Tom Williams Redtwist Theatre continues to utilize many of the finest directors in town. The have enlisted Jimmy McDermott to mount Samuel Beckett’s absurdist classic, Waiting for Godot. Casting older character actors such as Mike Nowak (Vladimir) and Bob Wilson (Estragon) indeed made for a terrific production.
My third production of The Light In The Pizza, now in a romantic staging at Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, proved to be the best sung production I’ve seen to date. Winner of six 2005 Tony Awards including best score, orchestration and set design, The Light in the Piazza is a romantic musical that is more operetta than musical comedy.
This unfunny, cliche-ridden comedy tries to make humor out of some provocative statements about lying as it asks the burning question: “Are you sure you want to know the truth?”
This slick play, inspired by a true story, focuses in themes of class, human connectedness, art and race. This play is relevant today as Internet social networks like Facebook and Myspace add to the connectedness of people in out shrinking world.
Tom Williams discusses the following stage plays with Carl Amari: Bye, Bye Birdi at Northwestern University, Footloose at the Theatre at the Center and Million Dollar Quartet. [audio: https://chicagocritic.com/newsite/audio/TOM0725.mp3]
The Last Barbeque is a dark comedy about a backyard barbeque to commemorate the one-year anniversary of a neighbor’s death, which coincides with a ten-year high school reunion. The plot is simple, so the excitement comes from being a voyeur into human interaction, or lack thereof.
The Mistress Cycle is not a traditional book musical, but a song cycle (a series of songs by one composer tied together by a story). The story jump cuts the lives and loves of five notorious mistresses:
Here is the premise: Fact: on December 4, 1956 a twist of fate brought together Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley at Sun Records’ storefront recording studio in Memphis. Sam Phillips (Brian McCaskill) known as ‘the Father of Rock ‘n’ Roll’ and owner of Sun Records discovered each of them. This event became an impromptu jam session that Phillips recorded.
The play explores themes of isolation, loneliness, social disparity and dehumanization in a commercial world. The action moved swiftly in the 50 minute drama that many consider among the finest one-acts ever penned for the stage
Tom Williams discusses the following stage plays with Carl Amari: Macbeth at First Folio Theatre and Blackbird at Victory Gardens Theater [audio: https://chicagocritic.com/newsite/audio/Tom.mp3]