Amplified Chicago Blues – Chicago History Museum – April 24, 2018

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In the 1970s I went to hear the blues fairly often, at places like Kingston Mines and The Checkerboard Lounge, where I accompanied a friend who was “dating” blues guitarist Lefty Dizz at the time. Neither Lefty (who wasn’t a big enough name) nor the Checkerboard (which didn’t open until 1972) made it into the Chicago History Museum Exhibit, which is more about earlier years; places like Pepper’s Lounge, Delmark Records, and The Fickle Pickle (you have to love that name); and more well-known musicians like Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, and Howlin’ Wolf.

The exhibit features a lot more pictures than music but there are three musical parts of the exhibit.

There is a karaoke room, where you can sing Sweet Home Chicago. No one tried it while I was there, including me, for which I’m sure everyone wandering around the museum was grateful. There were school children in the building who could have been scarred for life.

Another part of the exhibit gives you the opportunity to learn how to play blues on an electric guitar. The sounds coming from the guitar when I tried to follow the instructions sounded nothing like blues, or music for that matter. The exhibit will be there until August 10, 2019. I’ll go back and try again.

There also is a sound panel where you can learn how to mix music, I think, because it wasn’t working. I would have been better at that. I made a lot of party tapes in college. I’ll go back when it’s fixed.

From the gallery outside the museum’s theater, it sounded like there was a blues movie playing, but the theater was closed for a private event. One more reason to go back.  Good thing it was a Tuesday afternoon, when the museum is free for Illinois residents, or I might have been miffed.

As a result of these issues, I only spent 45 minutes at the museum. Of course I only spent 45 minutes at the Louvre when I was there. Mostly pictures there too (some sculptures), no music.

Hay Fever – Ruth Page Theater – April 23, 2018

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“Even a cuckoo has charm, in moderation.” So wrote Noel Coward in his play Hay Fever. That’s sort of the way I feel about British accents and the reason I don’t watch the BBC. But I had no trouble understanding what the actors in Hay Fever were saying, even if I occasionally didn’t understand what they were saying. (I managed to figure out that when two characters left the house to go punting, they were riding on a boat, not playing American football.)

Produced by ShawChicago, this was a concert reading, which apparently is defined as a little more in depth, and with a little more movement, than a stage reading. (http://southernwritersproject.net/?p=570)

In that vein, the cast wore costumes, with changes between acts. But, in the first act, and only the first act, those members of the cast who weren’t in the scene sat in seats upstage, even while theoretically offstage in the play. I’m not sure why it was staged that way, but I’m glad it was as some of the actors tried desperately and ineffectively to hide their amusement at others’ dialogue, which added to my amusement. It was unintentional (I think) and unprofessional, but fun. And at least they were only grinning, not scratching their private parts.

All the actors were otherwise excellent. Though Mary Michell had the juiciest role as the matriarch of the family, I will give a special shoutout to Callie Johnson, whose vacant stare while portraying a particularly simpleminded character brought repeated laughter from the audience.

I also took particular interest in the dance of the nine music stands the actors used to hold their scripts, as each time an actor went to a different stand they adjusted its height based on theirs. Their differences in heights made this a wonderful ballet for me, as I am easily amused, just as the actors were in the first act.

Memphis – Porchlight Theater – April 22, 2018

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I first saw Memphis in 2011 when it came to Broadway in Chicago at the Cadillac Palace Theater. I remembered it as a high energy show (with a message), and so it is again at the Porchlight Theater, whose intimacy makes it all the more electric (though, as noted below, I might have preferred more acoustic).

Because the show was still in previews, we received an audience response form encouraging us to give the Artistic Director our suggestions and constructive criticisms about the performance. With apologies to The Rolling Stones, I said I know it’s only rock ’n’ roll (and I like it), but please turn down the volume. The four of us who went together to the show were in agreement that the music was almost painfully loud in spots and that it would be nice to be able to hear all the lyrics.

A detail I had forgotten about the show is its amusing snipe at Perry Como, which is consistent with the opinion of my recent Newberry Library music class instructor (see post on Adult Seminars), who made a special point of telling us how mundane he thought Como’s singing style was and then played one of his records to prove it. (Como fairs somewhat better in the movie Blast from the Past, where Brendan Fraser’s character fawns over Como’s rendition of Round and Round to the amazement of Alicia Silverstone’s character.)

Because it was my first time in the balcony at Porchlight, I was relieved to discover that its front row had plenty of leg room and was far enough back from the railing that my fear of heights was not triggered. It’s easier to enjoy a show when your only concern is permanent hearing loss.

Ian Maksin (Cello) – Fourth Presbyterian Church Noonday Concert – April 20, 2018

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Maksin was introduced and sprinted to the front of the room, cello in hand, sat down, and immediately started playing, without a word. The program listed his first selection as a Bach suite, but even to my unsophisticated ear it didn’t sound like Bach. Phew, I was right. When he finished the selection, he stood and said yes, the audience was right in thinking it wasn’t Bach. He had added something of his own to the program based on some music he had recently heard in Turkey.

He also added a new composition of his at the end of the program that included an electronic element. I would have preferred it played acoustically.

In between, Maksin played a couple compositions by friends and three of his own, one of which included nine variations on a Russian theme, which he described as a journey through geographic regions. This reminded me of the great Victor Borge, who famously played his nine variations of Happy Birthday, as if played by Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Brahms, Wagner, Beethoven, Strauss, Mozart, Berlin, and Shostakovich.

In addition to his musical abilities, Maksin has an engaging personality, but Borge was a classic (and an excellent musician). Do yourself a favor and watch and listen to his Happy Birthday variations at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkkHz8xq7lE.

Maksin seemed very much to lose himself in the music, as evidenced in part by him closing his eyes (or so it appeared from where I was sitting) during much of his playing. This took me back to violinist.com once again, this time for a discussion about playing with eyes open or closed (http://www.violinist.com/discussion/archive/4385/). The key takeaway from my perspective is, don’t play with your eyes closed unless you know the music by heart (Maksin did).

Lilibet Snellings – American Writers Museum (AWM) – April 19, 2018

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It doesn’t have the ring of great literature, a compelling who-done-it, or timely historical fiction, but how could I not go to a program about a book entitled Box Girl: My Part Time Job As An Art Installation (not to be confused with either Girl in the Box, the serious, made-for-tv movie based on a true story about a kidnapping, or Million Dollar Baby, a movie about a boxing girl).

Snellings read passages from her book about her Los Angeles life as a twenty-something self-described “slash” (writer/waitress/actress/model/Box Girl) trying to eke out a living. While the inclusion in the book of the Standard Hotel, Hollywood’s Box Girl rules didn’t demonstrate Snelling’s writing skills, her observations about the rules regarding things like the wearing of underwear in the box were amusing. There were several times during her time at the podium, while reading or answering questions, when she delightfully made herself, and then the audience with her, laugh.  I also recommend looking at the hotel’s own Inside the Box webpage.  Very odd.

One of the questions to Snellings had to do with the possibility of a movie based on her book. It made me wonder whether a movie about a box girl would be good box office (sorry about that).

The program was a fundraiser put on by the Chicago Council of the AWM for the educational programs of the AWM, which meant that there was good cheese and wine, although sadly no red wine out of fears of spillage according to the bartender (I suggest that the museum check out the Good Housekeeping website for cleaning tips so I can have my red wine next time.

 

Louder Than a Mom (Martyr’s) and Story Lab Chicago (Mrs. Murphy’s and Sons) – April 16 and 18, 2018

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At Martyr’s, as with the last time I was there (see blog of March 19), my friend Terry and I were two of only a handful of men in the audience and again there was only one male story teller (this time Terry). Other than Terry, who is always funny, the highlights were the woman who told about giving herself a Brazilian wax and the woman who told how she cut a cast off her mother’s leg in the bathroom when she was a child. It wasn’t a show for the faint of heart.

Two days later, at Mrs. Murphy’s, it was my turn to tell a story. Nine friends came in support, one just back from a month in New Zealand. She won the hypothetical prize for farthest traveled to see the show.

I was pleased that the audience laughed at my story in all the right places. One never knows when rehearsing to an empty living room at home. I also wasn’t displeased by the compliments I received afterward from imperfect strangers (nobody’s perfect).

As for the other story tellers at Mrs. Murphy’s, one has green hair and told a story about her vaudevillian mother Topsy, which included mention of intercourse on top of a bar immediately following a bar room brawl. You have to love that.

I also took some small measure of satisfaction from the fact that one of the other story tellers adopted two minor suggestions for additional humor I gave him for his story at the prep session (perhaps my life’s dream to be a script joke doctor can still come true).

And, because I couldn’t help myself, I also had suggested at the prep session that someone else not look up at the ceiling so much while telling her story, which advice she took by instead closing her eyes for much of the time she was talking. I think she missed my point. And perhaps I should leave directing to others.

A Taste of Things to Come – Broadway Playhouse Theater – April 14, 2018

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A Taste of Things to Come wasn’t highly recommended, but the reviews were in positive agreement on two things – the cast was great and the songs were fun. (I also agree. In particular, Marissa Rosen’s physical comedy elicited a lot of laughs.) Combine those things with reduced-price tickets on Goldstar (which wound up being sixth row center!) and a nearby venue, and I was sold.

According to the program, cast member Linedy Genao originated the role of Rachel in On Your Feet. Cindy and I saw On Your Feet last week (see earlier blog) and neither of us could remember a character named Rachel, so we looked it up online during intermission. (What did people do during intermission before smart phones? Did they have to talk to each other? Or were the lines for the bathroom longer in those days?)

There was no character named Rachel in the online cast list for the current Chicago production of On Your Feet, which put off thoughts of senility for at least one more day, and which also got me to thinking about ensemble members and whether the actors give them names even if those names don’t appear in the program.

I found an interesting website called Theatrefolk (the drama teacher resource company). It has a page that discusses ensemble members who aren’t named in the script creating names and backstories for their characters (https://www.theatrefolk.com/blog/creating-a-strong-ensemble/). Apparently even ensemble members need to know their motivation.

Then I found the original Broadway cast list for On Your Feet and sure enough, there’s Genao, playing an ensemble member named Rachel (https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/on-your-feet-497820). Perhaps the character should have gotten identity theft protection when the show went on the road.

On Your Feet (The Emilio & Gloria Estefan Broadway Musical) – Cadillac Palace Theater – April 7, 2018

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The one time I don’t sit on the aisle at a play, the cast comes dancing down both middle aisles right before intermission, interacting with the audience, even inviting a few of the patrons sitting on the aisles to stand up and join in the fun. Thus I miss my chance to make a complete fool of myself in front of hundreds of people.  Darn.

The audience was ready to party from the start of the show, including the six young women who sat in the row in front of us, exuding excitement. As they funneled in, Cindy said they looked as if they were sisters. Good call. They turned out to be four sisters and two sisters-in-law, which caused Cindy to make some reference to the Duggar family, apparently a reality tv show family with 19 children, of which I was unaware, and so I kept asking Cindy to repeat what she was saying, thinking that she was saying Donner family and wondering why she was comparing this innocent looking group of young ladies, out to have a good time, to a group of cannibals.

Until we cleared up that confusion at intermission, I kept my eyes on the ladies, just in case. Also, at intermission, half the audience pulled out their smart phones and started searching online for information on Gloria Estefan’s mother, who, we were told in the show, had been offered, but had declined, prior to her daughter’s birth, the chance to leave Cuba to go to Hollywood to dub Shirley Temple’s singing voice in Spanish.

I was just as interested in the actress playing the mother, whose name looked familiar. Looking at her credits in the program, I probably have seen her before, but I think the reason her name looked familiar is, I discovered, that she is the sister of the woman who played Melina in Total Recall. So, close but no cigar, Cuban or otherwise.

Adult Seminars (Classics of Comedy and Wonderful Town II) – Newberry Library

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As Justice Potter Stewart might have said, I may not be able to define comedy, but I know it when I see it (or hear it, or read it). And I’m quite certain I know what is meant by a classic. So I was somewhat taken aback when the instructor for the Newberry winter seminar on Classics of Comedy picked as our first reading a short story no one in the class had heard of, by an author none of us (or the internet based on my search) had heard of, and that wasn’t funny, except to the instructor.

So it didn’t come as a shock when the instructor informed us that the author was a friend of his who, the instructor (and presumably the friend/author) believed, hadn’t received the recognition he deserved. Now that’s classic, but not why I enrolled in the seminar. So I left during the break of the first class to claim a refund of the registration fee. I imagine the instructor didn’t think that was funny, but I did.

I also enrolled in a Newberry winter seminar called Wonderful Town II, about music from New York in the 30s, 40s, and 50s. What a difference. The instructor, Guy Marco, has an encyclopedic knowledge of the music of those years (which he experienced first hand, as he is 90 years old), from Broadway to classical to pop to opera. When I asked him how many rooms his music took up at home, he answered “all of them.”

He even made the mercifully short operatic selections tolerable (which is saying a lot coming from me) with his detailed and humorous analyses, such as his observation in one instance that there was no way to determine from the story line why a particular character had died. And he signed off the last class doing his best Benny Hill impression. His dry wit led me to think that he also should have taught the Classics of Comedy seminar.

Hee-Young Lim (cello) and Kuang-Hao Huang (Piano) – Chicago Cultural Center – April 4, 2018

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For the first time at any of the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts I have attended, some people, despite the caution in the printed program, applauded between movements, in this case after the second movement of Shostakovich’s Sonata for Cello and Piano in D Minor. I can’t say I blame them for their enthusiasm.

The allegro movement featured a rousing section of head bobbing and resulting hair tossing by Lim as she poured all her considerable talent and energy into rapid bowing and fingering in a section of the music accurately described in the program as “churning cello accompaniment.” I think Lim may have been getting as good a workout as I did in this morning’s Pilates class.

As I read the program description, it reminded me of a wine review. Compare “aromas of rich dark currants, nectarine skins, and gushing blackberry, but lots of fragrant tobacco, rich soil, white flowers, and smashed minerals; medium-bodied and saucy but racy acidity that stabilizes the wine nicely with the robust tannins” with “after a repeated note codetta, the exposition is repeated; then the development section commences with an impulsive discussion of the first theme, ominously underpinned by the repeated-note idea in the piano.”

The program also noted that the piece by Offenbach was dedicated to Arsène Houssaye, like I would know who that is. (He turns out to be a French novelist, poet and man of letters, which I believe my blog now makes me.)

After watching Lim and Huang walk off stage and back on between selections, I finally got around to searching for a satisfying answer as to why classical musicians do this. I found a good discussion on violinist.com.

The best answer for me was that you don’t want to be onstage when people stop clapping. So, musicians finish, bow, acknowledge the audience, and exit gracefully, which gives the audience a chance to stop clapping without being rude. One other possible explanation related to the Weak Bladder Marathon Highlights.