1. The Goodman tells us how they make and utilize those beautiful trees you see onstage in El Nogalar. The secret is revealed; they are actual trees! The trees are actually slowly dying, and Assistant Production Manager Matt Chandler says that their branches have “begun to droop and we are constantly trimming them during the run."
2. Soul Samurai opened last night at Theater Wit.
1. This is a little delayed, but last week Eric & Andy reviewed First Folio's The Woman in Black and actually liked it, even though it's a horror story. Quoth he: "I usually think [horror plays] are dumb, because they are never scary. I always go to a play and think, 'How...in this proscenium space, can you possibly scare me? I am a grown ass man!'"
2. Perhaps sitcoms and theater are not as different as we think; Rantoul or Die opened this weekend at the American Blues Theater, written by Mark Roberts. He's best known as the Creator/Executive Producer of Mike & Molly, and for his work on Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory. This production is directed by Erin Quigley, who did costume design for Roseanne, so be prepared for what Hollywood thinks life is like if you're blue collar.
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Looking ahead: On Monday, the 14th Chicago Improv Festival begins. Nina Metz at the Tribune has the highlights (which include some bodypainting experiments) but the full schedule is also worth perusing so you don't miss a thing. Additionally, Bassprov members Joe Bill and Mark Sutton, former artistic director of the festival, spoke to Vocalo's Molly Adams in the Morning AMp today (and can be seen performing below).
2. The Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg presents Don Quixote, or Fantasies of a Madman. The production was at Roosevelt University last night, but there will be a matinee performance on Saturday.
Kelly Kleiman
First up is Tree at Victory Gardens, a perfect pairing of director Andrea J. Dymond and playwright Julie Hebert, each known for powerful yet subtle examinations of painful subjects. This very long one-act traces the family connections (hence, "Tree") of two people from entirely different worlds: a black man in Chicago and a white woman from Baton Rouge who turn out to be siblings. Anchored by the utterly truthful performances of Aaron Todd Douglas and Elaine Rivkin as the brother and sister, and soaring on the work of Celeste Williams as their now-demented now-lucid mother, the play works on both macro and micro levels: as an examination of how racism continues to poison American discourse, and as a dissection of the strains of family--any family. Jacqueline and Rick Penrod's set is as full of twists and turns and dead-ends and opportunities for disaster as the plot itself. At the Victory Gardens Biograph through May 1--which is next weekend, so move fast or you'll miss it.
Lyric Opera of Chicago today (April 21) named Anthony Freud, 53, as its new general director, effective October 1. The British-born Freud will be only the fourth leader of Lyric Opera in the company’s 58-year history. In a smooth transition, he succeeds William Mason who is retiring after 15 years in Lyric’s top post. Freud will guide a company with an annual budget in excess of $54 million. Lyric presents a seven-month season of eight productions in the 3,700-seat Civic Opera House on Wacker Drive, which the company owns.
Freud brings a combination of European and American experience which should give him a solid foundation to captain a company with a foot firmly planted on either side of the Atlantic Ocean. Freud was general director of the Welsh National Opera from 1994-2005, and has held the same position at Houston Grand Opera since then. Both companies are known for innovative programming, undoubtedly another plus for Freud in the selection process.
1. Alan Cumming is coming to Chicago (how many times has that pun been made?)! He'll be performing his one man cabaret show I Bought a Blue Car Today on May 28th. Yes, that's a long time from now, but he's a big deal, so get on it.
Opera lovers and haters alike should love El Gallo: Opera for Actors. This behind-the-scenes play by Teatro de Ciertos Habitantes, based in Mexico City and appearing for the second time in a brief run at the MCA, is so far from stuffy it’s ridiculous. Just imagine a stage crammed with two string quartets, the audience (yes, the audience sits onstage, at least at first), and six actor/singers delivering an invented language. Communication is largely physical: slapstick, mugging, stage combat.
The title says it all.
Oi-yoi-yoi! Or perhaps we should say, “Zounds! I like it not, my heart ill-conceives.” For the third year in a row, one of our most un-eloquent leaders has declared April 23 to be “Talk Like Shakespeare Day” in honor of the birthday of the Bard of Stratford-On-Avon, who would have turned 447 if he still were alive. In 2009 and 2010 it was King Richard II of Daley who declared April 23 “Talk Like Shakespeare Day” in Chicago. This year the ante has been upped as no less a personage than Illinois Lord High Governor Patrick Quinn has declared the 23rd to be “Talk Like Shakespeare Day” in the entire state! The very notion of Richie and Pat talking like Shakespeare is akin to the blind leading the halt.
If, however, our public leaders insist on giving it a whirl, we believe the very first words Gov. Quinn should utter are, “Neither a borrower nor a lender be,” and then he can cancel his proposal for the state to borrow an additional $2 billion. Of course, the Fat Cats in the legislature don’t want to borrow, but they don’t want to do the hard work of cutting the budget, either.
