Theater

Theater Review: New Play ‘SunChoke’ is a Dereliction of Beauty

PatrickMcD — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 11:42:59 -0600

CHICAGO – “Beautiful,” I said to Josh Arteaga, the playwright of “SunChoke,” after experiencing his post-apocalyptic narrative at the Raven Theater. Why that particular word would come out of such dread is emblematic of the entirety.

Play Rating: 4.0/5.0

SunChoke contains many moments of spoken and expository beauty in it, despite the focus on the loss of humanity during a plague. Arteaga’s idea of creating a parallel universe next to the desperation both heightens the anguish and provides dark reasoning behind the reality.

’SunChoke’ runs through October 18th at the Raven Theater, Chicago, IL
Photo credit: Rodez Productions

The play is about three survivors of a massive plague that has effected cities throughout the countryside. Eli, Isaiah and Ruth have escaped to an abandoned farmhouse on the outskirts of the disaster, but have absolutely no food once they get there. This situation is putting a tentative grasp on their sanity and relationships, and will also determine who or what will ultimately catch up to them.

Meanwhile, on another parallel existence, an old man is reciting images of his childhood, or his former self. He plays host to a “Shape,” another form that exists outside the realm of the plague. The Shape desires its former self, which has a connection within the now decimated circumstance of the three survivors.

The Shape manufactures a representative to influence the survivor’s motivations. What transpires as a result of this manipulation frames the consequences.

The first impression of the apocalypse in SunChoke is how close it may be. The three survivors are normal twentysomethings, plucked from a sports bar or any electronic screen distraction. They speak lovingly about the fast food dollar menu, even though that was killing them just as acutely as the potential plague.

The parallel plane is jarring. In David Buckbee’s set design, the old man looms over the proceedings by seemingly sitting on top of the farmhouse’s kitchen cabinets, and is bathed with light as new truths are revealed. Chris Daley’s portrayal of the man is stunningly accurate. His presence is constant, and his monologues about a past that may or may not have taken place are chilling in their…yes…beauty.

Defying him is the Shape, even though it has been adopted by him. Again nostalgia plays into the desire for the Shape to return to a former life, and Virginia Marie interprets the utter torment in the character with clarity and purpose.

Less successful is the mode of the survivors. More dirt and desperation seemed necessary for the three characters, as their actions and thought processes become more grim. There was a disconnect to the abject fear within the scenario, even when an amazing character named Win (Danny Starr) begins to carry out the Shape’s final solution.

Josh Arteaga has formulated an end-of-the-world perspective that is rich in invention, symbolism and familiarity. And he has wrapped it in a angle that has plausibility. What is religion, after all, than the hope for a parallel time/place, with protective entities as our overseers? But in Artega’s more enlightened view of this parallelism, it is this spiritual destiny that is not the place we want to be.

“SunChoke” is presented by Rodez Productions at the Raven Theater, 6157 N. Clark St., Chicago, Thursday-Sunday, through October 18th. Featuring Chris Daley, Virginia Marie, Marcus Davis, Margaret Grace, Aaron Weiner and Danny Starr. Written by Josh Arteaga, directed by Marie Winkeler. Click here for more information.

By PATRICK McDONALD
Senior Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

Interview: Director J. Spencer Greene’s Indy Film ‘Off-Loop’ Premieres in Chicago

PatrickMcD — Tue, 19 May 2009 16:07:58 -0600

CHICAGO – The spirit of independent film is embodied in J. Spencer Greene’s “Off-Loop”, which will be having its Chicago premiere on Wednesday night, May 20, at the Portage Theater on the northwest side.

Off-Loop involves a group of college friends who have moved to Chicago to begin their careers as actors, directors and writers. When the malaise of real life sets in, it takes writer Dennis (Jonathan C. Legat), recently broken up from his college girlfriend Alice (Melanie Stanton), to “get the band back together” and begin to work on a new play.

Jonathan C. Legat as Dennis and Jason Economus as Barry in ‘Off-Loop’
Photo credit: CNGM Pictures

HollywoodChicago.com talked with the director of Off-Loop, J. Spencer Greene, about the challenges of filming an independent feature, his own experiences as a young Chicago actor and converting a proposed TV show into what became the final film.

“Nick Izzo, the screenwriter, was one of my students. And I was a member of Famous Door Theater Company,” Greene said. “He would come to our shows and observe what we were going through as a group trying to put together great theater in Chicago. He thought it would make a good TV series – following young people just trying to start out as actors in Chicago.”

“We kind of put it aside, until many years later,” he added. “CNGM Pictures [producers of Off-Loop] had spun off into a separate not-for-profit, which gave us the means to launch the TV series.”

Jason Economus stars as Barry, a prolific director in college who can’t seem to get a show going in the big city. He agrees to take on his friend Dennis’ play, but still seems to lack the motivation to get the players together. Between his neighbor muse Mindy (Elodie Senetra) and his crush on Sheila (Jocelyn Levin), they just might convince him to begin the work.

“We auditioned for the cast in March of 2006, and started shooting in January of 2007, Greene related. “Since by then Nick had all nine episodes written, we’d jump around shooting the shows based on availability of the actors.”

He added: “As it happened, we just couldn’t sustain the cast and crew commitment for the entire series, after shooting about half the footage for the nine episodes. So we looked at the footage we had, and formulated a film based on the story.”

“We took what we could from the footage we shot, brought it back to Nick, and had him write a screenplay based on what we had. Then we shot the new stuff that would make it a new story.”

Part of the the subplot involves one of Barry’s friends, Joe (Jeremy Kruse), dealing as an actor with a megalomaniac director (Tom Pleviak) in a small Chicago storefront theater. Joe is also living with Carol (Stephanie Wyatt) as she tries to find a paid gig as a starving actor herself.

Director J. Spencer Greene of ‘Off-Loop’
Photo credit: CNGM Pictures

“What is so much different in Chicago then L.A. or New York is the fact that there is so many more smaller theaters in Chicago, as opposed to the other two areas, Greene said. “Chicago is also a place you can go as a young actor, director or designer and ‘fail’ without it being detrimental to your overall career. You can try things in Chicago and hit or miss as an artist.”

In relating this back to the movie, Greene said, “You can learn as much being in a bad production with a bad director, as depicted in the film. The character Joe learns that a bad director will do a disservice to the script, because the director simply isn’t doing what should be done.”

When the gang gets back together to work on Dennis’ play, old and new dynamics start emerging as they take the next step towards shedding college and starting their careers.

“It was pretty much what I went through when I got out of college,” Greene recalled. “I did move to Chicago and got together with the friends and colleagues that eventually became Famous Door Theater. Like in the film, most of us were from the same college, Illinois State University. But if we also liked someone, we’d invite them to join the company and that’s how it evolves.”

Greene also talked about the nature of shooting an independent film, which involves lighting tricks and double duty.

“Off-Loop was shot with a minimal crew,” he said. “For example, I’d operate the boom mike while trying to direct. We had to be creative with lighting, because it was mostly just clip lights.”

“We also stuck close to Columbia College, where the police know that students shoot in the area all the time, so there wouldn’t be a permit problem.”

The basis always for these independent labors of love is the tenacity of cast and crew, and J. Spencer Greene acknowledges that this is how it happens.

“This type of situation rings true in every medium – film, stage plays, television – 90% of the success is based on casting. If you cast the right people and get the chemistry right, your work will be on its way to being done well.”

CNGM Pictures presents the Chicago premiere of ‘Off-Loop’, a film featuring Jason Economus, Jonathan C. Legat, Melenie Stanton, Jeremy Kruse, Stephanie Wyatt, Elodie Senetra, Jocelyn Levin, Tom Pleviak and Adam Rosowicz, directed by J. Spencer Greene. It will be shown May 20th, 8pm, at the Portage Theater, 4050 N. Milwaukee Ave in Chicago. Visit the website for ticket information.

By PATRICK McDONALD
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

‘Legally Blonde the Musical’ is Aptly Sweetened Chicago Refreshment

Alissa Norby — Sat, 16 May 2009 00:49:18 -0600

CHICAGO – If you were one of those Chicagoans who discovered a new allergy to the hoards of hormonally-charged pubescents attached to “Wicked’s” wake, you may want to take heed, or rather cover—a new touring behemoth promises to tow along new teenie boppers to the Ford Theatre. But not to worry, plenty of chaperones will surely be on duty.

Play Rating: 4.0/5.0

“Legally Blonde” is nothing short of a gleeful libation to this ever-devoted tween demographic, complete with remarkably contemporary nuance and innuendo in every last one of its bubblegum drops.

This musicalized conception, much like the pop phenomenon film of the same name, playfully arraigns the notion that one’s IQ is inversely related to the number of sunless tanners she uses.

Although the Legally Blonde creatives ultimately eschew a final verdict on the matter in favor of a more plentiful supply of shimmer lip-gloss jokes, the production is smartly unafraid to flirt with our obsession with ostensible glitz, whether in the form of Brangelina or the captain of the cheerleading squad.

Composers Nell Benjamin and Laurence O’Keefe along with bookwriter Heather Hach have astutely capitalized on the contemporary audience’s paradoxical engrossment with the likes of “The Hills” and “The Real Housewives of Orange County” as they methodically transport you to the frothy shores of Malibu.

Elle Woods and her blonde bombshell entourage of sorority sisters are at once the embodiment of all we exalt and that which we secretly resent. From its sparkling proscenium to its unfettered MTV dialect, the production proffers itself as the college toga party we were never quite cool enough to attend. All that glitters in this keg party may not be gold, but it sure is fun to watch.

Becky Gulsvig as Elle Woods and Frankie as Bruiser in Legally Blonde.
Photo credit: Joan Marcus

The rhapsodic production follows the familiar farcical narrative of the 2001 film that launched Reese Witherspoon’s silver screen career into the celestial sphere. Elle Woods, a graduating UCLA fashion merchandising student sets out to prove her academic sincerity to her recently dissociated love interest.

Adamant in proving that her cerebellum is not as transparent as her highlights, Elle enrolls at Harvard Law School where she quickly learns that simply looking the part cannot supplant an honest work ethic and strength in character. This familiar plot arc has always worked on its own terms, although arguably more so in its initial film format.

Ultimately the piece timidly asks its audience to hold a cosmetic mirror to the question: can a girl really have the brains, the brawn, and the Wonder Bra?

Natalie Joy Johnson (Paulette) and Ven Daniel (Kyle) in Legally Blonde.
Photo credit: Joan Marcus

Markedly to its credit, however, “Legally Blonde” positions itself as much more than the campy yearbook throwaway that most naysayer critics initially scribbled across its Broadway marquee. The precocious libretto is limned with hints of a modern day, albeit sugarcoated, feminist manifesto and at times communicates a fiercely sharp satire on the Girls Gone Wild age of post-modernism.

Hach’s claws may not come out too often, but when they do they are stiletto sharp and press-on. Indeed, although Ms. Woods is well-versed in the study of Brazilian waxes and flat irons, she unabashedly proclaims her knowledge of the works of Gloria Steinem, suggesting that she may in fact keep a copy of the “Feminist Mystique” underneath all of those Jimmy Choo flip-flops.

Becky Gulsvig as Elle Woods and Coleen Sexton as Brooke Wyndham in Legally Blonde the Musical.
Photo credit: Joan Marcus

The question of whether or not a feminine aesthetic and cerebral aptitude should be viewed as mutually exclusive constructs is a most topical one, although the innermost caverns of which are explored neither in book nor score. It seems as though every time Benjamin, O’Keefe, and Hach near a truly insightful edge, they retreat back to the safety net of overworked perm jokes and department store makeovers.

Indeed, Legally Blonde is primarily and self-assuredly an apple-rimmed flirtini of a show, the bulk of whose moral dilemma focuses on Elle’s decision between participating in a Panhellenic beerfest or LSAT prep work.

Fortunately for the Delta Nu sisters, however, prodigious director Jerry Mitchell helms the production with a well-calculated balance between youthful zest and proliferative emotion. Mitchell is a director who perspicuously understands the need to marry traditional theatre direction with the music video flare du jour.

Hach matches Mitchell’s dexterity with dialogue that is careful never to speak condescendingly or belittlingly to any of its characters, a must-have in a production that requests that its character transformations be taken as seriously as its choreographed courtroom scenes.

Although the book would have benefited from a more developed social emotionality (the existence of which is further hindered by the constraints of a new touring set), Hach demonstrates her understanding of “Legally Blonde’s” merger between biting humor and the underdog spirit.

The technically skilled touring cast does not seem quite as comfortable with the production’s winking humor as their embryonic Broadway predecessors. Becky Gulsvig as the blonde with the briefcase espouses the vocal chops necessary to fill Benjamin and O’Keefe’s polyphonic score, yet misses the brimming charm put forth by Broadway’s Laura Bell Bundy.

RELATED READING
More theater reviews from critic Alissa Norby.
More theater reviews from our other critics.

D.B. Bonds as Emmett and Natalie Joy Johnson as Paulette both render magnetic performances, although a more sophisticated level of comfort with the characters is in due order. Megan Lewis (Vivienne) and Alex Ellis (Kate/Chutney) give nonpareil comedic performances that are equally matched by their vocal fervor.

You may not find the “Legally Blonde” Greek Chorus in any Euripides drama or its camouflaged feminist slant in the works of Susan B. Anthony, but this pink-clad production oozes fun and sagacity from its every turn. And that’s, like, so worth checking out.

“Legally Blonde” runs through June 7, 2009 at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts Oriental Theatre at 24 W. Randolph in Chicago. The show runs Tuesdays through Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m., and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. To purchase tickets and for more information, visit here or call 312-977-1710.

For a complete listing of all shows and reviews in Chicago, visit our partner TheatreInChicago.com. For half-price Chicago theater tickets, visit our partner Goldstar.

By ALISSA NORBY
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
alissa@hollywoodchicago.com

Something in the Way it Moves: Factory Theater’s ‘Mop Top Festival’ Celebrates The Beatles

PatrickMcD — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:10:59 -0600

Play Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – What has become of what John Lennon called, “The Greatest Show on Earth” (for what it was worth)? The Fab Four are still at The Beatle conventions – now called “The Fest for Beatle Fans”, which have gone on annually since 1977 in Chicago.

Looking to capture the zeitgeist of the yearly gatherings, Factory Theater’s Scott OKen has written and directed “Mop Top Festival”, now playing through April 25th on the main stage located at 3502 N. Elston in Chicago.

A quartet of Beatle convention attendees pose in ‘Mop Top Festival’
Photo credit: Paul Metreyeon, Factory Theater

Mop Top Festival is set in present day Chicago at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare, where the actual three-day Beatle fan fest goes on annually. It concerns two groups of ardent Beatle admirers, one foursome that is male and one female. They are there to celebrate The Beatles, but also to connect at the only time during the year that truly makes sense to them, albeit through the filter of the Fab’s “kaleidoscope eyes”.

Adding to the mix is the hotel’s snobby manager and his equally efficient concierge. Both want to play Blue Meanie to the Fest, as their hotel is turned upside down by the overzealous Beatle parade. The proper manager can’t help but harass Festival Director Mark Galapagos (Tucker Curtis, in a funny portrayal and take-off on the actual fest director, Mark Lapidos) and pour cold water on the proceedings by threatening to cut off the festival for next year.

Edward Fraim as a Beatle look-alike in ‘Mop Top Festival’
Photo credit: Photo credit: Paul Metreyeon, Factory Theater

Meanwhile the two foursomes and other eccentric denizens of the festival are co-mingling in many ways, including bonding over obscure Beatle trivia, the memorabilia at the flea market and a particularly great individual entry in the Beatle look-alike contest.

The first half of the show, creating the genesis of tension and exposition in the overall atmosphere, seems a bit forced. The character of these participants seem mired in a pre-download era, where the magic of the Beatle music, films and other ephemera seemed attainable only at the Fest – for example, two of the fans are looking for particular albums as if Ebay doesn’t exist. Maybe it would have been more comfortably set in the pre-web 1990s?

But as the narrative expressed itself in the second half, I bonded with the eccentric aficionados because of their Beatle phantasmagoria. The cast is joyful in portraying their odd obsessions, especially Christine Jennings as Lydia, the trivia buff who maintains her character to high comic effect.

Other standouts include Scott Pasko, having fun as Beatle film stalwart Victor Spinetti (who starred with the boys in Hard Day’s Night, Help and Magical Mystery Tour), Erin Orr/Sarah Rose Graber as the highly energetic younger, giggly attendees and Christopher Marcum as the hotel manager, who gets funnier as the madness progresses.

This is an affectionate tribute to fandom and The Beatles, and combines enough laughs and expectations as it unfolds to integrate essentially with the audience. There is passion in the script and performances, which culminates in a surprising and quite endearing song performance of a lesser known Beatles gem.

So in the end, the Mop Top Festival is equal to the love it makes.

“Mop Top Festival” runs every Friday, Saturday (8pm) and Sunday (7pm) through April 25th at Factory Theater, 3502 N. Elston Avenue in Chicago.

For a complete listing of all shows and reviews in Chicago, visit our partner TheatreInChicago.com. For half-price Chicago theater tickets, visit our partner Goldstar.

By PATRICK McDONALD
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

The House Theatre Stages Comeback With ‘Rose and the Rime’

Alissa Norby — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 21:37:53 -0700

Play Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – While most of America’s eyes were glued to the television screens Sunday night to catch Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire” nab its gold, the celebrated underdog of Chicago theatre companies shyly began to spout its new wings.

In its new fairytale offering, The House Theatre confounds the naysayers that arose from both its fiscal and artistic post-“Sparrow” stumbles. “Rose and the Rime” clearly demonstrates writers Chris Matthews, Jake Minton, and Nathan Allen’s ability to weave a bridge between the realms of visceral authenticity and lavish theatricality.

“Rose and the Rime” spins the familiar tale of a generic Michigan town seeped in with permafrost. Parsimonious in its forgiveness, the bleak winter serves as a baneful gift from the Rime Witch, a seductively demonized creature that bears the key (in the form of a luminous coin) to the town’s sunlit relief. The imprisoning ague leaves its citizens with little more than frostbitten depression, torpid activity, and potbelly barbecues.

As is the case with most of these Grimm-inspired morality tales, it is up to the steadfast wits and courage of a gutsy young heroine to defeat the foe. In venerable House fashion, however, the allurement of myth’s wonder quickly gives way to humankind’s propensity for its own destruction.

Carolyn Defrin (Rose) in The House Theatre’s ‘Rose and the Rime’.
Photo credit: Michael Brosilow

Nathan Allen’s fertile direction masterfully pairs with Collette Pollard’s visionary design to catapult their spectators into the fictional town of Radio Falls. Most of what works for this latest composition is its searing visuals. Pollard blankets the musky Chopin Theatre space in a rattled snowglobe effusing with granular confetti and sheets of looming white.

Make no mistake about it: aesthetic prowess is crowned king in this latest House installment. The craftsmanship alone would provide more than reason enough to celebrate this piece if the pertinent narrative of “Rose and the Rime” were not asked to concede fealty to it.

Carolyn Defrin as Rose in The House Theatre’s ‘Rose and the Rime’.
Photo credit: Michael Brosilow

Allen understands that the timeless wonder of childhood yarn can still be used as an elixir to access the adult imagination. He has created a theatrical assortment with Brechtian staging, ethereal movements, and precise visual stills. Indeed, Allen is an auteur with the ability to engage each of the human senses through dialectal theatre.

In some of the most captivating scenes, Allen enables his audience to feel the wet breathing of a forest, the crackle of a cave’s wind, and the gelidity of a blizzard’s droplets. Hot dogs and beach balls are even thrown out to assist attendees in their quest for narrative connection. And if you’re really lucky, one of Rose’s friends might just offer you some extra mustard.

The baptismal splash of any House production is its willing venture into the compass of Broadway. Tommy Rapley’s choreography instructs “Rose and the Rime’s” very able ensemble to replicate gushing set changes and chorus lines with little more than the confluence of a converging group bodice and some throwaway prop pieces.

Carolyn Defrin (Rose) with ensemble in ‘Rose and the Rime’.
Photo credit: Michael Brosilow

However, as is the case with the Rime Witch’s double-edged coin, what Allen gifts us in aesthetics he retracts in drama. What we wind up receiving is a light frosting of a narrative, a skeleton of a literary curve rather than a fully fleshed fable. The script proffers very little in the way of dialogue, instead favoring a cistern of caricature schtick from ensemble actors.

Consequently, there is very little humanity to be found in these individuals, an ingredient that allows fairytales to permit the suspension of disbelief in their readers. Gluttonous spectacle only works in theatre when it acutely supplements the meat of the drama, yet “Rose and the Rime” tends to employ its narrative to heighten its visual cues.

Carolyn Defrin has undeniably staked her claim as one of Chicago’s most affecting rising stars, and yet she is given minimal verbal discourse with which to work as the archetypal heroine. A most cerebral actor and noticeably adept at sculpting a range of emotional landscapes for any character, Defrin is forced to scrape through a three-minute introductory exposition. It is this misuse of core talent and void in human condition that primarily threaten this production and its theatre company.

Carolyn Defrin as Rose in The House Theatre’s ‘Rose and the Rime’.
Photo credit: Michael Brosilow

RELATED READING
More theater reviews from critic Alissa Norby.
More theater reviews from our other critics.

But this is still one worth seeing. The House remains an integral company member of the Chicago theatre family and it has a great deal of ingenuity to give. “Rose and the Rime” may not be its best offering, but it has more than enough magic to warm up to.

“Rose and the Rime” runs through April 11 at the Chopin Theatre at 1543 W. Division in Chicago. The show runs Thursdays and Fridays at 8:00 p.m., Saturdays at 8:30 p.m., and Sundays at 7:00 p.m. To purchase tickets and for more information, visit here or call 773-251-2195.

For a complete listing of all shows and reviews in Chicago, visit our partner TheatreInChicago.com. For half-price Chicago theater tickets, visit our partner Goldstar.

By ALISSA NORBY
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
alissa@hollywoodchicago.com

Elizabeth Stanley Lifts ‘Xanadu’ to Place Where Nobody Dared to Go

Alissa Norby — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 17:34:06 -0700

Play Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – If classics such as “A Chorus Line” and “Les Miserables” willfully suggest the existence of a secured, calculated recipe for a Broadway hit, Christopher Ashley’s “Xanadu” is a concoction that has once again gleefully tipped over this admittedly elusive boiling pot.

Based on the outlandishly heinous 1980 film of the same name, the stage version of “Xanadu” shyly and skillfully stormed the quaint Helen Hayes Theatre on Broadway in 2007, knocking down every upturned nose and preconceived theatah notion in its wake. Heck, many people had even entered betting pools to monitor how quickly this turkey would cook.

But the narrative that consumptively sunk Olivia Newton-John’s career into 1980’s oblivion has fashioned an outrageously sharp musical production. Now, thanks to Kyle DeSantis and his folks at the Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place, Chicagoans can bask in the same comedic splendor made complete with those nostalgic legwarmers that have just been itching to make a second cultural breakthrough.

Director Christopher Ashley is again at the helm of this markedly successful New York transfer. The minimalist and coy theatrics conjoined with Douglas Carter Beane’s acid tongued book situate the production perfectly on the intimate Drury Lane stage.

Afterall, “Xanadu” primarily found critical success due to its refusal to hide artistic negligence behind lavish sets and technical crafts, a cover-up style that has defined many recent theatrical ventures. Stripped of all the sumptuous production values that typically sprinkle the Broadway stages, “Xanadu” relies instead on-gasp!- its core components, namely its book, score, and performer ability.

If one were to fully grasp the dreadful slop of a narrative that was the 1980 film, he may either erupt into a hyena-like laughing fit or more likely may suffer severe physiological trauma at the mere suggestion of such toxic drip. In order to spare you from such drastic fates, I will describe the plot structure simply: Venice Beach sidewalk chalk artist meets girl. Girl is secretly a demigoddess from Mt. Olympus. Boy and girl fall in love while building a roller disco in Los Angeles, copious disco balls in tow. Phew.

Elizabeth Stanley (Kira) and ensemble in “Xanadu” at the Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place.
Photo credit: Carol Rosegg

Perhaps it’s the sheer ingenuity of his craftsmanship, or maybe he gulped one too many Frescas the night he sat down to pen such a work, but Mr. Beane’s pointedly barbed musical translation is a blended cataract of mock homage and rooted sincerity.

His text manages to both ridicule and celebrate those 1980s cultural artifacts that we find both mystifying and inexplicably fascinating. Whereas the film version was viewed as hollowed plop in the timeline of cinema, the musical is a bitingly self-aware and assured piece. This time around, the actors are in on the joke, instead of serving as the joke themselves.

For the most part, the actors serve Beane’s original diction honorably. Elizabeth Stanely as the Greek muse Clio/Kira is a devouring presence onstage even in roller skates.

A vocalist of top-tier versatility, Stanley oscillates deliberately and with panache through each of the score’s era-based genres. Stanely has also proven herself an astutely schematic actor in her own right; by belting the book’s top comedic notes as Aussie Kira while managing to reap a much-deserved emotionality from her audience as muse Clio, Stanley has positioned herself as a formidable rising star.

Her renditions of the Electric Light Orchestra’s score pieces are at once droll and haunting. It’s time we forgive her for that stint in last year’s disastrous “Cry-Baby,” isn’t it? I can assure you that Dionysus has.

Elizabeth Stanley (Kira) and Max Von Essen (Sonny) star in “Xanadu” at the Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place.
Photo credit: Carol Rosegg

However, the rest of the cast may need to take a page from Stanley’s polyurethane book. Max Von Essen as the tube sock-sporting, denim cutoff-wearing Sonny Malone lacks the embodiment of the character that is essential to comedy.

The posthumous comedic endowment of the film that Beane vehemently dotes on is its absurd sincerity. As Charna Halpern, the Chicago improv trainer who has produced the likes of Mike Myers and Tina Fey postulates, there must be truth in the comedy in order for it to be funny.

Cerebrally, Stanley is aware of the textual jokes; yet onstage she plays the character as if she were auditioning for a role in “Madame Butterfly”. Von Essen lacks the execution of a balance between Sonny’s vapid oafishness and his endearing earnestness. This inequity in lead craftsmanship poses a sematic threat to the cohesiveness of the production.

Max Von Essen stars as Sonny in “Xanadu” at the Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place.
Photo credit: Alissa Norby

The remaining ensemble proffer sparkling performances, although a higher level of comfort with Beane’s book and Ashley’s direction would help to create a more symphonic piece.

Jackie Hoffman and Mary Testa’s comic improvisation became synonymous with the Broadway production, yet Chicago’s Sharon Wilkins and Joanna Glushak as the two “E-Evil” muse sisters noticeably refrain from imbuing this one with much Brechtian audience engagement. In a production that is a soaring 90-minute romp of quips and cracks, patron interaction and skat dialogue can never be superfluous.

RELATED READING
More theater reviews from critic Alissa Norby.
More theater reviews from our other critics.

Despite this, “Xanadu” has once again usurped the throne for musical theatre entertainment and has secured its place among Chicago’s lavish touring and sit-down Broadway productions. We may have lost a witch and a Baby, but what Ashley’s presentation voids in spectacle it makes up for in pure, creative and gluttonous entertainment.

It’s time to turn off the 80s music in our shamed Peugeots, strap on our skates, and crank up that electric-sync music of E.L.O. in the comfort and public image safety of a theatre. And if that’s not enough to get you there, did I mention there are glowsticks?

“Xanadu” has an open run at the Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place at 175 E. Chestnut in Chicago. The show runs Tuesdays through Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m., and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. To purchase tickets and for more information, visit here or call 312-977-1710.

For a complete listing of all shows and reviews in Chicago, visit our partner TheatreInChicago.com. For half-price Chicago theater tickets, visit our partner Goldstar.

By ALISSA NORBY
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
alissa@hollywoodchicago.com

Maybe, Baby, Buddy Has Found New Groove in Chicago’s ‘Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story’

HollywoodChicago.com — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:32:28 -0600

Play Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – “Wow! I feel like I’m at a rock concert!” “Me too. It’s like I want to rush the stage!”

While overhearing this conversation between two young women at the recent Chicago opening of “Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story,” I realized there were no better words to sum up Drury Lane’s recent jukebox-blaring, toe-tapping homage to one of the greatest rock and rollers of all time.

After experiencing a vastly successful run at the Drury Lane Theatre Oakbrook Terrace, producer Kyle DeSantis has ingeniously transferred this joyous and colorful piece to an intimate Chicago theatre where – judging by the audience response on opening night – it clearly has plans to bop to the top.

“Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story” chronicles the last three years in the life of the beloved musical prodigy from Lubbock, Texas.

Following Holly’s initial partnership with the Crickets to the young talent’s untimely and shocking death, the piece aims to take its audience on a narrative journey with such chart-topping hits as “Peggy Sue,” “That’ll Be The Day” and “Oh, Boy”.

Justin Berkobien in the Chicago musical “Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story” at the Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place.
Photo credit: Johnny Knight

But be forewarned: If you’re the kind of theatre lover who likes a balanced and medium-rare flavor to your jukebox musical, this one is sorely undercooked.

Whereas the writers of “Jersey Boys” and “Mamma Mia!” peppered their books with a modest yet satiating amount of dramatic texture, writers Alan Janes and Rob Bettinson of the original 1989 London conception tend to abandon their script at crucial moments.

Justin Berkobien in “Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story”.
Photo credit: Johnny Knight

They leave frustrating story voids and plaguing gaps. In terms of dramatic camber, watching “Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story” come to life on stage is about the equivalent of viewing a 10-minute snippet of Holly’s E! True Hollywood Story.

In order to placate an assumed audience thirst for more concert reenactments, it seems as though the book favors an unsatisfactory and watered-down version of what’s truly the remarkable story of the legendary career of a young artist. That’s a heavy disservice, too, as surely a musician of such influence warrants more from his biographers.

However, where “Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story” lacks in narrative arc development it overwhelmingly succeeds in providing its attendees with unapologetically empty and frivolous fun. Tammy Mader’s direction and choreography are sprite and alive with energy that truly permeates the entire house.

If you’re just looking for a fun show to dance with, sing to and cheer for, you’ve met your match. This is a piece that pulls out all the glottal stops.

That isn’t to say the more serious theatre folk won’t appreciate the appeal of this show as well. It’s quite the contrary. In seeing this piece, Chicago theatre fans have the unique opportunity to experience a remarkably talented young star in a breakout role.

As the musical’s title character, Justin Berkobien establishes himself as a formidable young talent. Masterfully balancing his own refreshing take on Holly’s spirit while still capturing the gawkiness that made the Texan musician such a marvel, Berkobien gives an unparalleled, triple-threat performance.

RELATED READING
More theater reviews from critic Alissa Norby.
More theater reviews from our other critics.

It is the cast – led by Berkobien – who make this show a sweet treat. Aided by the talents of John Steven Crowley, Tony Sancho and Tempe Thomas, the level of musicianship these young performers collectively possess is nothing short of extraordinary. This cast alone warrants a trip out to the theatre.

If your heart isn’t racing after every number, you might want to check your pulse.

“Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story” runs through Nov. 2, 2008 at the Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place at 175 E. Chestnut St. in Chicago. The show runs Wednesdays at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets range from $40 to $55. To purchase tickets and for more information, visit here or call 312-642-2000.

For a complete listing of all shows and reviews in Chicago, visit our partner TheatreInChicago.com. For half-price Chicago theater tickets, visit our partner Goldstar.

By ALISSA NORBY
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
alissa@hollywoodchicago.com

Route 66’s ‘On an Average Day’ Brings the House Down at Chicago’s Victory Gardens

HollywoodChicago.com — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 13:34:10 -0600

Play Rating: 4.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Chicago theatre often surprises its audiences in the notorious fizzling summer months by providing us what I like to call “Christmas in July”. In this case, though, it’s August and Santa has hopped onto Route 66. He has carried with him in his sack an unparalleled gift from Chicago’s newest theatre company.

Stef Tovar – a Jeff Award-winning actor and American Theater Company ensemble member – recently launched the aptly named Route 66 Theatre Company. It’s an artistic development hoping to cultivate stories that link both the cultures and communities of Los Angeles and Chicago.

Luckily for Chicagoans, the Chicago-based Tovar has decided to mount the company’s first theatrical endeavor at Chicago’s very own Victory Gardens Theater.

Co-produced with the Vs. Theatre Company in Los Angeles, “On an Average Day” tells the bleak and often-darkly comedic story of two long-estranged brothers torn apart by the kind of emotionally distressful past only parents can provide.

Stef Tovar (Jack) and Johnny Clark (Robert) star in “On an Average Day” at the Victory Gardens Greenhouse Theater.
Photo credit: Route 66 Theatre Company

John Kolvenbach (celebrated in Chicago for penning the Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s “Love Song”), masterfully allows the relationship between Robert (Johnny Clark) and Jack (Stef Tovar) to slowly reveal the secrecy and desperation that drenches it.

While the tension that Kolvenbach manifests is almost unyielding, he shows his true proficiency in acutely knowing the exact dramatic beats to reel back in. The dialogue is unapologetically real. Its rapidity and diction reflect those of an actual conversation transpiring between two individuals as opposed to a theatrical one.

This yields a result that’s absolutely searing.

The performances by both Clark and Tovar are arguably two of the best Chicago has witnessed all year. These are performers who view and treat acting as a true craft. Being able to watch their work up close is as hypnotizing and surreal as experiencing a glass blower create his sculptures from mere sand.

Stef Tovar (Jack) and Johnny Clark (Robert) star in “On an Average Day” at the Victory Gardens Greenhouse Theater.
Photo credit: Route 66 Theatre Company

Living as a hermit in the dilapidated family home, Clark’s deranged Robert soars in his simultaneous pathology and desperation. Robert’s tumultuous and possibly narcotic-driven past remains for the most part unknown to us. We meet the half-starved, mentally unbalanced young man who finds himself on trial for a vicious crime.

Clark skillfully plays Robert with unsettling yet enigmatic accuracy. He raises his vocal octave and adds quirks (or really ticks) to the character that viscerally unveil the decrepit state he’s in. These also impel the audience to wonder whether he will in fact snap in the very theatre.

Clark miraculously pays attention to every last detail of Robert from the way he scratches his beard to the way he throws back a can of beer.

Tovar performs the topically controlled family man Jack. He’s Robert’s older sibling and he’s simultaneously reserved and ready to crack. Tovar is a whiz at revealing the meaty yet unanswered space between every one of Kolvenbach’s lines. He succeeds at captivating his audience.

The chemistry that these actors have created between the two brothers proffers such an authenticity that it almost makes you feel like a peeping Tom looking into another family’s kitchen windows.

Jack returns to visit Robert in his pathetic state in hopes to reach a grisly conclusion. The reunion, though, results in the often edge-of-your-seat discussion of their familial histories. The writing and acting cohesively work to grab you – and hold you – at almost every moment of the work.

RELATED READING
More theater reviews from critic Alissa Norby.
More theater reviews from our other critics.

Though reflective of the validity of the writing, the directing might benefit from some added variation in movement. It’s often what the artists don’t reveal that makes “On an Average Day” so mesmeric. The piece climaxes in a stage combat scene so frighteningly real that it puts most Hollywood movies to shame.

This is storytelling at its finest.

Indeed, the entire work takes place in just one conversation between two men (and quite a few beers) in a run-down kitchen. The fact that this angle is so ostensibly minute – coupled with its ability to provide one of the most gripping dramas in recent memory – makes you truly believe that big things really do come in small packages. You won’t want to miss this one.

“On an Average Day” runs through Sept. 6, 2008 at the Victory Gardens Theater at 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago. The show runs Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. Tickets cost $25. To purchase tickets and for more information, visit here or call 773-871-3000.

For a complete listing of all shows and reviews in Chicago, visit our partner TheatreInChicago.com. For half-price Chicago theater tickets, visit our partner Goldstar.

By ALISSA NORBY
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
alissa@hollywoodchicago.com

Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s ‘Willy Wonka’ Sure to Satisfy Your Child’s Sweet Spot

HollywoodChicago.com — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:32:35 -0600

Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Ah, it’s summer again. Kids in Chicago are playing in the Millennium Park fountains, teenagers are flooding in to see the latest cinema blockbusters and families are enjoying Lake Michigan’s beaches.

But perhaps an even more important staple of this sunny season is the decision by Chicago theatre producers that it’s the prime time for stage productions to cater to those of us under the age of 12.

Lucky for the youngsters, the Chicago Shakespeare Theater has mounted a delectable stage adaptation of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” called “Willy Wonka”. It’s a musical that’s sure to entice and satiate even the bitterest of audiences. Fans of both Roald Dahl’s original children’s novel and the classic film will revel in this piece.

Only at the end of the play “Willy Wonka” is Willy Wonka’s (Sean Fortunato) purpose revealed. He not only rewards the good and deserving but finds fulfillment of his own search.
Photo credit: Liz Lauren

True to both Dahl’s tale and the movie score from Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Neweley, the production by the Chicago Shakespeare Theater is a goodie bag replete with fun costumes, playful Oompa-Loompa puppets, brightly colored set pieces and a small yet mostly stellar cast.

Though Dahl is one of the most celebrated children’s writers of all time, he’s most known for his willingness to incorporate solemn and dark themes into the most playful of his novels.

“Willy Wonka” director Joe Leonardo in Chicago demonstrably understands and reveres this. The production gleefully succeeds at taking its audience on a fantastic, chocolate-filled voyage while also paying credence to the more gloomy realities of each character’s plight.

The musical follows the familiar story of the Bucket family. They’re a down-on-their-luck clan residing in the slums of London.

Due to Mr. Bucket’s precarious job position at a toothpaste factory, the family is constantly on the verge of absolute poverty and destitution. The living conditions Leonardo has created clearly reflect their financial situation.

Living under the same patched roof (and in the same bed) are Charlie’s grandparents (represented by Meredith Miller’s ghoulish puppets), parents and young Charlie himself. Remaining steadfast to his message of hope, Charlie eventually scores one of the famous golden tickets from candy mogul Willy Wonka.

In “Willy Wonka,” the children’s journey is strewn with temptations. Augustus Gloop’s (George Andrew Wolff) gluttony – encouraged by his mother (Paula Scrofano) – proves to be his downfall.
Photo credit: Liz Lauren

Charlie then sets off to explore the chocolate factory in all of its delicious glory. Unlike most children’s stories, the antagonists here aren’t evil stepmothers, witches or monsters. They’re the children themselves.

Joining Charlie on his trek to the mysterious land of candy is the voracious Augustus Gloop (played by the golden-voiced George Andrew Wolff), the bratty Veruca Salt (Jessie Mueller), the gum-chomping Violet Beauregarde (Melanie Brezill) and the technology-inebriated Mike Teavee (played by Travis Turner on Hellys).

Though dealing with a noticeable deficit of character development, the actors perform these scrumptiously gluttonous characters with irresistible playfulness. Leading the brat pack is The House Theatre’s Patrick Andrews in the title role.

Unfortunately, he plays the precociously written Charlie a bit too childlike.

However, the wide-eyed and literal kid-in-a-candy-store excitement that Andrews brings to the table is undeniably enjoyable to watch. Also, everyone in the audience under 5-feet tall noticeably looked up (no pun intended) to Charlie as if he were a hero with a candy-cane crown.

RELATED READING
More theater reviews from critic Alissa Norby.
More theater reviews from our other critics.

However, the show is by no means ready to head to the Great White Way. Leslie Bricusse’s score and Tim McDonald’s book could definitely benefit from a trip back to Wonka’s inventing room.

With the exception of the songs made famous by the film adaptation (“Pure Imagination” and “The Candy Man”), the score is mostly forgettable along with the actor’s voices (specifically Sean Fortunato’s bland tenor take on Wonka).

But for the most part, the production thrives in its small-scale simplicity. Its age-old message of humility and kindness is still heartwarmingly contagious and its narrative is as fanciful as ever. Judging by the reactions throughout its opening, the kids will eat up every tasty morsel.

“Willy Wonka” runs every day but Mondays and Tuesdays through Aug. 17, 2008 at the Courtyard Theater at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, which is located at 800 E. Grand Ave. in Chicago. Visit here for tickets.

For a complete listing of all shows and reviews in Chicago, visit our partner TheatreInChicago.com. For half-price Chicago theater tickets, visit our partner Goldstar.

By ALISSA NORBY
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
alissa@hollywoodchicago.com

‘Lookingglass Alice’ a Proud Chicago Work of Jibber Jabber, Nonsensical Wonderment

HollywoodChicago.com — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:43:58 -0600

Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – On the fourth of July in 1862, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson rowed a boat up the River Thames with 10-year-old Alice Liddell. Alice was the daughter of the new dean of Christ Church where Dodgson was employed as a lecturer in mathematics.

Three years later, Dodgson (with the penname Lewis Carroll) wrote of such adventures in a book entitled “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”. Much like how the scholar preferred play to academe, the story of Alice celebrates the pooh-poohing of lessons and the embracing of fun-filled fantasy.

Beloved by millions, it was an unprecedented work of literary nonsense and utter surrealism. While it was adored by almost all, some critics wondered where the line between sense and nonsense should have been drawn. Now in its third year, Alice at Chicago’s Lookingglass Theatre is once again face to face with this same question. This time, though, she fails to proffer a clear answer.

Lauren Hirte (left) as Alice and Lawrence E. Distasi as Lewis Carroll in “Lookingglass Alice”.
Photo credit: Lookingglass Theatre

In “Lookingglass Alice,” director David Caitlin doesn’t fear showing his audience an Alice they could barely have dreamt of before (let alone seen before). A hybrid of both “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There,” the play uses both the card-deck symbolism of the former and the chess board structure of the latter to tell its story.

Lauren Hirte, Jesse Perez, Anthony Fleming III and Kevin Douglas in “Lookingglass Alice”.
Photo credit: Lookingglass Theatre

But perhaps what’s most obviously different about this production of Alice is not the unique combining of the novels but the influence of one of the production’s producers: the Actors Gymnasium.

In this version, the characters tumble, jump, fall and fly with the ease of some of the greatest trapeze artists of our times. When I say fly, I mean fly. There are no harnesses, bungee chords or levitating brooms.

When the terrific and audacious Lauren Hirte (Alice) takes wing, she does it about 25 feet off the ground on a mere series of ropes (all in Mary Janes and a dress). Each of her triumphs seemed so unimaginable that it noticeably had the audience thinking “curiouser and curiouser” after each twist and turn.

Caitlin clearly knows how to entertain his audience even when these gymnastic feats are put on pause. There is more tricycle riding, juggling, bouncy-ball throwing, swinging and toppling in this performance than could might feasibly fit into a room.

If it sounds like I’m describing a new “Cirque du Soleil” show that’s loosely based around a celebrated children’s story, then you’re close to the money. As mystifying and engaging as these acts are, they’re just that: acts that serve as audience eye candy.

While watching this production, you get the sense that the artists spent more time on the acrobatics than on Carroll’s classic writing. That truly is a shame (if not literary sacrilege) because the eloquent semantic riddles that comprise the Alice books are truly unparalleled and would have surely been a tasty treat for the Lookingglass audience.

Caitlin’s choice to favor physical tricks over literary treats disappointingly permeates almost all aspects of the show. While Hirte is fantastic in portraying the warm-hearted, head-in-the-clouds Alice, the ensemble actors perform their scenes with such overwhelmingly heightened energy and volume that Carroll’s witty dialogue is swallowed by their very delivery.

Lauren Hirte as Alica and Kevin Douglas as Humpty Dumpty in “Lookingglass Alice”.
Photo credit: Lookingglass Theatre

The humor is updated as well. Forget fantastical dialogue about Jabberwocks and mock turtles. The humor in this Alice includes jokes about fecal matter and girls having cooties.

While everyone in the audience under the age of 10 vociferously enjoyed these jokes, it did make me wonder whether Caitlin believed the audience wouldn’t be intelligent enough or sufficiently well-read to enjoy Carroll’s original humor.

However, the narrative of the piece is refreshingly new (though unapologetically foggy at points). Told through metanarration, the piece explores Alice and Wonderland in an almost existentialist style.

The actual stage managers and lighting crew schlep Alice through her adventure to show that this is in fact no longer Alice’s adventure. Instead, it’s a series of occurrences that are happening to her without her own consent.

The character of Lewis Carroll himself is present at times in the play as a kind of puppeteer who pulls the strings of the story in which Alice now naïvely finds herself.

Even the chess board that Alice must make her valiant and perilous march across is an allegory for the vanishing of innocence and the literal move from childhood to adulthood.

It is a directorial notion such as this that makes many aspects of the Lookingglass Theatre’s production ingenious.

RELATED SLIDESHOW
See our six-image slideshow for “Lookingglass Alice”.

RELATED READING
More theater reviews from critic Alissa Norby.
More theater reviews from our other critics.

As fresh and different as it proudly stands, though, the piece also retains the majority of the story’s whimsy and wonder.

The kids in the audience will enjoy this familiar tumble down the rabbit hole with characters such as the mischievous Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the sultry Chesire Cat, that hookah-smoking Caterpillar (who in this production seems to be inhaling more than just tobacco), the vicious Red Queen and that White Rabbit who never seemed to set his watch just right.

At the end of the day, it’s still a story that audiences of any background and age can enjoy. Faults aside, the dream-like world of play and wonderment that the Lookingglass creates is unadulterated. By the end of the night, so many out-of-the-way things happen that you surely begin to believe that nothing is truly impossible.

“Lookingglass Alice” runs every day of the week except for Mondays and Tuesdays at various times through Aug. 31, 2008 at the Lookingglass Theatre at 821 N. Michigan Ave. in Chicago. For tickets or more information, visit here or call 312-337-0665.

See our six-image slideshow for “Lookingglass Alice”.

For a complete listing of all shows and reviews in Chicago, visit our partner TheatreInChicago.com. For half-price Chicago theater tickets, visit our partner Goldstar.

By ALISSA NORBY
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
alissa@hollywoodchicago.com