CONVERSATIONS FTA - CHRIS JONES - NOVEMBER 19, 2013

CHRIS JONES
author of
Bigger, Brighter, Louder: 150 Years of Chicago Theater as seen by "Chicago Tribune" Critics
University of Chicago Press (October 4, 2013)

Chris Jones, chief theater critic and a Sunday culture columnist for the Chicago Tribune, joined the conversation at the Hubbard Inn on November 19, 2013 to discuss his new book. 

Also featured in this episode of CONVERSATIONS FTA (From The Archives) is a performance by World War II veteran JUDY BRUBAKER, who played the role of Ms. Leach in the original Chicago cast of Grease in 1971.

CHRIS JONES on Claudia Cassidy and Richard Christiansen ... “The Tribune had two critics who held the job for most of the 20th century … one of them was Claudia Cassidy and one was Richard Christiansen. … They were very different critics. One was largely despised by the people she covered and one was largely beloved by the people he covered. One was known for vitriolic prose – horribly nasty prose in some cases, by today’s standards anyway – and one was known for a certain courtly gentlemanly understanding. And yet, both of them at their different periods of time, seemed to give this city what it really needed.”

PODCAST   LIBSYN   STITCHER  ITUNES

BUY THE BOOK: HERE
READ MORE ABOUT GREASE HERE

NEW YEAR. NEW OUTLOOK.

During a light-hearted conversation this week, a friend told me that their first 2017 resolution was to complete all of their unmet 2016 resolutions. On some level, that is how we may all feel about making these kinds of commitments to ourselves.

I decided to take a different course in 2017 and it doesn’t involve reexamining whatever I didn’t get done last year. I’m scraping the “New Year’s Resolution” timetable in favor of a new improved path. In truth, I have been following something like this for several years, but as these few weeks are a time for reflection, I realized that I was being hard on myself and ultimately on others around me.

Over the years of trying to achieve my resolutions, if I was confused or sad, I would eat, so the diet resolution was compromised. Although I walk daily, the fact is that I may never again exercise as much as I should. So then the guilt starts to seep in. And then there’s the addiction to sugar, something my late friend John Callaway told me about several years ago. I dismissed it at the time, but it is very real.

Particularly to people of a certain age ... of which I am, as it turns out, one.

I never thought that I would become a person of a certain age, but now that I am one, I’m quite happy about it. I wish that I could do all the things to excess that I used to do, but I can’t. My system won’t allow it and, frankly, all of those excesses were, well, excessive.

So, the conversation continues. Over the past year, we have explored life through the eyes of actors, artists and entrepreneurs. We heard how art, music, dance and theatre is created … what the important steps are in developing new work … learned about musical comedy, character development, long-running success and explored all the various forms of social media that allow us to communicate with each other, even if we don’t want to communicate with each other.

While the old notion to move the ball down the field is still present, I am eager to get others on the team to help improve the game. In this new year, I have a new outlook -- more positive, assertive, with sights fixed on building a bigger base and having more fun, all the time.

That’s what I want to talk about this year and I hope we can have many more conversations along the way.  

DE USURIS

MR & MRS PENNYWORTH now playing at Lookingglass Theatre through February 19th WEBSITE  TICKETS

THE TALL GIRLS - SHATTERED GLOBE The world-premiere of Meg Miroshnik's new play at Theater Wit in previews beginning January 12 WEBSITE TICKETS

BEN HOLLIS

BEN HOLLIS - How The Beatles Nearly Ruined My Life and David Bowie Saved It Skokie Theatre
Sat, Jan 21 - 8 pm; Sun, Jan 22 - 2 pm. TICKETS    

SKOKIE IDOL begins January 28, 2017 WEBSITE
 

THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS - Porchlight Music Theatre Opens February 3rd at Stage 773. WEBSITE  TICKETS

Winter’s Jazz Club is Chicago's newest jazz room in Streeterville. Abigail Riccards, Paul Marinaro WEBSITE Howard Reich READ

Chicago's Theater Week is coming in February. WEBSITE

Frank Sesno's Ask More – WEBSITE – BUY

Winston Groom's El Paso – From the best-selling author of Forrest Gump. 

WEBSITE - BUY

Building Chicago by John Zukowsky should be in everyone's collection. Listen to our live program from the Chicago History Museum HERE

A BOY NAMED MAX - A NIGHT AT THE STEINWAY PIANO GALLERY

Max Lai - Steinway Piano Gallery

After discovering the Steinway Piano Gallery in Hinsdale and speaking with Diane Duncan and Andree Marie Hancock, it was a pleasure to attend the recent holiday recital of Steinway Artist Jue He’s students on December 8th. It was a two-concert evening series with a couple dozen performers ranging in age from 4 to 15. The place was bursting with pride and admiration with a healthy amount of encouragement and goodwill to go around.

And, it is important to mention that these students get to perform their selections on an exquisite 9 foot Steinway concert grand piano. It all takes place in the bright, well-appointed 50-seat performance area that the Gallery provides to piano instructors free of charge. There is no doubt that it is the thrill of a lifetime for these budding musical artists to perform here. It just may be the catalyst that Steinway was hoping for all along to keep these students on a path to bigger and better things. As the old saying goes: “Do you know how to get to Carnegie Hall?” *

Something I did not count on was the amazing talent of every young person I heard at the recital. They are all immortalized on my personal digital recorder and Jue has a You-Tube channel dedicated to her student performances that you can visit to hear more.  

Our conversation with Diane Duncan includes an overview of what Steinway is doing to support young artists and families. We also talk about teaching techniques with Jue. The highlight, however, is the performance and discussion with a 12 year-old boy named Max Lai who has given me reason to believe that the next generation of performing artists is a very talented lot indeed.

* Practice.

Performances on this episode of Conversations with Ed Tracy include:

Snowflake Rag by Nancy Faber performed by Abigail Wong

Rhapsody in G Sharp Minor by Johannes Brahms performed by Max Lai

Special Thanks to Diane Duncan and Andree Marie Hancock.

AMERICAN BLUES THEATER - IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: Live in Chicago!

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No holiday season is complete without a visit back to Bedford Falls with George and Mary Bailey, Bert and Ernie, Mr. Potter, and an angel named Clarence. Frank Capra’s classic film, It’s A Wonderful Life, is the timeless and endearing story that tells the importance of one life to lives of others.

A holiday tradition not to be missed, and 15 years in the making is, It’s A Wonderful Life: Live in Chicago! The American Blues Theater's production is a show for the entire family, set on stage in the style of a 1940’s radio broadcast with an original score, Foley sound effects and holiday songs. There’s something to comfort everyone here … right down to the milk and cookies served by the cast.  

The production is directed by Wendy Whiteside, Producing Artistic Director since 2010, who has played the role of Mary six times over the years. In that time, the Joseph Jefferson Award recipient and nominee has led a remarkable period of artistic growth and professional recognition for the 37-member Ensemble whose mission is to explore the American identity through the plays it produces and the communities it serves.

Wendy Whiteside, and Foley artist and designer, Shawn J. Goudie, joined the conversation on December 8th to tell us more about their wonderful lives in Chicago … and Bedford Falls.  PODCAST

Wendy on directing a live radio play …

“Most important thing when you tell a story live on stage is to be present in the moment … We direct our actors to be in the moment with this audience as well as the listening audience at home. Sometimes the actors will break the fourth wall and look into the audience … and sometimes they will direct the entire piece into the mic and close their eyes and imagine they have an audience member at home in their pajamas on the couch with hot cocoa.”

 What It’s A Wonderful Life means to her …

 “… Every season I am reminded of how important every single soul is to the present time we are living in.”

 Shawn Goudie "The Foley Guy" ... 

“It is such a wonderful art form and a lot of it, in fact, does still occur in films and radio as well … but you just do not think about it as much … It is easier for a one-person show to run things on an app but if you have the ability and the tools to do it … there is nothing like the crispness of that live sound.”

Live sound effects demonstration …

SG: Clarence leaping off the bridge to save George, and George subsequently jumping off to save him.

CUE FOLEY - WATER EFFECTS

ET: I feel like I’m right at home in my bath tub.

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2017 SEASON - The American Blues Theater presents It’s A Wonderful Life: Live in Chicago! from November 16, 2017 to January 6, 2018  at the Stage 773. WEBSITE BOX OFFICE: (773) 327-5252

BILL LARKIN - KNOWING YOUR AUDIENCE

Somewhere between the on-stage chaos of his physical comedic persona and the satire laced lyrics and music of his one-man show, there is a wonderfully funny and madcap place that Bill Larkin calls home.

An accomplished and award-winning stage actor, comedian, club performer and writer, Larkin now has his sights firmly fixed on the release this week of his new comic album, Bill Larkin-Knowing Your Audience, recorded live at the Green Mill in Chicago. If you were lucky enough to have been there, you already know that Larkin’s humor is fresh, edgy, perceptive and highly charged. It could be rated “M” for “Mature” or “Manic” … take your pick.

Larkin’s stage credits in Chicago in recent years are extraordinary. He received his first Joseph Jefferson Award as Principal Actor in Porchlight’s A Class Act in 2013, and nominated again for A Funny Thing That Happened on the Way to the Forum in 2015.  This year, he appeared as Max Bialystock in Mercury Theatre’s The Producers.

All this followed a multi-year career of theatre including Disney’s Aladdin at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Broadway in Chicago and shows at Second City, Davenport’s, the Green Mill and on television in Chicago PD and Comedy Central. Along the way, he has performed for 16 years at Howl at the Moon.

Bill Larkin joined the conversation on December 5th, 2016 to talk about how knowing your audience could help you to find out more about yourself.

SUBSCRIBE AND HEAR THIS PROGRAM ON: ITUNES & STITCHER
BUY|DOWNLOAD BILL LARKIN'S KNOWING YOUR AUDIENCE: HERE

On his award-winning role as Ed Kleban in Porchlight’s A Class Act …

“As I’m rehearsing and reading through the script and getting to know who Ed Kleban was … older, balding gentleman who was a songwriter, very neurotic, had his own problems ... I thought ‘This is perfect for me. Where do I sign?!’ …  It was very odd how this show came to be at the time it came to be. I was going through my own issues at the time and the show was like therapy ... I felt like I was throwing myself into this performance trying to be true to Ed Kleban but throwing a lot of myself into it … It’s amazing how much I saw myself in him … amazing cast … amazing performance and Porchlight, you know, they do the best.”

The Pink Hippo Effect ...         

“I tend to find roles, like the genie in Aladdin, that are very exhausting. I kind of call it the ‘pink hippo effect’ because I used to work at Disney world, and I was in a parade.  It was Fantasia themed, and they needed someone to be the pink hippo … huge costume, huge dress …  It’s a huge undertaking and no one else wanted to do it because they thought it would be tiring and, of course, me, I was like ‘I’ll do it!’ because I saw how silly the role could be. You just go out on the street and lift your dress and everyone laughs. I’m like ‘yay!’ … and it did take a toll … I still do that to this day. I take roles that are fun undertakings, but you quickly learn that you have to pace yourself … Forum, The Producers and Aladdin were like that. I was entering my 40s at that time, and you find out if you do not pace yourself, it will take a toll later.”

Early influence …

“I owned a lot of Tom Lehrer albums growing up. He has been my biggest influence.  As a kid I would listen to his songs,  and I wouldn’t understand half of what he was saying … all I knew was that the audience was laughing … he was sitting at a piano, saying things that made them laugh… and I thought ‘that’s what I want to do.’”

On Matt Crowle …

“I was in awe of him in Forum but Producers …  I would watch on the sidelines as he would do “I Want to Be a Producer” …  and I would listen to the audience’s reaction, I mean he may well be, I think he is, the most joyous performer I have ever seen … I would watch him in Bye Bye Birdie at Drury Lane and just grin from ear to ear watching him … watching his facial expressions, watching his dance moves, watching the joy that he has. It is infectious.”

What to expect from his new album Bill Larkin-Knowing Your Audience …

“This album is different from the first one … which was on the clean side … as I got older I thought ‘I’m a bit angrier now’ … it’s very therapeutic to write about something I’m  not happy about and some of my stuff is Facebook rants set to music … a lot of these songs … there is definitely language … it definitely reflects the time … I’m very proud of the album because while there are songs about silly things here and there … there is a lot of myself in it … maybe too much of myself, but that’s what I like too. I’m breaking down walls … I’m very happy about it.”

On his song titled “Making a Difference” …

“You write what you know about ... one thing I know about is being online for too long … we write out how we feel online … you are venting … after a while you feel like ‘I’m really helping others in doing this. My taking a stand online is all I really need to do’ and of course that is not the case. It is called “Making a Difference” because we feel as if we are, but the actual ‘making a difference’ is leaving the house, going out there, volunteering, holding up a sign that says how you feel, contributing in a meaningful way. A post is a post, and it disappears in a few minutes.  You get a few likes and you are like ‘oh I have done my part.’ No, no you have not. To actually make a difference requires a bit more.”

VISIT: BILLLARKIN.COM     BUY|DOWNLOAD CD: HERE

ERICA LYNETTE EDWARDS AND THE JOFFREY BALLET: INSPIRING STUDENTS THROUGH DANCE

On December 10th, the Joffrey Ballet opens a new version of The Nutcracker at the Auditorium Theatre. The highly-anticipated production, commissioned by the ballet company and penned by Brian Selznick, is under the direction of Tony Award winning choreographer, Christopher Wheeldon. 
 
In Chicago and across the nation, The Nutcracker’s large cast provides a place for emerging dancers at every level. Considering that the Joffrey’s ambitious community engagement program headed by longtime company member and ballerina, Erica Lynette Edwards starts out with four-year-olds, it is no wonder that there is lots of excitement about Wheeldon's world premiere production, set in Chicago just before the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. 
 
Erica joined the conversation on Nov. 8 to talk about the Joffrey Ballet’s outreach program, how influential dance can be on young people’s lives and how to keep grounded when you are always on your toes.  

Listen to podcast HERE

Erica on the importance of community outreach ... 
“Some communities are not familiar with our work, and they hear the word ballet and are turned off a little bit … We are proud that we do not just bring ballet to our schools. We bring multiple dance styles, and students are surprised once we start moving that even though they are learning ballet, they are also learning emotional skills, building self-confidence, they are disciplined … We are looking to excite them by giving them a chance to dance and also enriching their lives by showing them something new that they might not have experienced before.”  
 
The importance of thinking ahead as a dancer …
“A challenge for dancers is 'what are you going to do next' … If you do not become a professional dancer a lot of people are like ‘what do I do now?’ And even people who are professional dancers, when you are done you are like ‘what do I do now?’… Don’t become a ‘bun head.’ I would say you have to figure out what other things you enjoy ... where do your passions lie and continue to do that at the same time you are dancing … I think it is important to think toward the future because when you are young and living your dream you don’t think of much else.”

Her inspiration …
“I was four when I saw the Nutcracker for the first time … My mother said I loved the show so much that she put me in dance classes … Just by seeing the Nutcracker I was excited and wanted to partake in ballet, and we are trying to ignite that same flame in our students starting at kindergarten.”
 
What does the future look like …
“… We are excited to look forward and see how many kids we can impact with our programming because we have already seen such beautiful change from the students we work with right now.”

Purchase Nutcracker Tickets HERE
More on the Joffrey Ballet HERE

BUILDING CHICAGO - LIVE AT THE CHICAGO HISTORY MUSEUM

Expert Panel Discusses John Zukowsky's Book at the
Chicago History Museum

A new and extraordinary addition to the great body of work about architectural history in Chicago is now available and should have a prominent place in every public and private collection. At just over 300 pages, John Zukowsky’s Building Chicago: The Architectural Masterworks, published by Rizzoli, covers the sweeping history of Chicago with fresh scholarly commentary and hundreds of images – many from the Chicago History Museum’s vast collection.
 
John Zukowsky, Lee Bey and Rolf Achilles joined the conversation on Thursday, October 20th, 2016 at the national launch of Building Chicago to discuss the evolving landscape of Chicago architecture in the 20th century. 

Rolf Achilles on what has influenced Chicago architecture …
“… Chicago was this amazing vacuum that just sucked everything up … It was also the fastest growing city in 1833. There were 350 people here and by 1900 it was 1.5 million. Well, that 1.5 million needed stuff that the 350 did not. So you have 70 mad years, and that’s what you can see … how architecture affects culture but culture affects architecture too.”
 
Lee Bey on his favorite architect …
“I like modernism … I like the work of Mies van der Rohe … obviously Crown Hall. I like late Mies … Hotel Langham now, the former IBM building … but I like the clarity … how rational the design is.”

John Zukowsky on Chicago and American Modernism …
“What’s interesting to me about Chicago modernism, and it’s true with American modernism … you always think of modernism as being just one solution … in reality it’s about 20 to 30 individual solutions. Every modern building has a different feel and a different look to it … and that’s the same when you look at buildings in Chicago … what I like about that is not just the discipline and rationalism but the variety of expressions that everybody else had around the country.”
 
Bey on growing the city …
“There are two Chicagos. There’s a central area … Cermak to North Avenue, the lake to Halsted and outside that there’s another Chicago where population loss is happening that we need to fix. We have to grow the city …. the central area is going to be taken care of … but we have to figure out the south and west sides of the city … how to get people there, how to grow the population…  put houses, buildings, factories, office buildings, the whole mix in this area.”

Achilles on why other cities have surpassed Chicago …
 “They are all using the Chicago tradition to get in to the future, and we’re not in the same way … it’s not the architecture that’s the problem. It’s the socio-economic state. It’s the politicians … those with a semblance of authority that can make the rules, and they’re not making very interesting rules … It’s like in the 1910’s and 1920’s, Chicago imposed a height limit on its buildings because they were scared you couldn’t get out of a building in a fire. Well, New York wasn’t afraid of that and surpassed Chicago. New York becomes ‘skyscraperville’ and Chicago is this ‘little stubby town in the prairies.’”
 
Zukowsky on who we will be talking about in 100 years …
“I’d include the classics [Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright] … I’d put in pioneers of the 70’s and 80’s Bruce Gray … Stanley Tigerman … Richard Nickel … Harry Weese … Jeanne Gang … I think you’ll also be talking about other architects who built here …  We tend to forget about that especially in the 90's. Foreign architects and New York architects were building here … We’ll be talking about Norman Foster [and] the Apple store ... I think he’s a great architect … so it’s great to have something of his work here, no doubt about it.”

Our thanks to the generous sponsors Bulley & Andrews, Eli's Cheesecake, Rizzoli and the Chicago History Museum.

Listen to Entire Podcast HERE
Purchase Building Chicago HERE

STEVE SCOTT - GOOD TIMES AT THE GOODMAN

Ebenezer Scrooge, Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim return for the Goodman Theatre’s 39th annual production of A Christmas Carol from November 19th through Dec 31st, 2016. According to Goodman Producer Steve Scott, who has directed three of those productions in his 36-year career with the Goodman, the holiday classic is a labor of love.

Scott’s directing talents are in high demand as well, currently directing at Eclipse Theatre and Redtwist Theatre in Chicago. He is a multiple Joseph Jefferson Award nominee and his work has been recognized with an After Dark Award, the Illinois Theatre Association’s Award of Honor and others.

Steve Scott joined the conversation on October 24th to talk about the summer and fall seasons, Bob Fall’s extraordinary contribution as artistic director and the theatre community’s support for Season of Concern. 

Listen to the podcast on
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Steve Scott on the 2016 - 39th Annual - production of A Christmas Carol ...
"It’s like coming back to an old friend … now a 39 year-old friend. Christmas Carol is perhaps the production we work the most on each year, so we’ve been celebrating this Christmas since January 1st of this year.ma It’s a great story. It’s nice to have new actors in the roles some years and to have returning actors come back … it really gets to you. As many times as I’ve seen it and have directed it, it still moves me."

Which one would you be?  Past, Present and Future ...
"Hopefully, present. I try not to concern myself too much with the past, and there’s nothing you can do about the future except to do what you can in the present, so I try to live each day as you live it and make it count."

On the influence of Robert Falls ...
"When Robert Falls started as Artistic Director in 1986, he brought a more complete vision to the Goodman and what we provided to our community in Chicago … what we had the capacity to do and what we should be doing in terms of large scale works … in terms of musical work … in terms of commissioning and building careers of playwrights. And also that we had a responsibility to the entire community, to reflect every facet of the Chicago community in what we were doing. When Bob came it really kind of energized us and marshaled the forces."

Impact of the 1992 Regional Tony Award ...
"Under (Bob Falls) direction now for 30 years, but at that point for 6 years, we had already done a number of really outstanding new work … had begun to receive national acclaim for the quality of the work we were doing. So it was kind of a steady growth … the awarding of the Tony Award jazzed us even more to see what else we could do. And the theatre has really mushroomed since the Tony Award."

On Bob Falls first production of Brecht’s Galileo in 1986
at the Art Institute Theatre ...
"It was the largest production that Goodman had ever done … a cast of nearly 30 … I remember one of the most fabulous sequences in the play was when Galileo was looking up into the heavens, Bob used the old dome that was in the middle of the theatre at that point as a projection screen. It was the first time I had ever seen a play in that space where I felt we’re not only seeing the play at a distance but we were kind of encompassed by the play."
 
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More on the Goodman Theatre HERE