Theater

The Rest of Theater 2017

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In other posts I’ve singled out some of the plays I went to in 2017. Here’s a quick survey of the rest of them to wrap up 2017 (you’ve probably received all your bank tax statements by now also).

I saw two plays at the Porchlight Theater, Scottsboro Boys and Woman of the Year (at the theater’s new location), where I discovered Meghan Murphy (see blog on Big Red and the Boys). Both are Kander and Ebb shows, but otherwise couldn’t be more different, one serious and based on a true story, the other lighthearted and not, like me.

When the Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre wasn’t underwater from flooding, I saw She Loves Me and Honeymoon in Vegas. Same usher, coincidentally. She remembered me because we discussed at length the need for me to keep my legs out of the aisle the first time (as my friends know, I always try to get an aisle seat). If the usher is reading this, I was just kidding about tripping the actors, really.

I saw Parade on my first trip to the Writers Theater. The play introduced me to the music of Jason Robert Brown, which is what led me to see Honeymoon in Vegas, for more music from him. That and the flying Elvises.

Five Guys named Moe (also my first time at the Court Theater) is not actually a show about five guys named Moe. What little story there is, is just an excuse for Big Moe, Four-Eyed Moe, Eat Moe, No Moe, and Little Moe to sing and dance. Worked for me. Give me Moe.

But not more King Charles III (Shakespeare Theater). I’m not an Anglophile. I just didn’t care about the characters. But I ran into an old friend at the show, who bought me a drink, so all was not lost.

The two characters in Mr. and Mrs. Pennyworth (Lookingglass Theater) are storytellers, which was appropriate given my foray into storytelling in 2017. But the best thing in the show was a giant, mythological boar (as opposed to the real bore in King Charles III).

The lead actress in Born Yesterday at the Greenhouse Theater was like a medium channelling Judy Holliday, but not in a cataleptic state. She was able to move about the stage.  Indeed, this medium was well done.

Ragtime – Cahn Auditorium – January 27, 2018

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Northwestern University’s annual Dolphin Show, billed as “America’s Largest Student Produced Musical”, is in its 76th year.  Yet somehow I just found out about it.  Working sure did cramp my style.

We went to see the students put on Ragtime at Cahn Auditorium, twice. The first time we were there a week early, so we went back a week later when the play was actually being performed.  I’ll take credit for that first troubling sign of senility, but at least we knew where to park when we went back.

Both times it was a lovely ride up Lake Shore Drive and Sheridan Road, though my companion was annoyed by all the Evanston homes that still had their Christmas lights and trees up a month after the fact.  I was okay with the lights.  Evanston streets are otherwise dark at night.  Lights are lights.

With no play to see the first time we drove up, only a few students who were obviously surprised when we entered the otherwise empty and unprepared auditorium (we all stood there staring at each other, dumbfounded, for what was probably only three seconds but seemed like an eternity while I tried to comprehend the situation), we walked to Dave’s New Kitchen for dinner.

Dave’s is tiny – the predecessor, Dave’s Italian Kitchen, was huge (maybe that’s why it went bankrupt). We were lucky to get a table after only a 15-minute wait on a Saturday night. Then again, it’s Evanston, not Chicago.  Great homemade pasta at good prices, optional BYOB.. Students and us.

The show featured a large, talented, student cast and orchestra, some nice set design, and a great Model T prop car.  The show was long (almost three hours including intermission).  But that’s a function of Ragtime, not this specific production.  And not as bad as the one time I went to the Northwestern Waa-Mu show, which, as I recall, lasted well into the next day.

Jackalope Theater Company – 2017

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My friend Karen and I saw two productions of the Jackalope Theater Company in 2017 at the Broadway Armory Park Fieldhouse (formerly the home of the local National Guard), which is an interesting place to see a play. In addition to the small, spartan theater, the fieldhouse has volleyball, yoga, gymnastics, tae kwon do, dance, badminton, and basketball, among other activities.

The first time we went, Karen wore heels. A mistake she decided. Though we parked in the tiny lot adjoining the armory, it’s a hike from the front door to the second floor rear theater, because of which your ticket confirmation email actually tells you to allow enough extra time to get to your seats. Theater volunteers position themselves along the way to guide you in case you didn’t bring a map and bread crumbs.

We saw Ideation in June 2017. It’s an interesting psychological examination involving unknown factors and peer pressure impacting a seemingly unthinkable situation. Very thought provoking.

In December we went back for 1980 (Or Why I’m Voting for John Anderson).  I voted for John Anderson in 1980. To quote Steve McQueen in The Magnificent Seven, “It seemed like a good idea at the time.” So I felt compelled to see the play.

We almost were late for the play as we stopped to watch a young woman work up the energy or nerve to grab a bar and leap into the indoor sky from a platform. Did I forget to mention that the fieldhouse also has a trapeze school? Not your typical theatrical venue.

The play was okay. The highlight for me was the performance of one of the actresses, who transformed her body language through the course of the show from an innocent, scared young lady to a seasoned, confident woman as her character developed.

Reviews for Franklinland, now playing at the theater, look good.  So I expect to be going back soon, in anticipation of which I’ve started working out.

Ah Wilderness – Goodman Theater – July 6, 2017

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The Goodman Theater is a wonderful venue, with two great spaces. Its shows present top-notch actors and excellent production values and I can walk there.  But lately almost every time I go there I wish I hadn’t. I know this makes me an outlier, but this is my blog. Get your own.

The theater marketed Ah Wilderness as Eugene O’Neill’s classic family comedy. They got everything right except the part about comedy. I was bored to tears and left at intermission. With nothing else to say about that, I will recap my other recent visits to the Goodman.

In September 2016 I saw Wonderful Town, music by Leonard Bernstein, book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Great credentials. And I remember, as a kid, loving the movie version of the play My Sister Eileen, upon which the musical was based. Rosalind Russell in her prime. But the show is dated. What it made me think of however, was Avenue Q, another show about the quirky residents of a street (Avenue Q versus Christopher Street). Avenue Q may be my favorite play, ever. Sue me (no wait, that was Guys and Dolls – loved that one too).

In December 2016 I saw Second City’s Twist Your Dickens at the Goodman. I had high hopes, but the production was filled with swearing, which was supposed to be funny, and many in the audience apparently found it to be, but I found it distracting and tedious. No talent involved. If I owned a watch I would have kept looking at it.

The one show I did like at the Goodman the last couple years was King of the Yees (April 2017). It wasn’t perfect, but it was current and everything about it was interesting.

Because its plays consistently get good reviews, I’ll probably keep going back to the Goodman for more, but for the new stuff, not for the retreads of shows that are over 60 years old (except maybe Guys and Dolls).

42nd Street – Drury Lane Theater – December 30, 2017

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This performance at the Drury Lane Theater marked the 20th play at 13 different theaters that I have seen in 2017. That’s not even in the ballpark compared to the numbers put up by people I know on the Jeff Awards Committee, but I can narrow my selections of what I see to the kind of shows I prefer, which, if you haven’t figured it out yet, means ones that make me smile and laugh, and, even better, include tap dancing (which is why I loved SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical and its tap dancing squid, which might destroy my credibility but for the fact that The New York Times loved it also).

I went to see 42nd Street on a last minute whim. You can do this a lot when you’re retired. Every day is Saturday. Okay, this time it actually was Saturday, which is why there was a 5:00 performance. I bought my ticket online at 3:00 and was out the door by 3:45.  I love that theaters hold back house seats. As a result, I wound up sitting in the 7th row center, with an empty seat to one side for my puffy coat.

At intermission a woman two seats away on the other side, leaned across her husband to tell me that she was enjoying this show more than Hamilton. I haven’t seen Hamilton (I’ve never seen 1776 either – hmmm) – I can see a half dozen or more shows for the price of one Hamilton ticket – so I couldn’t respond regarding my preference, but I did comment on not wanting to spend the money on Hamilton, which immediately made a best friend of the husband, who apparently had made that same, albeit losing argument to her.

As hoped for, 42nd Street made me smile. The tap dancing was fabulous and there was a lot of it. Going to the 5:00 show enabled me to avoid traffic in both directions, get a good parking spot, and make a quick exit. It’s the little things in life.

Broadway in Chicago – 2017

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I don’t have a subscription to any theaters because I like to pick and choose (waiting to see reviews first if possible) and it’s always possible to get a ticket if you’re flexible. My schedule is and I take Pilates.

It won’t come as a shock that all four shows I saw in 2017 in the Broadway in Chicago series were musicals, though the list may seem peculiar – Something Rotten, Aladdin, An American in Paris, and the pre Broadway opening of Escape to Margaritaville (which did not receive the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for drama).

Something Rotten was only here for a two-week run. I had some hesitation about seeing it here because my experience seeing it in New York seemed unbeatable. I had blown out of a reception and purchased a last minute ticket at the Times Square discount TKTS booth and arrived at my seat less than ten minutes before curtain. And what a seat – seventh row center, and with an empty seat next to me. And Christian Borle, who won a Tony for his role, was playing Shakespeare in his next to last performance. Great show – in my top five all-time. But I digress (as always). I also loved the Chicago production.

Aladdin brought a constant smile to my face. Tap dancing and the show stopping Friend Like Me. I have a friend who wouldn’t go to the show with me because she doesn’t think much of Disney shows – big mistake. (She has since softened her opinion, but that’s for another time.)

I agreed to see An American in Paris even though I wasn’t interested in doing so, and I didn’t like it. I found the book of the show to be inconsistent and the attempts at humor unfunny. The ballet numbers were beautiful, but, you know, not tap dancing.

I went to Escape to Margaritaville with a friend as a lark. My expectations were low and were met. But, I have to admit, I caught myself smiling. Good enough for me.

Q Brothers Christmas Carol – Chicago Shakespeare Theater – December 2, 2017

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I have now seen the Q Brothers’ version of A Christmas Carol at The Shakespeare Theater four years in a row. It never gets old. Last year I gained special insight into the show when I struck up a conversation with an usher, who turned out to be the Q Brothers’ high school drama teacher from years ago. She was very proud of the boys.

Despite my recommendation (or perhaps based on it) I have many friends who say they won’t go to this show because they hate hip hop – good, stay home – more room for me to see a high energy, intelligent, fun-loving, live performance of familiar, but reinvented material, where four actors play a dozen parts and I leave with a smile on my face, along with some glitter that rained down from the ceiling. I’m going to keep going every year until the seemingly indefatigable GQ runs out of energy.

This year the show moved into Shakespeare’s new space, The Yard. I was a little misled trying to interpret their online seating chart for the first time. Though we probably wound up with the best seats in the house, getting to them unexpectedly involved climbing stairs (raise your hand if you’re over 65 and have knee problems). There probably was an elevator somewhere but it wasn’t obvious (raise your hand if you’re over 65 and have trouble seeing in the dark) And the seats were right behind the balcony railing, which for someone like me, who isn’t fond of heights, even when they aren’t all that high, is a little disconcerting. So I had to avoid laughing and applauding too hard (not an easy thing to do at this show), lest I lose my equilibrium, tumble over, and interrupt the show to allow for cleanup in aisle 2.

Forty-Two Stories – City Lit Theater – April 17, 2017

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Last year I took a class at the Newberry Library on writing one-act plays. I’ll let you know when I get around to finishing mine. I wrote the first few lines about twenty years ago, around the time I also thought of titles for two books I haven’t written yet. I’ve been busy.

My teacher for the class at Newberry was Doug Post, a local playwright. I went with a date to see a preview of his play, Forty-Two Stories, at the City Lit Theater. The theater is located on the second floor of a church, which is only a problem if the elevator isn’t working and you go with someone in need of a hip replacement, like I did. I would have turned around and gone home if it had been me, but she was a trouper.

The play is a dark comedy about life in a Lake Shore Drive high-rise condo building. I’ve lived in high-rises, but don’t really like them, so I consider my twelve-story building to be a mid-rise, whatever the fire department definition might say to the contrary – something about whether their ladders can reach all the floors.

Doug was sitting right behind us during the show, whispering back and forth with the director. I wanted to eavesdrop but felt compelled to pay more attention to the play itself since a friend of mine, coincidentally, had a major role in it.

A couple days after seeing the show, I happened to run into the head of maintenance in my building and mentioned the play to him. He proceeded to regale me with stories from his days working in high-rises. His stories didn’t have the edginess of Forty-Two Stories, but were just as unbelievable. Maybe I should write a play based on his experiences. I’ll put it in the queue.

Silent Sky – First Folio Theater – April 21, 2017

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There probably aren’t that many places where you can see a play in a Tudor mansion on an estate in a forest preserve, but somehow I happened across Oak Brook’s First Folio Theater. We got there early because I had no idea where I was going and hate being late. I didn’t get lost, so we had time to explore the mansion. It needs some rehab, but it’s a pretty cool place. I was disappointed, however, by the fact that the free pieces of chocolate at the ticket desk were for subscribers only. Really! They couldn’t spare a couple pieces to help entice us to come back? Don’t they know how important the availability of chocolate is to every major life decision?!

Even without the aid of chocolate, we had no trouble staying alert during Silent Sky, a wonderful play about Henrietta Swan Leavitt, an astronomer at Harvard College Observatory in the early 20th century, who, along with other female colleagues, referred to as computers (just as at NASA as depicted in the movie Hidden Figures), made discoveries through the use of astronomical plates despite never being allowed to use the observatory’s refracting telescope.

Not so coincidentally I suppose, on November 4 I saw Dava Sobel speak at the Chicago Humanities Festival regarding her book, The Glass Universe, on the same topic.

The First Folio Theater also has an outside venue where they put on Shakespeare in the summer. I have mixed feelings about attending one of those performances. I generally prefer my Shakespeare skewed, as in Something Rotten (a wonderful romp that I’ve seen in New York and Chicago). And as much as I like to enjoy the arts outside, I’m not completely comforted by their promises that ‘biweekly mosquito abatement is conducted to ensure your comfort, and free repellent is offered at the site” and that their “well-lit Portapotties are cleaned often.” On the other hand, their summer concession stand carries chocolate.