Tom Williams

The production I witnessed was a mixed bag of attempted horror and tongue-in-cheek humor that neither was scary nor funny. With disjointed writing, poor acting and atrocious accents, Six More Scary Tales comes off as amateur night at the theatre.

…this Carmilla is a mixed bag of boring melodrama and predictable and ill-timed horrific bloody vampire fight and biting scenes. There are stiff performances, loads of screaming, and wild blood letting that unfortunately fails to either scare nor thrill. Some of the dialogue was so poorly written or translated and/or delivered by the cast that the audience reacted with belly laughs. That is not what you want if your trying to build enough suspense to scare audiences.

The 16th Street production of The Beats is a lively glimpse into the ideas and personalities of some of the Beats’ leading characters. Told in brilliantly articulated performances by Adam Poss as K (Holy Hipster), John Taflan G (The Student), Malcolm Callan S (Dharma Bum), Jon McGilberry J (Jazz Cat) and Carly Ciarrocchi D (Beat Chick), with terrific underscoring and atmospheric jazz tunes from Grant Strombeck (drums) and Doug Lofstrom (bass).

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.