PicksInSix Review: Les Misérables - Broadway in South Bend

‘Will You Join In Our Crusade!’
PicksInSix® Gold Review | Ed Tracy

Cameron MacKintosh’s “Les Misérables,” the juggernaut of North American tours, opened at the historic Morris Performing Arts Center in South Bend to an exuberant audience which, by all appearances, was equal parts lifelong fans and first-timers, including an aspiring Cosette or two at every turn.

It is no surprise. The 1987 Tony Award-winning musical (eight total including Best Musical) that has had two revivals on Broadway and several tours that preceded this 2022 reimagined version, has, as a result, remained in the public consciousness for nearly 40 years. You can be sure that the current edition still has all of the spit, fire and brimstone of the original. Quite simply, “Les Mis” is a soaring musical masterpiece, centered on a brilliant story by Victor Hugo and bursting with magnificent performances.

And while the music—a memorable score that includes a cavalcade of anthems, ballads and rousing company numbers including “Bring Him Home,” “I Dreamed A Dream,” “On My Own,” “Do You Hear the People Sing,” “One More Day” and “Master of the House”—is among the most recognizable and beloved in musical theater, the true test of the longevity of the show is how it matures over time, capturing the essence of the original and staying relatable for modern audiences.

The strength of the 19th century set piece—music by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Lyrics by Herbert Kretzmar—centers on the conflict between Jean Valjean (Nick Cartell), the former prisoner ‘24601’ turned fugitive who seeks peace and redemption, and his captor Javert (Nick Rehberger), whose sole purpose is to return Valjean to stand trial for his criminal past. While Valjean rises to a prominent position in society as a factory owner and mayor, he is ultimately exposed and must reckon his own well-being and the fate of others under the threat of Javert’s single-minded fury.

As the story unfolds, Valjean comforts the dying Fantine (Lindsay Heather Pearce) and promises to seek out and care for her young daughter Cosette (Emerson Mae Chan) who is under the stewardship of the Thénardiers (Matt Crowle and Victoria Huston-Elem), a pair of clever despots whose livelihood hinges on deception, theft and wickedness at the expense of everyone except their own daughter Éponine (Greta Schaefer).

Valjean rescues Cosette and raises her as his own. Years pass and the threat of revolution is in the air in Paris. Now young women, Cosette (Delany Guyer) and Éponine (Mya Rena Hunter) are in the company of student revolutionaries including Enjolras (Christian Mark Gibbs) and Marius (Jake David Smith), who is attracted to Cosette. Against her own true feelings, Éponine aids in bringing the two lovers together as tensions rise, the barricade is formed, and the bloody revolution begins.

Cartell’s powerfully moving Valjean—a masterful performance of “Bring Him Home”— and Javert’s soul-searching “Soliloquy” are among the many highlights, as is Hunter’s beautiful and touching “On My Own,” which very nearly stopped the show on opening night. Gibbs and Smith are phenomenal in “Red and Black” followed by Gibbs and the company’s inspirational “Do You Hear the People Sing.”  Delivering comic gold all night long, Crowle and Huston-Elem are terrific in the wily Thénardiers blistering “Master of the House” and in the reprise parody “Beggars at the Feast.”

The entire production is under the direction of Laurence Conner and James Powell and sports a full orchestra, under the superb direction of Glenn Alexander II. Every aspect of the technical elements is meticulously executed, electrifying the massive Morris stage with colossal moving scenic elements, state-of-the-art lighting effects and stunning projections inspired by Hugo’s original paintings, that make the climactic Act II barricade battle and sewer scene visually spectacular.

It is astounding that after nearly four decades, “Les Misérables” feels even more timely and relevant today with a new generation of performers. The sheer magnitude of this superb production is sure to leave you breathless.

PHOTO|Matthew Murphy

Broadway in South Bend
presents
National Tour
Les Misérables
The Morris Performing Arts Center
211 N. Michigan Street,
South Bend, IN
through August 10

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FEATURE: CONVERSATIONS|On the Road with Matt Crowle
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PicksInSix Review: Kimberly Akimbo - Broadway In Chicago

Achingly Touching Story Bursts With Joy!
PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy

The national tour of “Kimberly Akimbo,” directed by Jessica Stone with choreography by Danny Mefford, opened at the CIBC Theater on Wednesday. The recipient of eight 2023 Tony nominations, that won five including Best Musical, Best Book and Lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire (who also wrote the original play), and Best Score for Jeanine Tesori (“Fun Home”), “Kimberly Akimbo” is the achingly touching story of a teenager navigating a rare disease that has been aging her five years to one since birth. The cast is steeped in talent—many connected with the Broadway production—and stars the luminous Broadway veteran Carolee Carmello in the tender role of Kimberly. It is a story with abundant heart, bursting with joy and the promise of a life well-lived, even as the end is so crucially near.

It’s 1999 and Kimberly is trying to fit in with classmates who are focused on other aspects of their lives (read that: normal teenagers). There is one exception in the group, Seth (a terrific national tour debut for Miquel Gil), who plays the tuba and works at the local skating rink. Like Kimberly, Seth is a bit of an outcast, too, but he is wired just tight enough to stand out in a crowd as the keenly analytical guy with a penchant for anagrams. Seth and Kimberly team up on a class project that defines her medical situation and, as the show unfolds, their friendship and support for each other blossoms. While the rest of the world is closing around her, they each become the others anchor.

The clock is ominously ticking for Kimberly, her life plotting to pass her by as she turns sixteen still dreaming of having enough time to do the things she wants to do. At home, her dysfunctional family is another story. Her hilarious mom, Patti (Laura Woyasz), who is pregnant and nearly incapacitated with dual carpal tunnel, and a broken leg; her irresponsible dad, Buddy (Jim Hogan) who’s drunken lapses constantly add pressure to Kimberly‘s life; and then there is the boisterous Aunt Debra (Emily Koch) who barges back into their lives unannounced with yet another hare brained scheme to bilk people out of money, needing only a small crew to pull it off.

That crew—Grace Capeless (Delia), Darron Hayes (Martin), Skye Alyssa Friedman (Teresa), and Pierce Wheeler (Aaron)—are Kimberly’s delightfully engaging classmates who have a chemistry all their own, join forces and fall under Debra’s charms. After a joyous celebration of her sixteenth birthday, and as Kimberly‘s condition progresses, an event triggers the real sensibilities of everyone around her. It is then that Kimberly realizes it’s time to take charge of her own destiny and set out on the adventure of a lifetime.

The relationship between Carmello and Gil feels very much in the moment from their first encounter at the skating rink. As she navigates this challenging role with the wide-eyed innocence of a teenager, Gil immediately connects with the young woman inside, forming a strong emotional bond that melts away the darker aspects of the story unfolding around them. Tapping into the uncertainty of simply trying to get through their teenage years, being accepted for who they are and finding some joy in life together.

Some of this on one level or another could have only happened in 1999 when the skating rink was the place to be, kids played UNO, sang harmonies, played instruments and did dance routines for fun instead of being transfixed on a cell phone. One of those modern devices went off during Act 2, but even that reminder of the world we live in could not dampen the uplifting elements of this truly memorable and remarkable show coming to a theater near you.

PHOTO|Joan Marcus

National Tour Premiere
Broadway in Chicago
presents
Kimberly Akimbo
CIBC Theatre
18 West Monroe
through June 22, 2025

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PicksInSix Review: 42 Balloons - Chicago Shakespeare Theater

What Goes Up, Must Come Down.
PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy

It’s a simple premise, really. On July 2, 1982, a man named Larry Walters piloted a lawn chair attached to weather balloons to an astounding elevation of 16,000 feet over Los Angeles. Once Larry was airborne, all sorts of things began to happen. And there’s even more to the story when he returns, all playing out in Jack Godfrey’s Broadway-bound musical “42 Balloons” directed by Ellie Coote that opened in The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Tuesday night.

There is a mighty producing team behind Godfrey’s whimsical take on the delightfully odd and fascinating true story. It’s a curiosity all by itself to be sure: a sung-through collection of multiple, often brilliant, music styles including 80s pop and soaring ballads, clever lyrics, artful projections, and, a slam-bang ensemble supporting the superb performances of its two principal stars—Charlie McCallagh and Evelyn Hoskins—who plan and finance Walter’s adventurous dream and fall in love along the way.

As “42 Balloons” begins, Walter (McCallagh) enlists in the Air Force during the Vietnam era only to find his dream of being a pilot quashed by his poor eyesight. Walter will not be deterred, even though he lives civilian life as a truck driver. After meeting Carol Van Deusen (Hoskins), he starts making mathematic calculations for his dream flight. Carol is totally against the idea at first but eventually comes around and agrees to take out a $15,000 bank loan to finance the flight. That loan, and how it is repaid, becomes a pivotal turning point in the storyline, their relationship, and Walter’s peace of mind which begins to evaporate in Act II. All the while, the two are in hilarious cahoots with Carol’s mom Margaret (Lisa Howard) and Walter’s pal Ron (Akron Watson) to see things through.

It's a lively, fast-paced, funny story with some quizzical suspense early on as to how this is all going to play out. Despite the fact that I found myself thinking “in a lawn chair” well into the lofty middle of show, I was leaning in all the time. There are facts that cannot be disputed about the flight—which is cleverly done and the visual highlight among many in the show—and others that will not be revealed here. McCallagh creates a character yearning for something beyond what he has, reaching for the stars and falling short thanks to the atmospheric pressure that accomplished what his advance planning, and some missteps, could not.

Driven by his single-minded desire to take flight, Walter is ultimately guilty of looking past all the good that is right in front of him. The dilemma that the charming Hoskins wrestles with throughout “42 Balloons” is that she is trapped in someone else’s story: a woman who will do anything for the man she loves and who receives little in return. It’s a marvelous performance, despite the clouded revelation that her own dreams and aspirations will never be fully realized.

Walter’s lawn chair is now on display in the National Air and Space Museum for all to see. It was a gift from Jerry Fleck—the neighborhood kid played here in a terrific, featured performance by Minju Michelle Lee—years after Walter gave it to him when he landed. Recognizing the historical significance of Walter’s daring encounter in the wild blue yonder is perhaps what the producers of “42 Balloons” are hoping for when the show transfers to New York, and Walter’s star will twinkle even brighter.

PHOTO|Kyle Flubacker

North American Premiere
Chicago Shakespeare Theater
42 Balloons
The Yard
Navy Pier
through June 29, 2025

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CONVERSATIONS|PicksInSix Q & A - Liz Callaway

To Steve With Love: Liz Callaway Celebrates Sondheim
CONVERSATIONS|PicksInSix® Q & A | Ed Tracy

Liz Callaway returns to her hometown of Chicago for a one-night only concert performance of her Grammy-nominated album “To Steve With Love: Liz Callaway Celebrates Sondheim” at the Studebaker Theater on Saturday, June 14, 2025. Recorded live at 54 Below in New York City and released in November 2022, “To Steve With Love” weaves personal reflections and entertaining stories about Callaway’s professional career with intimate touchstones and featured performances from Sondheim’s extraordinary songbook.

Callaway’s Broadway debut in “Merrily We Roll Along” launched a string of stellar theatrical roles—and established a forty-year association with Stephen Sondheim—that included, “Follies,” “Baby” (Tony nomination), “The Spitfire Grill (Drama Desk nomination),” Sunday in the Park with George,” “Evita,” “Miss Saigon” and acclaimed animated Disney projects including “Anastasia” and “The Swan Princess.” A busy concert schedule, that often includes memorable appearances with her sister, Ann Hampton Callaway, has taken Liz Callaway to intimate cabaret clubs and major concert venues across the U.S. and abroad.

In advance of the Studebaker show—her first performance here in recent years—Liz Callaway joined in an email exchange to share some thoughts about the development of the show, the impact her parents had on her music career, and some essential advice for early career vocalists about Sondheim’s songs, all from one of the finest pure singers working today.

Ed Tracy: It’s been a minute since you were last in Chicago. It must be exciting to return home to familiar territory, old friends and a community where the Callaway’s—your Dad, John, sister Ann and you—have such a longstanding presence. How are things coming together and what’s on your Chicago agenda while you are here?

Liz Callaway: I’m counting the days until I come to Chicago! I’ve wanted to do my Sondheim show in my hometown for so long—in fact, it was at the top of my New Year’s resolutions—and I’m so thrilled it’s finally happening. One thing that makes it especially meaningful is that my sister Ann is flying in from Tucson to see the show. She’s never seen me perform it live, and it means the world to me that she’ll be there.

I haven’t been to Chicago since the pandemic, so I plan to walk around, stop at favorite haunts, and catch up with friends. I’m also coming in a day early to appear on WGN-TV for an interview and to sing a song. Sadly, I’ll be rehearsing while the Pope is at Rate Field—a lot is happening in Chicago on June 14!

ET: “To Steve With Love” began as a live 2022 concert at 54 Below in New York City, received a Grammy nomination and you are now playing in major venues all over the country. How special is it to know that following the uncertainty of pandemic you were able to tap into Sondheim’s extraordinary catalog and create such an enduring experience for audiences everywhere?

LC: It’s incredibly special. I never dreamt this show would have the life it has. In 2022, I was originally scheduled to do a movie music show at 54 Below, but after Sondheim passed away, I decided what I really wanted to do was pay tribute to him—to sing his songs and share stories for people who were missing him, like I was.

I did four nights, and afterward, a lot of people urged me to record a live album of the show. It hadn’t crossed my mind, but I realized it would be nice to capture the moment. So, I put on my record producer hat, added two more shows, recorded them live, and released the album in November 2022. The next year, it was nominated for a Grammy—something I never expected.

To share Sondheim’s incredible songs in concert—and to know this album will live on for future generations—is something I’ll always treasure.

ET: This project is as much your story as it is a celebration of Stephen Sondheim—a beautifully curated journey of your experiences together. Talk a little about the process of selecting the songs and how the live show has matured over time?

LC: When I decided to create this show, I started by making a list of stories I might tell, important moments in my career, and all the songs I might want to sing. I also jotted down phrases and lyrics that came to mind: “I was younger then”… “I was there”… “Forty years ago.” The most challenging part was finding an opening number. I went back to my list of phrases and lyrics, and realized it needed to be a medley and include the song “Someone in a Tree.”

The more I’ve performed the show, the more the songs have become a part of me. At first, I was nervous—so many lyrics! It took so much concentration. It still does, but now I feel a greater sense of ease. And over time, I’ve honed my stories. In the beginning I rambled quite a bit. Dad would be proud.

ET: It’s not lost on anyone who knows the special relationship that you and your sister Ann Hampton Callaway have with your dad, John Callaway, that your Chicago concert at the Studebaker Theater on June 14 is during Father’s Day weekend or that you have paid a special, and very touching tribute, to John on the album. John was a longtime personal friend, mentor, and a beloved broadcaster in Chicago for over fifty years. So, whenever you and Ann perform together in your various concerts, it feels like a family reunion for everyone in the audience on many levels.

What influence did your parents have on developing you and Ann’s unique, but very complimentary styles, and how have you managed to work so seamlessly with Ann while both of you maintained long-term—and extraordinarily successful—careers across the entertainment industry? 

LC: Our parents exposed us to all kinds of music growing up—jazz, classical, Broadway, pop—and they encouraged us to explore our own tastes, which ended up being very different! We always say that the one album that united us as kids was Carole King’s Tapestry.

Though Ann and I have had wonderful, diverse solo careers, we cherish every chance we get to perform together. Singing with my sister is my greatest joy.

ET: Suppose you are conducting one of your masterclasses or speaking to a talented newcomer who wants to dive into the Sondheim catalog. What is a short list you could offer as a starting point… key resources, people to watch, and listen to, and a few pieces to build confidence or, perhaps, a few to save for later down the road?

LC: Great question. There are some wonderful interviews available on YouTube—Steve’s conversation with Adam Guettel is a favorite, as is Inside the Actors Studio (which I appeared on along with my Merrily We Roll Along castmate Jim Walton). There’s also a terrific Substack newsletter called The Sondheim Hub, which features excellent interviews and deep dives into his catalog. Highly recommend.

I would suggest listening to cast albums. Hearing Pamela Myers sing “Another Hundred People” on the Company cast album when I was a kid had a huge influence on how I sing.

I think it’s also important to choose age-appropriate songs. One of the benefits of getting older is that I can now sing—and truly understand—the incredible material Steve wrote for older women. But there are so many great songs for younger performers to start with: “What More Do I Need?”, “I Remember,” and “Anyone Can Whistle,” to name a few. I’d save “Being Alive” and “Losing My Mind” for down the road.

ET: “To Steve With Love: Liz Callaway Celebrates Sondheim” is your eighth solo album. What’s up next? Perhaps another collaboration with Ann and your son, Nicholas, who shares a featured duet on this one?

LC: I’m working on a new album and heading into the recording studio this summer to record a number of songs. A duet or two is a strong possibility!

PHOTO: Michael Hull

To Steve With Love: Liz Callaway Celebrates Sondheim
The Studebaker Theater
Fine Arts Building
410 South Michigan Avenue

Saturday, June 14, 2025
7:30 PM

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PicksInSix Review: Fun Home - Porchlight Music Theatre

“A Raincoat Made Out of Love.”
PicksInSix Review | Ed Tracy

Porchlight Music Theatre is celebrating their 30th Anniversary with an exhilarating revival of the 2015 Tony award-winning musical “Fun Home,” based on cartoonist Alison Bechdel’s 2006 groundbreaking graphic memoir, now playing at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts.

Directed by Stephen Schellhardt with music direction by Heidi Joosten, the show stars Alanna Chavez as Alison, Patrick Byrnes as Bruce and Neala Barron as Helen who lead a stellar cast in bringing the moving Lisa Kron/Jeanine Tesori score to life.

Kron’s book follows Bechdel’s conflicted relationship with her gay father as she discovers and comes to terms with her own lesbian sexuality. Chavez’s Alison serves as a 43-year-old stage voyeur looking back on her life growing up in the family funeral home, her sexual awakening in college and facing the inevitable truth of her father’s destructive behavior, all the while capturing the drama in her artwork. Moving in and out of the scenes with versions of herself as a child—alternating roles for Tess Mae Pundsack and Meena Sood as young Alison and Z Mowry as Middle Alison—Chavez expertly navigates the transitions, never leaving the stage for the entire 100 minute runtime of the piece.

Byrnes is a commanding force as Bruce, sheltering his true nature behind the veil of dutiful teacher, husband, father and community mortician while fighting to control an inner rage that will ultimately tear the family apart. Early on, his efforts to shield Alison and her siblings—Eli Vander Griend and Charlie Long alternating as Christian, and Austin Hartung and Hayes McCracken alternating as John—plays out as a domineering perfectionist but not without a sensitivity to literature, art, culture and a flair for restoration projects like the funeral parlor coined the ‘Fun Home’ by his children.

As Bruce’s anguished wife Helen, Barron gives an outstanding, multi-layered performance culminating in the heart-stopping ballad “Days and Days.” Among the other memorable numbers in the melodic score are the musical commercial “Come to the Fun Home” delightfully showcasing the young talent; Mowry’s “Changing My Major,” the touching anthem to her lover Joan (Dakota Hughes); the poignant “Ring of Keys” duet; and Byrnes “Edges of the World.” Lincoln J. Skoien rounds out the cast playing multiple roles and leads the lively company number “Raincoat of Love.”

Scenic designer Jonathan Berg-Einhorn has transformed the Ruth Page stage into an exquisite and intimate multi-level interior that allows Schellhardt the ability to transition effortlessly between scenes. Denise Karczewski’s lighting design and costumes by Marquecia Jordan complete the visually stunning production. With Matthew R. Chase’s pitch-perfect sound design and Joosten’s five-piece band hitting the right notes all night long, Porchlight’s memorable “Fun Home” is not to be missed.

PHOTO|Liz Lauren

Editor’s Note: Longtime photographer Rich Hein, who published his work as Liz Lauren, passed away on Sunday, January 19. 2025. Rich’s matchless photographic contributions will be sorely missed by the entire Chicago theatre community. We extend our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends. and colleagues. et

Porchlight Music Theatre
presents
FUN HOME
Ruth Page Center
1016 N. Dearborn St.
through March 2, 2025

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PARKING

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PicksInSix Review: JAJA'S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING - Chicago Shakespeare Theater

Hilarity, Heartbreak Weaved Together at ‘Jaja’s’
PicksInSix Review | Ed Tracy

Jocelyn Bioh’s vibrant “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” now playing at Chicago Shakespeare Theater unfolds in a series of fast-paced scenes over a single day in a Harlem salon. The year is 2019, but it could be last year, last month or even this week, considering the looming era of uncertainty. It’s here that during the comings and goings of clients we learn about the promise of immigrant life in America, sisterhood and the struggle for social and economic independence. The show also delivers high-spirited comedy that’s baked into the richly defined characters who create their art one lovely strand of hair at a time.

The salon itself has an ecosystem all its own. Jaja (Victoire Charles), the owner of the salon, is getting married and her daughter Marie (Jordan Rice), the high school valedictorian who is currently managing the salon, has her hands full with a trio of seasoned braiders— Bea (Awa Sal Secka), Ndidi (Aisha Sougou) and Aminata (Tiffany Renee Johnson)—who hold back nothing with each other. A fourth braider, Miriam (Bisserat Tseggai) has a powerful immigrant story that plays out in a conversation with one customer over the course of the play.

Chief among these spirited and feisty entrepreneurs is Bea who was there at the beginning with Jaja (the shop was Bea’s idea, after all) and Ndidi who Bea claims has been stealing her clients and her livelihood. Bea also irritates Aminata, whose marriage is on the rocks, but Aminata gives as good as she gets. There is general agreement that Jaja, who has built the business from the ground up and brought along each of them in one way or another, could be making a mistake, despite the celebratory toast they share when Jaja stops by. How this all plays out, and how the women support each other, is at the heart of the story.

The ensemble is rounded out by the exceptional talent of Melanie Brezill and Leovina Charles who cover a fascinating array of salon clients and Yao Dogie who plays the neighborhood merchants and Aminata’s husband, James.  

Director Whitney White’s ensemble is brilliantly supported by a Tony-nominated artistic and technical team that includes Nikiya Mathis, who received a well-deserved special Tony Award for Hair and Wig Design, and Dede Ayite who received the Tony Award for Best Costume Design. Among the four additional nominations—including White for direction and Bioh for Best Play—are David Zinn’s expertly detailed set design and original music and sound by Justin Ellington and Stefania Bulbarella.

Bioh’s uproarious comic banter leads to a stellar, finely-crafted, gut-punch of reality in “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” that offers a powerfully moving statement on the immigrant experience. The show, a coproduction with Arena Stage, Berkley Repertory Theatre and La Jolla Playhouse, is playing in a limited run at The Yard through February 2nd and tickets are already in high demand.

PHOTO|T. Charles Erickson

Chicago Shakespeare Theater
presents
JAJA’s AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING
The Yard
Navy Pier
through February 2, 2025

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PicksInSix Review: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Broadway in Chicago

A THRILL-A-MINUTE BLOCKBUSTER ADVENTURE!
PicksInSix® Gold Review | Ed Tracy

Broadway in Chicago’s Nederlander Theatre is the first stop for the national tour of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” that had an epic premiere on Thursday, primed and ready for a long sit-down for the holiday season in Chicago that will no doubt fill every corner of Randolph and Dearborn with junior-level sorcerers with maroon and gold striped scarves and wands.

This is the final saga in J. K. Rowling’s spellbinding series of books that continue to engage readers of all ages, has spawned six epic films, and a hugely successful Broadway run garnering ten 2018 Tony Nominations winning six including Best Play. Following a Covid shutdown, the original two-part version was modified to one two-act play that has been retooled by one of the largest—and most celebrated—production teams ever assembled for the tour.

For anyone still wondering if this robust and heart-pounding show can do justice to all that has come before, rest assured that “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” truly is a thrill-a-minute blockbuster adventure with all the magical twists and eye-popping special effects imaginable. It’s also an intriguing heartfelt story—filled to the brim with surprises that befit the original—written by Rowling, playwright Jack Thorne and director John Tiffany. Tiffany, with movement director Steven Hoggett, have assembled a superb cast to play new versions of the familiar characters that successfully tap into the memories of diehard fans who are sure to flock to this show, and are clever enough to captivate first timers and the young-at-heart from beginning to end. It’s a win-win all around!

To the story, it’s 19 years later. Harry Potter (John Skelley) and Ginny Weasley (Trish Lindstrom) are now married, as are Ginny’s brother Ron (Matt Mueller) and Hermione Granger (Ebony Blake), who is now serving as Head of the Ministry of Magic. Their children—Albus Severus Potter (Emmet Smith) and Rose Granger-Weasley (Naiya Vanessa McCalla)—board the Hogwarts Express where they meet Scorpius Malfoy (Aiden Close) son of Harry’s nemesis Draco Malfoy (Bejamin Thys). There is a dark cloud hovering over Scorpius and once at Hogwarts, the two form an alliance after being selected to Slytherin.

After meeting Amos Diggory (Larry Yando), the two join forces with his niece Delphi (Julia Nightingale) and plan to change the trajectory of the competition that ultimately cost the life of Amos’s son, Cedric Diggory (Caleb Hafen). Using a flurry of magical spells, the trio infiltrate the Ministry, abscond with the Time-Turner orb and are off on a race across time to save Cedric, only to realize that their impact on the past has a devastating effect on the present.

The fascinating arc of the story allows us to experience an exciting new adventure. The Dementors are here, along with Albus Dumbledore (the brilliant Yando who also plays Severus Snape), Moaning Myrtle (a delightful Mackenzie Lesser-Roy) and Professor McGonagall (Katherine Leask, who also shines as Professor Umbridge).

On the creative side, scenic designer Christine Jones uses massive arches to frame the Hogwarts action that then evolve seamlessly to establish other places and time periods. Among the many ingenious elements—including a plethora of magical entrances, high flying exits and cape-flashing scene changes—are the almost balletic use of twin stair units at Hogwarts and a delightfully carnivorous bookshelf. Imogen Heaps’s costumes are sensational. Neil Austin’s lighting and sound by Gareth Fry all complement Jamie Harrison’s astounding illusions that all contribute to a stunning, visual extravaganza.   

The message of love, family and friendship—and of good vs. evil—at the heart of this story courses through Skelley’s moving portrayal of Harry and in his relationship with his son. The younger clan form a union against the ever present dark arts to the extent that there feels like there could be much more to come in this franchise, despite Rowling’s assertion that this is Potter’s crowning achievement.

If that is the case, we will all have to join the next generation of adventure seekers and relive this series all over again. For the present, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” will be making magic every night at the Nederlander for all to see—a memorable holiday outing that will last well into the new year and beyond.

PHOTO|Matthew Murphy

Broadway in Chicago
presents
National Tour Debut
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
James N. Nederlander Theatre
through February 1, 2025

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NATIONAL TOUR WEBSITE

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PicksInSix Review: Guys and Dolls - Drury Lane Theatre

Shake the Dice. Save a Soul!
PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy

Looking for the oldest established permanent floating crap game in New York with tough guys packing heat and cracking wise while a couple of old-time love stories unwind in locales as exotic as Havanna and the Hot Box Club? If so, then, the rock’em sock’em revival of the 1950 Tony Award winning “Guys and Dolls” now playing at Drury Lane Oakbrook is the show for you.  

Director/choreographer Dan Knechtges with co-music directors Roberta Duchak and Chris Sargent, who also conducts, have assembled an impressive ensemble of multi-talented performers for a highly-charged production showcasing the most cherished music and lyrics of Broadway’s legendary songsmith Frank Loesser and a book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows based on Daymon Runyon’s stories and characters. The cavalcade of Loesser hits like the touching ballads “I’ll Know” and “More I Cannot Wish You,” the superb bigtime, song and dance spectacles “A Bushel and a Peck,” “Luck be a Lady,” and “Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat,” make Drury Lane’s “Guys and Dolls” a musical extravaganza that pokes good-natured fun of the rough and tough guys and the glitzy glamor dolls from Runyon’s creative imagination.

As the story unfolds, the lovable huckster Nathan Detroit (Jackson Evans) has been unofficially engaged for 14 years to the vivacious Miss Adelaide (Alanna Lovely), headliner at the Hot Box Club. Adelaide is trying to get him to stop gambling and settle down to the life she has imagined all along. Meanwhile, Detroit and his ‘associates” Nicely-Nicely (Nkrumah Gatling) and Benny (Christopher Llewyn Ramirez) are trying to get a spot for some nightly action and stay a step or two ahead of the law in the process.

Against the backdrop of petty larceny and bawdy late night revelry, the dutiful missionary Sarah Brown (Erica Stephan), struggling to make a difference one sinner at a time at the Save-A-Soul Mission, falls hard and fast for the suave, high-stakes charmer Sky Masterson (Pepe Nufrio). When the love table turns on Sky, he finds himself suddenly searching for any way to win her back again including making good on his mark to fill up the evening prayer meeting to impress the zany General Cartwright (Heidi Kettenring) and save the mission from closing.

Drury Lane Theatre presents “Guys and Dolls” through June 9, 2024. More information and tickets HERE.

Stephan and Nufrio are perfect together. Their rich vocals and chemistry shine in the heartfelt Act I closer “My Time of Day/I’ve Never Been in Love Before.” Stephan, one of Chicago’s top performers, is simply marvelous. Nufrio’s smooth and effortless Sky is spot on in “My Time of Day,” and with the brilliant ensemble in “Luck Be a Lady.” Lovely sparkles as Adelaide, displaying excellent comedic chops in “Adelaide’s Lament” and singing, dancing and leading the Hot Box Girls in a sizzling version of “Take Back Your Mink” while chumming up with Evans’s hilarious and heartwarming Nathan for lots of laughs and their touching duet “Sue Me.”

Back at the mission, Gene Weygandt’s serves up a splendid Arvide Abernathy, Kettenring is a riot and everybody gets in the act when Gatling explodes into the rousing crowd favorite “Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat.” Angela Weber Miller’s scenic design, framed in a glistening Broadway skyline, alternates seamlessly between the relatively solemn confines of the mission to the gritty underbelly of the city and the sultry Hot Box Club where Leon Dobkowski’s stunning costumes set the place on fire. All in, Drury Lane’s “Guys and Dolls” is a night filled of 7’s and 11’s for every high stakes roller in the audience.  

PHOTO|Brett Beiner

Drury Lane Theatre
presents
Guys and Dolls
100 Drury Lane
Oakbrook Terrace
through June 9, 2024

WEBSITE

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PicksInSix Review: BOOP! The Musical - Broadway in Chicago

“BOOP! The Musical” Has It All!
PicksInSix® Gold Review | Ed Tracy

When the stunning new show “BOOP! The Musical” arrives on Broadway next year, a new generation will discover the iconic Betty Boop through the spellbinding performance of Jasmine Amy Rogers in the title role, and through the eyes of one of their own—16 year-old pop media phenom Angelica Hale, making her stage debut as Betty’s new pint-sized BFF.  

At the magical moment that Betty catapults into present day Comicon from her cartoon world of the 1930s, she is searching to both escape the adulation of her own time and to satisfy her yearning to discover an answer to the pivotal question: “Who am I?” Upon arrival, she finds a vibrant world in the radiant colors of the rainbow, none of which she knows by name. She also has a predilection to put an ‘L’ in everything, so her new marshmallow world is “plurple.”

It's the black, white and red-hot opening sequence of “BOOP! The Musical” with Rogers as the charming, charismatic, and confident heroine created by illustrator, animator and cartoon innovator Max Fleischer who revolutionized the graphic technology of the day, merging illustrations and live action to create whimsical cartoon series and shorts featuring Betty Boop, Popeye and a cavalcade of quirky characters who morph from inanimate objects to all forms of comic incarnations.

The world premiere of “BOOP!” opened Wednesday at Chicago's CIBC Theatre. After years in development, there is now a dream team in place for the Broadway-bound project directed and choreographed by multi-Tony Award winner Jerry Mitchell, the first musical venture by Grammy and Emmy award-winning composer/producer David Foster with lyrics by Susan Birkenhead (“Jelly’s Last Jam”) and book by Bob Martin (“Drowsy Chaperone,” “Elf”). The creative team includes a spectacular scenic design by David Rockwell that is beautifully enhanced by Finn Ross’s projections and Gareth Owen’s sound design, Philip S. Rosenberg’s lighting and the stunning costumes of Greg Barnes.

With big, boisterous dance numbers, tender ballads, an extraordinary scenic landscape and masterful illusions courtesy of Skylar Fox, “BOOP!” has it all. It's a love story—three actually—but even more it’s a free-spirited and endearing comedy that has a message for all of us about who we are and the impact we can make on the world and the people in it.

At Comicon, Betty collides with Dwayne (Ainsley Melham) a jazz musician and for maybe the first time, Betty senses an attraction. Overcome by her new surroundings, Betty forges a friendship with Trisha (Hale) a young fan and aspiring artist in need of a little confidence of her own. It doesn't take long before we find that Trisha lives with her aunt Carol (Anastacia McCleskey), who serves as manager for the New York City mayoral campaign of Raymond Demerest (Erich Bergen) and Carol’s brother, who just happens to be Dwayne. The hook is set and a youthful love story begins to unfold.

Back in early 30s, the studio directors, Aubie Merrylees and Ricky Schroder, are in a tizzy when they discover that Betty is nowhere to be found. Grampy (Stephen DeRosa) realizes that Betty’s absence will have a disastrous impact on their present and the future, so he embarks on a cross-dimensional journey of his own with his dog Pudgy (the brilliant marionette artist Phillip Huber). In Times Square he meets up with Valentina (Faith Prince) a retired NASA scientist who is still holding a torch for Grampy that was lit 40 years earlier. At first on a quest to find Betty before it’s too late, Grampy discovers that the fire is still smoldering between the two.

The cat’s out of the bag on the secret that Betty Boop is now alive in the present when she shows up and brings the house down at Nellie’s Place, the jazz club where Dwayne is trying to get a regular gig. Once the news is public, the corrupt Demerest, the King of Waste, tries to hitch his dump truck, and whatever else he has at his disposal, to Betty’s instant celebrity. But it’s Betty who turns the tables on the plan and as always, love wins out overall.  

Martin’s book moves briskly and effortlessly with zingers and easter eggs, old and new, along the way. Musically, Foster has infused the score with a plethora of styles from jazz and pop to some socko Broadway show tunes that allow Mitchell a full range of dance routines for the superb, multi-talented ensemble. Among the highlights, Rogers leads the ensemble in the opening “A Little Versatility,” “My New York” and “In Color,” and the show is at full throttle for the truly sensational Act I closer “Where I Wanna Be.”

World Premiere of “BOOP ! The Musical” at Broadway in Chicago’s CIBC Theatre through December 24, 2023.

Price and DeRosa shine in “A Cure for Love” and the touching “Together, You and Me.” Melham joins Schroder and Probst for “Sunlight” and delivers a blissful “She Knocks Me Out.” Hale’s powerful “Portrait of Betty” is a smash and the lovely “My Hero” with Rogers is one of the show’s many highlights.

It all comes down to Rogers though, whose radiant stage presence is all at once inquisitive, vulnerable and decisive as she evolves to the real version of who she will become: a loving role model of strength and independence.

Rogers’s charismatic performance of “Something to Shout About” is a showstopper. After taking center stage surrounded by a glistening celestial panorama, she steps decisively and defiantly forward and, in that one moment, appears larger-than-life, captivating the audience and signaling the presence of a star.

That she is.  

PHOTO|Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

Broadway in Chicago
presents the
World Premiere of
BOOP! The Musical
CIBC Theatre
through December 24, 2023

TICKETS
SHOW WEBSITE

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PicksInSix Review: The Wiz - Broadway in Chicago

“THIS IS A WHOLE ‘NOTHER LEVEL!”
PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy

The national tour of the Broadway-bound musical “The Wiz” opened its limited Chicago engagement at the Cadillac Palace on Wednesday with all the blissful promise and brilliant colors of the rainbow you could ever imagine. With a massive, techno-landscape—a marvel all in itself—the L. Frank Baum-based classic that made its groundbreaking 1974 debut in Baltimore and conquered Broadway the following year with eight nominations and seven Tony® Awards on the way to a four-year run, now comes vibrantly alive for a new generation.

“The Wiz” is ingeniously directed by Schele Williams with some clever choreography by JaQuel Knight that amplifies a superb company large in number and steeped with talent running through their paces at a size and scope rarely seen in a touring production. The show premiered in Baltimore in late September and is making a multi-city tour in advance of its scheduled debut on Broadway in March 2024 with a lot of professional steam behind the William F. Brown book with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls.

The revival includes new musical moments from Joseph Joubert (music supervision, orchestrations, & music arrangements), vocal arrangements and music arrangements by Allen René Louis and additional material by Amber Ruffian. Nearly sixty producers and co-producers led by Kristin Caskey, Mike Isaacson, Brian Anthony Moreland, Kandi Burruss, Todd Tucker, Common, MC Lyte and The Ambassador Theatre Group are the team behind the curtain making this a feat of epic proportions.

Those elements work extremely well for “The Wiz” and are sure to be crowd-pleasers at every stop along the way. The tour will also allow time for the performance elements to coalesce for what is one of the most highly anticipated Broadway openings next spring—a straight-up adaptation focused squarely and beautifully on the central themes of friendship, family and home with just the right touch of panache—with all the right stuff to appeal to contemporary audiences of all ages. If you are a fan who knows this familiar, and much beloved, score that includes “Ease On Down The Road,” “If You Believe,” “Everybody Rejoice” and “Home” by heart, you will not be disappointed.  

Nichelle Lewis’s debut performance as Dorothy will be turning heads in the months to come with her charm, wholesome innocence with a little sass, and heavenly vocal range. Melody A. Betts is a powerhouse in the dual role of Aunt Em/Evillene. You will love the cohort of the remarkably limber Avery Wilson’s Scarecrow, the soulfully spirited Phillip Johnson Richardson’s Tinman and Kyle Ramar Freeman’s effervescent Lion. Alan Miongo, Jr. delights as the inimitable Wiz. The charismatic and glamorous Deborah Cox as Glinda, another superb vocalist, looks amazing in costume designer Sharen Davis’s creations.

The journey begins in Kansas, on a black and white tapestry by scenic designer Hannah Beachler. Once in the full color Land of Oz, the opulent scenic transitions race by at the speed of light through imaginative corn fields with tilted windmills, dark forests and a lion’s den in the jungle, to a stunning glimpse of the Emerald City. Once in Oz, the palate turns emerald and the majestic lighting design (Ryan J. O’Gara), sound design (Jon Weston) and projections (Daniel Brodie) continue to an awe-inspiring scene in Evillene’s lair for “Don’t Nobody Bring Me No Bad News” and Lewis’s soaring delivery of “Home” that will sweep you away and ease on down the road all the way to Broadway. No bad news here. 

Post Script: André De Shields
Earlier this week via text, I asked the original Wiz, the omnipresent André De Shields, if he would share a memorable highlight from the original 1974 production. He told me that during the run, the entire company was invited to a homecooked meal prepared by his mother and two of his sisters:  

“The group was so large, that it spilled out of my family’s modest two-story row house onto the 1800 block of Division Street. Forty-nine years later, in September 2023, the revival of “The Wiz” opened in Baltimore at the Hippodrome Theatre, during the same week that the 1800 block of Division Street was renamed ‘André De Shields Way.’”  

And in case you were wondering, the company feasted on everything from oyster fritters, steak fish and kidney stew to sweet potato pie and Chesapeake blue crabs, washed down with assorted flavors of Kool-Aid. et  

PHOTO|Jeremy Daniel

BROADWAY IN CHICAGO
presents
THE WIZ
Cadillac Palace Theatre
through December 10

WEBSITE
TICKETS
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