Guys and Dolls – Music Theater Works – March 30, 2025 (closing night)

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Guys and Dolls opened on Broadway in 1950. Now I’ve finally seen it on stage for the first time. Of course I’ve seen the movie. But seeing this wonderful, live presentation has helped erase the painful memory of Marlon Brando as Sky Masterson. I look forward to the rumored forthcoming remake of the film, directed by Rob Marshall, who brought home the bacon with Chicago in 2002, which should further cleanse my palate.

Cecilia Iole, Jeffrey Charles, Callan Roberts and Kristin Brintnall were all terrific in the lead roles. And Cary Lovett as Nicely-Nicely was a treat, as were all the supporting players, the band, the choreography and the dancing.

The show also reminded me of how great a writer Abe Burrows was. Before Burrows won the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, he kinda, sorta won the 1951 award for Guys and Dolls, except, under pressure from the House Un-American Activities Committee, the Trustees of Columbia University capitulated and decided not to give the award to him that year. Fast forward to today and Columbia is once again viewed by many as agreeing to things they shouldn’t, to avoid rockin’ the boat.

Titanique Tech Run – Broadway Playhouse – March 23, 2025

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There was no The Show That Goes Wrong moment, so, as far as I could tell, the tech part of the rehearsal went fine.

I’m sure the cast was grateful to have a a group of people before whom they could strut their considerable skills.

And, for the most part, the attendees, unsurprisingly, seemed to be more clued in than I to the show’s references, even though I had already seen the designers’ run as previously described in an earlier post. I clearly am not the target audience.

For example, I caught allusions to Wicked, Chicago and Peter Pan, but didn’t catch them to, well, I don’t know, as Donald Rumsfeld would say.

I got some help from the Millennial sitting next to me, but even she had no explanation for some of the material.

There were a couple moments when I thought I alone, based on no reaction around me, got a joke, but maybe I was chasing windmills, which may become even tougher to do if they are outlawed.

I’ll have more to say after going to opening night, but, in case the author/director has nothing else to do and is reading this, I want to suggest, and others agreed with me, less eggplant. In putting the show together, he must have had a Steve McQueen in The Magnificent Seven moment, that is “It seemed to be a good idea at the time.”

Native Pop! – The Newberry – Mar 20–Jul 19, 2025

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I’m somewhat mystified by The Newberry subtitling its Native Pop! exhibit “How Indigenous people have shaped popular culture.”

I say that because the first thing you see when entering the exhibit is a huge poster depicting a struggle between The Incredible Hulk and Black Snake that was created for a protest movement opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline. While significant, this seems far afield from the shaping of pop culture.

(Coincidentally, a day before the exhibit opened, a North Dakota jury found Greenpeace liable for approximately $660 million for defamation, trespassing and other infractions in a case involving the protests against the pipeline.)

The poster is an example of ledger art, which was the adaptation from painting on animal hides to painting on paper (accounting ledgers being one of the most common sources of paper) after the near extermination of the bison herds.

On a lighter (or lightsaber) note, Star Wars is a major pop culture touchstone for Native communities. The Newberry will be presenting the Navajo Language version of Star Wars: A New Hope on May 3rd.

When it came to Star Wars, there literally and figuratively was a shaping of pop culture, as Princess Leia’s well-known coif was inspired by the Hopi squash blossom or butterfly whorl hairstyle, depictions of which are shown next to a photo of the esteemed leader of the Rebel Alliance.

The last item to particularly catch my attention was the Dakotah Scrabble set, including a dictionary. My independent research tells me that it is was created in 2006 (many decades after the original Scrabble, so again, not shaping) as a way to keep the language from dying out. The language already doesn’t have the letters F, J, L, Q, R, V , and X, so who knows what it may lose next.

Titanique – Porchlight Music Theatre/Broadway in Chicago – Broadway Playhouse – March 25-May 18, 2025

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This is the third musical I’ve seen that is based on a ship that sunk, previously having attended Poseidon! An Upside Down Musical and Ernest Shackleton Loves Me, but having missed, I think fortunately, Eastland: A New Musical.

I’ve attacked Titanique as I would have any long-term school project if I had ever done a long-term school project.

I went to the cast meet and greet, where I heard a couple of the show’s songs and some background from the director/co-author, Tye Blue, but mostly met and greeted a variety of cheese and crackers.

Then I watched the movie Titanic for the first time, clearing my calendar for an entire weekend to have time to do so.

As my final preparation, I attended the designers’ run at Porchlight’s rehearsal space, which confirmed for me that, except for two songs, I am unfamiliar with Celine Dion’s music (though familiarity is not necessary to enjoy the show).

The other thing I learned was that Titanique contains pop culture references about which I also am totally clueless. After the performance, I believe I heard one of my fellow attendees mention Dynasty (of which I’ve never seen even a single minute of the boot or reboot) as the basis for an allusion in the show.

Despite my ignorance, I was rapt by the performances and somewhat controlled insanity on stage (more on that after seeing the actual show), albeit somewhat embarrassed by the fact that everyone around me was laughing hysterically, even while I occasionally sat mystified, though entertained (I didn’t always understand Robin Williams or Jonathan Winters either).

Chamber Music Immersive – Chicago History Museum – May 12, 2025

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This was the first of what the Chicago History Museum hopes will be a series of regular events in the future. I hope they are successful in putting it together. It was wonderful, though there really shouldn’t have been any nuts on top of the chocolate brownies, even though they were easily scraped off.

Violinist Philippe Quint put the program together and took the role of master of ceremonies, along with his featured role as a terrific musician. Christopher Guzman provided flawless work of the piano and the excellent cellist was either Calum Smith or Calum Cook, depending on whether you believe the program listing or his bio as principal cellist at the Lyric Opera.

Clarice Assad appeared to perform her composition of The Last Song (for voice and piano), which allowed me to hear Brazilian scat for the first time. I want more.

On the down side, in an attempt to tie the concert into the museum’s current exhibit Dressed in History: A Costume Collection Retrospective, Quint brought in five members of The Joffrey Ballet to act as “super models” (his term) for various garments. Most of the outfits were, at best, meh, and it was a terrific waste of talent, though mercifully short in duration. I had been hoping for actual dance. Quint might as well have used people from cousin Jeffrey’s ballet.

Circus Quixote – Lookingglass Theatre – February 26, 2025

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My hope that the reopening of Lookingglass Theatre, featuring the world premiere of Circus Quixote, would lead me on a quest to see more of their productions, turned out to be an impossible dream.

Upon entering the building, the first thing that struck me was the spare feeling of the “vibrant new lobby,” as described by the architects.

If not for the juggling instruction going on in one corner, I might have thought that I had wandered into the wrong place.

The play itself wasn’t quite as monstrous a show as the theater’s production of Frankenstein in 2019, but I was ready to leave within the first 30 seconds, thereafter gritting my teeth and performing mental gymnastics to help me endure until intermission.

There were some laughs (not as many for me as for a few others in the sparse crowd – relatives of the cast?), though I feel like much of the humor must have been lost to me in translation. I did understand the sophomoric use of belching, but wasn’t particularly amused. If you’re going that route, go bigger.

Some of the choreographed scenes were lame, though not so the horse fantasized from a rocking chair.

The interactions with the audience struck me as inappropriate and somewhat desperate, as, all in all, I felt like I was watching a long-form improv show that was playing off of a suggestion to incorporate windmills into a scene.

Betrayal – Goodman Theatre – February 22, 2025

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A review I read before going to see Betrayal said that Pinter’s “plays famously include long pauses and silences that can feel interminable to audiences if not handled with care.”

Had I not read that review, I wouldn’t even have noticed any such delays. As it is, maybe one or two. Certainly never enough of an interlude to grab a snack in the lobby. Credit to the director and cast? Or difference of opinion as to what qualifies? I don’t know.

Before seeing the production, I was thinking that maybe I made a mistake in not pursuing an acting career, specializing in Pinter. Given a long enough gap between lines, I might have had time to recall my dialogue, or sneak a peek at crib notes on my sleeve, before my turn arose.

Moreover, the anguish in my expression as I tried to remember what to say might have been interpreted as, or confused for acting.

As an audience member, I could use long pauses when watching Shakespeare, as they would give me time to figure out, or look up on my phone, what I had just heard. Of course that would lead to interminably long shows, which was not a problem in this 75-minute production.

Helen Hunt and Robert Sean Leonard were the draws, and they were fine, but, frankly, not special enough to induce a recommendation from me. Fortunately, however, though the play is considered a drama, there were some good laughs, because I just didn’t care about the characters.

An interesting side note about this play with a backward timeline is that the audience wasn’t sure that it was over until a minor character walked onto the stage alone to take the first bow.

Season Prelude Reception and Dinner with the Maestro – Millennium Park – February 20, 2025

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The maestro, in case you have been avoiding all news, is the new Grant Park Music Festival (GPMF) artistic director and principal conductor, Giancarlo Guerrero, replacing Carlos Kalmar.

Addressing a packed stage, Guerrero had a lot to say about his background and plans, not only for this year, but also the future, in particular next year’s 250th anniversary of something or other.

He did so in a rapid-fire style that would make Aaron Sorkin proud. I was assured by GPMF staff that not everything he conducts moves at that same lightening-fast pace.

In his remarks, GPMF President and CEO Paul Winberg mentioned the organization’s successful DEI efforts, and didn’t get hit by lightning.

It never gets old sitting on the Jay Pritzker Pavilion Stage, with the glass doors closed to spare us from the frigid temperatures, and looking out onto Millennium Park from the vantage point, in this case, of a member of the violin section of the Grant Park Orchestra.

Several times I noticed the headlights from a golf cart driving east to west across the division between the seats and the lawn, which I assume was either some sort of security check or a search for the most wayward shot in history.

We were treated to two beautiful cello selections played by this year’s artist-in-residence, Inbal Segev. I wish I could tell you what they were, but I must have been too focused on the hunt for the golf ball. Segev will be playing at two consecutive Wednesday concerts in July, which I look forward to and when there will be written programs for me to crib from.

There also was a mezzo-soprano, who probably was very good, delivering a couple short songs, but, as we know, I don’t care.

Dinner in the Choral Hall was excellent (special kudos to the rolls).

Finally, I would be remiss in not mentioning my excitement when parking in the Millennium Park Garage for the first time and having the gates open automatically for me upon recognizing my license plates as entered on my prepay online form. I’m easily amused.

I’ve Got a Sinking Feeling

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It was ten months from the time Ernest Shackleton’s ship, the Endurance, became trapped in the ice before it finally sank. Fortunately the entire crew amazingly survived not only that, but also another nine months before their rescue. The last five of those months were spent on Elephant Island.

The weather forecast here this week is for temperatures and wind chills some 30 or more degrees lower than that of Elephant Island, but I don’t have to go outside if I don’t want to (and I won’t be eating any dogs).

Instead I have been inspired to start constructing a LEGO version of the Endurance that I’m taking my time with, as the groundhog said something about six more weeks (months?, years?) of winter, but hope will not take me more than ten months to complete (though I’ve already had to start over once, so who knows), will not sink (pretty good chance of that as it’s not near any water) and will not go unseen for over 100 years (some possibility of that as I don’t get a lot of company).

This project might be the first item in a new LEGO wing (complementing the spacecraft gallery) that would be a combination musical theater (Ernest Shackleton Loves Me) – sea (a groaner, not a typo) you later nook that could also include the Titanic, which took somewhere between 5 minutes and 2 hours 40 minutes to sink, depending on whom you believe (but in either case, would require me to work faster) and is featured in the upcoming Porchlight Music Theatre/Broadway in Chicago production of Titanique.

Booked for the Evening – Newberry Library – Feb. 7, 2025

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If only I had brought my checkbook with me, I might have been able to purchase John Bringhurst and Rosina Matern’s Quaker marriage certificate from June 2, 1682 for a mere $5000. But I didn’t, so I limited myself to browsing, and chatting with some of the staff who had been released from their research nooks to be available to wax poetically about the esoteric materials on display.

One table exhibited a collection of early to mid-20th-century house plans, down to things like plumbing fixtures, in case I wanted to build the retro abode of my dreams, like Brendon Frasier did for his parents in Blast from the Past.

Another, which actually held some interest for me, presented the sheet music for twelve Tunisian dances, composed by Ali Ben Salomone, from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, made more interesting by the fact that at least some of those dances were notoriously performed by Fatima Djemille, the belly dancer famously known as Little Egypt.

Lastly, I would be remiss in not mentioning the Dutes Miller and Stan Shellabarger Coffee Book display, which might go well with Cosmo Kramer’s coffee table book of coffee tables that turns into a coffee table.

The married couple used a different piece of paper as a coaster for their cups every day from January 25 through August 30, 2020, and apparently forgot to throw them out, so that today I could appreciate the coffee stains and rings they had left.

I would have expected to see something like that at the Museum of Contemporary Art, especially since, it turns out, perhaps not surprisingly, that there is something known as coffee art, though that at least requires some creative value-added over and above putting out a new piece of paper every day.