The Second City’s twist on Dickens has sprinkles of accuracy with a few comic zingers added with appearances by George Bailey, Charlie Brown, and hecklers from the audience to add to the fun. The audience also has their say in several skits as well as pre-show written comments from the audience on the worst thing you ever di
Read MorePericles, Prince of Tyre, is based on a section of the medieval poet John Gower’s Confessio Amantis, which in turn was based on a now lost Greek poem about Apollonius of Tyre. The story is entirely fictional; it has nothing to do with the Athenian statesman Pericles. That’s an important point, because the original was likely created long after ancient democracy gave way to despotism. The tumultuous post-Alexander period, with all its royal incest, assassination plots, and debauched courts would naturally be fascinating to the Jacobeans, whose literature often had similar themes.
Read MoreWhen it was first serialized in La Revue de Paris in 1856, Gustave Flaubert’s scandalous masterpiece was attacked for obscenity by public prosecutors. Flaubert was acquitted, but the trial made Madame Bovary a notorious bestseller, now considered a seminal work of realism and one of the most influential novels ever written.
Read MoreHer 2004 play, The Clean House, now produced by Remy Bumppo, is an excellent example of both her thematic interest and her playful, though not uproariously funny, imaginative style. It’s a work that resists logical analysis, instead making rhetorical gestures and sometimes heavy-handed emotional appeals. Audience members should go into it with patience to get the most out of it.
Read MoreThough the arrangement is probably old, a large part of what makes this performance successful is how conductor Stephen Alltop is able to scale up Handel’s chamber piece to the massive scale of Orchestra Hall, where I saw it, and the upcoming performance at the Harris. Handel was only writing for a chorus of a couple dozen, but the Apollo has over 110 singers
Read MoreFor years The Santaland Diaries has been a staple of holidays shows. it is how Mitchell Fain both commands the stage and how he personalizes the story without making drastic changes to David Sedaris’ script. One only has to witness Fain’s opening to see a master comic and a terrific actor doing his craft. Fain’s skill at engaging and audience with his crude but very human honesty. There may be others who can play “Crumpet, the elf” but no one humanizes the cynical character as does the sharp-tongued Mitchell Fain. He is a major comic talent at the top of his craft.
Read MoreNot produced at the Lyric Opera since 1985 when Joan Sutherland soared in Anna Bolena, this new production reaches the heights of the bel canto style (beautiful singing) with matching register and tonal quality of the voice to the emotional content of the words. Led by the powerful and stylistic soprano Sondra Radvanovsky as Ann and the smooth mezzo-soprano from Jamie Barton as Anna’s rival for the affections of King Henry, this melodic production of Donizetti’s Tudor-inspired 1830 opera is a major triumph for the Lyric!
Read MoreThe story is minimal but allows Joffrey to establish a tone of vaguely holiday related fancy. A family is hosting a Christmas party. The older child, Clara, is calm and well-behaved, while her hyperactive little brother Fritz is everywhere at once. A magician, Dr. Drosselmeyer, arrives and produces mechanical dolls to delight the guests. Gifts are exchanged; some genius gave Fritz a bugle. Dr. Drosselmeyer gives Clara a figurine nut cracker in the shape of a soldier, which Fritz breaks within two seconds. That night, the dolls come to life and battle against mice trying to eat them. Clara saves the nutcracker by bonking the mouse king with her slipper, and in gratitude nutcracker, now a handsome prince, takes her and Dr. Drosselmeyer to a magical kingdom to be entertained for the night.
Read MoreFrom the opening skit with the cast of misfits riding on a Greyhound bus to the barber shop routine to the Russian girl blachelorette party to the little girl slumber party, this revue has each of the six comics grinding out laughs at a manic pace. The physical gestures and timing of these talented performers makes a night out at Second City a fun event. Written and performed by the cast allows each to contribute and set up their special contribution to the seamless evening of comedy.
Read MoreThough The Christmas Schooner is only loosely based on history, it is grounded in the historical significance of Christmas trees and immigrant experiences. Set in the late nineteenth century, it depicts the Stossel family of Manistique in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Gustav (James Wilson Sherman) and his son Peter (Stef Tovar) are naturalized citizens of German origin
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