American Blues Theater presents IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: LIVE IN CHICAGO. Although I missed it last year, ABT’s IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE has become one of my favorite holiday traditions. It kicks off the season like putting up lights or listening to Christmas tunes. For fourteen years, ABT has produced the Frank Capra’s classic as a ...
The Fourth Walsh
Theatre with a side of life
Category American Blues Theatre
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Review “The Rainmaker” (American Blues Theatre): The Real McCoy!
American Blues Theater presents THE RAINMAKER. It’s been awhile since I smiled through an entire play. I did last night. I couldn’t help myself. Playwright N. Richard Nash penned an uplifting story of love and family. And under Edward Blatchford’s masterful direction, the superb ensemble engage us with their authentic humanity. We see each person’s longing ...
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Review “Sideman” (American Blues Theater): I cringed, I laughed, I got jazzed
American Blues Theater presents SIDEMAN. We read about modern day musicians splurging on luxury items or trashing their five star suite. Although their lives look pampered, easy and enviable, the glamour of being an accomplished musician isn’t always the reality. And the struggle to ‘make it‘ is a long journey tainted with rejection. Playwright Warren Leight ...
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Review “Yankee Tavern” (American Blues Theatre): Delectable Whopper of a Story
American Blues Theatre presents the Chicago Premiere of YANKEE TAVERN. Grant Sabin (scenic design) has opened up a bar at Greenhouse Theatre. It’s not a swanky lounge. It’s an old-man-dive-bar. From the dirty tiled floor to the overflowing clutter spilling out of cubby holes, this tavern has character. The worn and familiar façade suggests decades of ...
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Review “Hank Williams Lost Highway” (American Blues Theatre): Don’t Miss this Jambalaya Special
I saw HANK WILLIAMS on Saturday. American Blues is remounting their smash Honky Tonk Blues hit from last summer. Most of the original cast is back for a second hearty helping of Louisana’s legendary native son. If you missed it last summer, don’t miss it this time around. If you saw it last year, ...
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Review “Grounded” (American Blues Theater): Whiteside’s Tour de Force
American Blues Theater presents the Chicago premiere of GROUNDED. A fighter pilot goes from Air Force to ‘chair force‘ in nine months. Playwright George Brandt pens the woes of war from a mother’s perspective. Gwendolyn Whiteside plays a daredevil pilot turned loving wife and mother. Whiteside leaves the war to have a baby. When she ...
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Review “American Myth” (American Blues Theater): Riveting Factual Puzzler
American Blues Theater presents he World Premiere of AMERICAN MYTH. Mick Weber (Doug) opens and closes this play with soliloquies about John Adams. Initially, the effervescent Weber describes Adams at the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Weber vividly recounts the sights, the sounds, the smells on July 4th, 1776. He places the audience in the actual ...