Mini-reviews and a few words about the future...

Wow!  Over 10,150 hits in six months and still counting.  It’s gone viral!  Ok, maybe not viral.  It’s a mild rash!  More likely, it’s nothing more than a pimple on the butt of Chicagoland theatre.  I’m guessing that the majority of the hits are readers checking in to see if there is a new post.  And who can blame them - I’m so gosh-darn entertaining.  Oh yeah, there is the fact that I said I would post some new ones, but never said when.  And even if I do commit to a date, I ultimately miss it.  Despite my lovable cantankerous nature, I am the eternal optimist when gauging what I think I can do.  I take aim, thinking the target is easy to hit and ofttimes forget about gravity and other forces working against successful completion.  It happens, and it’s self-defeating in some ways, since you disappoint yourself and those who have vested some interest in you, or, at the very least, you feel they have.

September/October is usually the start of a new season for many theatres, and it’s a busy time for a reviewer who does it as a vocation.  It’s absolutely harried if you’re doing it as an avocation.  Working a full-time job, and then trying to see all the shows and finding time to get the reviews written and posted is tiring.  Other things in life get in the way and keep sneaking to the top of the priority list.  Try as I may, I have not learned the secret to adding hours to the day.  I think it requires an hour-glass necklace that you twist, or something like that.  I know; it’s not your problem, so I should just shut up about it.  I enjoy doing this blog.  I just wish I could do this as I envisioned.  Reality stinks sometimes, and time is not always your friend.

I’ve received flack (and, to be honest, rightfully so) about the lateness of my posts.  I have learned to avoid 2-week runs.  Now, given how little time I have for writing, it seems that shows with 3-week runs are almost impossible to review in a timely fashion.  If I see a show on opening weekend, I really should have a review posted before the start of the next weekend.  But that is getting harder and harder to do, given some of the pressures from work and my addiction to Iron Chef America and Dancing With The Stars.  I have come to realize it is a disservice to those who actually use the reviews for information (what the hell are you thinking?) rather than just entertainment.  Despite what the conspiracy theorists think, there is no hidden agenda or ulterior motives to when I post.  You have given me too much credit, assuming I know what I’m doing and can actually think.  How silly.

As you can guess, I will not be writing full reviews for the last three shows I saw.  By the time I get around to writing a full review for any, the show will have closed.  I screwed that up once before, and felt a tiny smidgeon of remorse about it.  I’m mean, I didn’t lose sleep over it or anything, but I think a shout-out act of contrition is appropriate: To DL...I thought your approach sucked, but I admit that the timing of my review was bad form.

Here are capsule reviews of the shows that close this weekend:

The Desk Set - Albright Theatre, Batavia, IL (click for show times, tickets, etc.)

This is a romantic comedy (called rom-com in the biz) that I thought lacked two important elements: rom and com.  For more info on the story, try Google.  While the individual performances were OK, the chemistry between the romantic leads was missing.  The comedy is dated, and the attempts to spruce it up failed, especially the holiday office party scenes.  Finally, this is the second show I’ve seen at this theatre, and both times, I found the lighting distracting.  Normally I won’t say much about tech, unless it’s bothersome.  They need to find a way to back-light the action to give it some visual depth.  When the lights came up, everyone looked two-dimensional, which didn’t help with some one-dimensional acting.  Trust me: in this case, two plus one do not make three, dimensionally speaking.

Into The Woods - Theatre Nebula at Cutting Hall, Palatine, IL (click for show times, tickets, etc.)

I’m not a lover of all things Sondheim.  But I do appreciate this show (for story info, try Bing) and I ended up liking this production because I decided I would not let a pair of nimrods (a word now officially recognized in the New Oxford American Dictionary) ruin it.  There are very strong voices throughout.  Great harmonies, a wonderful wall of sound and good storytelling.  Wonderful orchestra.  Everything is first rate...except for the Baker and the Witch.  Julie Bayer is great as Cinderella, Walter Bezt and Deric Gochen held my attention as the two princes and Linda Andrew’s Little Red Riding Hood was very good.  The others did a nice job.  The direction by Frank Roberts was not heavy-handed and moved things along at a good pace, especially for a long show (2 hours, 53 minutes with intermission).  But the husband and wife team of Ken and Morra Priess, playing the Baker and the Witch ruined what could have been a superb show.  Her style of singing is screeching, his is weak and they both have very limited acting skills.  They do, however, own LZP Productions, a theatre company, and Frank is a director in residence.  You do the math as to why they were cast.  The show ends tomorrow night.  Just edit them out and enjoy the rest.

The Curate Shakespeare As You Like It - Geneva Underground Playhouse, Geneva, IL (click for show times, tickets, etc.)

Basically, the story is a group of bad actors trying to do a stripped-down version of As You Like It, with a cast of six plus the Curate, all playing the 30 characters in Shakespeare’s show.  There’s a running gag about never being able to get through the famous “All the world’s a stage...” speech and when it is finally given correctly, it’s done by the “actor” you would least suspect.  And done really, really well.  As for the show, it’s not the greatest thing ever written, and treads familiar ground about a band of actors gathering to do the impossible in front of an invisible audience and the growth of both the characters and actors in the process.  In that sense, the curate is more a keeper of spirits on some ethereal plane.  It reminded me of A Company Of Wayward Saints in some measure.  And, it’s a formulaic show within a show, with people dropping in and out of the characters, as wel as having to maintain the persona of the actor.  Yes, you have to concentrate with this show since there is no scorecard.  But it’s worth the effort.  There is solid acting by people I’ve never seen before but will keep on my radar, because I want to see more.  Specifically, all the women were brilliant.  Susan O’Byrne does a nice turn with her various characters, Christina Ferrari is delightful to watch as the Rosalind that never plays Rosalind due to a mental block, so she plays the stage directions and songs.  The one who knocked my socks off was Cheryl Newman.  I wasn’t sure about her in the beginning, but once she took off, she was great.  As for the guys, Ed McDow put in a nice performance, George McArdle was adequate, but Ryan Ruffatti never hit his stride and slowed down the scenes he was in.  Mike Manolakes was the least successful in connecting with us invisible audience members.  Everything he did seemed tentative, from the Curate to his various characters.  And, he struggled with lines.  All in all, though, I liked it.  If you get the chance to see it, please do so.

Those are the shows.  And there are more out there.  Like The Drowsy Chaperone at Wheaton Drama.  I saw it opening night.  I will not post a review.  Two of the many Spelling Bee productions we have being foisted upon us are opening this weekend at Big Noise Theater in Des Plaines and Metropolis Centre in Arlington Heights.  Hey, there’s a production of Drood that starts in November in Woodstock and Redtwist is in previews of A Delicate Balance, which opens tomorrow night.  I actually bought a ticket for last night’s preview and was so exhausted from work that I didn’t go.  It gets that way sometimes.

My plate is clear for now.  But I think it’s time to put this baby up on blocks in the garage and give it a tune up, oil change and tire rotation.  Maybe hammer out a few dings and dents, and a fresh coat of paint.  I think my mind/soul could use the same thing this winter.  Oh, I may take it out for a spin every once in a while if I feel there’s something to say, or miss the sensation of being behind the wheel.  But I won’t commit to a date.  So, if you want to receive an e-mail alert (instead of inflating the hit counter) to a new posting, send your e-mail address to wjbarryjr@gmail.com


Regular reviews (whatever that means) will resume in March, 2011.