This is a very exciting development. On November 27,Theatre Witwill debut an original staging of Duncan Sheik’s 2007 Best Musical Tony Winner,Spring Awakening. This is not the first time Chicago has seen Spring Awakening; thetourmade a stop here earlier this year. However, considering that tours are generally weaker interpretationsof the original Broadway production (which I was lucky enough to see & love in previews), this news wasn’t as exciting as a fresh, new production cast with generally unknown talents.
The Players
As soon as I sawAja Wiltshire’s picture inTimeOut, I recognized her from somewhere. Then I remembered: she played Alice inCloserat Aston Rep. This was a long time ago I was not overall impressed with the production, but I do remember thinking she was a good actress with a clean accent, but seemed miscast. I also remember that a lot of her lilts and tones were very reminiscent of Natalie Portman’s performance in the movie (I know this because I have seen that an embarrassing number of times). This makes me nervous because Spring Awakening is so accessible and easily able to emulate, even without intention. Aja Wiltshire does not remind me at all of Lea Michele (whom I’ve been a fan of since she was a wee one in Ragtime), so I hope her performance is a completely independent interpretation. She has good stage presence & is a good actress, so I am excited to see hopefully see her perform under a director who will give her more artistic license.
The Ensemble
Spring Awakening’s greatest appeal to me is that it is a blank-slate artistically with so much potential to be re-imagined depending on the theatre company. This is a show that can shock the senses with the lights of a huge Broadway house, or be presented just as well with nothing but the soulful creativity of a community theatre. The message of the dangers that result from withholding restricting applicable sexual knowledge from our children is not all that gripping in the Teen Mom reality of our current world. This is not a message-driven musical, but one that depends entirely on artistic perspective and quality vocals. From their substantial audition pool, I am confident that the vocals will not disappoint. As for the artistic interpretation, I hope they tell this story with a cohesive style & aesthetics that are as bright & fresh as this new cast.
The Original Broadway Company
Props to fellow Delawarean John Gallagher, Jr. Best Supporting Actor Tony for Spring Awakening
Waiting for Leftywas inspired by the New York City’s 1934 taxi strike and first staged in 1935 by the Group Theater.Clifford Odetsstructured this timeless commentary on the social & economical inequalities as a series of vignettes that offer varying perspectives on the personal effects of this strike. I loved it, both the script and the productions. I'm a big fan of scripts based in this era and considering our currently economically-difficult American situation, this play was a such a smart & awesome piece forAmerican Blues Theatreinclude in their season. The production was flawlessly executed due its large cast comprised of substantially skilled actors.
I liked their graphic design choices. Their posters have vivid colors, excellent artistic execution, and a clear presentation of a forthcoming production. However, the poster didn’t authentically reflect the artistic choices of this specific production. The bright red, white, & blue invoke imagery of a patriotic nature. However, this play relayed a historical period where many bright, fresh Americans felt very removed from this country’s commitment to life, liberty, & pursuit of happiness. I would prefer the production I saw to the production that the postcard promised; it is more purposeful & much more relevant, especially in these economically impossible times. I wish they had chosen to advertise what this excellent production turned out to beCradle Will RockmeetsIt’s All True. I loved both of those and I loved this.
I love theatre but am unfortunately wired with a very short attention span. This play was quick, even for me. A 60-minute play does not equal a full-length production; this is what we call a one-act. Luckily, I bought a half-off ticket for $12.50 atHotTix. If I’d spent twice as much, I’d have felt ripped off, even though the quality of the production was excellent. Charging $25 a ticket equals $2.40 a minute; that rate is applicable to a massage but not a theatre ticket. The quality of this production is not in question, but the ticket price needs to be adjusted considering the fact that this was a one-act.
Stand-Out Performances
Cheryl Graeff as Dr. Benjamin
Dr. Benjamin was dedicated physician who was the first on her hospital staff to be fired (based primarily on the her Jewish heritage). This vignette opened with her expressing a validated frustration to her supervisor at the different treatments patients received due to their economic class. It closed with her establishing herself as an angry victim who has serious plans to fight back. Her piece was the last one that was primarily character-driven & it was such an effective playwriting decision. In a play that focuses primarily on the effects of a depression upon the specific cab-driving group, it is important to acknowledge & remember that the economic effects of this period managed to destroy both white-collared and blue-collared families. In her role, Cheryl Graeff created a character with a strong spectrum of ideas, experience, and history. I felt her authentic commitment to her work as a doctor. She only had a few lines about her parents, but those lines were so articulate in their artistic interpretation that I felt a quick connection to this character’s widespread history. She was dynamic in creating a flow in the text, an excellent reactionary in relating to her supervisor (played by John Mohrlein) & entirely engaging.
Gwendolyn Whiteside as Florrie
Florrie was a young woman torn between her family’s dependence on her minimal secretary salary and her earnest desire to continue investing her love & energy in 3-year engagement to Sid (played perfectly by Zachary Keeney). This engagement would realistically never result in a marriage due to the economic impossibilities they would inevitably face in starting a new life together. At the pressure-some prompting of her brother Irving (played by Bradford R. Lund) and the tragic acknowledgment of their situation’s reality by her beloved, Florrie & Sid together make the necessary & impossible decision. This vignette effectively communicated the true tragedies that befell these Americans because it showed the true consequences of this horrible era: the loss of the ability to pursue one’s happiness & love. Florrie held on so hard the to the hope of her love-filled marriage becoming a reality because that is the most basic American & human right. Gwendolyn Whiteside made this character empathetic, earnest, and overall endearing. She crafted a character the audience would have loved to see in a wedding dress, and so she simultaneously created an empathetic audience who mourned along with her at the loss of that dream.
Set in the heartland of suburbia, young wife Melody has never been to a funeral until her husband dies in a plane crash. Expected to instantly assume proper widowhood, Melody is left to wonder, what's the right way to grieve? Fortunately, her mother-in-law is a professional. Widow, that is. Under her guidance, Melody must try her best to be a good little widow. Be a Good Little Widow is a surprisingly funny and moving portrait of loss and longing.
Heralded in London and on Broadway, this new play by the Tony Award-winning writer of Billy Elliot is based on a triumphant true story. A group of miners in Northern England taking an art appreciation class start experimenting with painting and soon build an astonishing body of work that makes them the unlikeliest of art world sensations. An arresting and hilarious salute to the power of individual expression and the collective spirit, The Pitmen Painters is a deeply moving and timely look at art, class and politics.
Waiting for Lefty, inspired by the New York taxi strike of 1934 and first staged by the Group Theater in 1935, features powerful vignettes that offer a timeless treatise on societal inequities. “We’ve been kicked around so long we’re black and blue from head to toes,” opines a Depression-era American working stiff in Odets’ masterpiece.
Full-blooded and visceral, the Tony Award-winning Red takes you into the mind of abstract expressionist Mark Rothko, for whom paintings are "pulsating" life forces and art is intended to stop the heart. RED chronicles the tormented painter's two-year struggle to complete a lucrative set of murals for Manhattan's exclusive Four Seasons restaurant, and his fraught relationship with a seemingly naïve young assistant, who must choose between appeasing his mentor—and changing the course of art history. Set amid the swiftly changing cultural tide of the early 1960s, Red is a startling snapshot of a brilliant artist at the height of his fame, a play hailed as "intense and exciting" by the The New York Times.
It has been one of the hottest, driest autumns on record, and now a strong wind blows from the Southwest. At 9:40 pm, the Chicago Fire Department gets their first report of a small blaze on the city’s southwest side. Soon there is no stopping the Great Chicago Fire until it finally runs out of things to burn. In one night, the very rich, the very poor, and everyone in between are transformed forever. Spectacular, spiritual, highly physical and exquisitely emotional, the Chicago Sun-Times praised The Great Fire as “highly original, hugely entertaining” and remarked that “no one who sees this show will be able to look at Chicago in the same way again.”
It looks like a reimagined & updated perspective on the traditional production, which is absolutely ideal. The original production of Rent had flaws, but it is a pillar of musical theatre history & the established perception of Rent should be respected in its’ future productions. For that reason, I am grateful that Michael Greif served as director of this piece as well as the 1994 premiere production. The characters appear less exaggerated & more approachable. This production also incorporates a more lively physicality, contemporary energy, & smarter pacing. I love the fresh kaleidoscope of costume choices. Rent always seemed out of place in its huge Broadway home. This production looks like a more intimate, grounded, thoughtful piece & I wish I could see it.
After the Fair, set in late 1890s England, is the story of the tangled web that is woven when Edith, a bored married woman, begins to write love letters on behalf of her maid, Anna, to a young man with whom Anna has had a brief romance. The letters, Edith insists, are her words, but Anna's feelings. One of the interesting questions this musical raises is whether feelings can be separated from words. Can you feel something if you can't express it? Anna, charming as she is, is uneducated and limited in her ability to convey her feelings. Her brief (and physical) encounter with Charles is very different from the deeper, cerebral relationship Edith develops with him via letters. Which is more real? Which would he choose, if he had to?
It reaffirms the power of letter-writing. At the end of the day, there really is nothing better than receiving a great, well-written letter. And if it's a love letter, all the better.
With the love letters holding so much power over the plotline, there is a substantial amount of pressure for these love-letters to be exceptional. The beautiful text fulfills the expectations, but the fact that these love letters are placed to music of equal quality makes this the most authentically romantic musical I have ever encountered.
In an opposing (but equally appreciated thought), this musical also brings to light the dangers that come with writing something meaningful rather than speaking it. It's ironic that this is such a solidly-set period piece because this message is so applicable to the contemporary, text-friendly audience.
I love theatre being structured in a quadrangle [4-character] structure. This structure is becoming more common in plays, but I would love to see it applied to the musical theatre scene as well.
The Players
Bonnie Wright as Anna I'm not a Harry Potterfan, so her face seemed familiar but it was hard to pinpoint from where. I like that vibe for Anna. She has a manner & face that is vaguely familiar & vaguely worldly, while still seeming earnest, endearing, entrancing, & adorable.
James FrancoasCharles Bradford He immediately comes across as charming but with some depth. If he could channel that sense of intensity with a lazy rich-boy tone, he would be a perfect casting as the charismatic but ultimately disappointing beau.
Edward HerrmannasArthur Harnham Arthur's role is that of the unwaveringly strong, eternally oblivious, but ultimately loving male provider. He operates from the mentality that care-taking equals love, but a love that is not always sufficient to the complicated females in his life. The distant, white-collar husband/father is a role that can easily fall flat, but on he played & conquered a similar role on Gilmore Girls.
The Act I opening number was Foster Beach (otherwise known as Summer Nights). The environment solidly established an authentic history between the Pink Ladies & Burger Palace Boys. I liked how the Greased Lightning car was built into the set as a fixture. As Kenickie, Mike Tepali was not as slick & smooth as typically performed (which I appreciated), but he didn’t own the stage during the moments that belonged to him. He sang well, but didn’t build enough of a character until the second act. Jan & Roger's duet Mooning was the weakest, most zone-out/bathroom-break moment of Act I. Jan (Missy Moreno) seemed the oldest actor & lacked subtlety. Roger (Rob Colletti) had a more natural & chill demeanor, which only caused Jan to seem more of an over-actor.
As Patty Simcox, Alaina Mills played that familiar-to-everyone, student-council type. She was such a well-rounded actress who could be plugged in everywhere from the most satirical of musicals to the most heavy-handed textual pieces. This production also created a relationship & dynamic between Patty Simcox & Danny Zuko that added depth to both of their characters.
Adrian Aguilar was unflinchingly solid as Danny Zuko. It had to be difficult to play a part immortalized by John Travolta & already beloved by most of the audience members. He had an approachability & vulnerability that has always been lacking. Sandy goes through her classic transformation, but this Danny actually did as well. It felt like he tried more than the Danny Zuko's of the past, he was more earnest but not lacking any of the necessary attitude. If anything, having it set in Chicago instead of Anywhere, America nails in the reality of Danny's hardcore reality.
As Marty, Carol Rose seemed an ordinary & random casting at first, but she won me over during Freddy My Love. Sh belted with ease with a committed, composed & complex characterization of the song’s text. She also reminded me ofScarlett Johansson.
We Go Together is usually the ending to Act II, but this production used it as the end of Act I. This is a great song that was better utilized to cement these friendships before intermission than the cheesy, cinched-up loving ending of the movie. It felt like they actually went together. I’ve had those moments where being with your friends at the end of the night, where rain erupts, gossip prevails, & the sub-par memory is infused with nothing but the ache to return to the scene of the crime-time. The song was performed a capella & erupted organically from a few snaps & the catching on of a beat. One of the best Act I finales ever.
{ACT II}
The second act opened with Sandy singing Raining on Prom Night with the radio; it reminded me of the structure & presentation style ofShow Me Howby The Killers. It was a dreamier rendition but still served as a less dreamy replacement for the vibe of Hopelessly Devoted to You. Which I appreciated, because Hopelessly Devoted is a nice & pretty song, but redundant & severely emotional.
I loved Kelly Davis Wilsonas Sandy. She played a new & different Sandy. This was a spazzier Sandy. It takes confidence to act upon the young, female, crazy instincts. To act as such requires a confidence that the meek movie version lacked. This spazzy quality could be interpreted as a livelihood, a passionate person. Exactly and only the type that would attract & entrance a city boy like Danny Zuko. She had a quicker & hotter stand-up to Danny halfway through the first act. That quick heat had to be a reflection of the time they spent together on Foster Beach, and the quality of their interactions seemed a lot more grounded & realistically impactful than the foggy, vague love we saw between John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John on that misty beach. Another difference in this production was Sandy's origin. In the movie, she was transplanted from Australia to Anywhere, America. In this version, it was from Joliet to the Northwest Side. It made her more approachable & the differences between her & the rest of the characters seem more substantiated.
The Dance dominated the majority of the second act & dance drug on at times. The deejay was Vince Fontaine From Vince Fontaine Dancing Studio’s (Michael Accardo) & he had the vibe of a car salesman. I liked establishing this character as a local celebrity; it was much more realistic/interesting. The Boogie Man Boogie reminded me of Spring Awakening, which is good. It is a vintage musical, but this is still a contemporary production that should take advantage of the influence of like-minded contemporary pieces. I loved Hannah Gomez as Cha-Cha because she was so the opposite of the traditional casting; she was like this group’sAndrea Zuckerman& I loved her.
Bryan Connerseemed like a random casting for the Beauty School Drop-Out Angel. He was not a 1960’s dreamboat-type, but more a pretty 1990's boy-bander. It was not at all a nurturing rendition like Frankie Valley’s; the tone had threatening, more good-riddance tone to it. I liked that vibe, but the number itself seemed out of place with the production as a whole. This song did allow an opportunity for Roni Geva to shine as Frenchy. She was a great contemporary adaptation of the movie figure we love so much. Her performance didn’t bring anything new to Frenchy but I'm not sure Frenchy needed anything new. Her character is a sweet, soft-spot in the show & she fulfilled that role perfectly. There Are Worse Things I Could Do was scripted as direct & narrated response to Sandy. It didn't start with that big pause before female belter moment, but she sort of slid into the song. Jessica Diaz was a sarcastic Rizzo who showed the smarts in her street smarts. Her face reminded me of Fairuza Balk & I was parital to her bangs.
Alone at the Drive-Through was a perfect avenue for Kenickie to excel. His voice was strong, but the performance quality of his vocals were just as strong. What I initially saw lacking in him in Act was a lack of physicality being infused into his character. But he made up for that with this number because he sat stationary & could focus his energy on acting through his singing.
In My Day was a song by Miss Lynch. Peggy Roeder gave a good rendition of a pointless song & a waste of time, considering the length of the show. This number was my least favorite surprise, but it is no way a reflection of PeggyRoeder's overall pitch-perfect performance.
Kiss It was my favorite surprise from this new/old Grease. It actually had a point, perspective, & style (all of which were lacking in the movie's You're the One That I Want).
In Pornography, six stories intertwine to offer a portrait of society at the dawn of a new century and on the eve of a world tragedy. It is early July, 2005 and the United Kingdom is the center of the world: home to the G8 conference, site of the Live 8 concert, and recently announced host city for the 2012 Summer Olympics. On the morning of July 7, 2005, that center is shaken by three bombs in London's underground. Pornography was first produced in 2007 by Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, Germany, and made its U.K. premiere at the Traverse Theatre as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Based on the writings of Lewis Carroll and employing Carroll as a character in the play, Hampton’s play uses episodes from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There as well as material from Carroll’s personal correspondence to explore the relationship between the Oxford mathematics tutor and the little girl who inspired his literary legacy.
Going to Philmont Scout Ranch is every Boy Scout's dream. Dying, however, is not. Two troops embark on what's supposed to be a fun camping trip only to end up in the middle of a disastrous plane crash, facing danger at every turn. Created by a cast of eleven actual Eagle Scouts, “Tiny Fascists’” characters speak from real-life experience.
This is an amazing & underappreciated musical that should be reproduced in tours/regional/community theatres much more frequently. I think the reason why it is a back-burner musical is due to the fact that it seems misleadingly like children’s theatre. I’m sure it is difficult to sell tickets to a children’s book turned musical that is actually so poignantly & applicable to the adult mind. Like Oliver! and Carousel, these musicals read as overly-sentimentalized if poorly directed or thematically misdirected.
The musical opens with the death of Mary's parents, which displaces her from India to the English Moors. Here she meets her Uncle Archibald, who is lost in grief over his dead wife Lily. Mary’s reminiscence of Lily compounded with Archibald’s grief drives him to eventually to run away to Paris. There is a thread of this story that acknowledges the physical displacement occurring in the face of grief. Whether it a choice or a forced relocation, the physical journey in the face of grief is a direct symbolic reflection of the journey that overcoming grief demands. Mary’s active pursuit of life despite grief pulls Archie back to allow him to “walk through the walls he’s hidden behind for years.”
To me, The Secret Garden is thematically a musical study & poetic homage to the reality of adjusting to a grief-stricken life. It accurately addresses the dismantling effect of an acute loss to the living victims. In this musical, the dead are not memories but present characters. This allows the audience to picture their presence, grieve their absence, and empathize with the characters.
Most stories build up to a climax. In The Secret Garden, we are seeing what happens in the aftermath of the climactic moment. The drama has already happened. Lily died, Mary’s parents died. The Secret Garden is almost like Seinfeld in that it is about nothing. But this nothing is a reflection of the absence of something: namely, the person whose death still haunts the one(s) left behind. The moral of this story is that grief is rightfully debilitating, but can somehow be overcome with time from the most unexpected string of catalysts.
In Wuthering Heights, he was a perfect brooding Heathcliffe.
In The English Patient, he showed that he can conquer difficult physicalities in characters &
use them to project his performance.
She is finally old enough to star in something besides tabloids.
Mary is a girl who is thrust into the world of the English moors after an isolated life in the foreign, unrelatable India.
I think Suri could channel that feeling.
I don't watch Glee, but a little bird suggested this casting.
I like it because his face has a sweetness to it. Colin is usually cast so frail, but that physicality should be a result of circumstance. He could first appear sick, but then go through a physical transformation to appear alive & fresh in the finale.
His role on 30 Rock proved his skill at making small characters memorable. Plus, he graduated from Northwestern's Theatre program, so props for being local.
She is a great actress & a most important Broadway alum (1976 Tony for Best Supporting Actress in A Chorus Line)
Not to mention she is also a Gilmore Girls alum.
She is a strong, subtle actress who can play the icy matriarch
without being cold & bland. Plus, she's so pretty.
