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The Kontras Quartet – Rush Hour Concert – St. James Cathedral – June 7, 2022

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To my knowledge this was the first concert I’ve attended where one of the pieces was inspired by Xhosa culture. (I’ll wait while you look that up.)

But more interesting, from my standpoint, was that Apologia at Umzimvubu was written for strings in the 21st century, and yet there was enough relationship between the notes that I could actually listen and enjoy it. It wasn’t chalk on a blackboard. High praise.

That said, the quartet’s graceful interpretation of Florence Price’s String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor was more my style.

But, apparently, not that of the woman with the plastic shopping bag who plopped down behind me during the third movement, fiddled annoyingly with her possession for five minutes, and then left, saving me the need to make a citizen’s arrest.

American Writers Festival – Chicago Cultural Center and American Writers Museum – May 15, 2022

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I’ve delayed writing about the American Writers Festival because first I wanted to watch the animated Love, Death & Robots on Netflix. Huh?

I went to the festival primarily to see my favorite living science fiction author, John Scalzi (which reminds me, Willie Mays celebrated his 91st birthday earlier this month), whom I first discovered at an AWM program in October, 2018, at which time I had yet to read any of his books (Scalzi, that is – I don’t think Mays has written anything, but he sure could do everything else). Since then I’ve read all 16 of his novels and one of his short stories.

But I didn’t know, until I saw Scalzi at the festival, that five episodes of L, D & R were based on other stories of his. So, I now also can recommend those, with a special shout out for When the Yogurt Took Over.

I was planning on going too to two other programs at the festival, but a staff member at the museum wouldn’t let me go to the ready room to annoy, I mean say hello to, Jennifer Keishen Armstrong (it wan’t a cold call – she does know me, honest) before she came out to do her live Dead Writer Drama podcast, which then caused me to lose interest in staying to hear her and later Peter Sagal and several of his closest friends for them to tell me how to write comedy, as if they could. This was not unlike how the actions of a couple high school teachers caused me to lose interest in studying for years. Also, I was lazy.

Chicago Sings Stephen Sondheim – Porchlight Music Theatre, at the Museum of Contemporary Art – May 23, 2022

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Back when you were still allowed to talk about Woody Allen, people were fond of saying that they preferred his early movies, when he was funny, before Stardust Memories, though there has been good stuff after that, if not of the same madcap variety as say, Bananas.

What does this have to do with Sondheim. Well, I liked his early work better, and, dare I say it, in particular when someone else was writing the music – West Side Story and Gypsy.

But Chicago Sings was about Sondheim, so no Bernstein or Styne tunes. And, because those of us who support the theater are supposed to be aficionados, we were “treated” to a number of songs that the average Joe (not to be confused with last season’s 13-episode TV show I liked but that has not been renewed – again I’m on the wrong side) might not have picked from his other shows.

As for the performances, I will call out Laura Savage (as I have done several times before), who lights up the stage, and Mark David Kaplan, whose Pretty Little Picture as Pseudolus made me laugh (which was permitted in early Sondheim shows).

But enough about substance. The food was good. The registration line not so much. And, thankfully, no one fell down the winding staircase on their way back down to the auditorium for the show after drinking at the reception.

Spring Awakening – Porchlight Music Theatre – April 28, 2022

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This was my second opening of the week. I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first day of the new Whole Foods near me the day before.

The performances at both were fine, but, even though it’s not a classic, I prefer the song from the Whole Foods commercial, Every Beat Of My Heart, by the Du-Ettes, to anything I heard in Spring Awakening, even Totally F**ked, which mostly stood out for the impressive one-handed cartwheel one of the actors did during the “dance break.”

Spring Awakening won the 2007 Tony for Best Musical, beating out Curtains, Grey Gardens, and Mary Poppins. For my money, I would have given the award that year to the not-even-nominated Legally Blonde, which, I guess, wasn’t deep enough, but sure was a lot more entertaining.

So I had to find things other than the play’s hit-me-over-the-head messages to think about while waiting for the final curtain.

The intellectual Melchior made me yearn for Michael Fitzsimmons, the biker loner character who spouted poetry in Peggy Sue Got Married.

Melchior’s obsession with Faust reminded me that I still remember, from high school, the first eight lines, in German, of Goethe’s Prolog im Himmel, which I repeated over and over in my mind to help pass the time.

I also thought about Franz Liebkind, whose play, when put in the right hands, turned out to be a lot more fun.

And, finally, I wished, if I were going to see a musical based on a 19th century German children’s story, that it be an adaptation of the Katzenjammer Kids.

Now and Then – Oil Lamp Theater – April 17, 2022

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First, this play is not Now and Then, The Musical, and more accurately probably should be named Then and Now, though, admittedly, that doesn’t roll off the tongue as well, and Now and Then more accurately describes how often it’s produced.

The first time I attended a show at the Oil Lamp Theater, in early 2020, I saw a play with eight characters, seven of whom weren’t actually there. This time there were four characters, two of whom could only have been present if someone found a way to bend the laws of physics.

Back then, in prehistoric times, the theater had a doorman and a BYO policy. Those halcyon days are gone, but, more importantly, the free chocolate chip cookies remain a feature.

The play was solid, evidenced by the fact that I managed to stay awake despite the complete lack of ventilation, a problem I overcame by holding my breath (sort of automatic with a mask on anyway) throughout the first act and then stepping outside for some fresh air at intermission.

And, though the theater only seats 60 people, the one bathroom only accommodates one person, so my breath wasn’t the only thing I held in during the second act.

 

An Evening with Molly Shannon – Chicago Humanities Festival – Harris Theater – April 13, 2022

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As with Bob Odenkirk’s book-promoting appearance at the festival, Tim Meadows played the role of interviewer, unfortunately, as I would have liked more of Shannon, and less of Meadows asking the audience if anyone had any marijuana they could give him.

On the positive side, compared to the Odenkirk interview, there was a lot less profanity, a better venue, and a readable book as part of the package.

One similarity between the programs was the guest saying that it was really hard to write the book. Shannon said it about ten times., which was nothing compared to how many times she said “yeah” in response to Meadows.

Appropriately, given the requests for marijuana, I haven’t heard someone say “yeah” as much since I walked into the wrong party senior year of college, where every other sentence was “yeah man.”

Shannon’s other most frequent responses to Meadows, when she could get a word in edgewise, were “that’s funny” (even if it wasn’t), that’s great (even if it wasn’t), and I don’t know (even if she did?).

Then, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, when Meadows said they were out of time, Shannon stood up and started riffing, taking over the stage and disregarding the fact that they had to clear the space for the next presentation.

If only Meadows had told her time was up an hour earlier, and then sat back and enjoyed her energy with the rest of us.

Moulin Rouge! The Musical – James M. Nederlander Theatre – April 7, 2022

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I’ve been to the actual Moulin Rouge, or at least to the sidewalk right in front of it. I will always have fonder memories of that moment than my time spent shivering in the Nederlander Theatre (their ventilation system definitely works), while trying to recognize all 70 of the show’s songs, credited to 161 writers, each of whom receives a royalty payment proportional to how long their song is in the show and based on a cut of the revenue. Anything to pass the time.

As my mind wandered, I also wondered how many different colors were represented in the amazing array of costumes, and wish I had thought to count them. There are currently 120 Crayola crayon colors. More colors, even, than songs in the show, in case anyone asks you.

The other thing I did a lot of was stare at Libby Lloyd, playing the part of Nini, whose dance moves, for my money, made her the star of the show, or at least the most visible star, as the musical arrangements and the orchestra’s ability to seamlessly flow from one fraction of a song to the next, were noteworthy (ergo this note).

 

Chicago Film History: Seeing Selig – Chicago History Museum – March 23, 2022

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I thought I was there to see Zelig, you know the guy who used to show up in photos with Woodrow Wilson, Babe Ruth, and others, long before photobombing was a thing and Tom Hanks inserted himself into every wedding shot he happened to be in the vicinity of.

Okay, not Zelig, but I also was good with seeing Bud Selig, former Commissioner of Baseball, though I wasn’t sure what he had to do with film. Apparently nothing.

So, instead I learned, from Jeff Spitz, a Columbia College Associate Professor in Cinema and TV Arts, about William Selig and his Selig Polyscope Company, which, as it turns out, was a big deal in the early days of the motion picture industry, building Southern California’s first permanent movie studio, after starting out in Chicago.

If you have one more online experience left in you, watch Selig’s thirteen minute, 1910 version of The Wizard of Oz on YouTube, worth it, if for no other reason, for the humorously rudimentary special effects.

In addition to being the studio to produce the first films of Tom Mix, Harold Lloyd, and Fatty Arbuckle, Selig, in partnership with the Chicago Tribune, is credited with inventing the cliffhanger, in 1913, with the production of The Adventures of Kathlyn, which the paper gave front page coverage to. Where would we be today without cliffhangers? Maybe I’ll tell you next time.

Good Night, Oscar – Goodman Theatre – March 20, 2022

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Spoiler alert! In case you don’t know—I did—Sean Hayes was a musician before he was an actor or comedian, having studied piano performance in college, and working thereafter as a classical pianist. (It’s amazing the stuff you learn on the Internet when you have nothing else to do for two years.) He has musical chops.

What I didn’t know, but was glad to see, was how much time he must have spent studying all things Oscar Levant, so that he could emulate his tics and mannerisms as if they were his own. (After the performance I found and viewed on YouTube Levant’s final television appearance, as the mystery guest on What’s My Line, to confirm the accuracy of the depiction.)

Now, imagine Hayes playing Rhapsody in Blue while playing the quirky Levant at the height of his mental health issues and drug addiction. Chopsticks would be tough under those conditions.

This is the seventh Goodman show I’ve mentioned in my blog. Regulars may remember that I haven’t been too kind in regard to four of those prior productions. In my defense, they weren’t kind to me either. But this one had everything, including actual Levant insights like “There’s a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line.”

DePaul Jazz Orchestra – Holtschneider Performance Center – March 13, 2022

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Having taken my usual aisle seat, I was appalled by the usher’s request that I move over one to allow room for a latecomer to sneak in. I just said no. (I’m good at that.) After all, I paid for the aisle. Not really, of course, as tickets were free and seats unreserved.

So, instead of sitting to my right, the only person in the room who sat down and then lowered his mandatory mask, sat to my left. After I gently poked him, he lifted the mask back up and left it there, so that, thereafter, I only had to put up with his occasional unsolicited commentary and attention-seeking slow clapping.

As for the excellent performance from the 17-piece band, the freshman trumpet player set the tone by wearing sunglasses during his big solo; the only musician wearing a mask was, unpredictably, the baritone saxophonist, whose solo belied any notion that the barrier would be an impediment; and, during his solo, the piano player made swing look easy, just like golf pros do during their swings, which I also can’t emulate.

A vocalist magically, and unfortunately, appeared for two songs. If I could have turned off his mic, I would have. But he couldn’t detract from an otherwise enjoyable concert, including the director’s background stories about the Duke Ellington and Count Basie bands, and all that jazz.