Reviews

The Glass Menagerie at Mary-Arrchie Theatre

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Director and narrator/player Hans Fleischmann (Tom) is a homeless hobo living in an alley (glass infested set designed by Grant Sabin). He is dressed in dirty ragged clothes and he sports a full beard – he is reliving memories from his life with his mother and sister in 1937 St.Louis. This is an intriguing concept that I’ve never seen before in any production of Williams’ greatest play – The Glass Menagerie. This concept speaks much about what happened to Tom after he left St. Louis for adventure.

The School for Lies

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Playwright David Ives sure knows how to take the 17th Century classic French farce, The Misanthrope, and bring it up to date from 1666 to modern times by using a mixture of rhyming couplets. Ives blends Moliere’s wordy comedy of manners style with contemporary colloquialisms with casual vulgarity and scatological humor that could offend some. Yet, the zaniness of the classic characters together with the witty couplets played for extreme comic effect, makes for a belly laughing theatrical feast.

Julie Shannon…My Friends Sing My Songs

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Shannon is probably the finest relatively unknown composer and lyricist you could find. I was stunned at the versatility, the number of soaring anthems, the terrific lyrics that sit upon the music so effectively. Seldom will you find a more talented composer and lyricist in one person that Julie Shannon!

Hansel und Gretel

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Hansel und Gretel is filled with charming melodic music that contains gentleness, sweetness, as well as dark motifs. Humperdinck used German folk elements together with original folk tunes to flavor his opera. The score demand much vocal dexterity and Kanyotova and DeShong delightfully have that element in their fine performance. I was thrilled by the darkly comic work by Jill Grove as the manic witch. Brian Williams’ father was also appreciated.

The Letters

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We observe Anna (powerful subtle performance by Kate Fry) move from frighten to submissive to attacker as she deftly reverses the roles of hunted and hunter. Seeing who will claim the upper hand: those who want to suppress the truth or those who’ll risk everything to liberate it is at the core of this two-hander.

The Other Cinderella

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The Other Cinderella is a family-friendly musical with loads of humor as well as toe-tapping original tunes and strong anthems. I can see why this show has become the most successful show in the history of the Black Ensemble

Failure: A Love Story

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Combining a fast-paced vaudevillian style with story telling elements that turns the cast into expository narrators made the audience not empathize with most of the Fail family. This play is on-third story theatre, one-third acted drama, and one-third gimmicks.

Singin’ In The Rain

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After the original lead Sean Palmer got injured, Tony Yazbeck stepped in to play Don Lockwood (the Gene Kelly role). Together with an all-star cast of local Chicago talents, director Bill Jenkins’ Singin’ In the Rain unfolds as a dazzling production. True to the film, the Drury Lane Production is glitzy, glorious, and glamorous featuring one of the most memorable scores …

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