Adapted by Lifeline Theater ensemble Member Robert Kauzlaric, this newest incarnation captures all the twists and turns of the original via expected action enhanced by delicious monologues that echo Collins epistolary style. This version of The Woman in White provides a worthy addition to Lifeline’s dramatic specialization of original literary adaptations.
But what makes this 42nd Street sizzle is the terrific performance by Nicole Miller, as the chorus girl, Peggy Sawyer, who, in her first show on Broadway, saves the the show by stepping in, at the last minute, to cover the star. Miller’s dancing is expert, her singing and acting is renders Sawyer as the true ingenue who becomes a star right before our eyes.
The classic singspiel of strange magic and quests for love gets its first new Chicago production in 17 years. Complete with a new English translation, there are only three performances left!
In the hands of a master storyteller like August Wilson, Jitney flows as high drama. Themes such as younger disrespecting older generations, the struggle of the working class to make a living, and changing social order and the uprooting of older neighborhoods are aptly dealt with in Jitney.
We see the groups routine, learn abut each one’s foibles, and experience the fluid relationships. From the stoic motherly Jenny (Rebecca Spence) to the chatty, aggressive Gwyneth (Mary Cross) to tea-maker Doris (Meg Warner to the child-like Dawn (Ashley Neal) to the naive teen newbie Meg (Amanda Powell) to the ‘by-the-rules Cynthia (Jodi Kingsley) and the mysterious, standoffish Chelsea(Katrina Kuntz) – we get to know and like each women. Here pace, expert acting and atmosphere make for a naturalistic atmosphere.
Wrong Mountain is about many great ideas and themes centering on what is art and is theatre a fraudulent art form? It also deals with the American view of success. Those themes are grist for the mill for a playwright.
Xanadu is a mixture of the 1940’s and the 1980’s in song. It combines one swing number with hip hop that can open your eyes and ears to interesting musical possibilities both in song and dance. Gene Weygandt, who played the Wizard of Oz in Wicked in Chicago and Broadway provides the gravitas for the soft shoe numbers, yet the angst for his character.
…detailed nuanced acting but Scott Parkinson. He shows sides of the Danish Prince that few players can muster. Complexity is a breeze with Parkinson’s talent. He rendered the finest Hamlet this reviewer has ever witnessed! It is a remarkable acting achievement as it is enough to justify the trip to the North Shore to Glencoe.
While the storyline is a tad concocted, the performances by the three teen actors was amazingly effective. They all sported fine British accents, including young Gabriel Stern. Reaching the highs and lows emotionally together with the physicality needed here would tax even a season actor yet Lunsky and Cygan (and little Stern) gave skilled and emotionally deep performances. The future is bright for these three.
Iphigenia 2.0 is a interesting, effective and most engaging production that vividly uses the power of the live stage to get its ant-war message across. Staging it in contemporary times reminds us that we still have not learned the lessons of leadership and the motivations for going to war. As Achilles states: “What chance can an empire have if its actions are to be based on lies and imaginings?”