This ambitious adventure, The Killing of Michael X, now in a world premiere, utilizes nice film work by Alex Hand with video projections by Neil Pandya with technical direction by Andrew Swanson and stage direction by Kaiser Ahmed. These artists did their best to breath life into Cory Hinkle’s awful script
For 50 years, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat has been rolling through Chicago. My first time seeing it, the Cadillac Palace put on a fun spectacle for the whole family. Directed and Choreographed by Andy Blankenbuehler, the show will leave you in awe. A story about always shooting for your dreams, Joseph, his 11 brothers, and the rest of this stellar cast will put you in your own dream.
The early scenes are filled with awkward humor, razor-sharp quips , and subtle sensuality. Vanda’s black leather dominatrix outfit suggests she is ready to do whatever it takes to get the role. Thomas resists her at first. But during this 95 minute one act, a semi-erotic power play emerges between the two
Brandon Hardy (Will Kiley) is the brilliant, popular, good looking jock who is one of the elite seniors at St. Joe’s Prep school where the upper class boys prepare for the Ivy League and a life as part of the ruling class in Washington, D. C. Brandon’s future is threatened by a videotape found on the campus
We see his interview for the lifestyle section of a local newspaper by his former favorite student turned journalist, Peter Finnerty (Jordan Brodess). That interview was quite friendly and it gave the professor a platform to speak about his book, his teaching and his personal life. Finnery never asked Graham about his personal life, the professor volunteered his life story
Rent was conceived in the hay day of the prevalence of AIDS, but with the strides made in medicine and now laws regarding Gay marriage, Rent seems a bit outdated. But, today’s audiences may relate to the many similarities seen recently from the “Occupy Wall Street” movement that occurred in September 2011. “Rent’s” opening-night audience responded positively, perhaps because the young people were unaware of the 1980s-1990s when AIDS was at the forefront of political action. Or, they may have enjoyed the shock and novelty found in the play, or they agreed with the references to many political points.
Interspersed, are the four members of an online support group of crack cocaine addicts as each struggle daily with their addiction. We see Haikumon lead the group and be its censor for foul language. She can lead the group yet she can’t seem to handle her life off line. The Internet becomes a place of safety and understanding for these addicts. We see their struggles for redemption from their constant personal failings due to their drug use.
Dan (John Mahoney) is a senior living alone who consumes his time with his (imaginary) terrier dog, Chapatti. His daily ritual is to make tea, then asking Chapatti if he wants canned or dry dog food-or – a combination? Next, he takes his dog for a long walk often ending up at the local veterinarian for a unneeded checkup. Dan is more than lonely as he is trying to find a home for Chapatti since he has decided to leave Dublin for good
This is a passionate work that effectively tells the hardship of pre-Civil War Southern black slaves in a chamber folk operetta. With music and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, Dessa Rose has a haunting score (with hints of their Ragtime score) filled with African and Southern field/work songs, R & B, containing rhythms and melodies together with early religious songs including folk and gospel sounds that produced an atmosphere of 1840’s on a plantation in South Carolina. Lynn Ahrens’ character and plot driven lyrics emphasize the emotion, the pain and the passion of the black slaves. Her strong book anchors the piece.
…with August Wilson a marvelous trip to exciting, superbly written (almost poetic dialogue) theatrical events chronicling the Black Experience in America. King Hedley II, set in 1985 (the 9th in the 10 play cycle) features several of the characters we meet in Wilson’s Seven Guitars set in the 1940’s (recently mounted at Court Theatre in a riveting production). The violence and frustration from the lack of opportunity that affected the folks in Seven Guitars is even more devastating to the Hill District folks in the 1980’s.