Chicago Sun-Times

Court’s ‘Misanthrope’ mocks eternal quirks of human behavior

Mon, 20 May 2013 02:16:59 -0500

HEDY WEISS: A skilled and stylish group of actors delivers a scintillating translation of the Moliere comedy.

‘Ganesh’ a chilling theatrical experience

Sun, 19 May 2013 10:59:02 -0500

At one point in “Ganesh Versus the Third Reich” — the wholly astonishing and deeply provocative work by Australia’s Back to Back Theatre, at the MCA through Sunday only — Luke Ryan, who plays the role of a tyrannical theater director, shatters the fourth wall. He bluntly confronts us about our perceptions of the actors in the troupe — four men generally “perceived” as having intellectual and physical disabilities. Turning to the audience, Ryan, who is handsome and able-bodied, says (and I paraphrase): “So, you’ve come to see a freak show? You’re just perverts, right, looking at edgy material?” By …

ACT II: A second look at area stages — ‘Brighton Beach Memoirs’

Sun, 19 May 2013 02:44:26 -0500

Neil Simon might not be the darling of the avant-garde theater crowd. But anyone who doubts the enduring power of his plays to generate a surefire mix of tears and laughter should pay a visit to Raven Theatre’s revival of his 1983 drama “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” now in a first-rate production directed by Cody Estle. Set in 1937, this initial installment in Simon’s semi-autobiographical trilogy (which also includes “Biloxi Blues” and “Broadway Bound”) is driven by the playwright’s charming and precocious teenage alter-ego, Eugene Jerome. A fledgling writer, he has a preternatural feel for the unintentional tragicomedy to be found …

Eifman Ballet finds inspiration in Rodin’s figures

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:22:27 -0500

The Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg, Russia has visited Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre on a regular basis since 2000. With its astonishing company of more than 50 dancers backed by lavish, almost cinematic design, it is a grand showcase for the unique vision of its founder and choreographer, Boris Eifman, now 66, whose full-length ballets invariably examine the tormented psyches of artists (Tchaikovsky, Cervantes, Moliere, the ballerina Olga Spessivtseva), as well as historical and literary characters (Anna Karenina, Eugene Onegin and the Hamlet-like son of Catherine the Great). In his latest work, “Rodin” — to be performed here May 17-19 — …

Out of the shadows: How ‘Smokey Joe’s Cafe’ dancer picks a partner

Thu, 16 May 2013 02:29:13 -0500

On this night, the woman plucked from the audience for a “Loving You” slow dance is a 70-year-old from Munster, who says the songs take her back to high school homecoming.

Harris Theater to celebrate 10th anniversary in grand style

Wed, 15 May 2013 00:22:00 -0500

This fall will mark the 10th anniversary of the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, that 1,500-seat venue adjacent to Millennium Park that has made its mark by presenting an audacious array of performances by world class artists from both Chicago and around the globe. Driven by the motto “collaborate, innovate, and celebrate,” the theater plans to celebrate its first decade in grand style, with a slew of premieres and debuts, including performances by its nearly three dozen resident companies. The centerpiece of the 2013-2014 season will be 10 designated performances, scattered throughout the year, selected because they illustrate the …

Savage and devastating, ‘Roadkill’ upends Greek tragedy

Wed, 15 May 2013 02:31:19 -0500

HEDY WEISS: In a dimly lit apartment in Bucktown, Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents a story of human desecration that stays with you long after you leave.

Rhea Perlman, Francis Guinan save tavern tale from its routine plot

Mon, 13 May 2013 02:17:22 -0500

HEDY WEISS: Bruce Graham’s “Stella & Lou,” now in its world premiere at Northlight Theatre, depends on the skills of its stars in an otherwise average story of lonely people connecting at a bar.

Ordinary men, extraordinary circumstances craft decisions that shape history in ‘Blood and Gifts’

Sat, 11 May 2013 02:14:01 -0500

For years the most nagging question in U.S. foreign policy was this: How did we get into Vietnam? In more recent times, that question (among many, many others) has been replaced by this one: How did we get into Afghanistan, and what kind of dirty double game has been going on in Pakistan? In “Blood and Gifts,” the ferociously smart, thoroughly excoriating 2011 drama by J.T. Rogers — now receiving a TimeLine Theatre production that is altogether as bloody brilliant as the play itself — those questions are answered in terms that are not only thrillingly dramatic and non-dogmatic, but …

Robert Sickinger, ‘father of Chicago’s Off Loop theater movment’ (1927-2013)

Sat, 11 May 2013 02:13:38 -0500

Robert “Bob” Sickinger, widely considered “the father of Chicago’s Off Loop theater movement,” and the man instrumental in the founding of the hugely influential Hull House Theater at Broadway and Belmont that blossomed throughout the 1960s, died of congestive heart failure Thursday morning in Delray Beach, Florida. He was 86. Mr. Sickinger, who first made his mark as a young director in Philadelphia, arrived in Chicago at the age of 35 at the invitation of Paul Jans, a fellow Philadelphian who had been hired to serve as executive director of Hull House. “Bob quickly began setting up chamber readings of …

ACT II: A second look at area stages — ‘Tea with Edie & Fitz’

Sun, 12 May 2013 02:44:15 -0500

Lucky timing or a shrewd bet on synergy? Thanks to this weekend’s release of Baz Luhrmann’s new film version of “The Great Gatsby,” the Dead Writers Theatre Collective might just get a little extra buzz for its production of “Tea With Edie and Fitz.” Set in 1925, the new play, a work of ambition and potential as well as considerable pretense, looks at that iconic Jazz Age duo of F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda. And it chronicles a brief encounter between Fitzgerald and that grande dame of American literature of the earlier Gilded Age, Edith Wharton. When Wharton …

Oh, ‘Henry’! Chicago Shakespeare stages a gem of a production

Fri, 10 May 2013 02:33:22 -0500

England’s King Henry VIII is familiar to us as the man who had six wives, who severed ties with the Roman Catholic Church in order to divest himself of one of them, had another beheaded, and along the way fathered the daughter who would become Queen Elizabeth I. We have met him by way of a slew of plays, films, novels and television shows, as well as a pop song (calling Herman’s Hermits), and a classic painting (the Holbein masterpiece that depicts him as a bloated man dressed in the most extravagant of outfits). Surprisingly, we are far less familiar …

Neil Patrick Harris to return as Tony Awards host

Thu, 09 May 2013 12:16:00 -0500

NEW YORK — Neil Patrick Harris will be back for his fourth turn as host of the Tony Awards. The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, joint producers of the show that honors the best of Broadway, said Thursday the 67th annual awards will be broadcast live by CBS from Radio City Music Hall on June 9. In a statement, Harris said he was excited to be back hosting the Tonys, adding: “The show will rock!” Harris previously hosted the Tonys last year and in 2011 and 2009. Last year’s telecast at the intimate Beacon Theatre was seen by …

Falling Man tells tales of love and identity

Wed, 08 May 2013 18:14:44 -0500

Four men and a teenager deal with their sexuality in “Falling Man,” five monologues by Will Scheffer. Shane Abbott, who runs Gorilla Tango’s Skokie Theatre, directs the show Friday nights through May at the theater. He also performs the title monologue. Abbott decided to produce and direct this show because, “The writing is really strong,” he said. “It’s about sexual identity. In this day and age with all of the talk about gay marriage, I thought it was pretty current. It’s a dichotomy. You could take these stories and put females in all the roles, or teenagers or old people.” …

‘Miss Neo Pageant’ explores what it means to be feminine, successful

Wed, 08 May 2013 18:00:00 -0500

Women studies scholars will tell you that there are three feminist movements. The first began with the suffragettes and the right to vote; the second, of course, was the women’s liberation movement of the ’60s and ’70s and the third rallied the young women of the ‘90s via the Girl Power phenomenon. Megan Mercier came of age during feminism’s third chapter with strong female role models in her life. But despite all this, now at 29, she looks around and feels she’s “ended up in this weird limbo.” “It feels like being a teenager never stopped in some ways,” Mercier …