MANSON: THE MUSICAL, Annoyance Theatre. When I first saw this musical about Charles Manson and his “family” in 1990, the show had a dark, subversive quality–accentuated by the Annoyance’s raggedy digs–that added to its power and comedy. Nine years later, the many jokes about oral sex are frankly a little tired. And the Annoyance folks […]
Tag: Vol. 28 No. 18
Issue of Feb. 4 – 10, 1999
Posted inArts & Culture
The Blood Knot
THE BLOOD KNOT, Excaliber Shakespeare Company of Chicago, at Heartland Studio Theater. It’s not easy to stage Athol Fugard’s metaphorical play about the conflicts between white and black South Africans: his convoluted and poetic politics make the plot’s logic of fear difficult to follow. And actors need to tread lightly between the play’s often conflicting […]
Posted inNews & Politics
The Stories of His Life
Raconteur Malachy McCourt makes his way from stage to page.
Posted inMusic
Music of the Baroque
MUSIC OF THE BAROQUE For years Music of the Baroque has been among the most consistently intelligent and accessible ensembles in Chicago. And even when it’s financially strapped–this season its revival of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo was canceled due to poor advance ticket sales, and the group will mount only seven programs–it lavishes as much attention on […]
Posted inFilm
Bone
Bone A home invasion goes awry in this stingingly provocative 1972 movie about a Beverly Hills TV personality, his wife, and their encounter with a philosophical would-be thief and rapist. Threatened by the stranger, the heavily leveraged couple–who say their son is in Vietnam as if this makes up for their failings–take the opportunity to […]
Posted inMusic
Dave Myers & Kim Wilson
DAVE MYERS & KIM WILSON Guitarist and bassist Dave Myers was a founding member of the Aces, a band that in the 50s freshened Chicago blues with the swing and harmonic sophistication of jazz. Left to himself, though, he specializes in just the kind of down-home Delta shuffle the Aces helped make commercially obsolete. Lately […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Chambermaid
The Chambermaid Originally titled The Chambermaid on the Titanic, this 1998 French film by Bigas Luna is at once a delightful piece of romantic whimsy and a meditation on the duplicity inherent in storytelling. Horty, a French foundry worker, wins a trip to Southampton to witness the sailing of the Titanic; a ship’s chambermaid knocks […]