Author: Tom Williams

Vengeance, loyalty, honor, huge male egos, bloody battles enacted using monologues, rhythms, songs with swordplay and doll puppets by the youthful girls becomes an entrancing theatrical spectacle.
While the cast’s energy, timing and elocution was excellent, their acting chops aptly depicted the males eccentricities, the jealousy and the violence used to rule and defend one’s honor in ancient Greece.

With Bernie Yvon as Harold Hill (a role Yvon makes his own), the slick-talking conman with the infectious smile and Johanna Mackenzie-Miller as Marian the Liberian, we have two major Chicago talents anchoring the show. Add terrific supporting work from John Reeger, obnoxious, Malaprop-prone mayor and his want-to-be choreographer wife, Eulalie, played with gusto by Iris Lieberman and the show has depth.

Playwright Jonathan Lichtenstein was profoundly affected by his father’s escape from Nazi Germany during the Kindertransport in 1933. That event motivated Lichtenstein to pen Memory. Told in three parts parallel stories, Memory examines Holocaust Era Berlin (circa 1933); Berlin 1990; and Israel in 2006. The 90 minute one act weaves the three settings into a comprehensive and moving story of the effects of memory on history.

Demi is a sexy 19-year old single mom and American Idol wannabe who is an uneducated girl living a fantasy that finds her auditioning in Miami for AI, then immediately leaving for Hollywood and instant stardom. She really believes that the only thing holding her back is her stalker ex-boy friend, Kendall Fritsch (Marc Singetary).

The most remarkable character is Jhana – vibrant, manic, determined, Elvis-loving 18 year old girl played with zest and quite convincingly by Eve Rydberg. This lady gave one of the finest performances I’ve witnessed on a Chicago stage! Rydberg has the facial and body gestures, the verbal tones and the general debonair indicating a mentally handicapped person.

…the new version I saw at Victory Gardens Biograph was a heartfelt, charming, intimate two-hander musical that the opening night audience enjoyed. By the end, there was hardly a dry eye. The Story of My Life is beautiful operetta filled with smart, witty lyrics and soothing music (both by Neil Bartram) that garnered empathy from Brian Hill’s fine book.

Set in a Greenwich Village bar on Valentine’s Day, 1974, we meet five somber souls lost in their thoughts while imbibing. They seem paralyzed and isolated as they are drawn into an urban bar while reminiscing on their personal histories shaped by the events of the 1960’s.
It asks the question: “Where were you on November 22, 1963?”