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

Website
Tickets
Buy The Album

For more reviews, visit: Theatre In Chicago

ARCHIVE

PicksInSix® is a registered trademark of Roxbury Road Creative, LLC

PicksInSix Review: DIANA: The Musical - Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre

Powerhouse Central Performance Drives THEO’s ‘DIANA’!
PicksInSix® Review | Guest Contributor | Ronald Keaton

The great Fred Anzevino, founder and executive director of THEO up on Howard Street in Evanston, passed away recently. The last production on his watch, co-directed and choreographed by Brenda Didier, was “DIANA,” the musical piece that delves into the lives of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Britain's Royal Family. “DIANA” opened this past weekend and plays at THEO through July 6. From the time of her late teens—when she was literally selected by Queen Elizabeth II as a bride for her first-born son Prince Charles—to the time of her tragic death in 1997, Diana was daily exposed to the international spotlight.

As created by Joe DiPietro (book/lyrics) and David Bryan (music/lyrics), Diana is taken from her position as a nursery school assistant in early 1981 and whisked through what amounts to a crash course in royal life and expectation. By July that year, she and Charles have their royal wedding with an international television audience viewing the event at St. Paul's Cathedral, chosen over the traditional Westminster Abbey because it offered more seating.

From there, we see all the ups and downs of life with Diana and Charles. Very little is spared in the script—two sons, at least two affairs (one of which, of course, included the now-wife of Charles III, Camilla Parker-Bowles)—and a great deal of societal exposure for a woman who is not ready for such an experience, but learns well on the job. The public embraces her fully, thanks to Diana's own brand of a common touch, and it couldn't get enough of her.

Neither could the British press. It hounds her constantly, with photographers and reporters waiting at every turn. Such a reality naturally puts pressure on the marriage. Diana tries to plant her feet and be her own person, while Charles expects her to fall in line with every piece of royal etiquette and tradition as the wife of the heir to the British throne. With each child born (William in 1982, Harry in 1984), the couple makes amends and tries yet again to overcome the obstacles. But in time, there are simply too many walls to climb, and they divorce in 1996.

The best parts of the story come after. Diana visits an AIDS ward, where she reaches out to meet the sick and fights the protocol to don protective outerwear, producing a touching exchange between visitor and patients. Diana (a powerhouse vocal performance by Kate McQuillan) speaks and sings openly of her desire to truly impact the world. Charles (Jack Saunders in his Theo debut) sticks to the palace traditions throughout, costing him dearly. A real delight is Jacqueline Grandt in the dual role of Queen Elizabeth/Barbara Cartland, as she plays the author in a marvelous comic turn and the Queen as the rock of the family. Her song in Act II, "An Officer's Wife," shows a vulnerability that belies the Queen's tough exterior. Colette Todd marvelously underplays her Camilla Parker-Bowles in a strong portrayal.

This is a difficult story to tell onstage, and the ensemble is more than up to the task. They play everything from royal staff to paparazzi to intimate friends to outlandish partygoers at every turn. The three-player music ensemble led by keyboardist Kevin Zhou expertly guides his band through a long list of twenty-nine pieces of music, all the while being supportive and controlled in the small environment that is THEO's stage and trademark.

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR | RONALD KEATON received an Equity Jeff Award for the performance of his one-man show CHURCHILL. www.solochicagotheatre.com  Coming soon, his new solo play “Teddy’s Last Ride.”

PHOTO | Time Stops Photography

Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre
presents
Midwest Premiere
Diana
721 Howard Street
Evanston, IL
through July 6, 2025

WEBSITE

For more reviews, visit: Theatre In Chicago

ARCHIVE

PicksInSix® is a registered trademark of Roxbury Road Creative, LLC

PicksInSix Review: Misery - Dunes Arts Summer Theatre

Gripping ‘Misery’ Opens Dunes Summer Season!
PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy

The Dunes Arts Summer Theatre opened their 74th season Friday with a chilling production of William Goldman’s “Misery,” based on Stephen King’s 1987 bestselling thriller about a well-known romance novelist who awakens from a near-fatal car crash in a blizzard to find himself in the remote Colorado home of Annie Wilkes, his self-proclaimed number one fan.

The book, and 1990 film version starring Kathy Bates and James Caan, ranks high among psychological thrillers and the nefarious Annie Wilkes is considered one of the wickedest characters ever imagined, earning Bates the Academy Award for Best Actress. Laurie Metcalf played the role in the 2015 Broadway production opposite Bruce Willis.

Veteran director John Hancock’s tightly wound show stars Janet Davies, the multi-talented Chicago entertainment television reporter and program host and Dunes veteran Kevin Lee Giese as the incapacitated writer Paul Sheldon whose dire predicament goes from bad to worse with no end in sight. Davie’s Annie crackles with intensity as she shifts effortlessly from dutiful caretaker to ruthless despot. Hancock is able to draw out the macabre comic sensibility in the text and Davies makes the most of every opportunity.

Things start to heat up when it comes to light that Sheldon has put an end to Misery Chastain (Emmie Reigel) in his ninth and final book of the series. Annie’s intentions are revealed as she spirals into a rage and demands that they bring her back for another book. Giese expertly navigates the shock and uncertainty of his situation with a desperation and fear that you can feel. As weeks turn quickly into months, it’s clear that he is a prisoner, that Annie has no plans to let him go and is taking steps along the way to prolong his agony and inflict more pain.

Dunes veteran Jim Lampl plays the inquisitive local sheriff Buster who comes around in the spring when the snow cover reveals Sheldon’s car wreck. But when Annie learns that the news of Sheldon’s disappearance has piqued the interest of the FBI, the story takes yet another dark and sinister turn.

The drama plays out on Michael Lasswell’s stunning, and amazingly versatile, set with surprises all its own. When combined with an exceptional atmospheric lighting design by Arturo Pozos, the captivating sound by Jake Tillman and music by composer Christopher Ussery, the Dunes “Misery,” running through June 15, is one of the most visually compelling and suspenseful productions in recent years.  The 2025 season continues with “Outside Mullingar” from June 27 through July 13 and the musical “She Loves Me” July 25 through August 10.

PHOTO | Tony V. Martin

Dunes Arts Summer Theatre
presents
Misery
268 Shady Oak Drive
Michigan City, Indiana
through June 15, 2025

WEBSITE

TICKETS

For more reviews, visit: Theatre In Chicago

ARCHIVE

PicksInSix® is a registered trademark of Roxbury Road Creative, LLC

PicksInSix Review: Golden Leaf Ragtime Blues - American Blues Theater

Generations Collide in Nostalgic ‘Ragtime Blues’
PicksInSix® Review | Guest Contributor | Ronald Keaton

The fine playwright Charles Smith has written a thoughtful play, “Golden Leaf Ragtime Blues,” now playing through June 29 at American Blues Theater's intimate space on Lincoln Avenue. He has offered up lots of food for considerable thought in what is a deceptively simple premise in this Chicago premiere expertly directed by Chuck Smith. Two characters—one, an elderly vaudevillian who does not want to give up the chase for the next laugh; and the other, a young Black teenager with a great deal of history to deal with, as well as personal anger—are thrown together in a shabby apartment to deal with each of their issues. And there are many.

It all takes place sometime in the 1990s. The fictional comedy team of Pompey and Ollie, who played a minor vaudeville circuit as well as any, are rehearsing an old routine. Pompey (such an elegant performance by ABT Ensemble Member Dennis Cockrum) has forgotten a punchline to a joke that he and Ollie (the wonderfully understated James Sherman) have done thousands of times. This is apparently a pattern of forgetfulness by Pompey, so much so that Ollie decides to break up the act. It all rattles Pompey greatly and he holds anger toward an old friend that is not necessarily justified. What it comes down to is the death of Pompey's style of humor.

Segue to Pompey’s apartment, a rundown and not-well-kept living quarters full of old cans and newspapers and laundry that needs to be done. Three weeks ago, Ollie died unexpectedly, and Pompey is so distraught that he pulls out a gun and threatens to shoot himself. He is saved by a knock on the door from his daughter Marsha (Dawn Bach in a strong offering), who has come by on a rare visit. The predictable argument between the generations is interrupted by another knock on the door. A young Black kid, whose nickname is Jet, has come to tell Marsha that her car is about to be ticketed. Soon it comes out that Marsha and Jet (Justin Banks is pretty riveting throughout) have actually talked about adoption, which upsets Pompey to no end.

Marsha finds a way to finally get out the door to take care of the car by going to the grocery store to get her father some food—all he has are endless cans of SpaghettiOs. So now the meat of the play begins. Pompey and Jet play a unique game of cat-and-mouse in letting little bits of personal story out, while each says that he really doesn't care. Jet's history is quite checkered and difficult. Fourteen different foster families. Endless stays in group homes.  His mother died of cancer; his father is in jail for an extended stay because of possession of two joints. Remember this is the early 90s, when laws about marijuana were much stricter, and minorities were overly charged and convicted in such matters.

The strengths in the Smith script are dominant here. The constant tensions that ping-pong back and forth between Pompey and Jet are admirably handled. This could sink into a battle of stereotypes, and it avoids that trap through fun ideas from the playwright's rich, creative arsenal. Pompey and Jet actually toy with the idea that they might partner up and create their own act. But Pompey's jokes are hopelessly outdated, so Jet suggests adapting some blue material from the recordings of Redd Foxx, which are hilarious on their own. We then get the privilege of seeing Pompey react to Jet's sharing in comedic horror. Then there are the highly personal moments. Jet talks painfully of seeing his mother being driven away in an ambulance, while the authorities take him into juvenile custody and, eventually, his first group home.  Pompey fights a strong feeling of irrelevance by constantly delving into his bag of show business jokes and details. It's a unique exchange that seems headed toward a kind of happy moment.  Until...

And the last ten minutes or so, I will leave for future audiences to discover. Mr. Cockrum is simply grand in his element here as the sad clown who can't find his way to happiness in life. Mr. Sherman appears in moving, ghostly form a couple of times after Ollie's death in Pompey's thoughts to help him find his way. Ms. Bach injects some informed depth into her Marsha, a woman of her time in holding down a job while feeling the attraction, however drawn she is, to a kind of motherhood. Mr. Banks is the real dramatic coin in the ensemble, making sure that Jet's generation is regarded by Pompey as more than a stereotype. In the hands of Mr. Banks, Jet is indeed a real flesh-and-blood young man playing the cards he's been dealt as well as he knows how. And it's all directed with the usual expert eloquence by the wonderful director Chuck Smith. The experience here is noble, nostalgic, achingly personal and deserves all praise.

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR | RONALD KEATON received an Equity Jeff Award for the performance of his one-man show CHURCHILL. www.solochicagotheatre.com  Coming soon, his new solo play “Teddy’s Last Ride.”

PHOTO|Michael Brosilow

American Blues Theater
presents
Chicago Premiere
Golden Leaf Ragtime Blues
5627 N Lincoln
through June 29, 2025

WEBSITE

TICKETS

PROGRAM

BACKSTAGE GUIDE

For more reviews, visit: Theatre In Chicago

ARCHIVE

PicksInSix® is a registered trademark of Roxbury Road Creative, LLC

PicksInSix Review: The Antiquities - Goodman Theatre

A Journey Through Space and Time.
PicksInSix® Review | Guest Contributor | Ronald Keaton

“The Antiquities,” written by Pulitzer Prize nominee Jordan Harrison and running downtown at the Goodman's Owen Theatre through June 1, is a fascinating piece that takes us on a proverbial journey through time and space in a unique way. It considers the potential that all our technological wonders might eventually take over the earth and leave humanity wondering—as it often does—what happened.

To be perfectly candid—and I mean it in the highest complimentary way—it reminded this writer of the best of my youth in science fiction and imaginary happenstance on television. We dearly loved shows with quality writing and storytelling that skirted the outposts of humanity's mind like The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. They both frightened and fascinated people simultaneously. Mr. Harrison has created a wonderfully realized tale, a psychologically advanced state of awareness within that story about man's ability to imagine and create (even in fiction) another life entity that stands on its own and his inability to understand that such a creation might actually surpass him, even eliminate him, as a species.

The actors all portray multiple roles—a total of 47, to be sure—so this is authentically an acting ensemble of the highest caliber. We begin with two women standing before the audience in muted light (marvelous lighting design throughout by Tony recipient Tyler Micoleau), as if they are regarding and observing the audience like an exhibit in a kind of life's museum. We then move to a firepit on a beach, where noted names from the past are casually shared: Byron. Shelley. Mary. Clare. Lake Geneva. History tells us that there was, in 1816, a kind of poet's summit with friends and lovers for a summer's visit in Switzerland. They all gather around the fire and begin telling each other ghost stories. There is an unlikely winner in the group, Mary Shelley, Percy's wife, who became the author of one of the first great books about creating another being, Frankenstein, or more accurately, Frankenstein's monster. 

From there, the play takes us on a breathless path through man's inventions. The telephone. The computer. The internet. All right through the 20th and 21st centuries to the ultimate creation, at least so far—artificial intelligence. And the stout, insightful direction of David Cromer and Caitlin Sullivan keeps it all at a fast pace and hides nothing in the plot's speculation. All this keeps us on a linear balance and helps us ground the story until the really creative moments come. AI has begun to take over humanity at every turn, as humanity itself becomes fragile and unable to fully fight back. Echoes of Planet of the Apes here, except that the machines are much more sophisticated well into the 23rd century. And they are surprisingly empathic with human history.

Then the story takes yet another turn and we are thrown into reverse. Back through time again, we revisit each stop shown along the way, realizing some kind of ending point, if not outright resolution. And throughout, there are exchanges on bracing and debilitating issues that people face each day. Single mothers. Gay couples. Feminist ideals. Child abandonment. The responsibility of government. The technology of war. The clash between courage and cowardice.  All very human in their presence. And all quite involved in the fight on both sides, man vs. machine. And the oh-so-smart way that Mr. Harrison, in the end, ties the computer together with Ms. Shelley's monster is ingenious.

The acting ensemble is first-rate and quite versatile. Marchánt Davis, Layan Elwazani, Andrew Garman, Helen Joo Lee, Thomas Murphy Molony, Aria Shahghasemi, Kristen Sieh, Ryan Spahn and Amelia Workman all worked the play at New York's fabled Off-Broadway giant Playwrights Horizon, which is part of the production package with Goodman Theatre and another Off-Broadway stalwart, Vineyard Theatre in New York.

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR | RONALD KEATON received an Equity Jeff Award for the performance of his one-man show CHURCHILL. www.solochicagotheatre.com  Coming soon, his new solo play “Teddy’s Last Ride.”

PHOTO | Hugo Hentoff

Goodman Theatre
presents
The Antiquities
170 North Dearborn Street
through June 1

WEBSITE

For more reviews, visit: Theatre In Chicago

ARCHIVE

PicksInSix® is a registered trademark of Roxbury Road Creative, LLC

PicksInSix Review: CATS - Paramount Theatre

Spectacular Revival Under The Big Top!
PicksInSix® Review | Guest Contributor | Kaitlyn Linsner

I must admit something. Despite being a big musical theater and even bigger cat fan, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cats” never appealed to me. I more so enjoyed the pop culture references that poked fun of cats singing and dancing on stage. Even one of my favorite cartoons as a kid, Hey Arnold, had an episode where one of the characters attends, and laughs through, a musical called Rats—an obvious parody of “Cats.” I found that quite funny, and so, as one might expect, I arrived at Paramount Theatre’s revival of “Cats” with some hesitancy.

It did not take me long to change my tune. This circus-themed production of “Cats,” directed by Trent Stork, transforms the Jellicle Ball into a larger-than-life event. As one of the longest-running shows in Broadway history, clearly the glitz, glam and weirdness of “Cats” has mesmerized audiences for over 40 years. Paramount Theatre takes the dazzling dance musical to literal new heights with aerial arts, acrobatics, contortion and juggling. The audience “ooo’d” and “ahh’d” from start to finish.

The scenic design by Jeffrey D. Kmiec and projections design by Paul Deziel are remarkable. From the big top tent to the oversized props and big glowing moon, a magical world was created where cats displayed their vast array of talents and embraced fanciful oddities. It took me some time to realize “Cats” is basically a talent show for cats. By making the production a circus, leaning into the spectacle of it all felt both natural and quite fun. Plus, the addition of circus props, like red balloons, made for visually stunning moments throughout.

The impressive choreography by Kasey Alfonso did well to capture the essence of feline behavior and tell the story of each cat with energetic and stylish flair. Stand out dance performances include Bombalurina (Tiffany Topol), Demeter (Alexandra Palkovic) and Company during “Macavity: The Mystery Cat” and Mistoffelees’ (Christopher Kelley) dance solo. Kelley was a real showman and executed his dance solo with ease. The costumes by Izumi Inaba also added such personality by featuring a unique mixture of lush colors and textures. Old Deuteronomy’s (Lorenzo Rush Jr.) coat stood out in particular with its fuzzy opulence.

The sheer talent of this ensemble also makes “Cats” a must-see. The production features a whimsical combination of breathtaking circus artistry, stunning vocals and movement. Emily Rohm delivers an enchanting performance as Grizabella which earns her the ascent to the Heavyside Layer via a high-flying trapeze up and over the audience and into the balcony. Old Deuteronomy’s (Rush) sweet-sounding and smooth vocals enhanced each scene he entered, and Rum Tum Tugger (Donovan Hoffer) packs a ferociously controlled punch throughout the show.

Die hard “Cats” fans, newbies and even skeptics like me will find this revival truly entertaining. With such wide appeal, and in true circus fashion, seems only fitting to say “come one, come all” You don’t want to miss this.

GUEST CONTRIBUTROR | Kaitlyn Linsner serves as an Assistant Attorney General in the Public Utilities Bureau of the Office of the Illinois Attorney General.

PHOTO|Brett Beiner Photography

Paramount Theatre
presents
CATS
23 East Galena Boulevard
Aurora, IL
through June 15, 2025

TICKETS

WEBSITE

For more reviews, visit: Theatre In Chicago

ARCHIVE

PicksInSix® is a registered trademark of Roxbury Road Creative, LLC

PicksInSix Review: Hymn - Chicago Shakespeare Theater

Crisp, Compelling ‘HYMN’ at Chicago Shakes.
PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy

Lolita Chakrabarti’s absorbing new play “Hymn” that opened Saturday at Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s Courtyard Theater directed by Ron OJ Parson features two of Chicago’s most accomplished actors, Chiké Johnson and James Vincent Meredith. The show follows two 50ish Black men who share much more than the fact that their birthdays are a few days apart. That fact may be enough to set up what follows without blatantly divulging the other, more significant, genetic marker they have in common.

“Hymn” plays out in a series of scenes set in South Side Chicago over the course of a year in the lives of Benny (Johnson), a logistics professional and family man who grew up in a tough neighborhood and Gil (Meredith), whose father, an accomplished dry cleaning business owner has recently passed. Gil has been engaged as a partner in the family operation that has allowed an affluent lifestyle. When we first meet Benny, things are a bit unhinged.

Early on we discover some radical lifestyle differences. While Benny attended public school in Englewood, Gil graduated from prestigious Saint Ignatius. Both are tentative at first, understandably wary on many levels. That all dissolves away into a fast and meaningful friendship, sharing common experiences, life lessons and future dreams with a strong, fulfilling brotherhood developing. Gil is welcomed into Benny’s family and a warm, respectful kinship takes hold. Things turn quickly though as other forces beyond their control eventually come into play and the partnership that started with such promise is suddenly in serious jeopardy.

Chakrabarti’s characters are superbly defined and Johnson and Meredith are excellent in this 100 minute drama. Parson, a multiple Jeff award-winning director in his first production at Shakes, skillfully maneuvers the ebb and flow of the action as the men rekindle experiences missed from an earlier era through the music of their lives. These are two wonderfully warm and genuine performances filled with sincerity and humor.

Scenic/projections designer Rasean Davonté Johnson has replicated an elegant, wood hewed set on the Courtyard Theatre’s thrust stage with multi-purpose benches on each side with elaborate drops that frame the various projections. Jason Lynch’s lighting and Yvonne Miranda’s costumes complete the savory visual landscape. There is a definite wink and a nod in the timely use of music to punctuate the story, much a part of the script and expertly executed by sound designer and composer Willow James.

“Hymn” is a powerful example of what Chakrabarti calls “a universal story of finding commonality and love” even as it reaches out with music to build a bridge of trust and brotherly love. The influential women in these men’s lives, though unseen, radiate an extraordinary level of love and support which comes through brilliantly in the rich text and Parson’s crisp, compelling production.     

PHOTO|Vashon Jordan Jr.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater
presents
World Premiere
HYMN
Jentes Family Courtyard Theater
Navy Pier
through May 25, 2025

TICKETS

WEBSITE

PROGRAM

For more reviews, visit: Theatre In Chicago

ARCHIVE

PicksInSix® is a registered trademark of Roxbury Road Creative, LLC

PicksInSix Review: Berlin-Court Theatre

“Only Two Sides In A Revolution.”
PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy

The world premiere of Court Theatre’s “Berlin”—adapted by Mickle Maher from the epic graphic novel by Jason Lutes and directed by Charles Newell—that opened Saturday is a searing examination of the decline of Germany’s Weimar Republic from 1928 to 1932, told through the stories of those caught up in the chaos of the interwar years and the rise of fascism.

That fragile democracy struggled within a culture that was fractionalized following World War I with dozens of conflicting political parties and organizations. The guilt and growing unrest of the post-war sentiment gave way to the Beer Hall Putzh of 1923—successfully suppressed by the military and resulting in a five-year prison sentence for Adolf Hilter for treason—a political flash point for the Nazi party. Hitler served 9 months of that sentence, wrote Mein Kampf (published in 1925) and galvanized his followers using fear, intimidation and retribution to obliterate anything standing in his way. By the elections in 1928, scores of political parties had risen up, leaving pro-left opposition vulnerable. With no clear ruling majority, it would become a perfect storm for the rise of fascism in the ensuing years, the events of which play out in “Berlin” in rapid-fire succession.

Post-war Berlin also experienced a cultural explosion with an enormous rise in population including writers, artists and musicians in a Roaring 20s climate all their own. It is in the middle of this hypersexualized era that director Newhall masterfully wrestles Maher’s broad-stroked, sweeping narrative from a May Day courtroom hearing to the ultimate chaos that would lead to the demise of democracy itself. Central to the story is a young, upstart art student Marthe Müller (Raven Whitley) who arrives in Berlin and meets Kurt Severing (Tim Decker) a middle-aged journalist who is struggling to make a public stand in print. There is an instant attraction and a promise they will see much more of each other. Marthe then meets Anna Lenke (Mo Shipley), a queer artist who is also infatuated with her.

Kurt has also had a past relationship with a Nazi sympathizer, Margarethe von Falkensee (Kate Collins), who will do whatever she can to break up Kurt’s romance in an attempt to win his affections back. Kid Hogan (Terry Bell) is a Black American jazz musician who, with singer Pola Mosse (Molly Hernández), find love and lead an exploration through the devolving city nightlife. The Braun family—Gurun Braun (Elizabeth Laidlaw), her unemployed husband Otto (Christopher Meister) and daughter Silvia (Ellie Duffey)—represent a family struck hard by the times. Silvia ultimately sets out on her own, finding comfort and love with David Schwartz (Jack Doherty) a Jew who is publicly protesting in defiance of his family. Otto Schmidt (Guy Van Swearingen) is a communist organizer. Ever-present throughout is Theo Müller (Brandon Ruiter), Martha’s cousin and first love.  

Under Newell’s artful direction, “Berlin” moves from scene to scene at a blistering pace with scenes appearing out of thin air. Dramatic interludes realized first as tender portrait-like tableaus evolve in a heart-rendering moment to the stark essence of evil, magnified by the illusion of a city grounded in the palette of Lutes’ black and white images—fine work by scenic designer John Culbert, lighting designer Keith Parham, and, costume designer Jacqueline Firkins—and personified by Laidlaw’s sinister portrayal of Hitler. Newell expertly weaves the superb ensemble in every movement, incorporating sights and sounds in ways you will have to see and hear to believe.

In the end, we are reminded that Hitler will be appointed Chancellor of Germany nine months later, signaling the dissolution of the Weimar Republic. “Berlin” is without a doubt the most important show to see on stage right now, a stunning example of a splintered, ineffective political system overrun by the forces of hate and persecution. Court Theatre’s bold and timely message for our time is a stark reminder of how easily our personal freedoms and individual liberties can be swept away virtually overnight. It is left to history itself to tell us how impossibly difficult it is to regain what has been lost, or whether it is even possible.

PHOTO|Michael Brosilow

Court Theatre
World Premiere
BERLIN
A New Adaptation by Mickle Maher
Based on the Graphic Novel by Jason Lutes
Directed by Charles Newell
5535 S. Ellis Ave
Extended through May 18, 2025

WEBSITE
TICKETS
PROGRAM
LEARNING GUIDE

For more reviews, visit: Theatre In Chicago

ARCHIVE

PicksInSix® is a registered trademark of Roxbury Road Creative, LLC

PicksInSix Review: The Da Vinci Code-Drury Lane Theatre

High Tech ‘Da Vinci Code’ in Oakbrook
PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy

The midwest regional premiere of “The Da Vinci Code” opened Thursday at Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook, directed by Elizabeth Margolius and starring Jeff Parker, Yaneh Assadourian and Bradley Armacost in the suspense thriller based on Dan Brown’s 2003 international bestseller.

The adaptation by Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel closely follows the events that unfold after authorities discover that a prominent museum curator, Jacques Saunière (Ray Frewen) is found murdered in the Louvre and an equally prominent American symbologist, Professor Robert Langdon (Parker), is brought in to help sort out the cryptic references and religious clues at the scene of the crime. Forming an alliance with Sophie Neveu (Assadourian), a cryptologist who is Saunière’s granddaughter, the two join with Sir Leigh Teabing (Armacost) to sort through the mystery. The action then races forward while everyone is avoiding the authorities, led by Bezu Fache (Anthony Irons), and a criminal mastermind called “The Teacher” who has recruited the deranged assassin Silas (Shane Kenyon) to do his bidding.

If you are still with me and curious about how all this plays out, Drury Lane’s immersive treatment of “The Da Vinci Code” is just the show for you. No guesswork here. The play is hinged tightly to the book and 2006 film starring Tom Hanks. The film, of course, had the benefit of stunning locales from the streets of modern day Paris to monasteries and cathedrals dating to the middle ages. The stage production debuted in 2022 at the Bromley Churchill Theatre before touring in the United Kingdom. The American premiere was staged at the Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine, prior to the Drury Lane run.

It’s a very stylized show relying heavily on projections and live action video with dense text that comes at you like water blasting from a firehose. Parker, Assadourian and Armacost are first rate performers whose characters feel like they are trapped on every page of the well-known story. There are reams of exposition in the first act, so if the story is familiar to you, you may have a leg up, but it all may feel too familiar. If this is your first time with the material, you had better giddy-up or it will run you over.

Judging from the audience reaction, many departed with an entirely different perception. For me, the pace felt rushed and the ritualistic movement was distracting. Overall, the action lacked the foundation necessary to build and sustain suspense. I thought more than once that these fine actors and the high production values deserved a more intimate setting to capture the nuance of the material more effectively. Do we have to see shadows moving in slow motion to create a macabre flashback? Is urgency created simply by briskly running off stage to hop a plane to the next destination?

These are all choices, of course. There are many elements of Margolius’s production that will captivate you, however, in its present state, “The Da Vinci Code” appears to still be sorting itself out with its high-tech imagery often falling short in the shock and awe department.

PHOTO|Brett Beiner

Drury Lane Thaatre
presents
The Da Vinci Code
100 Drury Lane
Oakbrook Terrace, IL

through June 1, 2025

WEBSITE

For more reviews, visit: Theatre In Chicago

ARCHIVE

PicksInSix® is a registered trademark of Roxbury Road Creative, LLC

PicksInSix Review: Titanic The Musical - Marriott Theatre

Marriott’s ‘Titanic’ – A Stunning Musical Odyssey!
PicksInSix® Gold Review | Ed Tracy

It will be 40 years this September that Dr. Robert Ballard’s expedition team discovered the solemn remains of the RMS Titanic resting on the ocean floor 2 1/2 miles below the surface. To anyone over 50 years old, the exact details of the tragedy was up to that point one of the great mysteries of our time.

James Cameron’s 1997 blockbuster film incorporated the haunting images of the underwater tomb for the 1,517 victims of the tragedy. New theories emerged, testing firsthand accounts of survivors captured at the time and questioning the catastrophic collision with the iceberg that led to the sinking of the ship in the early hours of April 15, 1912.

The Broadway production that would receive five 1997 Tony Awards—Best Musical, Book, Original Score, Scenic Design and Orchestrations—was a ship of dreams all by itself. When “Titanic The Musical” arrived on Broadway, I had two memorable opportunities to see the fascinating multi-level set design and ingenious hydraulic system to replicate the inevitable outcome. But it was the impassioned personal stories in Peter Stone’s superb book and the resounding lyrics and melodic score by Maury Yeston that I recall most of all. These are true-to-life representations of the crew and passengers—a reflection of the class structure of the era —woven together with fictionalized composite accounts of the disaster as it unfolded.

The size and scope of the show posed major challenges for touring and regional productions. Over the years that followed, “Titanic The Musical” spawned concert and chamber performances around the world. A 2012 critically-acclaimed ensemble version—produced in Chicago by Griffin Theatre with orchestrations for six musicians by Ian Weinberger, a Northwestern alum—emerged with a cast of twenty playing multiple roles.

It is this version of “Titanic The Musical” that opened at Marriott Theatre on Wednesday, expertly directed and choreographed by Connor Gallagher with a matchless Chicago-based ensemble featuring top stage veterans and exceptionally talented newcomers to the Lincolnshire venue.  

At the center of the story is the contentious relationship between Titanic’s Captain E.J. Smith (David Girolmo) and White Star’s owner J. Bruce Ismay (Adam Pelty), who is constantly pressuring Smith and Titanic designer and builder Thomas Andrews (Christopher Kale Jones) on the ship’s performance. Their confrontation in “The Blame” is a highlight, and Jones gives one of the most powerful performances of the night in “Mr. Andrews’ Vision.”

Individual stories that illuminate the class distinctions on the Titanic are 1st Class passengers Ida (Heidi Kettenring) and Isidor Straus (Mark David Kaplan), Madeline (Victoria Okafor) and John Jacob Astor (Joel Gelman); 2nd Class passengers Kate Murphey (Laura Guley), Kate Mullins (Victoria Okafor), and Kate McGowan (Erica Stephan) whose relationship with Jim Farrell (Garrett Lutz) is a tender storyline richly told. Lillian Castello’s delightful Alice Beane, who aspires to be included among the 1st Class passengers, is matched in earnest by her husband, Edgar played by James Earl Jones II. Darian Goulding is terrific in the role of Frederick Barrett.

Among other stellar featured performances are Second Officer Lightoller (Gelman), Harold Bride (a spirited turn for Matthew Hommel), Third Officer Herbert Pittman/Etches (Kevin Webb), First Officer Murdoch (George Keating), Frederick Fleet (Lucas Thompson), Charlotte Cardoza (Kelli Harrington), Charles Clarke (Will Lidke), Caroline Neville (Francesca Mehrotra) and the Bellboy (Eric Amundson).  

Music Director Ryan T. Nelson and conductor/keyboardist Brad Haak with musicians Heather Boehm, Loretta Gillespie, Lewis Rawlinson, Trevor Jones and Andy Wilmouth are on the mark with the exceptional score. The show plays out on an exquisitely detailed, multi-tiered Collette Pollard set that shifts effortlessly from forward to aft, 1st Class to 3rd, and all points in between with a minimum of embellishments, an extraordinary feat within the confines of Marriott’s in-the-round configuration. Add Sully Ratke’s sensational costumes, the evocative lighting by Jesse Klug, and, sound design by Michael Daly, and Marriott’s “Titanic The Musical” becomes a stunning musical odyssey.

PHOTO|Justin Barbin Photography

Marriott Theatre
presents
Titanic The Musical
10 Marriott Dr
Lincolnshire, IL
through June 1, 2025

WEBSITE

TICKETS

For more reviews, visit: Theatre In Chicago

ARCHIVE

PicksInSix® is a registered trademark of Roxbury Road Creative, LLC

PicksInSix Review: Henry Johnson-Relentless Theatre Group-Victory Gardens Theater

“Why would you ever trust anyone?”
PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy

The Chicago premiere of David Mamet’s new play “Henry Johnson” opened Sunday in a matinee performance at Victory Gardens Theater presented in association with Relentless Theatre Group. The play was first performed in 2023 at the Electric Lodge in Venice, California starring Shia LaBeouf as Gene—played here by Thomas Gibson from Criminal Minds and Dharma and Greg—who is also in Mamet’s film version that is scheduled to be released in early May. So, the Victory Gardens/Relentless production is a unique confluence of the two treatments at this particular time.

In a curtain speech, director Edward Torres welcomed a near capacity crowd back to the theater which has been dark, with the exception of a few special and limited run events, since March 2023. Torres was upbeat about the future, citing plans to reinvigorate the programming of the theater, now celebrating its 50th anniversary, and by extension, launching a renewed investment in the performing arts in the North Lincoln Avenue neighborhood. In addition to thanking donors, sponsors and three board members in attendance, Torres warmly acknowledged Dennis Začek who has for decades been a steward of the artistic vision of the Tony award-winning regional theatre. Začek is serving as Executive Producer and no doubt used his finely-honed skills to help assemble the stellar production team and cast for the show including: Gibson, Keith Kupferer, Al’Jaleel McGhee and Daniil Krimer.

“Henry Johnson” plays out in four scenes over roughly 100 minutes including one 20 minute intermission. Henry (Krimer) appears first in an office with his boss, Mr. Barnes (McGhee) who is pressing him about his relationship with a man who has plead to manslaughter in a brutally savage attack. Barnes seems to know a lot more about Henry’s business  and we soon discover that Henry is a man easily influenced and, ultimately, will be facing prosecution himself on multiple related criminal charges.

Time passes and in scene two, Henry’s arrives in prison, sharing a cell with Gene (Gibson), a hardened criminal who knows the ropes. Gibson owns the sticky, often malevolent, center of Mamet’s text here and his is the most compelling performance of the show. Passing through the cell block is a guard, Jerry (Kupferer), who delivers books from the prison library and Gibson tells him that Henry would be a good addition to the library staff. When we next see Henry in the library during the third scene, Gene continues to aggressively groom the hapless man to carry out a plot that leads to the harrowing confrontation that follows.

Unquestionably, the cast is fascinating to watch throughout the course of this drama, even though there are elements of dramatic tension that seem to be stifled by both scene breaks and the intermission. Upon reflection, one of the most interesting developments of the story occurs during the interval, but perhaps the story was not the point all along. Krimer’s Henry plays out as a metaphor for manipulation, coercion and fear—by his boss in the interrogation, by his cellmate in devising the plan, and, in the final scene following the plan’s execution. These are powerful dramatic forces that Mamet has at work, magnified by the presence of audience members on stage left and right that shrink the playing space to be more in line with an isolated prison cell—a physical uneasiness that washes over the audience at every turn.

Hopefully, this all is a harbinger of what is to come for Victory Gardens, emerging from a dark period of great uncertainty to regain the trust and prominence in the Chicago theatre community as a leading incubator for new work. It will take time. Productions like Mamet’s “Henry Johnson” force us to recognize our own fears and vulnerabilities. If we ignore these influences and allow them to cloud our judgement, there can be only one possible outcome: there will be nothing left to save. You have until May 4 to decide for yourself.   

PHOTO | Michael Brosilow

Relentless Theatre Group
in association with
Victory Gardens Theater
present
Chicago Premiere
Henry Johnson
2433 N Lincoln Ave
through May 4

WEBSITE

PROGRAM

For more reviews, visit: Theatre In Chicago

ARCHIVE

PicksInSix® is a registered trademark of Roxbury Road Creative, LLC

PicksInSix Review: Translations - Writers Theatre

‘Translations’—The Magic of Language Itself.
PicksInSix® Review | Ronald Keaton

It would be very easy to see “Translations,” the thick, challenging classic by the great Irish playwright Brian Friel, as a treatise about endless attacks on Irish colonialism.  After all, British soldiers travel from town to town and literally change the names of where people live to make them conform with English culture and language—by force, if necessary. And in many ways, this is true. But, as the elegant production at Writers Theatre in Glencoe that opened Friday shows in no uncertain terms, the real story here is about the magic of language itself. Writers Artistic Director Braden Abraham has deftly followed the brushstrokes of the master Mr. Friel in creating this entire world of contradiction and mystery.

This was a period—Ireland in the 1830s, a delicate time historically, if such a word can be used for the Irish—that sat roughly a decade out from the vaunted potato famine, which would kill more than a million people and uprooted many more by some estimates. In order to create a seeming conformity in the Isles, these British soldiers helped establish the first National Schools, which encouraged literacy but provided classes only in English, and thus prohibited the speaking of Irish/Gaelic, which greatly contributed to its decline. This battle focuses on three characters— Hugh, a highly regarded teacher who speaks fluent Greek and Latin; his son Owen, who becomes a kind of interpreter for the soldiers, while caught between them and his love for his native land; and Yolland, a soldier who also maps the countryside and eventually falls for a young lass, rendering him, well, a bit lost in translation himself.

Hugh (the marvelous, rock-solid Kevin Gudahl) teaches adults in this hedge-school, which was illegal and furtive in its existence because of the Anglican stance on who should know what. One easily imagines a kind of drunken philosopher here, as Hugh imparts what wisdom and history he can in eloquent phrases and between lifts of his flask. He believes that the world is affected not by the facts of history, but by how we view those facts—an outlook not totally lost on our world today. But he’s practical as well; he sees with disdain what’s ahead in the coming loss of his own tongue.

His son Owen (Casey Hoekstra as an appealing spirit of not-so-torn allegiance) is a knowledgeable, almost gifted translator between English and Irish, taking to his task with a fervor that rivals the soldiers themselves in its passion. Owen drives the play forward with that fervency and commitment. His brother Manus (Andrew Mueller, persuasively gentler in outlook and demeanor than Owen) attempts to hold down the linguistic fort in wanting to preserve all native language and education, all while remaining in his father’s shadow. Mr. Mueller’s departure from Ballybeg at the top of Act II is absolutely riveting.

There really is all manner of great character work here, a Writers Theatre stamp. Jimmy Jack (a fabulous turn by Jonathan Weir) is a wizened old soul of letters who regularly waxes poetic about his admiration for the gods and goddesses of mythology, often in Greek or Latin. The lovers Lieutenant Yolland (a deeply affected young soldier given wonderful and painful shrift by Eric Hellman) and the comely girl Maire (Tyler Meredith is lovely and quite effective) have the ultimate hill to climb; they cannot communicate on a practical level, because they literally speak different languages. Yet a love emerges. And this plays out achingly, thanks to a chilling moment that Ms. Meredith handles with aplomb.

The almost elfin mute Sarah (Julia Rowley, convincing in an extremely difficult role) finds it hard to even articulate her own name. Gregory Linington valiantly takes on his Captain Lancey, who could have been a thankless taskmaster were it not for the actor’s inherent skill. Doalty (Ian Maryfield) and Bridget (Chloe Baldwin) are both young adult students at Hugh’s school.  They have a constantly energetic and fun exchange whenever they appear. And all this is contained on a set that seems a combination classroom/apartment/lean-to ingeniously offered by Andrew Boyce. The always right Andre Pleuss gives the audience a sound scheme of economy and thought. The dialect work of the cast was stellar; dialect coach Eva Breneman earns kudos here, too. And always Mr. Friel, watching like a voice in one’s ear, making sure that the attempt to change the world through its languages gets a full and proper examination. So graceful, and so telling, in the results.

RONALD KEATON received an Equity Jeff Award for the performance of his one-man show CHURCHILL. www.solochicagotheatre.com  Coming soon, his new solo play “Echo Holler.” www.echoholler.com

PHOTO | Michael Brosilow

Writers Theater
presents
Translations
325 Tudor Court
Glencoe, IL
through May 4

WEBSITE

PROGRAM

For more reviews, visit: Theatre In Chicago

ARCHIVE

PicksInSix® is a registered trademark of Roxbury Road Creative, LLC

PicksInSix Review: The Book of Grace-Steppenwolf Theatre Company

“That is yours. This is mine.”
PicksInSix® Review | Ronald Keaton

A thought-provoking play by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks is being offered at Steppenwolf’s Ensemble Theater through May 18. First produced in 2010 at New York’s Public Theater, “The Book of Grace” seeks, it seems, to create a universal story out of a particular family’s struggles. Not only does it succeed, it makes one think—hard—as the walk home from the performance begins. And because the play’s locale is the Texas/Mexico border, the relevance could not be timelier—one of the characters is a border patrol officer.

Example: “Borders and fences. They say it all without saying a word. That is yours. This is mine.” Not only does this single line reflect what’s ahead in the story, but it also applies to each character in the play. Vet (Brian Marable, a riveting, articulate presence) is that officer, a man of powerful presence and command. He’s much like who’s being honored for his work at a gathering of his peers. Vet lives in a small border town with his partner Grace (a simultaneously strong, almost impulsive performance by Zainab Jah) who is writing a book. It’s partially autobiographical in nature and observational in tone, and it’s entitled “The Book Of Grace.” It’s full of drawings and photos and essays on family, on dreaming, and on life itself. Grace is the one in the house who constantly points toward the good in life; she does her best to live it, because we see a consistent specter in Vet’s presence of threats and potential domestic abuse. Appropriately, her book is a secret from the world. It’s the one thing in her existence that is hers and hers alone. She even hides it under the living room floor, afraid of Vet’s reaction.

Enter Buddy (Steppenwolf Ensemble member Namir Smallwood in a nuanced, fascinating offering), Vet’s son and a young man who’s been through his own challenges. He’s also a veteran, one who’s earned a Bronze Star, and yet he feels forgotten in his return to a previous life of sorts. Buddy is seeing his father for the first time in 15 years, accepting an invitation from Grace to attend Vet’s presentation dinner. In limited contacts, Buddy infused himself with accomplishment (working as a kind of computer specialist for the government) and bravado; he’s a storyteller of some note, although he could be halting and hesitant as he shares about himself in toto. Vet naturally learns the truth in time, as Buddy finally shares the real purpose of his visit—he needs a job and asks Vet to help him find one with the border patrol.

The tension through the play builds as each character ‘solos’ for the audience. Grace eloquently takes us through chapters in her book, pointing out the good as well as the bad. This is her major milieu, as it is for many people with a harrowing background. Vet and Buddy are, quite frankly, two peas from the same pod in how they both are so stoic as to how life has evolved for them. Vet simply refuses to look at life in any way other than his own perceptions and demands the others in the house accept it as gospel. Buddy only identifies with how unfair life has been for him since he left the service and just wants to ‘blow something up’. We get a forceful impression that he’s hustled more than a bit for attempted comfort. And Grace stands oh-so consistently in the midst of it all, wondering how she can be heard through the din of a strong example of toxic masculinity and dealing with her own trauma in the house.

Director Steve H. Broadnax III creates a genuine mini-symphony of emotional movement that is demanded here from the Parks script. The Ensemble Theater stage is in the round and entirely utilized in Arnel Sancianco’s elegant scenic design with the living room, kitchen, outdoor patio and hallways to the rest of the house. It’s greatly complimented in the projections of designer Rasean Davonte Johnson with three large screens overlooking the stage containing chapters in Grace’s book, a home movie of Buddy as a child, and a suggestion of graffiti-drawn walls that reflect Vet’s immovable attitudes toward “aliens” and keeping one’s place. Pools of moody shading and gentle assistance for the storytellers is seen in Jason Lynch’s impressionable lighting design.

There are strong reflections here from other similar moments and characters in other pieces. Vet offers sharp echoes of Troy Maxson in August Wilson’s great treatise Fences. Buddy’s desperate nature is reflective of the younger Walter in A Raisin in the Sun who just wants his own piece of the American pie. And Grace, well, it’s her book, after all. But in doing her optimistic best to retain a stance of ‘good’ she unknowingly feeds into Vet’s intense anger and distrust. From there, “The Book of Grace” is rapidly steered to a tragic closure of those ‘dreams deferred’ that Langston Hughes carves into our conscience.

RONALD KEATON received an Equity Jeff Award for the performance of his one-man show CHURCHILL. www.solochicagotheatre.com  Coming soon, his new solo play “Echo Holler.” www.echoholler.com

PHOTO | Michael Brosilow

Steppenwolf Theatre Company
presents
Chicago Premiere
The Book of Grace

Ensemble Theatre
1650 N. Halsted St.
through May 18, 2025

WEBSITE

TICKETS

STUDY GUIDE

For more reviews, visit: Theatre In Chicago

ARCHIVE

PicksInSix® is a registered trademark of Roxbury Road Creative, LLC

PicksInSix Review: TITANIQUE-Porchlight Music Theatre|Broadway in Chicago

Power-Packed Parody ‘Titanique’ Making Waves!
PicksInSix® Review | Guest Contributor | Ronald Keaton

There is quite a unique piece of musical theatre that officially opened Wednesday night at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place. It’s the Chicago premiere of “Titanique”—produced by Porchlight Music Theatre and presented in association with Broadway in Chicago—a well-devised, power-packed parody of the 1997 film “Titanic” which remains one of the highest-grossing movies in history. “Titanique” takes a boatload of liberties in its campy take on the film it lovingly emulates and pretty much asks the audience one basic question: Could the hero of the film actually be Céline Dion?

Remember that Ms. Dion’s great hit was the theme to the film “My Heart Will Go On.” It was a gigantic single that became her ultimate accomplishment and generated a recurring theme in the James Horner film score. Well, the creators of “Titanique”—Marla Mindelle, Constantine Rousouli and director Tye Blue (a particularly experienced hand at creating satirical productions of famous shows)—went about the task of doing Titanic a treatment of its own.  The codicil was that Ms. Dion’s influence on the success of the film was so important that they decided to make her the focus of the show. So, we are asked to come along the voyage with Ms. Dion as she appears at a kind of Titanic ‘museum’ to share what she says really happened.

The piece is almost maniacally offered at a laugh-a-minute pace, not unlike the recent satire “The Play That Goes Wrong.” The topical and pop culture references all fly by in a hurry, only to be followed by another in its wake that can easily be recognized. Since the cast knows it’s coming to us in such a manner, it actually helps that they will figuratively or verbally ‘wink’ at the punchline, precisely because of the breathless delivery. This approach is maintained all through the production, especially in musical sequences that rapidly push the plot—a smart invention for the writers.

And yes, hardly a moment in the film is spared the “Titanique” treatment. Jack and Rose are put through the mill in taking our imaginations about their blossoming love and showing us in campy, imaginative ways what might happen during the time of the voyage. Cal, Rose’s fiancé, purchased the legendary Heart of the Ocean diamond necklace from Jared’s, he shouts more than once. Oh, and another convention knocked down here is that several of the characters in the play are the actors who played those characters in the film. So, for instance, Molly Brown was played by Kathy Bates. Here in the show, Bates is the actual character, not Brown. Same with the Captain as portrayed by Victor Garber. Garber is the character.  It’s a really fun twist to watch.

The talent here is at a high level, indeed. The Céline Dion character is a combination mother hen/narcissistic dove with Clare Kennedy McLaughlin in real command. Maya Rowe demands our attention in her powerful Rose; it seems so easy for her to plant her feet and make us watch her. Adam Fane is a joy as Jack, right down to the bashful looks and references that made Leonardo DiCaprio a star. As Victor Garber, the versatile Jackson Evans looks every bit the part of the Captain. The great Rob Lindley steals everything he’s in as Ruth, Rose’s mother. Abby C. Smith offers Molly Brown as an almost Southern family matriarch—elegant and forceful. A wonderful surprise was Eric Lewis as The Seaman and The Iceberg… yes, The Iceberg as Tina Turner. The always dynamic Adrian Aguilar plays Cal as both arrogant and touching, a tough act in this company.

Musically, the four players in the band led by Dr. Michael McBride make a great deal of hay with what they’re asked to do. Lots of rock anthem-type songs and derivative pieces from things that we all know from popular music that choreographer Kasey Alfonso takes full advantage of. They even played “Beauty And The Beast,” another Celine Dion hit. It all floats through for the audience at a racehorse’s clip. And the audience learns in a hurry to hang on tight. It’s a lot of fun and has already been extended through July 13.

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR | RONALD KEATON received an Equity Jeff Award for the performance of his one-man show CHURCHILL. www.solochicagotheatre.com  Coming soon, his new solo play “Echo Holler.” www.echoholler.com

PHOTO|Michael Brosilow

Porchlight Music Theatre
in association with
Broadway in Chicago
present
Chicago Premiere
TITANIQUE
Broadway Playhouse
Water Tower Place
EXTENDED through July 13, 2025

WEBSITE

TICKETS

For more reviews, visit: Theatre In Chicago

ARCHIVE

PicksInSix® is a registered trademark of Roxbury Road Creative, LLC

PicksInSix Review: No Such Thing - Rivendell Theatre Ensemble

‘No Such Thing’ Is Anything But.
PicksInSix® Review | Guest Contributor | Ronald Keaton

If ever in Chicago there was a little engine that could, Artistic Director Tara Mallen’s determined Rivendell Theatre Ensemble seems to often be able to do so. RTE celebrates its 30th Anniversary Season with an intriguing, provocative world premiere of “No Such Thing” by RTE Ensemble Member Lisa Dillman, and it runs now through April 27.

Directed in intimate, meaningful strokes by Malkia Stampley, “No Such Thing” shares the tale of Ren (a cast-the-net-wide, fascinating performance by Susan Gosdick), a screenwriter in the midst of mining her life for interesting and substantial stories that can jumpstart her career. Experiencing the reigniting of a career in middle age is something many artists can understand and aspire to. And one of the things that Ren considers in doing so is in adding a layer of inspiring intimacy to her life in the form of a tightly knit affair with someone she meets in a dating app or through personals ads.

The construct here in her exchange with Fallon (fine, articulate work by Josh Odor), an accomplished man of letters, is quite the challenge. They both set rules in their affair: No names, for one, except for what they create within the affair itself. No stories about current life or work. Nothing in the hotel room but lust and opinion and stories they share that may or may not be true. Both Ren and Fallon jump in with both feet, and for a while, the affair is an agreeable, enjoyable journey for both. For a while.

Because meanwhile, back at home, Ren’s husband Ted (the always high-quality performer Matt DeCaro) is a faithful servant of sorts – going to work, coming home, sharing the day, reading the paper, enjoying his bourbon or whatever – all the while unknowingly contributing to the eventual downfall of the marriage. Both Ren and Ted are locked into this pattern. Hence, the affair. There is a daughter Olivia (a bright, knowing portrayal by Jessica Ervin), whose teenaged problems explode over time into personal trauma. Therapy, medication, even a dabble in legal problems occupy the family’s attention in an overly invasive way.

Ren has several meetings with her friend and literary agent Marilyn (the marvelous Cheryl Hamada is a real comic coin for Ren), who acts as the voice over Ren’s shoulder and eventually has to share the fact that her writing has dramatically suffered during all the family upheaval, and that whatever happens, Ren needs to buckle down even more than she is. A tall order, indeed, given the emotional and intellectual walls that need to be surmounted.

The play envelops what seems like a couple of years and there are real surprises in the story. This writer will leave any assessment of the plot to individual minds. Don’t want to give anything away inappropriately. The scenic design of Lauren Nichols offers a quite clever series of sliding panels and walls to indicate different locations; they successfully overcome the necessary limits of Rivendell’s small performance space. But its intimacy is the very thing that helps the audience see this piece for what it is – an examination into the scourges of relevance in life, and how they affect the characters going forward. “No Such Thing” is anything but. It’s a purposeful and powerful treatise that asks its audience to consider such realities as they arise in life, as well as one person’s way in dealing with them. 

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR | RONALD KEATON received an Equity Jeff Award for the performance of his one-man show CHURCHILL. www.solochicagotheatre.com  Coming soon, his new solo play “Echo Holler.” www.echoholler.com

PHOTO | Michael Brosilow

WORLD PREMIERE
Rivendell Theatre Ensemble
presents
NO SUCH THING
5779 N. Ridge Avenue
through April 27, 2025

WEBSITE

TICKETS
773.334.7728

For more reviews, visit: Theatre In Chicago

ARCHIVE

PicksInSix® is a registered trademark of Roxbury Road Creative, LLC

PicksInSix Review: Sunny Afternoon - Chicago Shakespeare Theater

It’s All About The Music!
PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy

The long-awaited Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s North American premiere of “Sunny Afternoon,” based on the music of The Kinks, opened in spectacular form on Friday in The Yard. Directed by CST’s Artistic Director Edward Hall, the show originated in 2014 in London, also directed by Hall and starring the enormously talented Danny Horn and Oliver Hoare as Ray and Dave Davies, the two brothers who formed the explosive core of the band whose music became the soundtrack of a generation during the British invasion of the 1960s.

For those of us in the crowd who witnessed this musical revolution in real time—and just about everyone else—heads were swaying and the response was electric. The Kinks broke out in 1964 and made their US tour debut in June 1965. It was a highly anticipated, and short-lived, experience that led to the group being banned from performing in the U.S. for nearly five years due primarily to union issues flamed by management disagreements and the internal unrest of the band itself. As this story unfolds, it’s clearly a tall order to be young, talented and unable to get along with each other except when you were making music together.

“Sunny Afternoon” falls in the family of jukebox musicals that showcase dozens of the iconic hits around a compelling backstory of survival at all costs. It follows the band’s rise from their first professional contract—signed by Ray and Dave’s father since no one was of legal age—to their return to America and a 1972 concert date at Madison Square Garden. Ray Davies is credited with all music, lyrics and the story for the book by Joe Penhall. The original London production received four Olivier Awards including Best New Musical and Outstanding Achievement in Music for Davies, landing closest in style to “The Who’s Tommy,” “Million Dollar Quartet” and “Jersey Boys,“ and offering a lens into our 1960s appetite for rock ‘n roll with a raucous twist and the unmistakable sound of that raw and rebellious era.

The risks are great in this musical genre. Will the vocal performances live up to the original? What about the instrumentation and collective sound? Does the story lend itself to support the music or will it be an impediment to the overall flow? And, what does it take to recapture the magic for a new audience?

Those questions are answered definitively time and again in Hall’s masterfully staged production, on a Miriam Buether set (and costumes) with a sound wall of 60s era amps and speakers and a runway into the audience that provides wonderful opportunities for the super-charged ensemble. Horn and Hoare, with Michael Lepore (Peter Quaife) and Kieran McCabe (Mick Avory), are brilliant vocalists and flawless musicians who spend nearly all of the two hour, forty minute running time of the show on stage. It all adds up to a magnificently jubilant musical odyssey from the dominate opening riffs of Hoare’s “You Really Got Me” to “Lola,” “Waterloo Sunset” and a string of distinctive hits including “Just Can’t Sleep,” “Dedicated Follower of Fashion,” and “Too Much On My Mind/Tired of Waiting.”

By the time “Sunny Afternoon” bursts on stage, Horn’s Ray has written the musical score of his life and revealed the trials and tribulations of a rock ‘n’ roll force of nature who did not compromise the most important part of his work: the music. Hall has tapped into a unique period that we can relate to. The turbulent times of the 1960s are not so much of the story here, but the subtext looks and feels a lot like what we face today. And it’s Davies’ lyric from “The Moneygoround” that tells the tale: “Oh, but life goes on and on, and no one ever wins, and time goes quickly by, just like the money-go-round, I only hope that I'll survive.” Thankfully, the Kinks have. What a trip!

PHOTO|Carol Rosegg

Chicago Shakespeare Theater
presents
North American Premiere
Sunny Afternoon
The Yard
Navy Pier
through April 27, 2025

TICKETS

SHOW INFORMATION

WEBSITE

PROGRAM

For more reviews, visit: Theatre In Chicago

ARCHIVE

PicksInSix® is a registered trademark of Roxbury Road Creative, LLC

PicksInSix Review: Waitress-Paramount Theatre

Paramount's 'Waitress' is a Dream Pie!
PicksInSix® Gold Review | Ed Tracy

It’s safe to say that everyone in the audience for the opening of Paramount Theatre’s regional premiere production of “Waitress,” directed and choreographed by Katie Spelman, got something at the outset they never expected.

Only minutes into the show, as the lovely and talented Michelle Lauto playing the pie baker/waitress extraordinaire Jenna is in a scene transition from the prep station to Joe’s Diner & Pie Shop, a voice of authority echoed through the theater directing actors to immediately clear the stage as the house lights came up and the curtain came down.

This happens, of course. “It’s live theatre, folks!” a familiar voice bellowed from the back of the house to the delight of the audience.

Several minutes passed and then, to a rousing ovation, the curtain rose again where Lauto, standing alone, unfazed, immediately recaptured the momentum and launched into what will surely be regarded as one of the single most engaging overall performances to grace the Paramount stage in recent memory.

Yes, that is saying a lot, but this show and Lauto’s role in it represents a turning point in a remarkable career. Having spent more than a decade in lead and ensemble roles on Chicago stages large and small, none have been remotely close to Aurora’s awe-inspiring 1800-seat Paramount and the opportunity to shine in a large scale, professional production.

And shine she does. Lauto is a superb actor who has consistently delivered vocally powerful performances with a near limitless range. In “Waitress,” she is all at once emotionally exposed and vulnerable as Jenna whose pies are as sweet as her arresting presence. It’s a multi-layered offering, exuding confidence, maturity and the fearless quality that you equate with a star.

As the story goes, Jenna, the daughter of a loving, but physically-abused mother, is now trapped in a lonely, loveless marriage to her toxic husband Earl (a chilling Ian Paul Custer) from which she desperately wants to escape. To add to everything else, she finds out that she’s six weeks pregnant with Earl’s baby.

Enter Dr. Pomatter (David Moreland at his best), her new gynecologist, who falls for more than Jenna’s sweet confections. As the affair shakes Jenna’s moral compass, Pomatter’s loving attention awakens within her the courage she needs to consider making a change to escape Earl’s manipulative hold on her and give her child a better life.

Jenna’s outrageous co-workers at Joe’s, Becky (Teresa LaGamba) and Dawn (Kelly Felthous), are looking for more in their lives, too. Becky is at playful odds with the cook, Cal (Jonah D. Winston) while the wallflower, Dawn is looking for love everywhere until Ogie (Jackson Evans) responds to her hilarious online profile. Once these two find each other, “Waitress” really starts to heat up. With the company performing Spelman’s innovative dance numbers with comic ease—from Becky and Cal in the kitchen with a spatula and Dawn and Ogie reenacting the Revolutionary War—it’s a laugh-a-minute riot!

The 2016 four-time Tony nominated show—based on the 2007 film written by Adrienne Shelly—with book by Jessie Nelson and music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles, earned a best actress nomination for Chicago’s own Jesse Mueller. Spelman and music director Celia Villacres, who also conducts, have an exceptional eye for talent, amassing a seasoned, all-star Chicago cast that includes delightful, featured roles for Ron E. Rains as Joe, Sophie Grimm as Jenna’s Mother/Nurse Norma, and Reese Bella and Julianna Velez who split the roles of young Jenna and Lulu.

Scott Davis’s smart set design revolves from scene to scene in an instant, punctuated by Eric Southern’s lighting that highlights Mieka van der Ploeg’s costumes. Ivy Thomas’s noteworthy properties make for a realistic setting at every turn.

In the end, “Waitress” is a moving story about overcoming obstacles and the power of friendships, all leading to Jenna’s moment of truth: Lauto’s stunning, soul-searching ballad “She Used to Be Mine”—the showstopping highlight of the night.

PHOTO|Brett Beiner Photography

Paramount Theatre
presents
Waitress
23 E Galena Blvd,
Aurora, IL
through March 30, 2025

WEBSITE

TICKETS

Cast Note: The role of Odie will be played by Jackson Evans through March 16. Nik Kmiecik joins the cast beginning March 19 through 30.

For more reviews, visit: Theatre In Chicago

ARCHIVE

PicksInSix® is a registered trademark of Roxbury Road Creative, LLC

PicksInSix Review: Betrayal-Goodman Theatre

BETRAYAL: If You Know, You Know.
PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy

It is no surprise that there was high anticipation for the opening Monday of the Goodman Theatre production of Harold Pinter’s “Betrayal,” directed by Artistic Director Susan V. Booth. With a seasoned, all-star cast that includes Helen Hunt, Ian Barford and Robert Sean Leonard, the show is a fictionized account of Pinter’s own marital infidelity. It is a remarkably succinct play, told in reverse order with scenes that unfold from 1977, two years after the clandestine seven-year affair ended, to the moment of its inception in 1968 while delving into how these affairs of the heart occur in the lives of otherwise well-meaning and trustworthy adults.

On those last few points, none of Pinter’s flawed characters in “Betrayal” are even remotely close to well-meaning and trustworthy, with the exception of Nico Grelli whose comic turn as an Italian waiter is a delight. We know at the top everyone is playing with fire and it’s just a matter of time for all of the deception, tension and misinformation to be revealed. And when it ends, the 75-minute drama feels remarkably like it is just getting started.

Jerry (Leonard) is married to Judith (unseen) and was best man at the wedding of Emma (Hunt) and Robert (Bedford). As the backstory is revealed to its eventual beginning, the betrayals that the audience are already aware of are realized in such rapid succession that you may need a scorecard to keep track. It’s as if Pinter took a page from the Dale Carnegie playbook: “Tell ’em what you’re going to tell ’em; then tell ’em; then tell ’em what you told ’em.” He with him. She with he. Him with her. And that’s not counting the unseen who are affected, including, well, if you know you know.

Pinter was 38 years old and married a year when his longtime affair with Joan Bakewell began and in his mid-40s when it ended which is more than a decade removed from anyone on the Goodman stage. All that was a conscious decision by Booth in casting the work around Hunt. Leonard plays the closest to that range throughout in a fine performance even if the heat of the romance is a bit more of a glowing ember than a red hot flame. Beford’s Robert pulses with an undercurrent of hostility though not quite enough to serve as an impetus for Hunt’s Emma to seek comfort elsewhere.

There is no doubt that Hunt has the most challenging assignment of all. From the shocking truths of the opening scene to the first embrace, she is fascinating to watch at work mining the complex relationships with both men.  

This all plays out on the very stylized scenescape by Neil Patel that incorporates massive translucent panels providing a palette for Rasean Davonté Johnson’s rich projection design. The atmospheric sound design and composition by Rob Milburn and Michale Bodeen and lighting by Xavier Pierce all combine with Linda Rothke’s costumes to make Goodman’s “Betrayal” a unique and absorbing production.

PHOTO|Joan Marcus

GOODMAN THEATRE
presents
BETRAYAL
170 N Dearborn St

EXTENDED through March 30

WEBSITE

For more reviews, visit: Theatre In Chicago

ARCHIVE

PicksInSix® is a registered trademark of Roxbury Road Creative, LLC

PicksInSix Review: Circus Quixote-Lookingglass Theatre Company

Epic Story of Adventure and Kinship
PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy

The Lookingglass Theatre Company has returned to production after an extended hiatus with the world premiere of “Circus Quixote,” an artfully produced work written and directed by Kerry and David Catlin. The show—based on Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quijote of La Mancha featuring circus by Sylvia Hernandez-Distani and presented in collaboration with Actors Gymnasium—follows in a long and varied path of organically developed theater work that has defined the reputation of the regional Tony Award-winning theater whose home is at the heart of Chicago’s Water Tower Water Works, sparkling and renewed after a major interior renovation to the public spaces in recent months.

That home has a history of stellar works to its credit—memorable recent treatments of classics include “Moby Dick,” “20,000 Leagues Under The Seas,” “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein,” and “The Steadfast Tin Soldier”—all conceived and developed by the ensemble collective of talent including the Catlins, the great Mary Zimmerman and so many others whose creative theatrical style and magical touch are like nothing else you will ever see.

“Circus Quixote” joins that collective of the always rugged, ambitious and explosive offerings that include imaginative scenic elements and special effects, whimsical costumes, original music, intricate aerial and cirque routines, and puppetry all layered within the storytelling. And it is particularly satisfying to see Lookingglass Theatre return with a show that boasts a youthful, committed company—with many new and multi-talented artists—in what is certainly a colossal assignment to frame Cervantes’ epic story of adventure and kinship on stage.

At the center of the show is the remarkable performance of Michel Rodriguez Cintra as Don Quixote who is ever present throughout the two hour thirty minute odyssey. Edwardo Marinez is terrific as narrator Cervantes and the loyal squire Sancho Panza. Together, the two set out on a fictional quest throughout La Mancha, braving the elements and conquering beasts from the depths often with a wink, a nod and a fanny whack or two to keep things moving along.

The piece was developed in 2022 at The Actors Gymnasium and sits comfortably on Courtney O’Neill’s set that incorporates a number of surprises within a forty by twelve foot book wall, standing aerial poles and rigging, hidden passageways, and an impressive windmill that provide access for Hernandez-Distani’s artful circus elements. There are many imaginative multi-functional stage elements and visual effects to discover along the way enhanced by Sully Ratke’s ingenious costume design.

Cervantes’ aficionados will appreciate the dense storyline that alternates from the wit inherent in much of the script, exemplified in the chemistry and well-paced exchanges of Cintra and Marinez. The slapstick chaos of the ensemble will certainly appeal to everyone who appreciates the Lookingglass aesthetic that is always evolving, striving to tell a deeper story in the most entertaining way possible in the intimate confines of one of Chicago’s most historic settings.

PHOTO | Joe Mazza/brave lux

Lookingglass Theatre Company
in association with
The Actors Gymnasium
presents
World Premiere
CIRCUS QUIXOTE
Joan and Paul Theatre
Water Tower Water Works
EXTENDED through March 30, 2025

WEBSITE

TICKETS

PROGRAM

PARKING

For more reviews, visit: Theatre In Chicago

ARCHIVE

PicksInSix® is a registered trademark of Roxbury Road Creative, LLC

PicksInSix Review: Beautiful: The Carole King Musical - Drury Lane Theatre

“You’re beautiful as you feel.” 
PicksInSix® Review | Guest Contributor | Kaitlyn Linsner

“Beautiful: The Carole King Musical,” an entertaining journey through Carole King’s life, is now playing at Drury Lane Theatre through March 23. Featuring a book by Douglas McGrath and lyrics and music by Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Barry Mann and Cynthia Well, this musical is particularly special and nostalgic for those who grew up listening to the music from the 60s and 70s. 

The show begins with brilliant, 16-year-old Carole (Samantha Gershman) selling her first original song to Donny Kirshner (Michael Lawrence Brown) at the Brill Building in Manhattan. From there, she meets her husband Gerry Goffin (Alex Benoit), who writes the lyrics to her compositions, and the two of them generate hit after hit while their good friends and competitors Cynthia Weil (Alexandra Palkovic) and Barry Mann (Andrew MacNaughton) work across the hall trying to keep up. Carole faces difficult personal struggles as a young mother in the music industry and being married to an absent, unfaithful husband yet she still rises to fame all culminating with her widely successful second studio album Tapestry. 

Directed by Jane Lanier with musical director Carolyn Brady and choreographer Gerry McIntyre, “Beautiful” is an inspiring story, and a delightful behind-the-scenes look at how the music industry worked back when performers often did not write their own songs. While the plot lacks the depth to really explore the relational complexities of Carole’s young life in particular, there is such fun in learning about the origin stories of so many beloved songs. Plus, the talented cast elevates the musical with strong vocal performances throughout.

Gershman shines as Carole bringing such warmth to her heartfelt and earnest performance. She sings beautifully, doing especially well to capture the soft, sultry tones of Carole’s voice. Her performance of “(You Make Me Feel) A Natural Woman” is a top highlight of the show. 

Other highlights include The Drifters’ (Averis Anderson, Makenzy Jenkins, Austin Nelson Jr., Michael Turrentine) flawless and ebullient performance of “On Broadway” and “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” by The Shirelles (Lydia Burke, Raeven Carroll, Allanna Lovely, Chamaya Moody). Palkovic and MacNaughton have such chemistry on stage with MacNaughton bringing a bit of delightful camp to his performance as Mann.

Packed with great music from start to finish, “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” is a lovely celebration of one of the most successful songwriters in American history. A good choice for all music lovers. 

GUEST CONTRIBUTROR | Kaitlyn Linsner serves as an Assistant Attorney General in the Public Utilities Bureau of the Office of the Illinois Attorney General.

PHOTO | Brett Beiner

Beautiful
The Carole King Musical
Drury Lane Theatre
Oak Brook
through March 23, 2025

WEBSITE

TICKETS


For more reviews, visit: Theatre In Chicago

ARCHIVE

PicksInSix® is a registered trademark of Roxbury Road Creative, LLC