There’s been very little going on, arts and culture-wise, the past two weeks, other than film, film, and more film, since I basically parked myself at the Chicago International Film Festival almost every night (and most of the day on weekends). So this past weekend was playing catch-up time. Since I don’t typically celebrate Halloween, I decided on Friday night to finally cave in and see the Goodman’s Turn of the Century on its last performance weekend. Well, it was indeed Fright Night at the Goodman, since Turn of the Century was scarier and more heinous than Saw V (or a drunken Lincoln Park Trixie’s version of a sexy French maid costume). On Saturday, I stopped by the American Theater Company for a matinee of their production of Itamar Moses’ Celebrity Row, first written and staged in 2005 but which had been re-written and re-edited for this Chicago premiere by the hot young playwright, who was in town working with the play’s director, my idol David Cromer, the actors, and ATC Artistic Director PJ Paparelli. In the evening, I hopped on over to the Lyric Opera (thanks for the tickets Tom!) for the majestically overwrought production of Georges Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers, full of gargantuan Buddha statues, operatic overacting, lighting and thunder effects, and endless views of American opera’s hunk-o-rama‘s, Nathan Gunn’s, magnificently defined torso. I loved it!
Francis’s Fall Picks: Top 10 Must-See Productions in Chicago
Culture, Dance, Music, Theater Add comments
For anyone outside of Boystown and Andersonville, there is so much more going on this fall in Chicago than the Madonna concert (which, for those of you who have just come back to the city from the island of Tuvalu, is scheduled for October 26-27 at the United Center). Everyone (well, the Chicago Tribune and TimeOut Chicago that is) have made up their lists of the top fall live performances (theater, opera, dance) that they recommend you attend, which is a good thing - it’s both the blessing and the bane of living in a great, lively, cultural center like Chicago, that you can go to see a show every night, and still not see it all, so guidance is imperative (plus the fact that no one really has an unlimited art consumption spending budget) . Here then, in no particular order, are From the Ledge’s picks for the must-see performing arts events of the fall - they’re an eclectic lot, showcasing both the best efforts of local Chicago talent as well as top international artists making pitstops in our wonderful town, confirming our stature in the global artistic community. Varied in discipline, theme, and artistic approach, they all, nevertheless, promise exciting, memorable, uniquely impactful nights at the theater. I’ll be at all of them, so if you see me, say hi!
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