well as a shining testament to Chicago’s resale shops! Lighting by Liz Cooper and Sound by Petter Wahlbeck combined to form an effective vintage milieu. And the overall smooth production is a testament to Stage Manager Tseela Sokolin-Maimon’s skill.

Why did I like CHANGING CHANNELS so much, given my dislike of comedy theatre? Well, CHANGING CHANNELS isn’t truly a comedy show – the comic repartee is because the characters are comediennes. The play itself, while very funny at times, is actually political commentary, and the raillery serves to lighten and brighten what might otherwise have been a heavy-handed delivery of the message. To my mind this serves to make the message more powerful as well as more accessible.

Edmund Burke said:” The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men [sic] to do nothing.” Hear hear!

CHANGING CHANNELS plays at City Lit Theatre, 1020 W Bryn Mawr Ave, through April 12

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

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