Displaying items by tag: Derek Van Barham

I’ll admit it: I knew little about “Into the Woods” before seeing the new production at Chicago’s Chopin Theatre. I’m not particularly fond of the composer, Stephen Sondheim. I’d bailed early watching the 2014 film with Meryl Streep. So I challenged myself to find out why it is so popular. And now I know: it’s really good.

At a venue like Chopin Theatre, in the intimate downstairs theater, you’ll have a chance to appreciate the dark humor of the book by James Lapine, and music and lyrics by Sondheim. No doubt you will come away as I did, experiencing the power mined from a most creative mash-up of four familiar fairy tales, and very much liking its dark, funny humor. 

Lapine and Sondheim tap four classic fairy tales—Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Cinderella—building a cast of characters that for the first time meet each other. And we discover on stage they have a lot in common. 

Among the cast are two princes, Shea Hopkins as Cinderella’s Prince and Jonathan Allsop as Rapunzel’s Prince, who bond in their shared quests. Princessy figures Cinderella (Madison Kauffman) and Rapunzel (Ismael Garcia) share the spotlight. And then there are the younger innocent players, Little Red (aka Riding Hood, Anna Selbert) and Jack (Kevin Parra) of Beanstalk fame. Both get into trouble for not following their mothers’ orders.

And of course we see those mean-spirited characters, The Witch (Stephanie Stockstill) who entrapped Rapunzel in that stairless tower and Cinderella’s Stepmother (Emily Goldberg)—though these two don’t really connect. 

Bits of the classic stories are recounted, but “Into the Woods” faces us squarely with the shadowy parts. Yes Rapunzel let down her long hair for that prince and they fell in love. But there is more in Grimm’s Fairy Tales (I reread them all after seeing the show): The Witch cuts off Rapunzel’s hair, banishes her to wander a wasteland, and tricks the Prince into climbing up. He falls into a thornbush and pierces his eyes. Another element I hadn’t recalled until my rereading of Rapunzel: a couple aiming to have a child are the origins of the long-haired beauty’s predicament. (This couple seems to be drawn from the original tale, in which the husband surrenders Rapunzel to compensate The Witch for his theft from her garden.) In the play, that husband becomes The Baker (Kevin Webb) who with The Baker's Wife (Sonia Goldberg) goes on a quest in order to have a child. 

Sondheim and Lapine take these stories into uncharted territory in Act 2 as the characters suffer retributions unleashed for their selfish acts. As originally told, after Jack sells a cow for those magic beans, he climbs into the Giant’s lair and robs him, then kills the Giant as he pursues him down the beanstalk. The play adds a riff to that tale: the Giant’s widow (Honey West) chases Jack and wreaks havoc in the kingdom in her pursuit of justice. 

The stories are woven together into a cohesive whole guided by Narrator, played so remarkably well by August Forman, who doubles as Mysterious Man. It is the strength of Forman’s performance that makes the many moving parts fit together; they are onstage continuously and tirelessly. It’s truly remarkable to behold. 

Kokandy Productions’ show, directed and tightly choreographed by Derek Van Barham, meets the demands of this funny and inventive book by Lapine, with music and lyrics by Sondheim. Entrances and action are timed with exacting precision. 

A pair of grand pianos are center stage, with keyboardists Ariana Miles and Evelyn Ryan replacing full orchestration, and fully integrated to the action around them. Kudos to these two for their exemplary artistry. 

What’s not to like in “Into the Woods”? Just one thing: that Wolf? His ears are way too round and small. 

At its 1986 Broadway debut, “Into the Woods” was seen by many as an allegory for the havoc wreaked by the early AIDS crisis. It’s easy to see why during Act 2. Sondheim has demurred from that interpretation, and now nearly 50 years later, there is nothing explicitly alluding to AIDS. Our contemporary climate crisis fits aptly into interpretations of the play now. And that is a tribute to the work’s timeless character, and longstanding appeal.

“Into the Woods” runs through December 22, 2024 at The Chopin Theatre in Chicago. 

Whenever I review a theatre company for the first time I get a bit of "first date nerves", especially when a suburban company (unabashed City snob, c’est moi) is doing such an iconic show. The stakes were even higher cos this was my first time seeing HAIR – I was a little too young in 1968 and somehow never got a chance in the intervening years (never mind how many).

Skokie Theatre Company proved I was in good hands. The cast members greeting guests on the street set the mood, and I was charmed when Woof (Sam Hook) blew me a kiss from the stage. And then Dionne (Niki-Charisse Franco) began to croon the opening bars of ‘Aquarius’ and I relaxed. I knew I could sit back and enjoy the show.

HAIR includes copious profanity, overt drug use and full-frontal nudity, but there was so much MORE to love! Let’s start with the music: several of the songs, from ‘Easy to be Hard’ and ‘Good Morning Starshine’ to the iconic title song are still around today, but I hadn’t realized how very many songs are in Hair: 27 in Act One alone, and all wonderful: ‘Donna’, ‘Hashish’, ‘Colored Spade’, ‘Air’, and the fabulous ‘Initials’. And who knew HAIR had an actual plot? The cast was enormous: nine principals plus five in The Tribe – and each better than the last.

I could say HAIR was flawless, but that would set you wondering just how much of the Kool-Aid I drank; besides, there were a couple of teensy flaws. Sound Designer Chris Cook needs to make some small adjustments with the microphones -- for the most part the soloists came through, but I missed much of Crissy’s (Bridgett Martinez) solo. Mind, this sort of readjustment is routine for first-weekend performances, and my sitting in the front row may have been part of the problem.

Scenic Designer Scott Richardson and Props/Set Decorator Barry Norton wisely kept it simple: the tie-dye background effectively recalled the era, and multiple levels gave Director Derek Van Barham (with Asst. Directors Miranda Coble and Brennan Urbi) plenty of options for staging. Urbi, as Movement Asst, did a hell of a job with nearly continuous dancing and cavorting; good job he had the aisles to expand into. Beth Laske-Miller’s costumes were spot-on, evoking the flower-child tie-dyed-hippie-freak symbols of protest. She accentuated the principals just enough to distinguish them without dissociating them from the Tribe as a whole. And I loved the pansexual vibe that Intimacy Director Christa Retka achieved. Overall, the mood was effervescent, unselfconsciously joyous and totally infectious: we were all drawn into the Tribe.

I love seeing shows with this companion cos I learn so much from them. In one of my early I reviews I asked them, “Just what does a Stage Manager do?” Their reply: “Make certain every person and every prop is in exactly the right place at precisely the right time.” Their guidance let me appreciate what a phenomenal job Stage Manager Amanda Coble did with HAIR. Keeping a cast of 14 on cue through every moment of a 90-minute first act (and the 2^nd act as well); staging, with Musical Director Jeremy Ramey, a total of forty songs, at least 36 of them ensemble pieces … she pulled it off without a bobble.

My companion’s standard for Light Design is ‘if you notice the lighting, they’re doing it wrong.’ Lighting Designer Pat Henderson met, even surpassed this standard with a basic kit used to full advantage. She utilized every possible source of illumination, stage lights, house lights and spotlights, using one particular center-stage spot super-effectively. I loved Musical Director/Conductor Jeremy Ramey’s brilliant idea of placing Shraga Wasserman (Berger) and Joey Chelius (Claude) in the band during Sheila’s (Alexandria Neyhart) solo ‘Easy to be Hard’, bringing the men into the scene and the song without choreography or lines.

Okay, what am I forgetting? Director … stage manager … music … intimacy … aha! The cast!

In a word, ridiculously talented. Okay, that’s two words, and they aren’t mine but Julie Peterson’s (Jeanie), but I’m totally with her on this, for both cast and crew. There was not one single weak voice in the cast, not one. I saw Shraga D Wasserman play Roger in RENT and, though I wrote a ‘Highly Recommended’ review, I remember that Wasserman’s talent outshone the rest of the cast, making for a slightly unbalanced production. No such problem here! Wasserman’s Berger was as good or better than their Roger in RENT, but the cast of HAIR was so stellar that their genius fit in seamlessly. That face of theirs! like living Silly Putty, so incredibly mobile.

I already mentioned that Sam Hook (Woof) stole my heart when he threw me a kiss, and my infatuation grew with his every appearance on stage. It’s hard to believe he’s still a student; I hope he stays in Chicago so I can follow his career.

Claude (Joey Chelius) had perhaps the heaviest dramatic role and his acting was most definitely up to it during the hallucination sequence and the finale. Hud (Justice Largin) was gorgeous and ‘I’m Black’ was a brilliant piece. I already mentioned that Niki-Charisse Franco as Dionne wowed me with her opening performance of ‘Aquarius’, singing with near-operatic potency. The other three principal women, Sheila (Alexandria Neyhart), Jeannie (Julie Peterson), and Crissy (Bridgett Martinez) had equally powerful voices. Ben Isabel was absolutely hilarious as Margaret Meade.

Which leaves The Tribe: Jonah Cochin, Jack Chylinski, Cristian Moreno, Chevy Dixon Saul, and Hannah Silverman. I reiterate: there was not a single weak performer! Jonah Cochin stood out for his delightfully bawdy contribution to ‘Black Boys’.

HAIR revived a lot of old memories for me, both good (dyeing my own love beads) and not-so-great (nightly body counts on TV). The rebellions of the 60’s/70’s shaped what American culture is to this day, and HAIR captured it all: peace and protest, music and drugs, love and fury. In 1969 HAIR was the counterculture’s manifesto. Today it’s a documentary, and a must-see!

MadKap Production's HAIR is being performed at Skokie Theatre through July 30^th. For tickets and/or more information, click here.

When we think holidays in Chicago, we think ‘A Christmas Carol’ at Goodman, Joffrey’s ‘Nutcracker’, Christkindlmarket, Zoo Lights at Lincoln Park Zoo, Winter Wonderfest at Navy Pier and the list goes on and on. We should count our lucky stars, Chicago has a lot to offer this time of year. But perhaps one of the most fun holiday traditions (one I certainly look forward to each year) is Hell in a Handbag’s annual Christmas musicals and this year is no exception. Parody master David Cerda and company, who have brought us such hits in the past as ‘Rudolph the Red-Hosed Reindeer’ and ‘Christmas Dearest’, keep the tradition rolling this year with ‘Snowgirls’. You guessed it – a lampoon on the 90’s cult classic Showgirls.

It’s a tough, dog-eat-dog world out there for reindeer who want to make it to the top of the exotic dancing game. Making a name for yourself in local strip dives is one thing, but Snowmi Malone has her sights set much higher. She’s looking to make it in crowned jewel of the exotic revue world – the North Pole. But to do that, not only does opportunity need to present itself, she needs to be the best she can be. Ice Crystal Connors, the star dancer and Queen of the Scene might have something to say about that.

In “Snowgirls’ we are taken on a journey through the sleazy underworld of the North Pole in a hilarious adventure that rings the holidays in Handbag style.

Directed and Choreographed by Jon Martinez, with book by Derek Van Barham and Music by David Cerda, the world premiere holiday production of “Snowgirls the Musical’ comes with its Handbag stamp and certainly holds its own to other past holiday productions by this talented theatre company. As outrageous, envelope-pushing and downright funny as one would hope for, Hell in a Handbag has yet another hit show on their hands thanks to its witty and devilishly comical script and the company’s skilled ability for casting just the right people in just the right parts.

Harper Leander is adorable in the role of Snowmi where she not only gets the chance to display her well-timed physical humor and droll line delivery, she even gets to bust a few moves as the bratty stripper who will make it at any cost. Handbag favorite Sydney Genco as Ice Crystal Connors is terrifically cast as the top drawing attraction of the North Pole’s exotic dance scene. Conniving and ruthless when need be, Grenco gives us a brilliant Gina Gershon parody that is simply hysterical. So many reindeer so many performances that should be recognized. Patrick Stengle as a grown up and kinda hardcore Herbie (the dentist wannabe in ‘Rudolph’) delivers many laugh out moments as does Max McKune as shady club manager Rudolph (he apparently didn’t grow up as innocent as we thought he would) and Terry McCarthy, who has been with Hell and a Handbag since its inception, as club owner and tough guy, Tony.

Other familiar faces make this production the success that it is with their own stand out performances including Grant Dagger (Zip), Brittani Yawn (Jolly) and Erin Daly as Mrs. Claus.

‘Snowgirls’ is holiday fun and can be enjoyed whether you’ve seen Showgirls or not (but it does help to have seen it beforehand). Go see what everyone is buzzing about and see why Hell in a Handbag just might be the funniest theatre company in Chicago.

‘Snowgirls the Musical: The Other Side of the North Pole’ is being performed at Mary’s Attic through December 30th. For tickets and/or more show information visit www.handbagproductions.org.

Wow! Get ready to be entertained and blown away by two men, with eighteen, yes eighteen, costume changes in a 105-minute play with lead mother figure Bertha Bumiller played by Anthony Whitaker in drag and Grant Drager playing most of the younger male and female characters (Arles, Didi, Stanley, Charlene, Jodi, Petey, Vera and Dixie). These two talents make for one hilarious and yet, at times, disturbing piece of theater now that Trump is President and the animal and human cruelty is perpetrated against each person who loves in the “the third smallest town in Texas”, a dump “where the Lion’s Club is too liberal and Patsy Cline never died.”

As announced on the local radio show the winning school essays include “Human Rights—Why Bother?” and “The Other Side of Bigotry”. And so begins Deep in the Heart of Tuna, the latest in the “Tuna” series, currently running at Pride Arts Center in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood.

I was unaware that adapter Ed Howard and original author-performers Joe Sears and Jaston Williams (Greater Tuna, A Tuna Christmas, and Red, White, and Tuna) had revived this new play from pieces of the trilogy above though it didn't affect my understanding of the hard lives these people live while having little money to keep up with their neighbors. People wearing third generation hand me downs and living on a farm-like house where the youngest and most sensitive son has ten dogs and a few kitty cats literally following him to school and back until he can find them adoption homes.  

I found the staging and lighting brilliant with audience members on both sides of the intimate theater performing space, putting us right in Bertha’s kitchen. Adding the finishing touch, are the costumes and wigs which are truly amazing and used to their ultimate. When I found that neither actor had a dresser to help them make these quick changes, I was even more impressed. Still knowing there were only two cast members, they played the men and women so touchingly and realistically funny, I could have sworn there was a cast of five people or more hidden in the wings. 

The town of Tuna can sometimes be a scary place where the "smut snatchers" a local anti-porn group try to expose the dirty words in Dickens Christmas Carol, including "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman", because you know, "Merry Gentlemen" is a little too close to gay gentleman in Tuna, Texas. 

The smut snatchers are busy cutting apart the children’s' Christmas pageant, which they have worked on for months. It is eventually canceled by the local school official and local government because the school does not have the funds to pay its electric bill, despite pleas to let the children perform, in part because one child needs this performance to complete his reform school probation and leave town without a criminal record (for painting over street signs). The lights are shut off and the show does not go on. At the same time a Christmas Phantom is on the loose in the neighborhood destroying outdoor holiday displays. There’s a lot going on in this small town. 

Anthony Whitaker's multilayered characterization of the mother figure as she struggles to make ends meet in this piece reminds me so much of my dear friend Louie Anderson's spectacular mother characterization in his new hit show "Baskets". 

Grant Drager, a newcomer to the New American Folk Theatre ensemble, plays the rest of the male and female characters with mind blowing accuracy and such poignancy. For his outstanding work in this two-man show, Drager really is deserving of a Jeff Award, as well as Whitaker.

Though many of the characters are run-of-the-mill, low-income Southern folks with seemingly good hearts, at times, the extreme stereotype Texas hard core right wingers are also demonstrated in the play. It's mind boggling that the small-mindedness of the latter mentioned characters of this tiny town exist in real life, boasting about and bringing forth soul crushing ideas along with anti-gay sentiments and anti-animal rights, i.e. and "Tuna" takes a few good shots. A great line that represents that type of mentality in this play is when Didi, who runs the local gun shop for her mother, says, "If we don't have a gun (or poison) to kill what you want, that thing is supernatural!" This show can make great but serious fun of that particular group on a few occasions though it mainly celebrates small town warmth, kindness and simplicity. Though "Tuna" often pokes fun of small town life in the South, it is done with affection, actually endearing us to several of the characters even more so.  

This satire of rural life is highly recommended for two of the most versatile and thought provoking performances in this play about a dysfunctional family and the small town problems that arise. Directed by Derek Van Barham, New American Folk Theatre's Deep in the Heart of Tuna is being performed at Pride Arts Center through March 5th. For show information or tickets, click here. Y'all hurry now!