Displaying items by tag: Buzz

"On the Town" with music by Leonard Bernstein; book and lyrics by Tony-winning writing partners Betty Comden and Adolph Green is about to be staged on Broadway but the Marriott Lincolnshire has beat Broadway to the punch with this thoroughly entertaining and beautifully staged rendition which has never before been staged in Chicago.

Three young sailors arrive in New York City with just one night, 24 hours to have fun and find love hopefully in the arms of one young lady named "Miss Turnstiles" for the month of June. "On the Town" really captures the frantic energy of youth and love, when every hour of your life, indeed every minute counts desperately to you as life calls you to return to work, or other duties forcing you to leave your hopes and dreams behind. 

The two young leads, Max Clayton & Alison Jantzie are both very, very talented young dancers and singers.  Alison Jantzie is lovely and is absolutely delightful in her role as "Miss Turnstiles" a struggling actress who is bullied into burlesque dancing as a way to stay afloat in the big city.

Marya Grandy and Johanna McKenzie Miller were perfectly cast as the other two female leads. Grandy and Miller are both mature actresses with great voices and superb comic timing which held the whole show together and gave it real belly laughs and heart as well.

Alex Sanchez’s choreography and director David H. Bell use the intimate space at Marriott Theatre to their full advantage filling the stage with 22 dancers and some of the most exciting and even classically erotic ballet and modern dance numbers I have seen in a long time. 

Nancy Missimi’s period costumes are so much fun to watch on the dancers. I absolutely love this period of fashion especially for the women Thomas M. Ryan’s brightly light New York City  set caught my eye even before I entered the theatre and utilizes a turntable effect to show cabs driving through the city and other action in a fun and exciting way visually.

I highly recommend seeing "On the Town" while it is here in Chicago. "On the Town” is a funny, and romantic way to end the summer and remind yourself that life goes by fast, you have to get out "On the Town" once in a while to really celebrate it!

“On the Town” is playing at Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire through October 12^th. For tickets and/or more information, visit www.marriotttheatre.com.

Chug-a-chug-a-choo-choo! The Wallflowers and Train are about to play at Ravinia, an outdoor venue. Yup not only one grand band is playing, but two!

Over the years I have seen large numbers of people play lots of The Wallflower’s and Train’s songs at bars. Plus teenyboppers blasting their tunes and bopping their heads, and probably even grandmas and grandpas, while riding on their scooters or in their cars. The Alternative Rock band, The Wallflowers, and the Rock group, Train, each have won Grammys, and have had immense success on the charts, proving they are truly stars.

People young enough to be in diapers, as well as individuals old enough to be in them (“butt” depends), made up the huge crowds’ age range. It was a big surprise to me yet pleasantly strange. However Ravinia’s policy of no food or booze in the pavilion was a first for me, when it comes to a concert-going experience change.

The Wallflowers started off quite tranquil. It is a good thing I did not take a dose of Nightquil. But soon enough they were a thrill!

The Wallflower’s, Jakob Dylan, is The Bob Dylan’s chilln.’ And he seemed like an extraordinarily appreciative and gracious person, thanking the audience very often. The highlight of The Wallflower’s performance was when Jakob had Train’s lead singer, Pat Monahan, join him onstage to sing “The Letter,” and they did an awesome rendition!

When Train came out playing “Calling All Angels” for a second night in a row at Ravinia, rose to the occasion. Pat Monahan went out into the audience, gave away a generous amount of photos, auto-graphed t-shirts and drumsticks, creating so much way cool band and audience interaction. He also got the crowd singing and even brought, Julie Schwartz, who Monahan stated texted him over 400 times, asking to sing onstage with him, and he did so, causing another highly exciting crowd reaction.

The largest portion of The Wallflower’s concert included them performing “One Headlight” and “6^th Avenue Heartache,” their most popular tunes. Train’s performance did too, playing such massive hits like “Drops of Jupiter “ and “Soul Sister,“ with the addition of mighty “danceable” songs from their new album The Bulletproof Picasso, much of will probably be heard for many moons. The Wallflowers and Train are definitely, greatly talented artists—they are not the least bit a bunch of fly-by buffoons.