These are Chicago Critics Must See shows. If you are only going to see one show let us recommend one of these great pieces of true Art!
The Chicago Musical Theatres Festival couldn’t have asked for a better kick-off production this year than That Lovin’ Feelin’. This jukebox musical originated at the St. Croix Off-Broadway Dinner Theater in 2014, and features a stand-out cast, particularly Joe Keith as Bobby Hatfield and Greg Lund as the young Bill Medley.
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Buckley is a lithe and energetic performer, doubtlessly due to her years as a Broadway dancer, but still begins the show by saying that getting married for the first time at forty-five was like finishing a marathon: everyone goes home early and there are smashed Dixie cups everywhere. That she reached this milestone in life at such a late age was in large part due to her co-dependent relationship with her mother, and over the course of a ninety minute show in which she embodies dozens of characters, Buckley guides us through a journey millions of other Americans have been through or fearfully anticipate.
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Newsies delivers enough sheer energy with an adventurous story that depicts a worthy moral. This exciting show is filled with heart, empathetic characters as the boys win a round in quest of their place in the scheme of life in turn-of-the-Century New York. Newsies is a fine show filled with enough joy and energy to light up our holidays. It is much better than the film. Hurry, you have only until August 7th to see this fun show.
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This is the second incarnation of The 2 Sides Of Eddie Ramone that I have seen. Previously, at its Edinburgh festival outing, it was Eddie on his own with his demons, and I was moved to write: ‘With flashes of brilliance, mixing comedy and pathos, and with his original and bitingly powerful writing, the redoubtable Chris Sullivan’s performance is his most memorable to date’. He has lost none of this winning emotional cocktail. This version of the play now features Shian Denovan, who plays his daughter, in a beautifully delivered and felt performance.
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Direct from Death Row The Scottsboro Boys tells an old (yet familiar) story in a strikingly unique way; and, speaking as one not fond of historical or racial stories, I think every theatregoer will find something to enjoy in this fantastic production (excepting children, obviously). Though there is a lot of factual information to digest throughout the play, the all-too-human story comes through in the fantastic acting, singing, dancing, and uproarious masked satire (though, be aware, this is not a “musical”). So even if you get lost in the sequence of trials or forget who did what when, one will likely find themselves effected one way or another.
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After a few changes to the script and re-staging for a park environment, Kirsten Kelly and Chicago Shakespeare have revived their short version of Twelfth Night for this summer’s city-sponsored Shakespeare in the Parks program. Featuring some of the same cast members as the production that played earlier this year in Chicago schools, Kelly’s Twelfth Night is endearing, funny, and light-hearted with just the right amount of intelligence.
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Chops is a winner on many levels. It is a nostalgic remembrance of the Rush Street night club era as well as a clever con plot to gain cash. The Randy Steinmeyer and Daniel Patrick Sullivan have terrific stage rivalry with Larry Neumann, Jr. contributing passive stability. These outstanding actors under Richard Shavzin’s tight direction make this 88 minute one-act zing along. You’ll be engrossed into the world of jazz and conmen as the glimpse into a lost era finds these guys trapped into to who they are. This show is a treat.
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“Catch Me if You Can” is quite simply the classiest and splashiest community theatre production I have enjoyed in ages. Don’t be fooled by the venue. You may be walking into the Buffalo Grove Park District, but Big Deal Productions’ 2016 summer extravaganza matches and occasionally exceeds some Chicago Equity productions with ambition and the kind of scale rarely seen on any stage these days. Producer Lindsay Grandt and Director Ken Preuss have marshaled together an extraordinary company of volunteers who have committed themselves heart and soul to exploring a classic cat and mouse game in which the traditional roles of good guy and bad guy get turned upside down.
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Operetta in Exile begins with six songs from Die Blume von Hawaii, a 1931 collaboration between three Jewish artists, Paul Abraham, Alfred Grunwald, and Fritz Lohner-Beda. The story is typical of what defines an operetta: it is light-hearted, uses stock characters, and a formulaic plot. However, between the songs we learn about Abraham’s persecution at the hands of the Nazis.
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Why do a show about a possibly brain-damaged actor interpreting every role in Hamlet with the aid of puppets, projections, facial spasms, and acronyms? The answer, “Busey” says, is to prove that he can. And for a hilarious seventy-five minutes, we can watch a slow-rolling disaster interlaced with occasional flashes of genius as Carl pars down Shakespeare’s longest play into a rapid-fire series of commentaries, deluded sidetracks, and high tragedy.
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