Theater

AWM Honors Viola Spolin – American Writers Museum – February 10, 2020

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In addition to being the mother of Paul Sills, the co-founder of The Second City, Violin Spolin is considered to be the mother of improvisational theater, the games she developed and later wrote about in her 1963 book, Improvisation for the Theater, still being used today.

In conjunction with the 60th anniversary of The Second City, the American Writers Museum unveiled a banner celebrating Spolin that it is adding to its permanent Chicago Writers: Visionaries and Troublemakers exhibit (presumably as a visionary, not a troublemaker).

Unfortunately, the event started out like a bad joke when the president of the museum several times mispronounced Viola’s name, making it sound like the museum was honoring not a person, but a musical instrument, and had to be corrected by one of her descendants in attendance (I couldn’t resist the rhyme, which came to me in the middle of the night).

But the rest of the evening went well. Max Bazer, of WTTW’s cleverly-named The Interview Show with Max Bazer, interviewed Liz Kozak, Director of Editorial and Content Development at The Second City, and co-author of “The Second City: The Essentially Accurate History, 60th Anniversary Edition”, along with some equally-important director-type guy whose name I didn’t catch (let’s call him Mr. X), both of whom had engaging stories to tell.

During the interview, cast members from The Second City sporadically interrupted with short skits as the inspiration struck them, each time successfully delivering an excellent punchline and, thanks to Mr. X showing his directoral Xpertise, ending each scene on a high note.

A final word about Kozak, to acknowledge that she is one of the two 2020 winners of A Hotel Room of One’s Own: The Erma Bombeck/Anna Lefler Humorist-in-Residence Program at the University of Dayton, a two-week writing residency at the local Marriott. Second prize, four weeks at the Dayton Marriott.

Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies – Porchlight Music Theatre – January 31, 2020

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Edward Moore “Ted’ Kennedy, known for his oratorical skills, served in Washington D.C. as a United States Senator for 47 years. Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington, known for his eloquence and charisma, was born in Washington, D.C. and led a jazz orchestra for 51 years.

Sophisticated Ladies is a musical revue based on Ellington’s music that ran for 767 performances on Broadway (1981 – 1983). As far as I know, there never has been a musical about Kennedy’s politics, but there was a 2018 movie, Chappaquiddick, about a rather infamous event in his life.

Sophisticated Ladies is not quite a concert, there being a whisper of a couple plot lines that don’t mean a thing, but it’s all about the music, cause it’s got that swing, accompanied by great singing and dancing, including a lot of tap. I have often expressed my love for tap dancing, but seeing this show inspired me to find an informative entry online from the Library of Congress entitled Tap Dance in America: A Short History.

Lorenzo Rush, Jr., who, when I first saw him a show, wasn’t misbehavin’, kind of is in Ladies, but you still love him, as he struts around the stage, capturing you with his playfulness and powerful voice, expressing all the emotion behind Ellington’s music, even though musical director Jermaine Hill, stationed at the piano and conducting the onstage band, is the physical embodiment of Ellington in the show.

The band and all the singers are excellent, but it’s the dancing that raises the temperature in the room, with kicks, splits, and leaps, and smack talking between the tappers that adds a layer of syncopation to the already animated beat of the music.

Sophisticated is defined as “having, revealing, or proceeding from a great deal of worldly experience and knowledge of fashion and culture”. In a nutshell, not me, but I sure enjoyed the show.

Jake’s Women – Oil Lamp Theater – January 26, 2020

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Having never before heard of Neil Simon’s play Jake’s Women, I wasn’t expecting the Odd Couple, and didn’t get it, but did get the odd octet, as Jake struggles with his relationships with seven women, two of whom are actually the same woman, his daughter, at different ages.

But enough about the play, which there’s no particular reason to see, although the acting is solid and there’s one great comedic moment when (spoiler alert) Jake goes to the bathroom, leaving his sister and psychiatrist (with whom he has the most engaging interaction throughout the play) alone in his living room, leading to an obvious, but nonetheless hysterical scene where the two women can’t speak or do anything else until he returns, because Jake has brought them to his apartment only in his mind, where he creates all their dialogue.

Simon provided some other laughs, but the funniest moments actually were provided by Keith Gerth, the Executive and Artistic Director of the theater, during his introduction of the show and his tour de force as ticket taker extraordinaire (he seemed to know everyone except me).

Seeing the theater itself was my prime reason for seeing the show. It’s very small, seating only 60 in an oddly narrow room with a small stage that must narrow the range of plays they might present, though it was perfect for this one as all the action takes place in Jake’s living room.

Next time, however, I’ll know to sit in an odd numbered row (actually odd lettered, if that’s a thing), as visibility is better in those seats.

The experience starts as a doorman does his door job and welcomes you into a cozy waiting area where cups are provided for those who have taken advantage of the theater’s BYOB policy, which, again, was almost everyone but me.

Most importantly though, and the lure to go back, are the free chocolate chip cookies and M&Ms that are laid out on the bar.

The Other Cinderella – Black Ensemble Theater – December 22, 2019

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My favorite cast member in this incarnation of the Black Ensemble Theater’s annual production of The Other Cinderella was Stewart Romeo, who played the Page. According to his bio in the program, Romeo is a trained singer, actor and carpenter (and he’s funny and can dance). When I saw the carpenter credential, I wondered, given the family atmosphere of the theater, whether Romeo had been enlisted to build any sets. Sure enough, he’s listed in the program under set construction. It reminded me of Harrison Ford, who was a carpenter between early acting roles, and Alexander Godunov, who also danced a little during his career, showing off their carpentry skills while nailing their parts in the barn-raising scene in the movie Witness.

The theater’s family atmosphere continued after the show when the actors went into the lobby and formed a receiving line for the patrons. It was like being at Cinderella and the Prince’s wedding, though, disappointingly, there wasn’t any cake. I was a little embarrassed because I didn’t bring a gift (you have a year, right?), but I didn’t bring one to Tony and Tina’s wedding either.

Also embarrassingly, this was my first time at the theater’s current location – they moved into it in 2011. It’s a nice building, but some things haven’t changed. The indefatigable Jackie Taylor is still running it all as the CEO, and, in addition to having written The Other Cinderella, including many of the songs, over 40 years ago, she’s listed as the producer, director, costume designer, and, why not, understudy for this production.

Though the plot is essentially the same, this isn’t Disney’s or the Grimm Brothers’ Cinderella, or Strabo’s Rhodopis. No brothers from the hood there. And Taylor keeps it updated. I’m pretty sure the original production didn’t include references to Idris Elba, Michael B. Jordan, and social media.

Burning Bluebeard – Porchlight Music Theatre – December 15, 2019

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Remember the scene in Animal House when John Belushi grabs the guitar out of the hands of the guy playing on the stairs and smashes it against the wall. I wanted to grab the entire cast of the Ruffians’ production of Burning Bluebeard, a show about the tragic December 30, 1903 Iroquois Theater fire, and smash them against the wall, gently of course, as I’m not a violent person.

On the other hand, a ruffian is defined as a violent person, especially one involved in crime, which seems fair, because, as far as I’m concerned, this play is a crime. But, just as no one was ever convicted in connection with the Iroquois fire, Burning Bluebeard has received great reviews over the years in which it has become a December tradition, and, based on the applause, was found innocent by many of those in attendance the night I saw it, in a clear case of audience nullification (see jury nullification if you haven’t watched enough Law and Order).

The Ruffians say that they use a “multi-disciplined creative process [that] fuses acrobatics, story-telling, and pop culture styling into a joyful anarchy that gives voice to the eerily beautiful harmonic hum of magical-realism.” I would agree with all of that, except the joyful part.

I’m not a big fan of avant-garde theater, the closest I have come to liking it before being the time I saw a production of Austin Pendleton’s Orson’s Shadow about Welles’s production of Ionesco’s Rhinoceros. But, if avant-garde is your thing, then knock yourself out, as opposed to the cast, and see this production. Just don’t sit in the front rows, or the fog, representing smoke, may knock you out.

The play is informative. But, personally, I would recommend, instead, reading the Smithsonian Magazine article about the fire and the reforms that resulted from it.

Q Brothers Christmas Carol – Chicago Shakespeare Theater – December 14, 2019

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Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol was first published in 1843. Though the underlying spirit (or spirits, if you will) remains the same, the Q Brothers have made more than a few changes. Bless them, everyone.

This makes six years in a row I’ve seen the Q Brothers ply their trade in this must-see show. I’d call it a tradition, but that implies a handing down between generations. I can’t even get most of my same-generation friends to go because they’re afraid of hip-hop, as if it were some kind of communicable disease. Bah, humbug, Those who have gone, thank me.

Since I’ve written about the show the last two years, there’s not much left to say, except to wonder when the cast will get too old to dance around the stage, and when that happens, will they allow a younger set of performers to replace them in the tradition of some road-weary 60s rock band that has reached its limit and sold their name (see Blood, Sweat, and Tears).

Nonetheless, I’ll mention a few things. Scrooge asking a young girl in the audience whether he’s using the word hashtag correctly. Her hands-up response suggested she didn’t know, which made me feel better. Scrooge’s childhood friend once again going off on a tangent, not one considered by Leibniz or Euclid, but different than last year’s, cracking up not only the other actors and the audience, but also himself, and thereby answering my question as to whether his random departure is part of the show. The Tarik Cohen joke added last year to show currency. The newly-inserted visual marijuana reference to the Illinois law about to take effect. Tiny Tim’s song that matter-of-factly lists all his ailments, none of which, I’m pretty sure, are transmitted by attending a hip-hop show. Just saying.

Porchlight Revisits Call Me Madam – Porchlight Music Theatre – November 20, 2019

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When Irving Berlin first played the counterpoint song You’re Just in Love for Ethel Merman, her reaction was “We’ll never get off the stage.” For those of us who are musically challenged, counterpoint is the relationship between voices that are harmonically interdependent (polyphony) yet independent in rhythm and contour. Whatever the hell that means, Merman was right. It’s a great song.

Donica Lynn, in the Merman role, is the headliner for this three-performance run, and doesn’t disappoint, but Laura Savage stands out for me, as she has done before, this time not only for her acting, singing, and dancing, but also for her gymnastic skills, demonstrated by her forward and backward flips across the stage that earned her a perfect ten from the audience.

The woman behind me, whom I wouldn’t call madam, coughed throughout the show, her emanations unfortunately not blending in like white noise, but rather more like the black plague. At intermission I was going to offer to pay for her ticket if she would leave, but thought better of it out of fear that she might let loose a torrent of invisible fury directly into my face should I confront her.

Michael Weber’s always entertaining Behind The Show Backstory included frequent mention of the show’s authors Russell Crouse and Howard Lindsey, but, surprisingly, didn’t mention, for us trivia buffs, that Crouse named his daughter, the actress we came to know as Lindsey Crouse, after his long-time writing partner. So I was compelled to grab him at intermission to show off my grasp of useless information.

Weber’s half-hour piece, which he flew through without taking a breath, also included mention of George Sanders as General Cosmo Constantine in the movie version, which leads me to remind people that Sanders is not to be confused with his actor-brother Tom Conway, or with actor John Williams, as can easily happen when half-comatose, watching old movies late at night.

Spamalot – Mercury Theater – November 8, 2019

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I was awed by Sara Ramirez when I saw her in her Tony-award winning performance as The Lady of the Lake in the original production of Spamalot, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to see Meghan Murphy, aka Big Red, in the same role. It was my main reason for going to the Mercury Theater production.

Murphy makes the role her own, commanding the stage, not only with her talent, but also with her brash, over-the-top playfulness that the director obviously must have encouraged, to the delight of the audience. Murphy’s scatting during The Diva’s Lament had the audience roaring for more.

There is no clear-cut origin of scatting, though apparently Louis Armstrong’s recording studio misadventure, when he dropped the lyric sheet to Heebie Jeebies and started improvising, led to its popularity.

There’s also no information, at least that I could find, about the origin of the term scatting. It seems like it must relate to scat’s other definition, that is feces, but I couldn’t find anything to suggest that conclusion.

In searching for references, I did, however, find a webpage that cites 11 literary fart jokes, ranging from Dante to Twain to Salinger. And that’s without mention of Judd Apatow, or the Frenchmen’s fart jokes in Spamalot.

I don’t know whether the Frenchmen throwing a cow as a weapon from their castle is supposed to be a continuation of the scatological humor (I wouldn’t doubt it), but it is well-documented that cows have been accused of contributing to climate change, though not, as some think, through farting, but rather, as NASA tells us, through belching.

Not to worry, however, as scientists are hard at work on ways to reduce the methane produced by cows, which should keep the EPA from shutting down future productions of Spamalot, or Gypsy, with its moo cow.

New Faces Sing Broadway 1956 – Porchlight Music Theater, at Arts Club of Chicago – October 30, 2019

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When I saw Angela Ingersoll (who made me a most happy fella as the fair lady hosting New Faces Sing Broadway 1956) as Judy Garland in Porchlight’s production of End of the Rainbow a few years ago, I thought she was great (she won the Jefferson Award for her performance) but I had no idea she was the energizer bunny in disguise, given that the Garland we see in that show is drug addicted and near death.

She didn’t wear a rabbit costume and bang a drum for Porchlight’s New Faces Halloween-adjacent show, but, her monster singing talent aside, Ingersoll’s enthusiasm, energy, and electricity made me think of When Harry Met Sally, as I definitely would like to have what she’s having, and need to add her to my growing list of theater obsessions.

As for the new faces themselves, Porchlight once again pulled off the trick of treating the audience to a frighteningly excellent array of talented artists, none of whom, this time, I had ever seen before. Thus, my impressions were fittingly written on a blank slate, as a couple of the performers will be appearing in an upcoming production of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, put on by the Blank Theater Company, which is only a couple years old, and previously unknown to me, though I was at the comfortable, though fairly bare-bones space they inhabit at The Edge Theater for the Hell in a Handbag production of Poseidon: An Upside Down Musical.

As amazing as the never-ending parade of wonderful singers who grace these Porchlight programs is, there also is new blood to be found behind the scenes. This show marked the directorial debut of Brianna Borger, whom I saw perform in Southern Gothic.  Next up in the series, New Faces Sing Broadway Now and New Faces Sing Broadway 1987.

Sunset Boulevard – Porchlight Music Theatre- October 18, 2019

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You get a taste of Norma Desmond’s storied fictional career by seeing the various posters and pictures projected on the walls of the set during Porchlight’s Sunset Boulevard, but it occurred to me while watching Hollis Resnik inhabit the role of Desmond that she was seemingly born to play, that a collage of posters representing Resnik’s real 12 Jefferson Award-winning parts would be even more impressive.

Resnik’s tour de force performance of As If We Never Said Goodbye in the second act could be the impetus for award number 13. The other second act highlight worth mentioning is the bathing suit entrance of Billy Rude, as Joe Gillis, which evoked a bobby soxer reaction from a young lady in the balcony, causing Rude to ever so slightly, and amusingly, break character by giving an almost imperceptible wink to the audience.

Clearly, Mr. DeMille, Rude was ready for his close-up, which leads me to inform that the line made famous by Gloria Swanson in the original screen version came in at number seven on the American Film Institute’s 2005 list of 100 movie quotes. And her “I am big! It’s the pictures that got small” was number 24, which puts Desmond in a very select company of characters with multiple attributions, equaled by the iconic Dorothy Gale, Scarlett O’Hara, James Bond, Harry Callahan and the Terminator, and bested only by the immortal Rick Blaine.

As with other Porchlight productions, I left impressed with creative touches that enhanced the experience. In particular, although there isn’t a lot of dancing in the show, the choreographed movements of a couple of the group scenes have a silent era, controlled Keystone Kops feel that fits perfectly with Norma’s hunger for those past days of movie-making and stardom. She never says it, but she could have inspired the Terminator’s “I’ll be back.”