Songs like “When This Cruel War is Over (Weeping Sad and Lonely),” “Shule Agrah (Johnny’s Gone for a Soldier)” and “Follow the Drinking Gourd” were particularly emotionally moving. The Civil War songbook’s rich personal sensitivity toward the angst of war is deeply presented by this group of talented singers. The superb vocals and the honest presentation of the letters home added power to the sacrifice of theses honorable patriots.
Less successful is what happens between these speeches when Callow, in quiet, informal chat mode, fills in the background and history supplied by historian/author John Bates. The problem is neither with the history nor the resulting monologues, but with their delivery. Perhaps the theater is just too large and cavernous a hall. Perhaps Callow was tired on opening night..
Buoyed on the back of some affecting performances and a haunting lesson, Steppenwolf’s “The March” rises above its flaws for the most part. It’s a multi-faceted look at all strata of life in the late days of a war and the infamous man, his march and the people left in the ruination.
The short scenes mixed with those inexplicable fraudulent pop celebrates left me confused. I was able to ‘get’ the gay couple that had one a playwright – Bixby (John Zinn) struggling to get produced. After many rejections, he decided to send in his plays not from himself but from a fictional African-American Lesbian woman (Sam Bailey) in a wheelchair.
After hearing Jerome pontificating on the plight of American Indians, we also learn that Ninety-Two is a Holocaust survivor. We learn that Rey is much more than a chump “fish” chess player. We hear his story about surviving a genocide of his family and village in Guatemala. Rey lives for revenge and since the chess hustlers took the man who saved his life in Guatemala, he is bent on cleaning out the hustlers through his amazing chess skills
Angels is a wondrous journey that may leave you permanently altered as its lessons on love, humanity and forgiveness continue to immigrate into that vast continent of the self. Taken at separate times or together, this is a complex work that is quite simply a must see.
Every principal carries their songs in character beautifully! While Sophie Gordeladze (soprano) is the voice of the state, she is also a sweet treat as Lusya. Sara Heaton (soprano) as Lidochka vocally conveys the skeptical female of the three and works very well with (baratone) Paul LaRosa’s Boris, the gadabout. (bass) Matt Boehler’s physical comedy plays with just enough of the required sleaze.
By Marisa Wegrzyb Directed by Shade Murray At A Red Orchid Theatre, Chicago Wacky comedy a winner that reminds me Fargo on crystal meth Marisa Wegrzyn is a new theatrical voice with an appetite for violently dark comedy in the style of Martin McDonah. She fills her Baraboo, Wisconsin town with a wacky female cop, … Read more
Book by W. S. Gilbert Music by Sir Arthur Sullivan Directed by Dominic Missimi Music Director Ryan T. Nelson Choreography by Matt Raftery At Marriott Theatre, Lincolnshire Pirates hijack delighted audience Dominic Missimi has justifiably been called a force of nature. That’s because Missimi is as talented as a director as he was as a … Read more
Jersey boys is the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons—Bob Guadio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi. These guys are blue-collar boys from the wrong side of the tracks. DeVito is a small-time Jersey hood and mafia want-to-be who narrates the early story of the rise of the pop foursome. Jeremy Kushnier plays DeVito with raging intensity. We see that Nick Massi is the passive, go-with-program guy and friend to Tommy Devito. DeVito’s control over the group is challenged when songwriter/arranger Bob Guadio arrives in the group.