From the Ledge

When I first read in the Goodman Theatre press release last year that the 2011-2012 season will include a new production of Tennessee William’s Camino Real to be adapted and directed by the controversial Spanish director Calixto Bieito, I got that somewhat-nauseated, partly-titillated sense of anticipation usually reserved for bungee jumps or an e-Harmony first date – am I ready for this? Is Chicago ready for this?  I’ve been reading about Bieito in various opera blogs over the years, and I’ve been flabbergasted by the accounts of his deconstructed opera productions which elicit both passion and outrage in equal measure: a violent Aida in Basel transported into a European football stadium, with no pyramids in sight; an infamous Don Giovanni in London set in a Madrid parking lot and chockfull of drug-crazed orgies and anal rape; an ultra-sexual Abduction of Seraglio in Berlin set in a, well, sex club; a see-it-to-believe-it Parsifal in Stuttgart updated to some post-apocalyptic world with a, gulp, zombie chorus. Will there be fornicating zombies, then, at the Goodman, or something even more depraved?  And how will Chicago theater audiences, known for its inherent Midwestern reserve, but also for its embrace of the maverick and risk-taking, respond to a director who has managed to shock and awe “been-there, seen-that” global cultural capitals like Berlin and Barcelona?  Well, I gotta say, I want to give the Goodman and its Artistic Director, Robert Falls, a rousing, extended ovation (and my subscription money for next season) for having the huge cojones to bring Bieito, truly one of the most important performing arts directors in the world, to Chicago. His version of Camino Real is dazzlingly dreamlike, both painful and wondrous in its beauty, a masterful piece of theater that is not commonly seen around these parts.  And I feel very strongly that for Chicago to truly claim its place as a global cultural capital, our audience needs to see and embrace work by someone like Bieito who operates in a unique, elevated artistic realm. Otherwise, we should just be happy to remain flyover country.

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Tags: Goodman Theatre

If I had a dollar every time someone told me they went to see musicals because they’re “fun”, I would be as rich as Ann Romney. Casual theatergoers don’t realize that there are some musical theater that’s not cut from the Ethel Merman/Wicked cloth of joyous belt-it-out vibratos and play-to-the-balcony jazz hands.  I wouldn’t call Cabaret’s pessimism or Falsetto’s devastating loss “fun”.  And there is definitely nothing “fun” in John Bucchino’s and Harvey Fierstein’s A Catered Affair, based on the 1956 hyper-realistic family drama starring Bette Davis and Ernest Borgnine, written by Gore Vidal from a teleplay by Paddy Chayefsky, now in a very memorable Chicago production from Porchlight Music Theatre.  A Catered Affair is a melancholy, regretful chamber piece which is definitely not for those who like their musical theater exuberant and catchy with a side of froth.  However, for those of us who love all kinds of theater, including musical theater which unsettle us, which gnaw at us, days after we’ve seen the performance, A Catered Affair, is a must-see.

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Tags: Porchlight Music Theatre

When a leading Republican Party presidential contender thinks it’s ok to discriminate against gays, doesn’t think that the constitution separates the church and the state, believes states should make birth control illegal, and points out that the uninsured shouldn’t use cell phones, then living in a world after an asteroid collision sounds like a better option than in a world with a Republican as President of the United States.  The rhetoric and posturing in this long-drawn out Republican primary has bordered on the inconceivable, and, at times, the dangerous, so the shenanigans in Jason Wells’ funny, razor-sharp, yet seemingly underdeveloped The North Plan, now in its first Chicago production, in which America is under martial rule and where ordinary people ultimately, and literally, take the law into their own hands, seem to be less far-fetched than they originally seem.  I saw The North Plan last year in its developmental production as part of Steppenwolf Theater’s new play program, First Look Rep, and although Theater Wit’s frenetic, exciting production under the flawless direction of Kimberly Senior (who also directed the earlier First Look production) is watchable, the reservations I had with Wells script last year still remain.

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Tags: Steppenwolf Theatre, Theater Wit

This is the second of a two-part blog post.

In my previous blog post, I wrote about The Inconvenience’s Hit the Wall.  The other noteworthy new work I saw in the early weeks of 2012 was American Theater Company’s world premiere of Ayad Akhtar’s Disgraced, which began in late January but which has mercifully been extended into early March. Disgraced is a little bit more polished, somewhat more thoughtfully structured, and comes off more re-written (which is a good thing to say about a play in this case) than Hit the Wall, but it isn’t any less powerful, and arguably, is probably more topical and resonant.  The central character is a first-generation Pakistani-American, Amir (an extraordinary Usman Ally), who has thoroughly embraced the American Dream: the fast-track in his corporate law firm, an interior-decorated Manhattan apartment, a non-Pakistani artist-wife (a good Lee Stark in an underwritten role), a worldview that’s skeptical, challenging, and to a certain extent, shunning of his Muslim background and upbringing.  It’s a truly provocative piece of theater- Akhtar palpably and sometimes brutally tackles large-scale themes around cultural identity and assimilation. 

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Tags: American Theatre Company, The Inconvenience

This is the first of a two-part blog post.

While some theaters in the city are still going on their merry way with productions of Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams, and, inexplicably, hoary chestnuts that should be put to rest already in heavily-padlocked vaults, the 2012 winter theater season in Chicago has already seen the emergence of several strong, new playwriting voices who feel like a comforting and bracing breath of fresh air. At Steppenwolf’s Garage Rep, the laudable annual showcase for emerging storefront theater companies, The Inconvenience is currently mounting Ike Holter’s fearless, vivid, attention-grabbing world premiere of Hit the Wall, about those who lived through the watershed event of contemporary GLBT history, the Stonewall riots in the summer of 1969. A little further north, the American Theater Company also has another terrific, provocative world premiere in Ayad Akhtar’s Disgraced, tackling themes around assimilation and cultural identity among Muslim-Americans.  Both Hit the Wall and Disgraced have jawdropping, breathtakingly-spectacular central performances; both also, despite many, many good qualities, in my humble opinion, require some more work in the playwriting department.  These two remarkable plays still prove though that Chicago is quite the formidable incubator of new work; and if they’re an indication of how great theater will be in 2012, then all of us avid theatergoers will be quite the happy campers (Mayan Calendar Doomsday prediction be damned!).

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Tags: American Theatre Company, Steppenwolf Theatre, The Incovenience

If you’ve been following my blog since 2007, you know how I love my Oscars – in the same way that the Manning brothers love Superbowl rings, Paula Deen loves lard, Elton John loves dissing Madonna, and Rick Santorum loves being the poster boy for ugly sweater vests. Last year was quite the year in film – Scorcese directed a children’s film, silence became hip and fab once again, dinosaurs showed up in a Terrence Malick movie, high-waist pants showed up on George Clooney (gasp!), scatological, uhmm, matter, popped up in two of the year’s biggest hits, Bridesmaids and The Help, and Jessica Chastain popped up everywhere including your corner neighborhood taqueria!   And yes, I saw more than 90% of all Oscar-nominated movies! Here then are my predictions for all 24 categories, and discussion of the top 6. Don’t forget to tune into your local ABC station at 8 pm eastern/5 pm pacific on Sunday, February 26.

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Tags: Academy Awards