Jacklope Theatre Company presents CRUMBLE (LAY ME DOWN, JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE). Director AJ Ware plunges us into this wackadoo house with a series of silent scenes. A man is falling. A girl is playing. A woman is painting... cats. What does it all mean? Lighting Designer Claire Sangster highlights the momentary activity and then goes to blackout. ...
Review “Annie” (Broadway in Chicago): Big-Hearted Bundle of Joy
Broadway in Chicago presents ANNIE. Everyone’s favorite orphan is visiting Chicago. The Tony Award-winning musical ANNIE is here for a two week limited engagement. This touring production is directed by the original Tony Award-winning lyrist from 1977. This is the nineteenth production that Martin Charnin has directed himself. Charnin’s intimate knowledge of the inner-workings makes this ...
Review “Porgy and Bess” (Lyric Opera): First-Rate Operatic Rendition
Lyric Opera presents PORGY AND BESS. PORGY AND BESS is about the residents of Catfish Row in South Carolina. They struggle in racially influenced poverty. To endure the challenging times, the black folks have established a tight community. The gals anchor their homes in religious fervor. The guys gamble for a better future playing craps. They ...
29 Day Challenge: Week 3
I’m having that I’ll-start-the-diet-on-Monday feeling. Although I look at the past week proudly, I look forward like an Eeyore. I’m channeling that donkey’s pessimism in a belief that I’m never going to hit my numbers at the end of the final eight days! And because I feel the defeatism, I want to just quit and ...
Things that make me go WAH!
My Iphone has started to mock me! Everyday, it gives me two weather options for Chicago. Today, one screen is telling me it’s cloudy, windy and ten degrees. The other option illustrates blue skies, sunny and thirty degrees. Neither is a terrific forecast but one is definitely more desirable. And of course, I’m looking out ...
Review “Matt and Ben” (First Floor Theater): Tight, fun bromance
First Floor Theater presents MATT AND BEN. Musing about a celebrity’s climb to fame is a typical American response. Without any USA royalty, our century-long fascination has been with moviestars. When was their lucky break? What was happening in their personal life? Who are these people? Playwrights Mindy Kaling and Brenda Withers did more than muse ...
Physical or mental?
Is it physical or mental? I had an intense workout with Josh on Friday morning. He had me doing leg lunges, 3 sets of 12 on each side. It’s my new leg lifts. In other words, it’s the current exercise I least like. I disliked leg lifts for the longest time. In leg lifts, I’m on ...
Today light a candle for your youth
I am in Indiana this morning. Not the Indiana I grew up in... the other side of the tracks. One of our board members hosted a house party to build awareness of youth in crisis and also raise money for the National Runaway Safeline (NRS). Michele lives in Lafayette on a country estate. Her husband Gary ...
29 Day Challenge: Week 2
I’m bordering on 50% done with my 29 Day Challenge. This is the busiest time of the year for me so I’m thankful I’m focusing on taking care of myself. Without having the goals and reporting my progress, I’d have canceled this and that out of pity for myself. Definitely this past week, I would ...
Review “Romulus” (Oracle Theatre): Absurd and Profound
Oracle Theatre presents ROMULUS. The absurd mingles with the profound in Oracle’s current production. The play sets the demise of the Western Rome Empire on and the day after the Ides of March. The original play by Friedrich Durrenmatti and rewritten by Gore Vidal explores the ambition behind political invasions and marital arrangements. The satire blends ...