Outstanding Performances Add to the Lasting Power and Pertinence of 'The Children's Hour' -- ChicagoTheater Review

Theater Review

The Children's Hour

a play by Lillian Hellman
directed by Derek Bertelsen

Pride Films & Plays
Collaboraction, Pentagon Theater

at the Flatiron Building, Chicago

Thru February 9
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I don't know what seems more astonishing, that The Children's Hour--a play about two teachers being accused of lesbianism by a student--was first staged 80 years ago or that it still seems entirely pertinent today.

While one hopes that those in the LGBT community are able to live their lives more freely and openly today, while encountering less bigotry, hatred and discrimination than likely existed in 1934--when homosexuality was more widely viewed as a sin, unnatural and was officially a crime in every U.S. state--one only has to look to the recent re-criminalization in India, bigoted comments by TV personalities and Russia's anti-gay laws to recognize that The Children's Hour surmises a controversy that is far from unthinkable in the 21st century.

Heck, in a single, 2-second Google search, I just found a current news story that sounds rather familiar to the play I saw on Saturday night for the first time. (I've also never seen the 1961 movie starring Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine.)

So while with its group of privileged teenage girls at a boarding school, headed by the particularly devilish Mary--wonderfully played here by Nora Lise Ulrey, who pretty much owns the first act--The Children's Hour couldn't help but feel a bit akin to an episode of Gossip Girl, Lillian Hellman's brave script touches on many themes with acute contemporary relevance and import.

To think that she penned it--supposedly, per Wikipedia, with the help of her longtime lover Dashiell Hammett--almost 20 years prior to Arthur Miller's similarly-themed The Crucible, only adds to the accomplishment, activism and verve inherent in Hellman's first successful play. I find it interesting to note on Wikipedia that the Jewish Hellman had lived in Bonn, Germany for a period in 1929, but left with the rise of Nazi anti-Semitism, later writing "Then for the first time in my life I thought about being a Jew."

So she obviously well understood the damage that mere accusation can inflict, even for doing or being something that isn't actually wrong.

And especially in the character of Mrs. Tilford (quite believably enacted by Joan McGrath), who is Mary's grandmother and the one who publicly raises issue with the teachers' supposed affair, Hellman's script resists easy demonization or melodrama.

It's rather adept in the way we see Mrs. Tilford's initial recognition of and resistance to the spiteful utterances of her beloved granddaughter, and--with some deference to 1934 mores--is only doing what she truly believes is in the best interests of the children.

It's also telling in the way Hellman makes the effect of whispers, gossip and accusation the thematic gist for most of the play--which director Derek Bertelsen deftly references with a few ethereal scenes of silent pantomime amongst the students--and only broaches the question of whether the teachers, Karen and Martha (brilliantly portrayed by Britni Tozzi and Whitney Morse), are actually lovers late in Act 2.

I feel somewhat silly critiquing the narrative merits of an 80-year-old
play, but not only is Pride Films &
Plays presenting a new production of a work I've never noticed being staged in & around Chicago, but in introducing me to this important drama, PFP impressively demonstrates just how far-reaching top-notch theatrical talent is throughout the Chicago area.

The show's venue is on the 3rd floor of the Flatiron building in Wicker Park, where Milwaukee, North and Damen intersect. The in-the-round space within the Pentagon Theater has about 50 seats, with--even with The Children's Hour consistently listed for just $15 on HotTix--only about half in use on a Saturday night. And like me, a friend of Tozzi's, it seemed many in the crowd were there because they knew someone in the cast.

But I assure you this isn't a "Nice job, pal, you and everyone else were just swell" review graded on a curve. Another avid theatergoer who attended with me agreed that many of the performances, though likely given for little or no remuneration, were truly splendid in service to a first-rate play.

Certainly, I was thrilled to witness the truly wondrous work by Britni Tozzi, who winds up with mascara smeared all across her lovely face in grippingly embodying Karen's myriad emotions, particularly within powerful dialogues with fiancé Joe (Nelson Rodriguez, also quite stellar) and Martha.

But I was also immensely impressed by several others in the cast, including Morse, Ulrey, McGrath, Rodriguez, Michelle McKenzie Voigt (as Lily Mortar, Martha's aunt and a school employee) and Nathalie Mendez as Rosalie, the most prominent of the schoolgirls besides Mary.

I won't pretend I'm above putting in a plug for the estimable work of a friend--and feel it worth noting that Tozzi has been hailed elsewhere (including the Chicago Reader), impressively runs an African relief organization with her fiancé and allowed me to profile her here--but, especially at HotTix prices, you can take this recommendation completely at face value.

Even if you don't know anyone in the cast, you would be well-served to familiarize yourself with The Children's Hour and this excellent production.

---
This 1934 play reminded me a bit of a terrific--and newly Oscar-nominated--2012 Danish film called The Hunt, about a kindergarten aide accused of improprieties due to a lie by a student, who happens to be his best friend's daughter. Well worth your time.

'Elf the Musical' is Charmingly Cheery but Not All That Grand of Stature -- Chicago Theater Review

Theater Review

Elf the Musical 

Music by Matthew Sklar

Lyrics by Chad Beguelin

Cadillac Palace, Chicago

Thru December 15

@@@1/2

I have never seen the movie Elf, not expressly because I am Jewish nor because it stars Will Ferrell (I am told it is one of his better ones).

But there have been a number of screen-to-stage adaptations I've greatly enjoyed despite not having previously seen the source movie--including Hairspray, The Producers, Kinky Boots and the seasonally-relevant A Christmas Story.

In some ways, without discounting the pleasure any good movie can provide, I almost prefer not to be familiar with the movie when seeing the stage version, especially in my role as a self-anointed critic.

If I and others are paying to see a live show, it should hold up as its own work of art, not merely a brand-name way to sell tickets. Although it should be noted that on Tuesday, the first night of Elf's national tour stop in Chicago, the balcony at the Cadillac Palace was as full as I've seen it in recent memory.

Photo credits: Amy Boyle Photography

And with the caveat that I am a Broadway in Chicago subscriber who didn't pay much, nor anew, to see Elf, I didn't feel cheated in any way. Elf will not rank among the best musicals I've seen this year, or even this month, but it was fun, festive and sufficiently tuneful. From it, I can imagine that the movie is likewise enjoyable if not sensational.

With Broadway Book of Mormon veteran Will Blum appealing in the lead role, Elf features a nice score by Matthew Sklar, with lyrics by Chad Beguelin. The two collaborated on The Wedding Singer musical and know their way around a professional showtune.

"Christmastown" and "A Christmas Song," are upbeat odes to the holiday season, while "Nobody Cares About Santa" is an imaginative, terrifically-sardonic piece sung by a host of world-weary department store Santas in a late-night Chinese restaurant in New York City.

Without knowing how much of the book came directly from the movie, I also was impressed--to a certain extent--by the work done by Thomas Meehan and Bob Martin. But the former had worked on The Producers and Hairspray and the latter The Drowsy Chaperone, so that they knew how to make Elf appealing without taking itself too seriously doesn't come as much of a surprise.

If one is looking for a enjoyable holiday musical, whether for the family, without such or just for ones'Elf, this warmhearted work should put a smile on your face.

Yes, it ultimately is rather facile, schmaltzy and even formulaic--I imagine the movie is too--and not every song or production number is a winner. But Blum does a nice job, as does Lindsay Nicole Chambers as Elf's love interest and Larry Cahn as his father.

I am certainly no worse off for having seen Elf nor having it included in my subscription series, and while @@@1/2 doesn't connote a rave review, it was actually considerably better than I was envisioning.

Per my ratings scale, @@@1/2 does denote a show somewhere between good and excellent, and both the piece itself and this touring production fit comfortably into that range.

I might even have to see the movie now.

Stellar Observations, Strong Performances Make 'Stella & Lou' Rather Likable -- Chicago Theater Review

Theater Review

Stella & Lou
a play by Bruce Graham
directed by BJ Jones
Northlight Theatre, Skokie
Thru June 9
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There have been few television characters more caustically nasty--in a wonderful way--than Carla Tortelli of Cheers, played for all 11 seasons by Rhea Perlman, who won four Emmys for doing so.

In Bruce Graham's new play, Stella & Lou, which is world premiering at Skokie's Northlight Theatre, Perlman again spends her time in a bar and at times approaches being caustic, but as Stella--a long-divorced Philadelphia nurse who seeks a romance with bar owner Lou (played by Francis Guinan)--she is far from nasty.

Yet still quite wonderful.

As is the always outstanding Guinan, a Steppenwolf ensemble member I've seen in several shows.

Together, these two fine actors--along with a third, Ed Flynn, of the Gift Theatre Company--make a play that doesn't offer much in the way of surprise nonetheless eminently entertaining.

Especially as the 85-minute drama, with a good bit of comedy and romance, proceeds in directions one might readily guess, I won't reveal too much of the storyline.

Essentially it is a play about its title characters, with Flynn's Donnie having a bit of narrative of his own but largely serving to break up the dialogue between Stella and Lou.

Lou's is an old-time Philadelphia bar that its owner seemingly runs by himself primarily for loyal, serious-drinking patrons, of which Donnie is one even if several years younger than the norm.

Which is somewhat how I felt catching this show at a Wednesday matinee, where I believe I was the youngest audience member by at least 20 years.

But having loved Graham's previous play at Northlight, The Outgoing Tide--which was the best play I saw in 2011--and being able to avail myself of a $20 day-of-show discount ticket, I was happy to be among a mature audience, especially given the subject matter of Stella & Lou.

The Outgoing Tide, which starred John Mahoney and Rondi Reed, premiered at Northlight and went on to play at the Galway Arts Festival last summer in Ireland. There, Perlman caught it thanks to Mahoney, who had done a guest spot on Cheers before playing Martin Crane on Frasier (a Cheers spinoff).

As revealed in this Tribune interview with Perlman and in the program for Stella & Lou, although Rhea had met Northlight artistic director and Outgoing Tide/Stella & Lou director BJ Jones after the performance in Ireland, it was through another Cheers castmate--George Wendt--that she was eventually cast as Stella.

Wendt was supposed to star in The Odd Couple at Northlight last fall, but had to drop out during rehearsals due to heart issues.

Jones had commissioned Graham to write Stella & Lou for Northlight after the success of The Outgoing Tide, and had mentioned to Wendt that he could envision Perlman in the role. Wendt told Perlman and faster than she could insult Diane, Rebecca or Cliff--OK, not quite--here she is.

Though it does not have the same heft or gravitas as The Outgoing Tide, a drama that revolves around Alzheimer's disease, Stella & Lou works not only because of the work of Perlman, Guinan and Flynn, but because in depicting a late-in-life romance, Graham's script is plenty smart, even if not exceedingly novel.

I imagine many in the audience could likely relate to issues of carrying on after losing a spouse, appreciating companionship, resisting commitment and contemplating moving to Florida.

And perhaps more pertinent to the young whippersnappers in the crowd--well, me, I guess, at 44--through Stella, Graham makes some savvy observations about Facebook, texting and the digital age that largely parallel my thoughts on how face-to-face communication is being corrupted.

So while Stella & Lou isn't quite The Outgoing Tide, or even a particularly terrific episode of Cheers, it offers a lot to like.

And particularly for just $20, but even a good bit more, its title characters and the wonderful actors who play them, prove to be a couple worth getting to know.

Does Anyone Here Remember Vera Stark? Play's Focus on Black & White Hollywood Feels a Bit Gray -- Chicago Theater Review

Theater Review

By The Way, Meet Vera Stark
by Lynn Nottage
Directed by Chuck Smith
Goodman Theatre, Chicago
Thru June 2
@@@1/2

By the way, the recent play titled By The Way, Meet Vera Stark, has several admirable qualities.

It is inventively written by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Lynn Nottage. It is thematically substantive, about how African-American actors and actresses have largely been marginalized in Hollywood. Despite a poignant topic, it is often quite humorous. And while the first act of the 2-1/2 hour play is better than the second, Vera Stark--the play, and the fictional actress personified at the Goodman by the beautiful Tamberla Perry--is never less than watchable.

But while there is plenty that is good about it, somehow the sum of its parts never reaches the level of greatness.

Though there is savvy writing throughout, I can't say I ever found Meet Vera Stark all that pointed, informative or engrossing.

With the play set in Hollywood over three time periods, Act I takes place in 1933. Gloria Mitchell, played by Kara Zediker, is a vacuous starlet--"America's little sweetheart"--and Vera Stark is her maid.

As the play opens, Vera is helping Gloria memorize lines for an audition for a historical epic called The Belle of New Orleans. It is instantly clear that Vera is just as talented and appealing as Gloria, if not more so, but as the play develops--including interactions with the movie director and studio head--it becomes clear that even if Vera can be "discovered," she will be relegated to playing a slave and (in the future) other subordinate roles designated to keep African-American actors on the periphery.

But while it entertains, raises some contemplative issues and features good performances throughout--from Perry, Zediker, TaRon Patton as Vera's roommate Lottie, Chiké Johnson as her paramour Leroy, Patrick Clear as the studio chief, Ron Rains as the director and Amelia Workman as a friend of Vera and Lottie--the first act feels like a preface. We are led to the point where Vera should get her shot in the movies, but not past it.

Which makes Act II feel like a post-script.

It opens with a rather long movie clip showing Gloria and Vera essentially reprising their real-life roles on screen in The Belle of New Orleans.

I was somewhat surprised with where Nottage and director Chuck Smith take the second act, which features characters in 1993 referencing events in 1973, from which Vera harkens back to 1933 and the years since.

So I won't reveal much about the formatting of Act II, but while rather inventive in itself, with funny flashbacks to '70s fashion, TV, rock stardom and more, it felt a good bit lesser than Act I and didn't add to my tempered enjoyment of By the Way, Meet Vera Stark.

It's clear that there is something important in the gist of what Nottage is trying to say through the character of Vera Stark, but while the play has enough moments to be worthwhile at a subscriber or discount price (HotTix, Goodman box office), the sum of its parts just doesn't feel that legendary.

Nottage has put together a website supporting Vera's backstory at meetverastark.com. It's a nice complement to the play, and can open one's eyes to the central themes even without getting to the Goodman.

Digging 'The Motherf**ker with the Hat' -- Chicago Theater Review

Theater Review

The Motherf**ker with the Hat
a play by Stephen Adly Guirgis
Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago
Thru March 3
@@@@

As one is well-reminded on every visit, Steppenwolf Theatre features an impressive ensemble including many marquee names—John Malkovich, Gary Sinise, Joan Allen, Gary Cole, Laurie Metcalf, John Mahoney, William Petersen and more—the first four of whom haven’t been seen on its stage in many a year.

So it’s interesting that coming off a year in which Steppenwolf’s productions did not match the Goodman Theatre’s for star power—i.e. Nathan Lane, Brian Dennehy and Diane Lane—in staging The Motherf**ker with the Hat, Steppenwolf opted to bring in noted TV actor Jimmy Smits to play the role of Ralph.

I’m not saying that Malkovich, Sinise, Cole or Petersen should’ve played the role; none may have been ideal for a character Stephen Adly Guirgis’ script seemingly imbues with urban flavor. But along with noting that on Broadway—where the show, like here, was directed by Steppenwolf ensemble member Anna D. Shapiro—Ralph was played by Chris Rock, after seeing the show at a Sunday matinee, it seems somewhat noteworthy that…

Jimmy Smits is not the star.

This isn’t to say that he isn’t good, nor physically imposing nor that Ralph doesn’t get substantial stage time. But considerably more central is the character of Jackie, played in Chicago by John Ortiz.

And while Smits is good, Ortiz is superb.

Photo credit: Michael Brosilow, steppenwolf.org

This isn’t all that surprising when one notes that A) Guirgis claims to have written the role for Ortiz as part of New York’s LAByrinth Theater Co., which Ortiz co-founded with Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and B) Ortiz can be seen doing terrific work as Bradley Cooper’s best friend in the Oscar nominated movie Silver Lining’s Playbook.

Competing with Ortiz for the best thing about The Mofo with the Hat—with no disrespect meant to Smits or the other three cast members, who are all demonstrably stellar, nor the script itself—is Todd Rosenthal’s amazingly inventive and functional set design, which seamlessly rotates and flips between three different apartment interiors.

The first flat is the one that Jackie—an ex-con and recovering addict—shares with his beautiful but drug-addled girlfriend Veronica, sassily played by Sandra Delgado. Their lives intertwine with Ralph (Smits), who is Jackie’s AA sponsor and married, tempestuously, to Victoria (Sandra Marquez). The third apartment belongs to Jackie’s cousin Julio (Gary Perez), who seems to be both outwardly gay and outwardly married to a woman, although we never see her.

The 100-minute play works as a series of dialogues—and occasional trialogues—between Jackie and Veronica, Jackie and Ralph, Ralph and Victoria, Jackie and Julio (and Ralph), etc., in the various apartments.

There is much humor and much profanity, and in presenting people suffering under the weight of addiction and the economy yet struggling for love, in modern-day non-Manhattan NYC, The Motherf**ker with the Hat is never less than entertaining. Especially if you can snag a $20 day-of-show discount ticket like I did—Steppenwolf still graciously offers 20 for each performance, even with a star like Smits in tow—I recommend that you see it.

Photo credit: Michael Brosilow, steppenwolf.org

But on a first encounter with this piece, after which I valued Steppenwolf’s regular post show discussion, I’m not sure I properly appreciated whatever depth was beneath the surface. I understand that Guirgis is showing us that regardless of one’s station in life, the same issues with which we can all identify—love, friendship, loyalty, family, truth, etc.—still apply.

And I think I get the point that regardless of the reasons for the bleakness of one’s situation, it is pretty universal to fight through it. The problem I had with The Motherf**ker with the Hat is that although I liked all the performances, I’m not sure I liked any of the characters enough to really care what might happen to them after the play ends.

In other words, I liked the drama as it was unfolding, but wasn’t left with much to ponder afterwards. Which is why this Motherf**ker gets @@@@ and not more.

Onstage, 'It's a Wonderful Life' Has a Worthwhile Existence, By George -- Chicago Theater Review

Theater Review

It's A Wonderful Life: The Radio Play
American Theater Company, Chicago
Run Ended
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I have long loved Frank Capra's classic 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life and have seen it several times, although not during this holiday season.

But until this year, I have never been prompted--nor even much tempted--to attend a Christmastime "radio play" of the famed movie, even though they have seemingly been a Chicago staple for several years.

In 2012 (and perhaps previously), not one but two theater companies in Chicago--American Theater Company and American Blues Theater--staged It's a Wonderful Life: The Radio Play within 2 miles of each other. I had read good things about both, but decided to go to the ATC version because the great Mike Nussbaum was in the cast.

Mind you, I went on the day before the run ended (for both troupes) so this review isn't going to help you much, unless when the chance to see this unique reading of It's a Wonderful Life rolls around next winter, like me you may be latently inspired to go.

While I wouldn't call it essential theater, the 90-minute staging was well-done and rather fun, particularly for a HotTix discount. Except for a few kids in the audience, I imagine most attendees were well-acquainted with the movie, which while perhaps not mandatory to enjoy the radio play, certainly added to the experience.

As I alluded to when I reviewed Freud's Last Session, any chance you get to see Nussbaum on stage is a treat. Here he "played" both Clarence and Mr. Potter, as well as other characters. As the terminology "radio play" references, It's a Wonderful Life is not acted out like a theatrical drama, but rather the movie script is read on stage (not quite line-for-line), with an occasional bit of acting.

Though it's enjoyable, and even heartwarming, to be reminded of the movie's storyline, what makes this work as theater is the pretense of taking place in a radio studio, circa 1948. Along with the voice actors, there is an emcee, stagehands, a foley (sound effects) artist and a pianist.

Everyone in the ATC version did a nice job, but along with Nussbaum, Cliff Chamberlain--who I've seen in several shows over the years--is demonstrably good as George Bailey. He channels Jimmy Stewart just enough for it to feel right, but not to the point that it seems overly gimmicky.

Sadieh Rifai likewise handles the Mary part quite nicely, embodying the character to the point where you feel the affection between her and George, while still straddling the line of being a voice actor, rather than fully acting out the part.

In what has been another highly enjoyable year of theater going--see my rundown of the Best Plays and Musicals I saw in 2012--this was a nice way to close it out.

And if you missed it, I imagine It's a Wonderful Life: The Radio Play will get its wings again next year. And of course, you can just watch the movie, which like Clarence--and Mike Nussbaum--never seems to get old.