Reckless, Sense of Urgency Productions, at the Athenaeum Theatre. Craig Lucas’s mean-spirited picaresque comedy, about a hapless wife on the run who meets various eccentrics, is packed with improbable plot twists and unbelievable characters. Even under optimal conditions–good director, strong cast, large budget, well-organized space–it’s a hard play to make work. Steppenwolf attempted it in […]
Tag: Vol. 32 No. 2
Issue of Oct. 10 – 16, 2002
Posted inArts & Culture
Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk
The first time this 1996 Broadway hit played Chicago, in 1998, headliner Savion Glover did not perform the role he originated: “da beat,” our rhythmic guide through the show’s history of tap dance. It was nevertheless not only educational but fun–and it should be fabulous with its star in place: Glover, who also did the […]
Posted inNews & Politics
The Church of Scientology Didn’t Like Our Story
Dear Sirs, Needless to say, as you have seen from the letters to the editor by our parishioners [August 22 and 30, and September 6, 13, and 20], our members were shocked and upset at the front page “article” which involved my church [“Death of a Scientologist,” August 16]. They were upset at the slanted […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Summer Stock Murder
The Reader review is dated Friday, November 5, 1982. It concerns a new show by Kingsley Day and Philip LaZebnik called Summer Stock Murder. The heading reads “A Standard Is Born,” and the critic (me) declares that Day and LaZebnik have written “a fast, funny, and very accessible musical comedy murder mystery, with…[e]verything it needs […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Same Old Song and Dance
Payola’s not back–it never went away. What’s more, every attempt to kill it has only made it stronger.
Posted inNews & Politics
Did We See the Same Play?
Dear Editors: I’d like to applaud Justin Hayford for the praise he extends to Viaduct Theater’s production of Denis Johnson’s Hellhound on My Trail [September 27]. However, the cursory way he dismisses the third act–“only in the last third of the final scene does his sense of drama fall apart completely”; “neither he nor Cass […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Tales From Mom’s Crypt 666: Mark of the Tiffabeast
Tales From Mom’s Crypt 666: Mark of the Tiffabeast, Corn Productions. Dead babies, creepy sideshow midgets, and scatological pirates add up to a wildly uneven but oddly charming journey into Tiff and Mom’s fun house world. For the sixth Halloween installment the Berwyn duo, created and played by Robert Bouwman and Todd Schaner, join a […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Rhinoceros Theater Festival
This ambitious showcase of experimental theater, performance, and music from Chicago’s fringe began as part of the Bucktown Arts Fest. Now it’s produced by the Curious Theatre Branch. Taking its name from surrealist painter Salvador Dali’s use of the term “rhinocerontic” (it means real big), the 13th annual Rhino Fest runs through October 13. Performances […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Antigone
The Antigone, Mom and Dad Productions, at Heartland Studio Theater. No play packs more themes or admits more interpretations than Sophocles’ Antigone–not even prequel Oedipus Rex. There’s no simple solution to the clash Antigone experiences between familial and political loyalties, and the play’s myriad subconflicts–rationality vs. religion, state vs. individual, public vs. personal obligation–echo the […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Surprises in Store
Thank you very much for the insightful and informative article on south-side businesses. I’m not much of a neighborhood explorer but I am adventuresome enough to visit and be a customer to my neighbors on the south side. This is precisely the type of article I’ve needed to push me beyond my Pullman neighborhood. I […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Glimpse of Perfection
Trisha Brown Dance Company at the Dance Center of Columbia College, October 4-6 Trisha Brown’s new work, Geometry of Quiet, demonstrates the basis for her reputation as a giant of contemporary choreography: the work is wholly original, engages the imagination without controlling it, disdains show and embraces the genuine, and is truly beautiful. Unfortunately it’s […]
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Savage Love
Thank you so much for advising that whacked-out, sexually ignorant mother to buy her daughter a dildo! As a former sex worker (I was a stripper at the fabulous Lusty Lady in San Francisco as well as a pro domme in a lovely Bay Area house of domination), I understand intimately the ability of parents […]