Reviews

Evil Dead: The Musical – The National Tour

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I had the joyous opportunity to sit in the splatter zone, where I as well as the next 4 rows behind me got covered in fake blood. Cherry flavored fake blood! If you don’t want to be covered in fake blood, I highly advise that you don’t sit in the Splatter Zone. Now on the other hand, if you like that sort of thing and want to experience the blood almost like he’s chopping YOU up with a chainsaw, then I highly advise that you pay the extra few bucks to become part of the show and sit in the Splatter Zone. I highly recommend this production to my fellow fans of camp and carnage who just so happen to also love singing and shotguns. It’s quite an experience!

The Magic Flute (Impempe Yomlingo)

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As part of their World’s Stage series, Chicago Shakespeare has smartly brought the magnificent South African troupe, Isango Ensemble to Chicago on their International tour of one of the most charming, energetic and innovative productions of Mozart’s beloved vaudevillian opera – The Magic Flute. Dressed in vivid African attire, the 30 person cast, with the exception of only a few roles, move swiftly from playing marimbas, drums and various percussion instruments to singing and dancing as well as producing marvelous male and female harmonies. I can’t remember seeing a more talented and versatile cast.

At Home at the Zoo at City Lit Theater

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For some strange reason, Edward Albee felt he had to write a first act in 2004 to his 1959 one-act, The Zoo Story. Maybe he felt that more theatres would produce the work if it was a full play? So now, if you want the rights to do ‘Zoo,’ you must do it as At Home at the Zoo. The result is to make patrons sit through a slowly unfolding yet serviceable prequel.

A Kurt Weill Cabaret

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Entering Theo Ubique’s space in the No Exit Café feels like going back in time, an illusion aided by Bill Morey’s Act I costumes. Kellie Cundiff (soprano), Christopher Logan (baritone), Jordan Phelps (tenor), Michael Reyes (bass), and Jill Sesso (mezzo) appear as gritty early twentieth century tramps. The men’s angular facial hair and makeup put a skeletal accent on their cheekbones. I felt drawn into the dissolute Berlin cabaret of the 1920’s world before the music had even started.

Native Son

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His home, his family, and his trappings hold him as a prisoner in life. As he struggles to find a place for himself in a world whose prejudice and racism has shit him out, Bigger suffers from a low self-esteem that when he looks in the mirror, he sees not himself but what society wants him to be – their “native son.”

The Monster in the Hall

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Filament Theatre’s latest production is the manic, uproarious, forth wall-destroying story of Scottish teenager Duck Macatarsney’s (Lindsey Dorcus) struggle to care for her multiple sclerosis-stricken father. The Ducati Monster motorcycle Duck is named after has been lying in the hallway ever since her mother was killed while riding it, although as the doo-wop chorus helpfully explains, it is really a metaphor for our refusal to face our problems. Duck and her father, Duke (Andrew Marchetti), live in filth; he self-medicates with marijuana while she cleans up after him and writes a novel based on Harry Potter and Twilight with herself as the protagonist

The Commons of Pensacola

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A mirroring of Bernie Madoff (Ponzi scheme orchestrator that took advantage of the vulnerabilities of Holocaust Survivors for billions of dollars), this father of two is likely to spend his life behind bars for his crimes leaving Judith, who had grown used to a suspiciously comfortable lifestyle, with next to nothing.

Rest

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We meet Etta (Mary Ann Thebus), spry senior and devoted wife to her 91 year-old husband, Gerald (William J. Norris)-who suffers from extreme dementia. We see Gerald rant oblivious to who is around him. Sadly, we learn that he was a famed music professor. Tom, (Ernest Perry, Jr.), the the other resident who everyone believes is deaf.

Let Me Down Easy & Mercy Strain: the healthcare plays

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These two parts of the healthcare plays are riveting theatre. They play together and separately. I’m not sure who the audience is for Let Me Down Easy or Mercy Strain since 20-30somethings and seniors alike don’t like to speak or thing about death and sickness. But the two performance (by Usman Ally and Michael Milligan) compel us to get to ATC.

King Lear at Chicago Shakespeare Theater

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With the exception of the extraordinary staging of one of the most memorable ever speeches, Lear’s ‘Blow wind and crack your cheeks..’ being shouted by him with his back to the audience, the production’s modern dress style was filled with engaging movement and visually skillful staging. The attention never wavered, even though it was like watching a foreign language play at times.This reviewer was seated at the extreme right of the thrust stage. Perhaps because of this, most of the language was unintelligible, with actors facing away. Added to this this was the indistinct delivery of the text, with actors allowed, or directed, to speak with great speed, as they would a Mamet text, often with poor enunciation and vocal projection.

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