Chicago Sun-Times

‘Company of Men’ hauntingly disturbing, yet irresistible

Tue, 21 May 2013 02:15:15 -0500

HEDY WEISS: Neil LaBute’s revision of his 1997 movie stars an ideal cast at Profiles Theatre.

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

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:42:07 -0500

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

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 …

Theaters test fresh recipes for French classics

Thu, 23 May 2013 23:22:00 -0500

Shakespeare has been absorbing the slings and arrows of “modernizing” directors and adapters for years. So have the ancient Greeks. And the truth is, the resulting productions often emerge in ways that not only bring these plays into synch with 21st century audiences, but reveal just how enduring the originals continue to be. Two recent cases in point: Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s “Othello: The Remix” and Victory Gardens’ “Oedipus el Rey.” Now the “nouvelle cuisine” treatment is being applied to a couple of celebrated playwrights from 17th century France — Moliere (who is frequently “updated”) and Pierre Corneille (who rarely is …

Thu, 23 May 2013 23:22:00 -0500

ETC. Theater, dance and painting — all with a spiritual undertowTHAT INNER GLOW An infant that glows with an unearthly light is at the center of Stefanie Zadravec’s “The Electric Baby,” in its Midwest premiere through June 22, Rivendell Theatre, 5779 N. Ridge; RivendellTheatre.org. THE POETRY OF DANCE The poetry of Rumi, the 13th century Persian mystic, has inspired Chicago Danztheatre choreographer Ellyzabeth Adler to create dual tales in “Touch and Mirrors. ” Final performances 8 p.m. May 24-25 at at Defribillator, 1136 N. Milwaukee; danztheatre.org. << INVOLUNTARY MEMORY Even without knowing the haunting true story behind Israeli artist Mira …

ACT II: A second look at area stages — ‘The Knowledge’ and ‘Rabbit’

Thu, 23 May 2013 17:55:59 -0500

While the British class system of the early 20th century is still alive and well courtesy of TV’s “Downton Abbey,” two very different manifestations of English class-consciousness in our own time can be found in a couple of strongly acted and directed plays now on Chicago stages. John Donnelly’s “The Knowledge” — in a Steep Theatre production that has been extended through June 23 — looks at British working-class kids, and the teachers and administrators of a high school in which everyone is distracted by bad behavior. Directed with ferocity by Jonathan Berry, the play is a reminder that Chicago …

‘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 …

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 — …

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.

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 …

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 …

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 …

Rhea Perlman: Everybody knows her name

Thu, 09 May 2013 19:19:19 -0500

HEDY WEISS: The “Cheers” star bellies up to a new bar for “Stella & Lou” at Northlight Theatre.

‘Lake Effect’ sharply acted despite a faulty script

Wed, 08 May 2013 10:10:55 -0500

HEDY WEISS: Siblings meet their late father’s mysterious friend in the Silk Road Rising world premiere.

Lyric Opera not quite the right territory for ‘Oklahoma!”

Sun, 05 May 2013 21:20:44 -0500

HEDY WEISS: The performances stand out, especially in supporting roles, but this revival of the Broadway classic seems caught between the intimate and the operatic.