Theatre Reviews

Director June Eubanks combines a documentary style with a dramatization to tell John Merrick’s story. Each scene is introduced and the cast double as Foley artists to supplement the production with sound effects. The most remarkable element of this production is the lack of sentimentality as Merrick’s story unfolds.

I have always admired theatre groups with the chutzpah to stretch the boundaries of theatre. No troupe in Chicago does a finer job covering new territory than Trap Door Theatre. Max Truax’s Hamletmachine is master piece of experimentalist theatre that will boggle your mind. For those adventurous souls who cherish stylist and artsy work, the Hamletmachine will satisfy your creative cravings.

It is fitting that 2010 ends with a marvelous production Jerry Herman’s 1964 pure Americana musical Hello, Dolly! In the hands of the creatives at Light Opera Works, with their 24 person orchestra under conductor Roger L. Bingaman and the attention to details by director/choreographer Rudy Hogenmiller, Hello Dolly! is a tuneful old chestnut that still endures. It is so refreshing to see the full version sans cuts with the complete cast of dancers to bring home Gower Champion’s original choreography nicely recreated by Hogenmiller.

What makes this charming and well sung musical work is the strong performance by Ed Rutherford as the Toad. Rutherford has the flamboyance of an English gentleman and the impulsive wildness of an adventurous cad. Rutherford’s larger-than-life persona contains a nice mixture of humor, mischievousness with a fine singing voice and loads of empathy. We quickly like Toad and we cheer for him to escape from his incarceration.

If you are tired of all those sweet, cute and Christmas shows featuring those familiar carols, then Striking 12 may suit your holiday show needs. Striking 12 is a creative, original anti-holiday musical that speaks to the 20-30somethings who detest the winter holidays.

White Christmas is a new musical, now on a national tour, filled with the wonderful Berlin songbook. It starts and ends with Christmas cheers with tunes like “Happy Holidays,” ‘I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm” and the classic “White Christmas.” But in between, we experience a fully rendered new Broadway musical comedy.

I guess I’m too much of a traditionalist to appreciate Graney’s humor because I think he took a polished, witty, and humorous classic and reduced it to a fumbling parody. His production is filled with actors who are not singers, who sport terrible British accents, and who have limited music skills making his Pirate of Penzance 80 minutes of torture for me.