Xanadu is a mixture of the 1940’s and the 1980’s in song. It combines one swing number with hip hop that can open your eyes and ears to interesting musical possibilities both in song and dance. Gene Weygandt, who played the Wizard of Oz in Wicked in Chicago and Broadway provides the gravitas for the soft shoe numbers, yet the angst for his character.
…detailed nuanced acting but Scott Parkinson. He shows sides of the Danish Prince that few players can muster. Complexity is a breeze with Parkinson’s talent. He rendered the finest Hamlet this reviewer has ever witnessed! It is a remarkable acting achievement as it is enough to justify the trip to the North Shore to Glencoe.
While the storyline is a tad concocted, the performances by the three teen actors was amazingly effective. They all sported fine British accents, including young Gabriel Stern. Reaching the highs and lows emotionally together with the physicality needed here would tax even a season actor yet Lunsky and Cygan (and little Stern) gave skilled and emotionally deep performances. The future is bright for these three.
Iphigenia 2.0 is a interesting, effective and most engaging production that vividly uses the power of the live stage to get its ant-war message across. Staging it in contemporary times reminds us that we still have not learned the lessons of leadership and the motivations for going to war. As Achilles states: “What chance can an empire have if its actions are to be based on lies and imaginings?”
The first part of Nathan Allen and Chris Mathews’ new trilogy, The Iron Stage King: Part One is a complex epic of crowns and country using elements of the King Arthur and Norse mythology with sprinkles of American fable themes. Utilizing all the House stylistic elements including puppets, miniature models, strong lighting, unique costumes with ample sprinklings of humor, this story has richly layered storytelling that explores the nature of leadership, governance with the unique American struggle to balance personal liberty with actions for the common good of society.
The repartee between these two “friendly enemies” comes across in a solidifying relationship full of respect and fellowship. The atheist (Shaw) and the newly Catholic (Chesterton) engaged in a terrific war of wards that stimulate us with ideas and concepts.
Playwright Mia McCullough took a tiny story in the Chicago Tribune about local Glenview women protesting a billboard in their suburb making it into a profile of our complex concepts of the nature of beauty in 21st Century America.
Amazingly, the folks at American Blues Theater usually pick stage worthy plays and they knock them out of the park Not here with James Still’s Illegal use of Hands. This dark comedy gets a 15 yard penalty for being boring with few funny lines and a meandering go-nowhere plot.
The 90 minute one act is a haunting look at the devastating effects of imprisonment of a youth, specially one who is innocent. Being robbed of one’s youth is could ruin most folks. Once released, we see how difficult it is to cope with contemporary society
Led by the stunningly emotional and totally honest tour de force performance by Bill Larkin as the nerdy, mentally challenged composer, Edward Kleban, director Stacey Flaster has cast a fast-paced flowing musical with terrific talents anchored by the fabulous work from Bill Larkin