the guys at The House went out to find some new blood and indeed they have found journalist/playwright Mark Guarino and the excellent music from legend Jon Langford. Under the smart and clever direction of Tommy Rapley and with the everyman qualities of Nathan Allen as Lofty Deeds–the elements of a memorable show are present.
Read MoreJulie Shannon’s folksy score sounds terrific with more instruments including a cell0, percussion, reeds, harp and keyboards. Her vocals, especially the choral harmonies, sounded with more depth. Her anthems: “We All have Songs” and “What is It About The Water” haunts us and sets the mood nicely.
Read MoreTheatre Seven of Chicago offers another enchanting world premiere with Brian Golden’s Cooperstown. With hints of Lanford Wilson and an ode to William Inge’s Bus Stop, playwright Brian Golden’s Cooperstown is an ambitious 95 minute one-act that tightly covers several stories.
Read MoreVeteran Chicago comic Will Clinger’s promising new one man show–Dr. Harlon’s Key to Better Living, now in an entertaining world premiere at the Royal George Theatre, is a clever, funny spoof of those late night TV self-help guru/infomercial celebrity Dr. Harlon Stewar
Read MoreWith whimsical staging by director Richard Cotovsky and a cast of players sporting mostly authentic middle class contemporary British accents, How to Disappear Completely and Never be Found unfolds as a searing indictment of the foibles of modern society so filled with dehumanizing rituals, long working hours and electronic devices that render personal communication obsolete.
Read MoreThis script reaches a bit towards the comic sense of Orwell’s “1984” Orwell called Serious sport ,war without the shooting as it is filled with hate ( we hate the other team) jealousy ( how did they get him to play that well?), bragging ( just think of the Sox World Series several years ago and the taunting those fans gave our Cub fans) and the pleasure of beating the snot out of the other guys.
Read MoreThe current production, “Cuba and His Teddy Bear” written by the late Reinaldo Povod takes us to the lower East Side of Manhattan, to a tenement apartment shared by Cuba ( a powerful performance by Madrid St. Angelo, who has truly matured as an actor) and his teen age son Teddy ( Christian Kain Blackburn) Cuba is a drug dealer.
Read MoreAs presented at The Batey Urbano Theater, Cuba and His Teddy Bear is an explosive worked peopled with unsavory low-life urban drug dealers and junkies. We meet Cuba (Madrid St. Angelo) the intense father trying too hard to be a mentor/friend and father to his gentle, sensitive artistic teenage son, Teddy (Christian Blackburn).
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