Am I the only person who cries during Beauty and the Beast?

Not when Belle and the Beast get together - but when Belle trades her life to save her quirky, inventor father from the Beast’s cold dungeon. I just love this story for little girls. Of all the popular fairy tales offering up Princesses saved by the handsome Prince to young people today, only Beauty and the beast extols the virtues of being a common girl with more book-loving brains that the common folk can stand to appreciate.

I loved seeing all the little girls in the audience thrilling to this colorful and lavish production that really encourages them to be courageous and unique and not settle for either the macho town cutie in Gaston or the brutish untransformed Beast that is unable to express his love for her in a considerate, loving way.

Liz Shivener, as Belle, was lovely in the role with just the right amount of imperious defiance. Justin Glaser, as the Beast had a nice stage presence but seemed a little too nice and not quite princely enough to make us want him to win Belle.

He had some tough competition from Nathaniel Hackman who really stole the show with his very funny, sexy Gaston, the town bully. Hackman, who has solid physical comedy skills under his belt also has a standout singing voice and is definitely a musical theater star in the making.

All of the supporting characters, were quite funny, and warmly played, particularly Sabina Petra's Mrs. Potts.  Some of the great ensemble dance numbers like “Be Our Guest” literally exploded into the excited young audience with canons shooting metallic streamers.  You really can’t miss by taking your kids to see this lavish magical and uplifting production of a classic fairy tale about a smart young girl whose true beauty comes from her brains and deeply unselfish loving nature.

It is a chilly Irish seaside town, he loves her, and   she loves him but he drives her away with his chilly intellectual life view and marries a more compliant version of her, and she marries a more life loving but less intelligent version of him. Forty years later he is told he only has a few months to live and tries to mend and make sense of the life he chose.

The casting of “A life” is absolutely perfect with John Mahoney turning in another razor sharp portrayal of an Irish mind fraught with both pride and regret in the character Desmond Drumm.  Linda Kimbrough plays Mary, the woman he should have married and allowed to conquer his fears with a feisty, uncompromising intelligence.

The entire cast was wonderful. I was especially impressed with the “young Mary” and Desmond portrayed by Matt Schwader and Melanie Keller. They not only looked like a young Mahoney and Kimbrough, you really got the sense, as is crucial to the play that you were indeed actually watching a flashback from their lives forty years prior.

My only suggestion is to slow down the pace of the first act. The rapid fire pace is hard to keep up with and took away a little bit of the sense that one is eavesdropping on a small town rap session that I so enjoyed later on in the show.

As always, John Mahoney’s work is a pleasure to watch and anchors the show with a gritty realism that only he can deliver.

"A Life" is playing at Northlight Theatre through April 25th. For more information, visit www.northlight.org.

Phillip R. Smith and Allison Torem star in Lookingglass' "Trust" directed by David Schwimmer and Heidi Stillman

When you enter the lobby of Lookingglass Theater to see the play “Trust” which details the rape of a 14 year old girl by an internet pedophile, you will see a table set up by Rape Victim Advocates to provide information and support after the show.  The startling statistics they provide, including the fact that 13 percent of teenagers reported receiving an unwanted sexual solicitation online each year and that one in three children admit they considered meeting face to face with someone they met on the internet indicate what an important cautionary message this play is trying to convey. 

Co- writers David Schwimmer and Andy Bellin (co-directed by Schwimmer and Heidi Stillman) all did a great job of bringing the script to the stage, which is also now being completed as a feature film starring Clive Owen. 

I was extremely impressed by the use of photography and video screens to dress the stage. A picture really is worth a thousand words when you see the safe, colorful and intimate confines of a girl’s upper middle class bedroom change to depict the various portions of the rape kit used to examine her in the hospital. 

I also liked the way the constantly changing background images of familiar locales, including O’Hare airport, Old Orchard shopping mall, and other recognizable locations give the play a modern immediacy. The screen of her brand new Mac Pro is shown as she receives instant messages from the predator online, which effectively convey the fast paced world we live in today, that looks so safe, warm and cozy but in actuality is exposing young people to far more stimulation and encroachments on their privacy and safety than a parent would like to admit. 

Allison Torem gives a strong and subtly nuanced performance portraying Annie, the slightly awkward, sensitive, once spunky soccer-playing child who is seduced bit by bit and ultimately has difficulty even realizing that she was raped by a serial pedophile. 

Phillip R. Smith, who plays her father Will also gives a strong performance culminating in his anguished, gut wrenching cry of “Something… happened!” to his son returning from college unaware of what has transpired.  Smith’s characters’ disintegration into anger and depression displays sharply how parents and eventually the whole family unit are slowly destroyed by a crime like this. Also how the family unit and even investigators burned out by the ultimately futile search- as is true in many cases- for the criminal and the resulting extension of feelings of corrosive guilt to everyone involved. 

“Trust” is an important play, not just for young people and their parents who need to be reminded how easily this kind of crime can occur but also for anyone who has been the victim of a sex crime or molestation because it does a wonderful job of showing that rape is rape, even if you were manipulated into participating in the crime. Perhaps, especially so, because the play demonstrates so effectively that the feeling of “I allowed this… it was my fault.” is an insidious virus given by the perpetrator that causes a victim and their family to spiral downward into dark prisons of guilt and accusation long after the crime has been committed. 

Kudos to David Schwimmer, a long standing proponent of Rape Advocacy for using his star power and time and effort to bring attention and illumination to such an important and difficult issue. In fact, Lookingglass’ production of “Trust” has teamed up with the Rape Victim Advocates in which a member will be available after each performance to inform those interested on sexual crime prevention and coping. For more information on their wonderful organization, visit www.rapevictimadvocate.org. 

For many years I have written about and feared the upcoming tsunami of child molestation and rape that the internet has made possible to pedophiles and am very impressed that David Schwimmer has had the guts to go out on a limb and create a vehicle to convey this.  I highly recommend seeing “Trust” and hope that in time it will become required viewing for grade school students aged 11 and up. “Trust” is playing at Lookingglass Theatre through April 25^th.  

 “An Evening with Patti Lupone and Mandy Patinkin”

You may ask, what is so entertaining about two singer/actors, simply dressed all in black with nothing on stage except a pianist, bass player and thirty or so antique stage lanterns? Plenty, when the two accomplished singer/actors are Toni Award winners Patti Lupone and Mandy Patinkin.

In today’s’ world of reality TV stars and American Idol making the study of the craft of theater acting seemingly obsolete, I am sometimes embarrassed to admit that I have a degree in Theatre Arts and Theatre History. However Patti Lupone and Mandy Patinkin demonstrated in one fantastically inspiring evening of theatre song and dance at the Cadillac Palace Theatre in downtown Chicago, that when you have talent of their caliber and are as wonderfully skilled in movement, comedy and drama as they are, all you need onstage are the stars themselves.

Mandy Patinkin absolutely wowed me with his stunning rendition of “Some Enchanted Evening” from South Pacific. At the end, Mandy hit a glorious falsetto on the last lines “Once you have found her, never let her go” that sounded just like the voice of a 1930’s radio show star. It has got to be the most delicious sound and interpretation of a classic song I have heard come out of a singer’s mouth this entire year. Mandy is also widely known to be one of the best interpreters alive today of Sondheim’s classic music.

Likewise, the adorable Patti Lupone, who still has an opera quality singing voice, showed her delightful mastery of comedy in “Not Getting Married Today” from the musical “Company”. Her heart wrenching and soul-stirring rendition of “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” from Gypsy one of her recent triumphs on Broadway also blew me away.

Together these two have such a great chemistry onstage- it sizzles and crackles like electricity- making the audience wonder what is going to happen next between these two and what could possibly keep them from falling into each others arms and making love right there on the stage!

I also loved the hysterically funny stage dance performed to Murray Grand’s “April in Fairbanks’, while seated in spinning office chairs, which was so cleverly choreographed by Anne Reinking.

Grace, humor, stunning voices, sex appeal, great songs and high romance, “An Evening with Patti Lupone and Mandy Patinkin” is an evening of high styled and masterfully delivered entertainment, not to be missed.

Watching Brian Dennehy, still as handsome, graceful and light on his feet at 71 as at 51, I have to ask myself in disbelief, has it really been twenty years since I last saw him perform on the Goodman stage in “The Iceman Cometh”?  It seems just like yesterday. The great thing about an actor’s actor like Dennehy, is the way he can utilize all the knowledge he has acquired during his long and illustrious career and still bring a freshness, a youthfulness, an energy and presence that is uniquely his own to every role. 

I recently ventured out to the Hemmens Theater in Elgin, a simple 45-minute drive from downtown Chicago to see one of my favorite rock performers, Rick Springfield, in action and was very pleased with the venue. First of all, the abundance of free and handicapped parking makes for easy entry and an economical night, now that ticket prices for concerts continue to soar.

The venue itself was well equipped with several bars to serve the crowd and drinks are allowed into the theatre. Also, there were lots of bathrooms for the ladies, which for some reason is still a problem in many area theatres at intermission time. 

The most important part of any concert venue is of course the sound and sightlines. I was a little further back - about halfway back towards the center of the house but the sound was still absolutely pristine. Although they could use one more aisle down the center to allow guest to move out of their rows to rest area more quickly, the seats themselves were roomy enough to allow you to enjoy the show and dance around a little without bumping elbows with fellow patrons.

Now that I know where the Hemmens is and how to get there quickly, I will definitely add it to my professional watch list for artists I cover in the future and you should too!

For more information on upcoming shows and directions check out the Hemmens.org website and get ready to rock!

Chicago Ford Center/Oriental Theatre

I really enjoyed this production starring Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth from start to finish.  The play opens with a wonderful group number celebrating daughter Wednesday’s transition from child to woman, in which her pigtails are ceremoniously removed and she is welcomed into the long history of the family tree. Her mother, Morticia, sensuously played by Bebe Neuwirth, reminds her of their hopelessly romantic family creed, which is what Wednesday must find in a mate, “Passionate and true, forever- even after death!”

The whole show centers on wonderful feminist themes of sexual and romantic awakening and reawakening for the various characters, especially the women. Mrs. Alice Beineke played by  Carolee Carmello, mother of Wednesday's (Krysta Rodriguez) new and scarily “normal” beau, has an absolutely show stopping number during “Double Jeopardy” wherein she realizes the love has gone completely out of her marriage. It is mournfully and masterfully sung and the audience responded in kind with long thunderous applause.

Some of the new musicals don’t have any songs that really stand alone and stick in your mind but the song” Let’s Not Talk About Anything but Love” which expresses Gomez’ eternal fixation on romance has a wonderful feel and lyrics reminiscent of classic Cole Porter.

There lots of genuine laughs courtesy of the accomplished Nathan Lane, and Grandmama played by Jackie Hoffman who consistently does excellent, very funny character work. She has a great line where she admits she smokes marijuana in the attic, but claims it’s medicinal - she has gingivitis!  Jackie says about the role, “I’m from an Orthodox Jewish home in Queens, and my first contact with the Addams Family was from paging through The New Yorker and finding those cartoons. They were just so weird and dark and smart and very funny. I think of Grandmama as having a thick European accent, maybe a bit senile, and always mixing some sort of potion. My costume? I’m kind of like some ancient hippie from Woodstock who wears a crazy poncho and cool granny glasses. And I can tell you, I use everything I ever learned from working at Second City in this part.”

One specific thing I was eagerly awaiting though which never materialized was a real dance number for Bebe Neuwirth, who played Morticia with beauty and sexy charm. I realize most musicals now are choreographed with the future touring company and long run in mind wherein the major dance moves are reserved for the chorus of dancers only in order to save wear and tear on the leads, but Bebe, also one of my favorite Jewish actresses, is well known as an accomplished dancer and still has the legs to prove it. When she finally rips the constrictive Morticia dress and Nathan exclaims in surprise, “You have legs!” I got ready for her showstopper, but alas it was just more of the very safe, simple easy dance moves watered down for her and Nathan and the chorus to sort of walk through.

The mostly older crowd of critics and fans at the Chicago World Premiere dug The Addams Family too, as was evidenced by their enthusiastic clapping along with the Addams family theme, na na na na- clap clap, at the end of the show. It made us all feel like a kid again, kids who came from our own crazy but loveable Addams families and lived to tell the tale!

Do you have a dream? The kind of dream that makes your whole family both respect your audacity and think you are crazy at the same time? The kind of dream that may take decades to fulfill, while quite possibly bankrupting your life savings?

If you have ever seen an All-Star basketball game with the “best of the best” passing, shooting and dribbling with uncanny ease - you know what it is like seeing the cast of Steppenwolf Theatre’s The Seafarer in action. 

Meet me in St. Louis, now running at The Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place through December 21^st, is an absolutely delightful production of one of my favorite shows.Imagine you are a young girl, newly in love and in love with one of the greatest and most advanced cities in the world.