A triple-header of musicals: Paramount’s ‘Fun Home’, Music Theater Work’s ‘Zorro’, and Surging’s ‘Urinetown’
Chicagoland Musical Theatre
by ChicagolandMusicalTheatre Editor
1y ago
By Patrick O’Brien From the small to the big to the big-made-small (depending on perspective), from the established to the underdog, the last week has been jam-packed with musicals of all shapes and subjects. *** Fun Home is an odd-duck musical in that I love it unabashedly but it seldom comes up in regular rotation. One might say I hold it close enough to observe it at a distance, not unlike cartoonist Alison Bechdel‘s way of perceiving the world and herself. Based on her “graphic memoir” (read: memoir in comic format) about growing up gay with a domineering and deeply closeted father, i ..read more
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World premiere ‘Prada’ bedeviled by details big and small
Chicagoland Musical Theatre
by ChicagolandMusicalTheatre Editor
1y ago
By Barry Reszel Among the greatest joys reviewing Chicagoland musical theatre for the past decade-or-so are having figurative front-row seats to pre-Broadway productions developing in the City of Big Shoulders before their transfer to the Great White Way. A second (really, the first) is getting to know the immensely talented, compassionate, lovingly supportive cadre of artists who make up the Chicagoland theatre community. This reviewer’s positive takes on 2014’s Amazing Grace, 2015’s Beaches, and last fall’s Paradise Square predicted at least one Sound of Music among them. But ..read more
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Mercury’s ‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’, a fun and funky disco revival, is no drag
Chicagoland Musical Theatre
by ChicagolandMusicalTheatre Editor
1y ago
By Cori Lang If disco is dead, then it was given a momentary resurrection on Thursday night at Mercury Theater Chicago’s opening of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Audiences came ready to groove, many dressed in 70s-inspired garb with a rowdiness appropriate for a story with drag performers at its center. Based on the film of the same name by Stephan Elliot, the disco jukebox musical centers on two drag queens, Mitzi and Felicia (known out-of-drag as Tick and Adam), and a trans woman, Bernadette, as they travel across the Australian outback in a decked-out camper van dubbed Priscilla. Whi ..read more
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50th anniversary tour of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ sandblasts the old classic to reveal its true shine
Chicagoland Musical Theatre
by ChicagolandMusicalTheatre Editor
1y ago
By Patrick O’Brien While waiting outside the Cadillac Palace for the doors to open, a pull quote on one of the posters caught my attention: “Not your grandmother’s Jesus Christ Superstar.” This being the fiftieth-anniversary tour of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s seminal, career-making rock opera, of course our grandmothers have at least heard of it. I was more struck by the implication that Jesus Christ Superstar could ever have been rendered “safe enough” for the blue-haired crowd. This is of course in keeping with the natural progression of art—the revolutionary becomes the re ..read more
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Looking into the abyss, ‘Get Out Alive’ shows the way forward for life and musical theatre
Chicagoland Musical Theatre
by ChicagolandMusicalTheatre Editor
1y ago
L to R: Jacinda Ratcliffe, Nikki Lynette, and Keeley Morris By Patrick O’Brien This is less a review, more a cogitation. Bear with me. Up-front, the pull quote: “Thanks to Haven Chicago, Nikki Lynette‘s solo-ish Afrogoth musical Get Out Alive has dumped a jar of spiders on my eyeballs and that’s all I’m going to see for a good bit, and I’m going to keep finding them in unexpected places for a good while after. This is a very, very good thing.” I’m not one for pull quotes, but, surely, the above is less odd than my other thought: “Nikki Lynette is no Stephen Sondheim. This is a very, very g ..read more
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‘Cruel Intentions: The 90s Musical’ brings prep-school sensuality to the Chopin
Chicagoland Musical Theatre
by ChicagolandMusicalTheatre Editor
1y ago
By Grace Ferolo What more can be said: Kokandy Productions’ Cruel Intentions: The 90s Musical brings pop-anthems, prep-school sex and pure, unfettered nostalgia to Wicker Park. Based on the beloved cult film by Roger Kumble, Cruel Intentions tells the story of hot but villainous step-siblings, Sebastian Valmont and Kathryn Merteruil, as they rule the school at Manchester Prep on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. A sort-of Gossip Girl before Gossip Girl, Sebastian and Kathryn’s relationship freely flows between incest, friendship and obsession, peaking in a lascivious bet between the two of ..read more
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Deeply meaningful and musical, Steppenwolf’s ‘Choir Boy’ hits all the right notes
Chicagoland Musical Theatre
by ChicagolandMusicalTheatre Editor
1y ago
By Quinn Rigg Steppenwolf Theatre is no stranger to bold stories that cut to the heart of social woes, and their production of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Choir Boy is no exception. A play tackling the contradictions within masculinity, homophobia, and racism, Choir Boy’s synopsis reads as follows: “Pharus Young is now a senior at the Charles R. Drew Prep School for Boys, an institution committed to building ‘strong, ethical Black men,’ where he endeavors to be the best leader of the school’s prestigious choir in its fifty-year history.” McCraney’s play is beautiful, gut-wrenching, and po ..read more
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An exquisite glimpse into grief, ‘Life After’ deserves a nice long hereafter
Chicagoland Musical Theatre
by ChicagolandMusicalTheatre Editor
1y ago
By Patrick O’Brien Samantha Williams Grief is anything but orderly—the Kübler-Ross model belongs more to pop culture than actual psychology. In attempting to impose order anyway, in Life After, a newish musical now at the Goodman, librettist-composer Britta Johnson spins an arioso detective story. Hidden within the empty chatter of neighbors dropping off umpteen casseroles, the endless Kiwanis Club tributes, and random well-wishes from total strangers are clues that the perceptive Alice can follow to discover why her father was killed in a car crash miles away from the airport twenty minute ..read more
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Theo Ubique’s ‘Godspell’ sure features some angelic voices
Chicagoland Musical Theatre
by ChicagolandMusicalTheatre Editor
1y ago
By Barry Reszel When wilt thou save the people Oh, God of Mercy, when? The people, Lord, the people Not thrones and crowns but men! God save the people, for thine they are Thy children, as thy angels, fair Oh, save the people from despair God save the people! Everybody sing! Because if we ever needed a little Godspell in our lives, it’s today. This fifty-year-old musical retelling of the Gospel of Matthew could teach Christian churches a thing or two. They could stop worrying about empty pews on Sundays if only they’d convey Jesus’ story with the magnificent voices Director Christopher Paz ..read more
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‘Skates’ won’t change your life, but it’s fine, ’nuff said
Chicagoland Musical Theatre
by ChicagolandMusicalTheatre Editor
1y ago
By Patrick O’Brien The Company Admittedly, even when it was announced two years ago, Skates screamed “vanity project”: Ace Young and Diana DeGarmo–American Idol finalists, partners in both music and life–in a Grease/Xanadu hybrid. They belt high Js and make kissy-faces for two hours while everyone else is left to fall on their asses—in every sense of the phrase. Settling in at the renovated Studebaker, the nostalgia-bait preshow music had the audience singing and clapping along. So. It was indeed going to be one of those shows. Call it the pleasantly temperate weather, or call it lowered ex ..read more
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