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Cirque Returns – Millennium Park – August 9, 2023

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Cirque (specifically Troupe Vertigo) returned (this year performing to classical music, not Hollywood film scores), and so did I, although this time I sat in the cheap seats (read free) as opposed to the choral balcony behind the stage where I sat last year.

Also, this time I went early to check out the Family Fun in the Chase Promenade North Tent prior to the show, where I hoped to learn, from CircEsteem, how to juggle, spin plates and do hand stands with the other children in attendance. I’m proud to say that, quick study that I am, I can now juggle one ball, with the prospect of two looming in the near future.

I don’t know if it was my new vantage point or familiarity breeding indifference, but I wasn’t as enthralled by the theatrics as I was last year, not to say that there wasn’t great skill on display. But I concentrated more on the beautiful music and also found myself mesmerized by the coordinated movements of the crew working the ropes for the aerialists. To each his own.

Broadway in Your Backyard – Washington Square Park – August 8, 2023

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This is what is it should be like every night of the summer (or year for that matter) – perfect weather, breathable air, terrific performers and a large, lively crowd that included friends strewn throughout the park. And let’s not forget the Venezuelan-inspired Latin American street food la Cocinita food truck, from which I tasted the arepas, plantains and churros.

It’s the second time and place this summer I’ve seen a production of the Porchlight Music Theatre’s neighborhood concert series, which over the years has never failed to please, and on this occasion was at its best.

It’s no secret that these are hard times for theaters (see the recent NY Times article), but that hasn’t stopped Porchlight from continuing to find ways to provide first-class entertainment.

Tonight’s presentation included Desiree Gonzalez, whom I recently saw in Pippin; Ciarra Stroud, whom I singled out for her performance nine months ago in The Apple Tree; Bryce Ancil, whom I’ve seen in another of Porchlight’s wonderful works, namely its New Faces Sing Broadway series; and Lorenzo Rush Jr., who is one of my favorite performers, and whom I’ve written about a number of times, most recently in Damn Yankees.

Last, but not least, a special shout out to Porchlight Artistic Director Michael Weber, whose spirited rendition of (Ya Got) Trouble from The Music Man was magnetic.

Fourth Presbyterian Church Noonday Concert – Peppermint Patties – August 4, 2023

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I’m guessing that it was just a wild coincidence that the Peppermint Patties, a self-described, genre-fluid trio specializing in tight harmonies appeared at the lunchtime concert one week after Libby York (whom I did not go to see), If she and this group combined and promoted themselves as the York Peppermint Patties, I imagine a lawsuit would ensue.

The confection was introduced in 1940, amid the height of the Andrews Sisters popularity, an act whose hits the Patties recreate and then some with their own beautiful, classically-trained voices.

But, as advertised, the ladies also sing other styles, including musical theater, though Nikki Krzebiot, joining Anna Caldwell and Daina Fischer, and filling in for a departed member for the first time in public, stopped during her rendition of Cockeyed Optimist, because she perhaps overoptimistically thought she had memorized the lyrics, cleverly complimented those in the front row mouthing the words, and then restarted, proceeding flawlessly.

Despite their moniker, the group did not sing the Peppermint Patty theme song, made famous by the Charles Schulz character, so I didn’t get to hear “My name is Peppermint Patty, I live in Cincinnati, With a freckle on my nose, And eighteen toes.”

Nevertheless, a very enjoyable show.

Grant Park Music Festival – Millennium Park and Lake Shore Park (String Fellows) – August 2 & 3, 2023

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The music was good, yada, yada, yada, so let’s get to the other things going through my head.

Millennium Park doesn’t allow dogs, except for service animals (which don’t include emotional support animals), so barking during the concerts there Is one of the few interruptive sounds you don’t hear. Keep in mind that I’ve heard all manner of disruptive noise during the music, but haven’t yet, though it’s probably only a matter of time, heard any of the people in the audience bark (as they have been doing in the Dawg Pound bleachers at Cleveland Browns games since 1985).

Even if they were permitted to come, the dogs might not be interested. Studies show that classical music reduces stress in dogs, but that, after a time, they become bored (as do many humans), and that in the long term they respond better to reggae and soft rock. It’s not clear what the time limit is on a dog’s attention span, but all but one of the numerous dogs at the one-hour Lake Shore Park concert held it together throughout and that one’s owner was kind enough to take it for a stroll as soon as the problem arose.

Now if we could only get concert ushers to take unruly human attendees for a walk.

Beatles Sing-Along at Lake Shore – Lake Shore Park – July 30, 2023

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The Restored to Sanity Singers’ Facebook page says they sing twice a year. Based on what I heard, I assume that includes rehearsals.

The page also says that they welcome non-singers to their Beatles Sing-Along. That apparently includes them.

They suggest that audience members bring various instruments, including guitars, I guess that’s because the “band” itself brought only two violins (and violinists), a couple keyboards that seemed to be there mostly as conduits for recorded backing tracks (why even pretend otherwise?) and, as the percussion section, an amp that someone sat on and banged in lieu of drums.

The singing reminded me of a broken clock that is correct twice a day.

To be fair, the attendees seemed to be having a good time. It was a beautiful evening, so I probably also would have been okay had I brought a bottle of wine and a very large bar of chocolate.

When the actor playing Neil Diamond in A Beautiful Noise on Broadway encourages the audience to sing along with Sweet Caroline, it’s a happening. At this event the extra voices were a necessity and I wish there had been more participation.

I stayed for about seven songs, leaving before they got to The End.

The 2023 Newberry Book Fair – The Newberry – July 28-30, 2023

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The book fair reminds me of an early scene in a scary movie, no, not the library scene in Ghostbusters, although . . . . But, rather, replace a few paleontologists, or perhaps more accurately paleozoologists, digging for Jurassic Period fossils of the extinct triceratops, tyrannosaurus and velociraptor in Montana (actually Red Rock Canyon State Park in California), with hundreds of bibliophiles digging through piles of near-extinct, dinosaur-equivalent paper books, trying to resurrect the species, which has been decimated, not by an asteroid 66-million years ago, but by publishers like Peanut Press, and later the asteroid-like Amazon, less than three decades ago, with the advent of e-books.

The animal analogy continues as you make your way past the squirreling area, where you’re allowed to hide books, not acorns, and not overnight, from your competition while you look for more treats in one of the three rooms set aside for bargain-hunting patrons who got their training on Christmas mornings at FAO Schwartz battling one another over Beanie Babies, Tickle Me Elmos and Cabbage Patch Kids.

Unlike the employees of Jurassic Park, who take a potentially dangerous situation and make it worse, the staff and volunteers at the library do an amazing job of preparing and replenishing the tables holding 73 different subject-matter categories, providing information and processing sales, which, by the way, are BYOB (bring your own bag), or, in some cases, shopping carts.

The message is, even with the demise of the brick-and-mortar bookstore, to analogize the words of Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm, books find a way.

Grant Park Music Festival – Millennium Park – July 19, 2023

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Two things drew me to the park for this concert, the beautiful weather (as opposed to the previous two Wednesday evenings, which featured flooding one night and a tornado warning the other, both of which shut down the concerts), and the Gorchakov, as opposed to the more commonly played Ravel, orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, which I had never heard before (not that I can tell the difference).

But neither was the main attraction (well, maybe the weather, as evidenced by the largest crowd of the year).

The first piece, the one-year-old Profiles, an homage to Harlem, was introduced by its composer, Carlos Simon, who told the audience that the sound of nearby sirens during rehearsal, given the subject matter, seemed entirely appropriate for the music, and that we should accept it as such if it happened during the performance. I couldn’t help but wonder whether the musicians had a different viewpoint.

After Profiles, the orchestra gave us Alexander Glazunov’s Concerto in A Minor, featuring solo violinist Esther Yoo. What followed that was the highlight of the night, as Yoo played a solo encore of . . . wait for it . . . Yankee Doodle Dandy that displayed her exceptional talent and artistic whimsey.

For a joyful five minutes, listen to the version I found online of her playing it at the 2022 Copenhagen Summer Festival.

Wheels – The Newberry – July 19, 2023

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What happens when you run out of ideas for a new exhibit? The Newberry came up with the perfect answer by asking what happens when you search your collection for a certain word, in their case ”wheels”.

They came up with enough material to line a couple walls and inspire this column.

Among the highlights they found are photos from the Chicago Railroad Fair of 1949, which Walt Disney attended, and which, it is said, was one of the inspirations for Disneyland.

There also are pictures from a roller derby (which I watched religiously in my youth); a wheel of fortune (not The Wheel of Fortune); the original Chicago Ferris Wheel (not Ferret Wheel, which you can buy online at friendlyferret.com); and more.

I don’t need to fill two walls, only half a page, so, lacking any originality, I decided I would search for “wheel’ among my past blogs. This, as it turned out, was smarter than looking for the plural, like they did, as it opens up the world of compound words.

I’ve mentioned my limited wheelhouse when it comes to Jeopardy categories; a wheelchair, when discussing Bette Midler’s alter ego Delores Delagoa; a wheeled emergency stretcher, when reporting on an incident at a concert; and a wheelbarrow, when recounting working in the park.

And, lastly, I recalled that a Newberry speaker (see how I got back to them) cited Nutcracker choreographer Christopher Wheeldon.

Chicago Duo Piano Festival – Nichols Hall – July 16, 2023

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Eleven days ago I saw Michelle Cann rock Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue on the piano at a rehearsal with the Grant Park Orchestra (no Oscar Levant impersonations involved). In addition to her virtuosic playing, she flashed a radiant smile and an animated involvement with the music. I even was mesmerized by the way her feet danced with the pedals,

Unfortunately, I missed Joyce Yang performing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 a week later, as did she, when a tornado warning shut down the Millennium Park concert. If I had been there I’m sure the closing of the large glass doors to protect the musicians from the elements would have reminded me of The Time Machine, when the doors at the sphinx’s base closed, trapping Weena and other Eloi inside.

But Joyce escaped (as did Weena with the unnamed inventor’s help) and I was there to hear her work her magic on Franz Lisa’s Totentanz three days later in the park.

My stroll through the world of piano got topped off the next day by watching the Millennium Park soloists of the future play in the Music Institute Of Chicago’s student recital portion of its annual Chicago Duo Piano Festival, highlighted by the play of the already-acclaimed, brother-sister, young-teen-team of Eric and Katie Koh.

As great as they were, however, my fancy was struck by three of the young artists playing Rachmaninoff’s 2 pieces for 6 hands waltz; three others playing Kevin Olson’s Outstanding, which features one of them walking back and forth behind the other two to play different parts of the piano; and the four-person, two-piano rendition of Take Five.

According to UPI, the Guinness World Record was set in 2018 when 40 pianos were played on a stage in China in unison with 599 pianos in a nearby square, for a total 639 played at the same time. I can’t believe I missed that one.

Chicago Storytelling in Bughouse Square – The Newberry – July 15, 2023

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Last year, in regard to this annual event, I quoted Will Rogers about things not being what they used to be. This year, they were even less than that.

Last year, I visited the Society of Smallness table and exchanged small talk with them. But, after many years of underwhelming us with their underachievements, they didn’t make an appearance this year. Perhaps they had little left to say.

A few times, in past years, I’ve been entertained by the ragtag Environmental Encroachment Brass Band, and, last year, the Sheryl Youngblood Blues Band. This year, no offense, musically there only was a DJ whose job it was, I think, to help keep people awake between speakers in Ruggles Hall, which, as far as I know, despite being in a library, is not an eponym for the protagonist of the novel Ruggles of Red Gap, or the movie of the same name, wherein, interestingly, the actor Charles Ruggles plays, not the title character, but rather Egbert Floud.

Last year a couple of the scheduled speakers struck my fancy, including the one who talked about pigeons, a relevant topic when we were in the park as usual, but the threat of bad weather (even that’s not what it used to be – way more often now as Armageddon approaches), kept us inside, and the only orator I listened to was, coincidentally, Chad the Bird, who, in case you don’t know, is Chicago’s leading avian op ed columnist, who gave us the history of Malort, the iconic Chicago undrinkable drink.