Chicago Magic Lounge – Al James – August 22, 2018

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Going to see a magician perform is sort of like going to the polls on election day. Both involve misdirection, but politicians don’t put out a tip jar. They get your money by other means.

The Chicago Magic Lounge, which opened about six months ago, is in a converted 1940s-era, commercial laundry building. The first trick you encounter is the lack of an obvious interior door once you’ve entered from the street. A guy who walked in the same time I did wanted to call for help, but I convinced him to let me figure it out, which wasn’t that tough, because, after all, they want your business.

I just came to sit at the bar and see some close up card tricks, remembering the days when we used to go to Schulien’s for the magician who would go from table to table performing tricks. I’ll go back to the Lounge another time for one of the shows.

Al James, who was working the bar area, promotes himself as the World’s Second Greatest Magician. When asked who’s first, he replies that he says second to avoid arguments.

Before James started his act, I mentioned that I had come from the golf course. That was a mistake, as he decided to tell me, in his deadpan style, a golf joke I’d heard many times before. I restrained myself, however, not wanting to be rude by interrupting him, and so suffered through the joke. Then I told him one he didn’t know, and that made the bartender laugh. Al should stick to magic.

On the other hand, though his tricks seemed routine, Al’s sleight of hand was pretty good, at least by my standards, though I suspect Penn and Teller would not be fooled. Then the bartender tried to make my credit card disappear, but I left unscathed.

P.S. As has been requested of me, I have added a contact widget at the bottom of the page by which you can send me messages.  Figuring that out was no small trick.

 

Life is a Cabaret

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Break out the chocolate. This is my one hundredth blog, all posted in less than eight months. Who says I’m not working? I’m just not getting paid.

What started out as an offhand thought about chronicling my retirement activities, has turned into something of an obsession.

My first challenge was the technical aspects of setting up a blog. I didn’t know any six-year-olds who could help me, so I had to figure it out myself, with help, one time, from a faceless technical assistant, in another country, on my provider’s chat line. I’m still trying (halfheartedly) to figure out how to make the blog’s email account work.

I had no idea whether anyone would be interested in reading my rambling reflections. I figured out early on, however, that I enjoyed writing them. As long as I amuse myself, and no animals are harmed in the process, what the heck (but thank you to my loyal followers, whose kind words I appreciate – if you blog in a forest and no one reads it, does it say anything?).

I’ve never had the intention of trying to monetize the site. So you won’t see any ads and you shouldn’t get any spam based on being a subscriber or visiting the site. This is not The Facebook.

I did consider the possibility that, someday, theaters might deem it worthwhile to give me free tickets, but there are three things standing in the way of that – they don’t know I exist; my readership is too small and I have no interest in marketing the site other than through casual conversation; and the theaters might prefer something other than the detour-heavy, top of consciousness, keep it short, look for the joke style I currently employ, even if I do try to spell their names right.

A nice side benefit of the blog is that I now have something to talk about when meeting people (given no job to complain about and no grandchildren).

Another benefit has been the increase in my activity due to the responsibility I feel to my readers to go out and find things to do, for the story value. It’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make, and better than sitting alone in your room. Thank you Elsie.

Anything Goes – Music Theater Works (Cahn Auditorium) – August 18, 2018

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Several people who knew I was going to see Anything Goes remarked to me that it had gotten good reviews. I guess they were just trying to make conversation, given that it hadn’t opened yet. Perhaps they were recalling the reviews for the original 1934 Broadway production starring Ethel Merman, or subsequent ones featuring Patti LuPone and Sutton Foster. In any event, though it required great will power, I restrained myself from correcting them, until now.

Usually I do wait for reviews, and don’t like to go to opening nights, having participated in enough of them to know that often something goes wrong. But this was a short run and I had confidence both in the company and in Cole Porter, a real up-and-comer.

But, sure enough, there was a miscue by the star of the show, Erica Evans, as she started her first song. I’m not sure whether she started singing too early, or had word problems, but after one line, she very calmly and professionally, almost as if it were part of the song, said let’s try that again, a cue that the orchestra, through the conductor, flawlessly picked up on as it vamped to allow her to restart. She then proceeded to knock our socks off for the rest of the show.

Also, a quick mention of the percussionist who, in addition to a slew of the usual instruments, threw in a whistle, a bird call, and several other interesting things I couldn’t keep track of.

But, of course, my favorite part was the tap dance to the title song that closes the first act. What is it about someone, who has just finished being part of a 20-person, high-energy tap dance, calling out five, six, seven, eight, to launch the group into a dance reprise as the curtain lowers that is particularly delightful, or should I say delovely?

Avenue Q – Mercury Theater – August 15, 2018

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All of the puppets and several of the humans in this wonderful production also were in the 2014 production I saw at the Mercury Theater.

This time, however, I also got to go on a backstage tour. You can go to Playbill to learn about dressers and quick costume changes for actors in Broadway shows, but what if those actors are puppets (and I don’t mean just of the director, but rather actual puppets)? Playbill has some information on that too, as did the tour.

Some of the puppets in the show have several costume changes. So, just like in the movie Baby Geniuses, where real life triplets took turns playing the parts of twins, twins and triplets and more of the puppets, dressed differently, are called into action in Avenue Q, thus avoiding a possible costume malfunction or diva puppet tantrum.

This kind of arrangement is not to be confused with several child actors playing the same part, but on different nights, as when three boys playing Billy Elliot shared the Tony for best actor. Avenue Q won the Tony for best musical in 2004, but while two of the human actors were nominated, none of the puppets were, ironically, as one of the show’s songs is Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist.

Hygiene also is a big deal backstage at the show. After each performance, several of the puppets get hooked up to a machine, in a way reminiscent of the movie Coma, that helps clean out their insides. If you don’t have one of those machines at home, there is online help for puppet care and feeding.

The pinnacle of the experience was when I was given the opportunity to try a puppet on for size (see picture above). I was asked to lubricate my hand with a big glob of sanitizer beforehand, almost as if I were going to give the puppet a prostate exam.

Rush Hour Concerts and Broadway in Chicago

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Fifth House Ensemble – Rush Hour Concert – St. James Cathedral – July 2, 2018 (better late than never)
Broadway in Chicago – Millennium Park – August 13, 2018
Avalon String Quartet – Rush Hour Concert – St. James Cathedral – August 14, 2018

The abbreviation used for the Fifth House Ensemble is 5HE. Since the group I saw play was composed of three women, I thought 5HE was supposed to look like SHE. Very clever. But no. The musicians I saw are part of a larger group that makes up 5HE and some of the members are men. Oh well.

Anyway, it was a wonderful musical performance, BUT, the videos that went with it, didn’t. The one during the first movement displayed a vague nothingness that made me instead think of the song Nothing from A Chorus Line, which actually is about something.

During the second movement, they showed someone painting a picture, which struck me as a poor man’s version of Bill Alexander on the PBS tv show, The Magic of Oil Painting, in the 1970s.

The cellist did a lot of head shaking, which suggested that she probably doesn’t play golf, or at least not well.

The Avalon String Quartet added another cellist and beautifully played Schubert’s String Quintet (four plus one equals five) in C Major, which the program notes said ends in a slightly ambiguous note. My only confusion was as to the basis for that statement.

The upright bass player in the orchestra backing up the performers (who were shuffled on and off stage as if they were the singing waitstaff at Ellen’s Stardust Diner in Times Square) at the Broadway in Chicago event kept looking at his top hand, which led me to a fun online response to a question about guitarists doing that, which ended by saying that “if your eyes are closed all of the time you may miss important visual cues like when the song is supposed to end”, which reminded me of my torts law professor’s unambiguous declaration that if you change the facts, you may change the result.

 

Murder for Two – Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre – August 12, 2018

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What could pull me away from watching Tiger Woods’ attempt to win his first major championship since 2008 (okay, I did record it for later playback and maintained radio silence in the interim) on a day when I warmed up for the spectacle by playing nine holes so that I could compare his comeback progress to the state of my game. (Despite his four back surgeries, he’s still better than I am, but, to be fair, I had a paper cut once.)

I first saw Murder for Two in 2011 when it premiered at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. I remembered it as being a big smile. It still is.

If your idea of a fun evening at the theater is a Sam Shepard play at Steppenwolf, you probably won’t enjoy Murder for Two. But if you’re interested in seeing Agatha Christie meets A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder (which derives from Alec Guinness playing nine characters in Kind Hearts and Coronets) meets auditions for Second City, where two actors careen around a rotating stage for 90 minutes, with enormous talent and energy, playing multiple characters, mugging for the audience, occasionally trying to crack each other up, singing, and playing the piano, individually and together, then this show is for you.

A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder has a Tony for Best Musical, but I like M42 better, which reminds me that I haven’t seen Forbidden Broadway in years, but wouldn’t a takeoff of A Gentleman’s Guide’s show stopping I’ve Decided to Marry You, entitled I’ve Decided to Murder You, be a lot of fun?

This show also reminded me of Two Pianos, Four Hands, a 1995 Canadian play I liked, in that there are two guys, who have four hands between them, playing piano. But the comparison stops there, just as it does after noting that Tiger and I both tee the ball up when hitting driver.

Grant Park Music Festival – Millennium Park – August 8 and 11, 2018

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This week’s guest soloists at the Grant Park Music Festival were pianist George Li, showing off Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1, and cellist Pablo Ferrández, treating us to Prokofiev’s Sinfonia Concertante. But neither could hold a candle, so to speak, from an entertainment, if not talent, viewpoint, to the guest soloist bagpiper on the Michigan Avenue bridge, whose music was so hot that he had flames shooting from his instrument as he played, which apparently is not uncommon for street bagpipers.

I wonder whether the city knew about the fiery nature of his act when they gave him a street license. The application form only seems concerned with noise and congestion, not possible loss of life.

Nevertheless, getting a license to be a street performer, also known as a busker (news to me), can be a challenge, which has led to numerous legal challenges across the country.

It’s unlikely that Li or Ferrández will have to resort to playing in the street for tips, but that doesn’t mean that they are without their challenges. For instance, in particular in regard to a pianist, what about one’s height?  I read that 6 foot, 4 inch Bruce Hornsby hunches over the keyboard. and doesn’t use the pedals.

So what about Li, who, from a distance, appeared rather short. Li’s height, or lack thereof, was a topic of concern when, as a ten-year-old prodigy playing with a trio, he could barely reach the pedals.  I wonder if he used a pedal extender.

This also led me to wonder whether bicycle manufacturers make toe clips for piano pedals, so that you can play faster? Ukrainian Lubomyr Melnyk claims that he is the world’s fastest playing pianist, at 19 piano notes on each hand every second. It strikes me that a tuba player might have trouble keeping up with him.

 

Porchlight Music Theater’s Preview in the Park – Washington Square Park – August 11, 2018

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I’m planning on going to the Broadway in Chicago concert in Millennium Park in a couple days, but I guarantee that today’s experience will turn out to be better. And not just because today I got to wear a Washington Square Park Advisory Council badge and carry a clipboard.

At Millennium Park I won’t get to meet and mingle with the performers as I did today. I introduced myself to James Earl Jones II, who is the third cousin of his more famous namesake. I’ve seen, and enjoyed, the ubiquitous Jones in six shows at five different theaters over the last two years alone. He told me, prior to Porchlight’s artistic director, Michael Weber, announcing it to the crowd, that he would soon be leaving Chicago to join the national touring company of Come From Away. I also chatted briefly with Weber and the other very talented performers, Leah Davis, Michelle Lauto, Liam Quealy, all of whom were friendly and gracious.

Like today, I might get to be fifteen feet away from the singers in Millennium Park as they perform, but, for that to happen, I’ll either have to get there three hours before showtime, go through a metal detector, wait in line until they open the gates, and hope I don’t get crushed in the ensuing stampede for the good seats; or pick just the right moment once the performance starts to rush the stage, and run across it pursued by a bevy of security guards.

This was the last Washington Square Park event of the summer, if you don’t count Doggie Yoga, and I don’t. But I’ll be going to Porchlight’s upcoming Chicago Sings the MGM Musicals at the Up Comedy Club, where Jones, Lauto, and many other talented performers again will be on display.

Something in the Game: An All American Musical – Josephine Louis Theater at Northwestern University – August 4, 2018

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One night after Johnny Football threw four interceptions in his first Canadian Football League game, I went to see a musical about famed Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne.

As I sat there watching Notre Dame’s legendary Four Horsemen backfield tap dance across the stage with their lineman and a bevy of chorus girls depicting the invention of the Notre Dame Box variation of the single formation that revolutionized college football (don’t worry, the play doesn’t get that technical), I couldn’t help but think of June Allyson and Peter Lawford, as a college football player, leading a dancing crowd through The Varsity Drag in 1947’s Good News, a movie based on the 1927 Broadway hit musical of the same name, which introduced the song, The Best Things in Life are Free.

Apparently, there also was a 1930 movie based on that play that was taken out of circulation due to its pre motion picture code censorship content, which included sexual innuendo and lewd suggestive humor. Anybody have a copy?

The Four Horsemen tap dance, along with a number of other scenes, takes place in Jimmy the Goat’s, a then South Bend establishment of ill repute frequented by the players for drinking, gambling, and whatever. The ever-present James Earl Jones II plays Jimmy the Goat, in anticipation of which, prior to the show, I tasted the goat at Evanston’s Mt. Everest restaurant (thumbs, or horns, up), which not surprisingly features Nepalese cuisine.

All American status should be conferred on the entire cast, especially the vocal skills of Stef Tovar (Rockne), Dara Cameron (Rockne’s wife Bonnie), and Rashada Dawan (Thelma, the lady of the house at Jimmy the Goat’s).

Also, I loved the theater, which features comfortable seats, plenty of leg room, and ample parking (the best things in life are free).

Grant Park Music Festival – Millennium Park – July 27, 2018

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I don’t write about every GPMF concert I see because it would get boring to say I loved the music and the orchestra sounded great. So here’s a twist. The orchestra sounded great throughout the evening, and I loved two of the pieces they played (Ralph Williams’ Norfolk Rhapsody No. 2 and Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3), but I hated Andrew Norman’s Switch. It is for moments like this that they should have two overhead signs, one that lights up for Applause for the Orchestra and one that lights up for Applause for the Music, so that we can show our appreciation for the musicians’ efforts and our disdain for the music.

Actually, if you could filter out the sounds created by the guest percussion soloist and just listen to the orchestra’s backup, there was music to be heard. But I thought I was watching a symphonic version of This Is Spinal Tap, with Michael McKean as the percussionist, acting the part by pretentiously parading around the stage in anticipation of the next singular (as in one, not as in special) note he would tap out on a variety of paraphernalia on the front of the stage that blocked our view of half the orchestra.

To be fair (as much as it pains me), of the four of us together at the concert, one appreciated the composer’s efforts. So our group rating was above the musical equivalent of the Mendoza Line. But to me, what I was hearing wasn’t music (much like, I concede, some of our parents thought of rock and roll). Perhaps, however, it could be described as some non-electronic form of noise music (a term I had not heard of before looking up the definition of music).