Frank Galati’s adaptation of John Steinbeck’s East of Eden is a four-character affair. Yes, the play includes six additional actors performing 10 additional roles, but the spotlight stays focused on the dysfunctional Trask family and their biblical fall from grace.
Continue reading “East of Eden — Steppenwolf Theater (11/13/15)”
It was the spring of 2000 in not-so-swingin’ London.
MTV UK was alternating between Madonna’s shortened version of “American Pie” and Brittney Spear’s “Oops.. I Did It Again.” The Millennium Wheel (also called The London Eye) had just started to operate. And… Mamma Mia was a blistering hot theater ticket.
Capitalizing on the success of the ABBA Gold album throughout the UK, producers hit the jackpot by combining energized dance numbers, a crowd-pleasing story, and songs that will rattle in a person’s head for weeks.
In the past five years, playwright Samuel Hunter has graced the stage with two fascinating products of American society—Charlie from The Whale and Eddie from Pocatello. While Charlie is literally trapped in his home due to weighing 450 pounds, Eddie is just as isolated by his lack of emotional connections.
Eddie (Michael McKeogh) is the manager of an Italian chain restaurant where the waiters provide unlimited breadsticks and sing a specialized version of happy birthday. The dining room of this restaurant—complete with a crackling speaker looping “Italian” melodies—serves as the center for the play’s action and as the center for Eddie’s need to feel important.
Fortunately I am allowed more than six words for “good” when writing about 1984, which returned to Chicago at Steppenwolf’s upstairs theater after an original production at Lookingglass in 2004. Andrew White’s adaptation begins with characters systematically reworking the dictionary to make less room for originality in thought. The correct words to describe this production would be “double-plus good” except in this dystopian world reviewing a theater show would be a “thought crime.”
The most memorizing moment in Chicago Shakespeare’s production of The Tempest is not based on slight-of-hand or misdirection or characters appearing out of thin air and then disappearing just as quickly. These moments are spectacular, particularly from my “ringside” seat two feet below the action, but the greatest moment involves Larry Yando’s Prospero owning one of Shakespeare’s great monologues halfway through the final act.
Continue reading “The Tempest — Chicago Shakespeare Theater (10/28/15)”
Every ticket purchased for a Mary Zimmerman play carries the promise of her unique approach to theater, and Lookingglass’s production of Treasure Island (adapted and directed by Zimmerman) is no exception.
Continue reading “Treasure Island — Lookingglass Theater (10/25/15)”
American Idiot is nothing if not honest. Early in this musical written by Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong, Johnny (Luke Linsteadt) tells his friend Tunny (Steve Perkins) that the money he needed for a bus ticket to New York City came from robbing a convenience store. “Well, actually,” he admits, “I stole the money from my mom’s purse.” “Actually,” he admits again, “My mom loaned me the money.”
Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals thrive on ill-fated lovers. Consider the scenarios of four of their five most canonized works: A local ruffian and an innocent girl at a carnival. A French murderer and a passionate American Nurse. An uptight British tutor and a polygamist far-Asian King. A nun and an Austrian general (I daresay, this is still most people’s favorite despite Carrie Underwood’s acting).
No genre conveys the unique storytelling power of theater quite to the extent of horror. Feathers and Teeth at the Goodman Theater is a near-perfect synchronization of sound and visuals that proves that our greatest fears lie just out of our sight rather than within our grasp.
Among the highlights of Feathers and Teeth is the presence of a Foley Artist (Carolyn Hoerdemann) situated in a second-story booth overlooking the play’s action. The Foley Artist, dressed like a host from a late-night horror movie marathon, uses vocals and everyday utensils to vivify hungry little predators that are all the scarier because they are heard but never seen by the audience. More importantly, the Foley Artist serves as a disc jockey, playing Nixon-era records like The Who’s “Love, Reign O’er Me” to illustrate the complex emotions felt by Chris (Olivia Cygan), the teenage protagonist tortured both by her mother Ellie’s recent death and by her father’s decision to romance Ellie’s nurse Carol (Christina Hall).
Continue reading “Feathers and Teeth — Goodman Theater (10/11/15)”
Aunt Ester’s house is a place of peace and sanctuary, but that peace does not last long in Gem of the Ocean. Eli (A.C. Smith) opens the door to a distressed stranger at the beginning of the first act, and when the stranger refuses to leave and return on Tuesday as instructed, he barges through the threshold and a struggle ensues. And thus, in the middle of these two wrestling men, does Aunt Ester enter.
Continue reading “Gem of the Ocean — Court Theater (10/9/15)”
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