Tom Williams A Little Night Music contains a lush, romantic waltz-time score by Sondheim. Director Rudy Hogenmiller has cast superb voices to sing Sondheim’s romantic lyrics. A Little Night Music is a work of theatrical art that appeals to operetta lovers and pure romantics.
The concert sings quite expertly, with Hearn actually singing Arthur’s numbers with deep emotions. The concert format allows the large orchestra to overwhelm us with the lush score while we still get a glimpse of the story and the interaction of the characters.
Overall, the opera seemed like it was written by a gifted composer who had not yet solved all the dramatic problems set up by the unholy marriage of punk England to ancient Greek drama.
Set in a Lakeview Chicago neighborhood in the backyard of a two-flat (terrific realistic set by Kevin Depinet) on July 4, 2007, we find two 30something married couples and their older landlord couple having a barbecue. They are intelligent, liberal yups engaging in light banter that turns into a heated debate about how are life choices in times of transition shape out entire lives.
The Village Players can’t seem to make up their minds if they are a community theatre company or a professional troupe. Their production of Bat Boy: The Musical is peopled with a collection of rank amateurs who can neither sing, act or dance
Tom Williams discusses the following stage plays with Carl Amari: The Who’s Tommy at Circle Theatre; The Walls by Rivendell Theatre at Steppenwolf Garage Theatre and Love Person at Victory Gardens Biograph Theatre. May 30, 2009
Fairey is a welcomed new voice whose ability to tell a worthy, dramatic story with ample dose of very funny lines engages us from the start. Her humor emerges from her quirky, memorable characters and from their situations. Yet the humor in Graceland never diminishes the dramatic power of her play.
The most interesting part of Love Person was the outstanding acting from Liz Tannebaum who demonstrates how strong a deaf person can convey emotions and truth without words. The use of signing never distracted like all the projected text messaging
Tom Williams discusses the following stage plays with Carl Amari: Buried Child by Shattered Globe Theatre at the Greenhouse Theatre; The Piano Lesson at Court Theatre; and The 25th Annual Putnan County Spelling Bee at Marriott Theatre. May 23, 2009 [audio:https://chicagocritic.com/newsite/audio/tom may 23.mp3]
Lisa Dillman’s play parallels two stories: one covers a series of three incarcerations of women in mental asylums dating from 1886, 1920’s and the late 1930’s while the other story features Carrie (Lacy Katherine Campbell) who is researching women in asylums.