Bachelorette @ Profiles Theatre

BACHELORETTE @ Profiles Theatre 

I appreciated the basic premise & progressive approach to the complexities of contemporary friendships. It addressed the danger, pleasure, & power that comes along with being a seemingly-successful & somewhat worldly Cosmo girl. It felt like MEAN GIRLS meets SEX & THE CITY meets a LIFETIME movie. The script was well-structured & legitimately funny, but lacked a level of authenticity that would have made it exceptional. There were several great monologues, but some of the dialogue felt clichéd & contrived. The characters were not the most well-rounded or developed, but they provided enough of a blueprint that the right performers could potentially create missing dynamic. Overall, it is an exciting piece of contemporary theatre that borders on trite at times, but is largely an innovative, energetic, & enjoyable production.

Amanda Powell & Linda Augusta Orr stood out as GENA & KATIE. As the (unknowingly) unwelcome the pair of friends partying in the bridal suite, both actresses created distinct & dynamic characters that complimented each other while providing a realistic sense of history. Hillary Marren played REGAN, the semi-vindictive architect of the evening; her character was one that appeared put-together until the events of the evening cause her façade to crumble. Her role was the most complicated & sub-textually-based; she was adequate but did not conquer all the challenges demanded by the role. Her interpretation tended to largely overly-enunciated & she expressed only a lukewarm sexuality. As BECKY, the bride-to-be & seemingly central character, Rakisha Pollard had very little time to leave an impression but provided a refreshingly different tone & clean character. The men were outnumbered & had minimal stage time. As JEFF, Adam Soule was adequate but lacked a charged presence. I had seen Eric Burgher in A BEHANDING IN SPOKANE & loved his performance. In SPOKANE, his role provided necessary punctuations from the actions unfolding in a hotel room; he provides the same breathe of fresh air in this production as JOE & I would love to see his talents highlighted at Profiles in a leading role.

Movies like BRIDESMAIDS & BAD TEACHER have caused an insurgent emergence in the movie scene of the Raunchy Female Comedy. The trend has erupted so hard & fast that (Gilmore Girl’s alum) Melissa McCarthy earned an Academy Award nomination for BRIDESMAIDS; her name has been splashed all over the Oscar news because of the excitement & novelty that comes along with an under-the-radar sector of talent finally being acknowledged. There have been grumblings about the fact that Kristen Wiig didn’t receive a Best Leading Actress nomination, but she & Annie Mumolo were nominated for Best Screenplay (which is a better acknowledgement of the effort & involvement of her artistic input). The honor of both nominations is representative of some female step forward; I’m not quite sure what we’re stepping towards, but progress is progress. It’s not that I’m all about raunchy humor, but I am all about the female comedienne being honored & acknowledged. So, if this trend is a step in the direction of female-based humor & comediennes becoming more mainstream, I’m all about it

{I think America owes Tina Fey a big thank-you}.

MAD PROPS to Profiles for having the insight to capitalize on this contemporary influence.

The film adaptation of BACHELORETTE premiered this week as part of the Sundance Film Festival's out-of-competition screenings (and is one of the many Raunchy Female Comedies gaining early attention this year). The cast includes Isla Fisher, Kirsten Dunst, & Lizzy Caplan (all of whom I like & can completely envision in their respective roles). Playwright Leslye Headland adapted & directed the screenplay; she credited BRIDESMAIDS for paving the way for her film because

“for 10 years, people were really afraid that there wasn’t an audience for an R-rated female-centric comedy.”

The Thrifty Theatre-Goer: HotTix & GoldStar

I love a good deal almost as much as I love good theatre.

Chicago theatre offers some great money-saving opportunities that I happily taken advantage of,

so it seems only good & right to share my lessons learned in my thrifty theatre-going habits.

HotTix

Tickets can’t be bought over the phone: they must be purchased online or in person at one of the ticket booths.

You can call 312-977-9483 for assistance with online purchases,

but the staff won’t take billing information or refund/exchange tickets.

There are additional charges for purchasing online, so it really is in one’s best interest to go to the booth.

I found the online purchasing process very complicated. However,

I have found the ticket booth very convenient, especially for day-of purchasing.

GoldStar

GoldStar is a nation-wide, internet-based service & covers a broader base of ticketing options.

Because of that, it uses Ticketmaster to process ticket sales, which makes it a quick & convenient process.

The catch with their online buying is that you usually have to purchase the tickets a day in advance.

The tickets tend to be more expensive than those at Hottix, but they offer One-Day Specials that are really great deals

(and my favorite aspect of GoldStar).

 

next thrifty-edition: Chicago Theatre Rush Tickets

BLOG: Ada Grey Reviews For You

Once upon a time, there was a seven-year old theatre critic named Ada Grey. In her blog, she covered everything: opera, musicals, dance, plays, CDs & cultural events. Her kingdom included Strawdog, Lifeline, Raven Theatre, Emerald City, Chopin Theatre, & Neo-Futurists. Miss Ada has some great insight & her perspective is refreshingly direct & obviously endearing. I’m also pretty jealous that she got to see Spiderman: The Musical since that legendary production will go down in Broadway’s Hall of Shame.

Ada Grey Reviews for You

That's Weird Grandma @ Barrel of Monkeys



Every story that you see as written by a child (uh huh).

And every child was taught by the Barrel of Monkeys (well well).

First we take the stories and perform them in the schools.

Afterwards we share them with the world (you are the world).

So sings the opening song of That’s Weird, Grandma—the Monday night public performance where Barrel of Monkeys showcase the amazing talents of student authors and our company of performers. After teaching creative writing residencies at Chicago Public Schools and working with students to generate literally thousands of creative stories, they have a gigantic repertoire of material to share with you! The show changes each week as audience votes tell the company which two stories to cut from the show to be replaced by two new stories, so the show is different each week.

 

 

1. It is a feat to craft humor that is authentically applicable to both adults & children, while still being derivative of the skill-sets both demographics bring to the table. The Chicago Tribune’s Christopher Borrelli got it right when he said this piece is “So respectful of how kids think, it sidesteps 'Kids-Say-the-Darndest-Things' syndrome, veering into lunacy, social criticism, even poignancy.”
2. It is in it’s 10^th year & nothing speaks better for a production than longevity.
3. Barrel of Monkeys is obviously comprised of a smart artistic staff & company. There was clear intent & effort directed towards every aspect of the show‘s primary purpose & message; that attention to detail was impossible not to notice. The (really big) ensemble was very talented, strikingly enthusiastic, & crazy committed to their roles. The front-of-house made a great impression as friendly & invested ambassadors for the company’s work & goals. The Neo-Futurarium provided an inspiring energy in one of the coolest theatre settings: the lobby felt like Julie Taymor throwing a children party meets smart, subtle outsider art.
4. It is a very accessible show. In a world where our theatres are uniformly dark on Mondays, I was very excited for a Monday night show. I was equally excited for my local HotTix booth that made this evening possible.
5. To me, Theatre & Education go together like peanut butter & honey.
6. The basis for That’s Weird, Grandma is an innovative but complicated artistic vision that was tightly executed. The process of skit selection & weekly re-editing process must be tedious but it was presently seamlessly. The musical numbers were surprisingly great & strongly reminiscent of the Bat Boy-vibe, which I love. The ensemble numbers were clean with tight blocking, smart staging, cool color schemes, & clever costume touches. Overall, this production was great execution of an even better inspiration.

The Chick Flick Musical

In this era of musicals finding their inspiration from bands, cartoons, & comic strips, I have long wondered why The Chick Flick Musical has not become a trend. Legally Blonde worked better as a musical than a movie. It also inspired Legally Blonde: The Search for Elle Woods, which was one of my favorite TV shows ever. MTV also recorded a live Broadway performance & frequently aired it. Besides being a quality musical & quality television show, Legally Blonde: The Musical caused a whole new demographic to be interested in Broadway. I understand that The Chick Flick Musical can be perceived as trite, but powerful themes, excellent music, & smart staging are what actually dictates the quality of a musical. Maybe the world is catching on because now we have:

Bring It On: The Musical

Playing March 6-25 @ Cadillac Palace Theatre

It looks great & I am so there.

NEWS: Les Mis Movie Cast COMPLETE

LATEST & LAST ADDITIONS:

Amanda Seyfried as Cosette

This is my favorite casting choice.
She has a perfect period-beauty & a quality voice (though I’ve never known her as a soprano, so we’ll se how that goes).
She showed immediate star-potential in Mean Girls, dimension in Big Love, & the voice of a bell in Mamma Mia!. 
[Also, she has replaced Lindsay Lohan in the title role Linda Lace movie, so she can pull off Cosette's straight-up bombshell quality.]   
Plus, I love a blonde Cosette.

Eddie Redmayne as Marius

He was probably cast because of the recent press from My Day With Marilyn.
He is not a familiar face (which speaks in his favor, IMO),
but I like his freckled, innocent look.

Taylor Swift as Eponine

It is a dangerous choice to cast someone whose natural tendency is the biggest downfall
by most actresses trying to conquer this role: playing the over-simplified girl who is blinded by her first love.
Here is the problem with that easy adolescent portrayal: Eponine found an anchor in her infatuation 
because her life was so pathetic, dire, & empty.
This role requires an actress who can add color to a potentially one-noted role, not a pop-country star who has 
no authentic acting experience. I am not alone in this opinion.

Aaron Tveit as Enjolras

He is an accomplished stage actor who is best known for originating these roles on Broadway:
Gabe in Next to Normal & Frank Abagnale Jr. in Catch Me If You Can
[which is a musical I would have LOVED to have seen, despite the terrible reviews].
I’m very glad they cast a quality singer in the role that sings Do You Hear the People Sing.

See my earlier post for my opinions on earlier casting choices.

The Addams Family: National Tour

The Addams Family was great & I wish it had stayed in town longer so I could have seen it again. This is the third attempt at making The Addams Family a musical & they finally nailed it. The production was a charming, unique, cohesive, smart satire. It was grounded in reasonable, applicable themes with a stunning & ethereal artistic execution. The new storyline centered around Wednesday’s plans to marry someone quite different from the Addams & the ripple effects of this decision on the family. The musical jumped right into the new storyline & I appreciated the tight narrative focus.

To be completely honest, I was biased against Morticia because I expected her to be un-able to compete with Bebe Neuwirth. But Sara Gettelfinger had the same dynamic in a fresher, re-imagined portrayal; this lady was strong, elegant, funny, & had a huge voice that reminded me of Glenn Close. She exhibited a natural matriarch with a strong maternal factor while still introspectively examining growing older.

I was excited to see that Douglas Sills was cast as GOMEZ. I saw him as the title role in The Scarlet Pimpernel on Broadway. He is a smart, seasoned actor who can play silly without compromising the integrity of the character. He provided comical punctuation as well as the kalaidescope of emotions that come along with being the best husband & father he could be.

As WEDNESDAY, Cortney Wolfson’s acting quality was outshone by her strong voice. Her acting expressed her adolescent strife, but bordered on overly-simplified at times. Patrick D. Kennedy played PUGSLEY & was the perfect smarmy little brother. His voice was amazing & his number “What If” provided the most poignant moment of Act I.

January WishList

ENRON

TimeLine Theatre Company

One of the most infamous scandals in financial history becomes a dynamic new theatrical event that was a sold-out sensation in London. Crafted as sprawling tragedy mixed with savage comedy, Enron follows a group of ambitious men and women through the breathtaking rush of greed and fraud that led to a legendary financial collapse. Along the way we gain disturbing insight into the backroom secrets of big business and confront a world where appearance has little relation to reality.

Jan. 17 - April 15.

RACE 

The Goodman Theatre

This latest work by Pulitzer Prize winner David Mamet ruthlessly examines guilt and oppression via a compelling crime mystery. Two high-profile lawyers—Henry (Geoffrey Owens) who is black, and Jack (Marc Grapey) who is white—are called to defend a wealthy white client Charles (Patrick Clear) who is charged with the rape of an African-American woman. Along with their new hire, Susan (Tamberla Perry), they soon find themselves embroiled in a complex case where blatant prejudice is as disturbing as the evidence at hand. With characteristic bluntness, Mamet leaves nothing unsaid in this no-holds-barred suspense story.

Jan. 14 - Feb. 19.

CLUTTER:

The True Story of the Collyer Brothers

Who Never Threw Anything Out

MadKap Productions

Clutter is based on the compelling true story of the wealthy, reclusive Collyer brothers who became hoarders in their Fifth Avenue mansion in 1920s Harlem. After years of compulsive collecting, the brothers have become notorious shut-ins in their aristocratic New York neighborhood. Langley Collyer is missing and Homer Collyer is found dead amongst floor-to-ceiling piles of newspapers, books, and junk. The police investigating the case, two brothers with a strained relationship mirroring that of the Collyers, are simultaneously making discoveries about themselves. Narrated by the brothers and the police investigating the bizarre case, this darkly fascinating tale is a poignant and profound exploration of human behavior.

Jan. 19 - March 11.

BACHELORETTE

Profiles Theatre

Ten years out of high school, three unhappy friends show up “not-quite-invited” to their classmate’s hotel room for the perfect bachelorette celebration. Half a bathtub of booze later, the former prom queen is melting down, the nice-girl cokehead is on a mission to mend the mauled wedding dress, and the lacerating maid of honor finds her picture-perfect life less stable than it seemed. A smash hit Off Broadway, Leslye Headland’s shrewd and biting play is an aria to the anxiety and self-loathing of a generation.

Jan. 20 - March 11.