So the title is not wrong, I am reviewing the same show for two performances. I did get to see Next To Normal on two occasions in the past week. Once through my Broadway in Chicago Season Tickets and the other with a friend. When I purchased my season tickets, this was the show I most wanted to see. Ever since I heard the music for the first time, I had an obsession with this show and wanted to see it. So this was in all a bit of a dream come true.
On both occasions, I went to the theatre hoping to see the Tony Award Winning Lead, Alice Ripley, in the role of Diana. Both times we were given an understudy (which I later found out was due to the fact that Ripley had a knee injury). Never have I been so in awe of an understudy as I was with Pearl Sun. She took the role of Diana and shocked and awed me in her portrayal. Only during the second half of the first half on the 1st did she have some vocal problems but all was well later in the show. In such a vocally demanding role as Diana, it added a certain level of truthfulness in the vocal strain.
Another role that I was truly in awe of was Emma Hunton, although we did see her understudy on the 3rd. Her portrayal of Natalie was simply fantastic and her voice was so pure and beautiful. Her relationship with Henry was truthful and real. Asa Somers as Dan was simply fantastic! Such real pain was conveyed on stage.
If I have any real complaints, they are small. Gabe's singing of I'm Alive left something to be desired (maybe because I have sung this song many times myself) and the staging was problematic at times as when they went further back on the levels, you lost them and couldn't really see what was going on from my place in the balcony.
In the end, I couldn't stop but smiling as I enjoyed the show. I was in love with the script and the portrayal of the pain was so truthful on stage. My heart was toyed with and I just simply loved this show
Theatremandan
Rating- 9.5/10
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Black Watch- April 3, 2011
Chicago Shakespeare Theatre brought in to their World's Stage program a production of the National Theatre of Scotland. This production was called Black Watch. The premise of the show is that you are following a platoon of soldiers in Scotland's prestigious Black Watch army. The basis of the show was such that the main theatre on Navy Pier was not suitable to hold this production. So the best place and most fitting that they found was the Broadway Armory.
So in the brief research I did on this show before attending, I had really no idea what to expect. I knew I would see intensity and emotion. I was really not prepared for the sheer level of this emotion and intensity that was portrayed by these actors. From the first moment, we knew it was going to be a strongly powerful and moving piece of theatre. The fact that these actors were portraying real people, there was a certain level of truthfulness that needed to be portrayed.
The show started off with some rough language, a warning I had received but not really prepared myself for. The language was prevalent throughout the whole play. As much as I want to say that it bothered me, there was an element of the characters that would have been lost without it. The perverse language and at time actions portrayed the life of the soldier pretty well. From this point on, I was hooked into the show. I was taken into the world that these soldiers were living in. The acting was spot on and although the language was at time difficult to understand due to the strong Scottish accent, it didn't deter from the story line.
The most riveting points of the performance were the choreographed moments throughout. The choreographed story of the Black Watch that included all of the changes in costume was simply fantastic. He never stopped moving and I was never able to take my eyes off of what was happening. Another exceedingly intense and powerful moment was the explosion. The creative portrayal of the car-bombing was emotional and tasteful as well. The emotion was strong throughout the piece and made the audience truly feel the emotion of the moment.
Overall the show was strong and had an amazing cast that could all sing, dance and act very well. From what I heard from the females attending the show as well, they were not bad to look at as well. The piece was emotional and I was enthralled throughout. I would strongly recommend this show to anyone who is looking for a powerful piece of drama. Black Watch runs through April 10 at the Broadway Armory. After Chicago Black Watch heads to New York where it runs for two weeks.
Rating 8.5/10
Theatremandan!
So in the brief research I did on this show before attending, I had really no idea what to expect. I knew I would see intensity and emotion. I was really not prepared for the sheer level of this emotion and intensity that was portrayed by these actors. From the first moment, we knew it was going to be a strongly powerful and moving piece of theatre. The fact that these actors were portraying real people, there was a certain level of truthfulness that needed to be portrayed.
The show started off with some rough language, a warning I had received but not really prepared myself for. The language was prevalent throughout the whole play. As much as I want to say that it bothered me, there was an element of the characters that would have been lost without it. The perverse language and at time actions portrayed the life of the soldier pretty well. From this point on, I was hooked into the show. I was taken into the world that these soldiers were living in. The acting was spot on and although the language was at time difficult to understand due to the strong Scottish accent, it didn't deter from the story line.
The most riveting points of the performance were the choreographed moments throughout. The choreographed story of the Black Watch that included all of the changes in costume was simply fantastic. He never stopped moving and I was never able to take my eyes off of what was happening. Another exceedingly intense and powerful moment was the explosion. The creative portrayal of the car-bombing was emotional and tasteful as well. The emotion was strong throughout the piece and made the audience truly feel the emotion of the moment.
Overall the show was strong and had an amazing cast that could all sing, dance and act very well. From what I heard from the females attending the show as well, they were not bad to look at as well. The piece was emotional and I was enthralled throughout. I would strongly recommend this show to anyone who is looking for a powerful piece of drama. Black Watch runs through April 10 at the Broadway Armory. After Chicago Black Watch heads to New York where it runs for two weeks.
Rating 8.5/10
Theatremandan!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Merchant of Venice- March 20, 2011
So let me preface this by saying that I love Shakespeare and was honestly somewhat excited to see The Merchant of Venice at the Bank of America Theatre (as much as I dislike the layout of the theatre itself). So as a part of the Spring season tickets we got to go see this show. Well things come up and my comrades in arms had other commitments and couldn't join me at this performance. This left me with two extra tickets, which come to find out was nothing special as there were plenty of people trying to give away tickets before the show. Hint Number one. So after attempting to find people to come along, I found no one so decided that I would enjoy this show alone. Hint number two. Well chalk it up to new experiences but I did go alone and sprawled out over the three seats we had tickets for. What I soon realized was that there were plenty of open seats throughout the theatre. Hint Number three.
At this point I should get to the show. As much as I stand by most shows that I see saying that it may be a director's choice or just a bad night, I cant say much of that for this show. There was just a lot that I took issue with this particular performance. The whole concept of this production is that it is bringing Shakespeare to new audiences. Well the problem is, with a modern set comes an expectation of modern language. This did not hold true. The actors stuck to the original script while acting in a modern time. This was confusing for me and I had read this play in Shakespeare class. Another rough part of this show was just plain hearing and understanding what was said. There were a lot of problems with diction and clarity of words that left a lot of the script unclear and not audible. Another problem I had was just some true awkwardness in the staging. There were some awkward points in the blocking and there was a truly emotional moment that was ruined by an awkward passionate kiss between Antonio and Bassanio. It was truly quite awkward.
Now to the acting. Much of the cast was too one note for me to enjoy. The lovers were all on a single note and their portrayal of those characters was nothing dynamic. Each of them left a lot to be desired and a lot of questions to be cleared up. In all the advertisements that I had seen before this show, they all seemed to say Merchant of Venice WITH F. Murray Abraham. This was the truth. His portrayal of Shylock was quite wonderful and left you truly heart broken for him at times and clearly despising him at others. One other seemingly small character of Balthazar added some fantastic points of humor without many lines but he was another glimmer of hope in this production. As much as her portrayal of Portia suffered, she did not (Thank God) miss the "Quality of mercy is not Strained" speech. It was delivered spot on and was truly moving.
Unfortunately I felt a little bit like I paid to sit and be bored. The set and design was interesting, I admit but the acting and vocal work left a lot to be desired. This traveling show plays Chicago until March 27. If you don't trust me, Go see it yourself, but don't blame me if you hate it
Rating: 3/10
Theatremandan
At this point I should get to the show. As much as I stand by most shows that I see saying that it may be a director's choice or just a bad night, I cant say much of that for this show. There was just a lot that I took issue with this particular performance. The whole concept of this production is that it is bringing Shakespeare to new audiences. Well the problem is, with a modern set comes an expectation of modern language. This did not hold true. The actors stuck to the original script while acting in a modern time. This was confusing for me and I had read this play in Shakespeare class. Another rough part of this show was just plain hearing and understanding what was said. There were a lot of problems with diction and clarity of words that left a lot of the script unclear and not audible. Another problem I had was just some true awkwardness in the staging. There were some awkward points in the blocking and there was a truly emotional moment that was ruined by an awkward passionate kiss between Antonio and Bassanio. It was truly quite awkward.
Now to the acting. Much of the cast was too one note for me to enjoy. The lovers were all on a single note and their portrayal of those characters was nothing dynamic. Each of them left a lot to be desired and a lot of questions to be cleared up. In all the advertisements that I had seen before this show, they all seemed to say Merchant of Venice WITH F. Murray Abraham. This was the truth. His portrayal of Shylock was quite wonderful and left you truly heart broken for him at times and clearly despising him at others. One other seemingly small character of Balthazar added some fantastic points of humor without many lines but he was another glimmer of hope in this production. As much as her portrayal of Portia suffered, she did not (Thank God) miss the "Quality of mercy is not Strained" speech. It was delivered spot on and was truly moving.
Unfortunately I felt a little bit like I paid to sit and be bored. The set and design was interesting, I admit but the acting and vocal work left a lot to be desired. This traveling show plays Chicago until March 27. If you don't trust me, Go see it yourself, but don't blame me if you hate it
Rating: 3/10
Theatremandan
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Hair- March 11 2011
Hair- March 11, 2011 8:00 PM
So when I purchased my season tickets for Broadway In Chicago, there was one show that I was apprehensive about from the beginning. Hair was that show. I knew two of the songs coming in and knew that it was about Hippies and sex and that there was a scene with nudity, or at least that's what my tickets told me. But inside me, my optimistic told me that I needed to have an open mind and accept the show for what it was. It might not be my favorite show in the world but at least have an open mind to what I would experience at the theatre that night. Well after 3 full days of simply fantastic choral music to a world of rock music and acting was a bit of a shock to the system.
Now on to the show, this show opens with one of the two songs that I actually knew. Phyre Hawkins and the rest of the cast open the show with a rousing version of Aquarius. Phyre Hawkins has a simply amazing voice and her piercing soprano voice carries over the ensemble in this version of the song. Simply amazing. One difficulty I had with this show is that you never get too invested in any one character or story line other than that of Paris Remillard's character Claude. The character lines were not strong and the story left a lot of different story lines open ended and left you questioning what really happened to them. One of the only clear Strong characters that I saw was in the humorous portrayal of Margaret Mead by Josh Lamon. His character was simply the funniest part of the show in my opinion. The strongest point of this show was its music. The vocals from the entire cast were simply amazing. Each person who even had a short solo line sang beautifully and the music was well mixed. Another simply wonderful part of this show was their audience interaction. Of course sitting up in the balcony, you don't expect much in the form of audience interaction. Cast members did come up to the balcony and even passed out littler flyers that entertained me and were a cool keepsake for the show overall.
Now if you truly know me, you know I'm not a prude or even all that offended by jokes in a sexual tone or anything to that extent. That being said, the sheer number of these lewd jokes and fake sex positions on the stage got to be a bit much even for me. Also the nude scene towards the end of the first act was just in my mind a little tasteless. Of course its not that much of a surprise as for much of the show the men are dancing without shirts or with little shirts. That may just be a little jealousy as their muscles were far better than mine, but in the end the sexual content of the show was a bit much for me in the end.
Overall, I'm glad that I have seen this show and will no longer be oblivious to what this show is, but it may well be the one and only time I do see the show as it just simply wasn't for me. This show runs in Chicago until March 20 and then continues to tour stopping in Boston for the next few weeks and then Hershey Pennsylvania.
Rating 5/10
Theatremandan
So when I purchased my season tickets for Broadway In Chicago, there was one show that I was apprehensive about from the beginning. Hair was that show. I knew two of the songs coming in and knew that it was about Hippies and sex and that there was a scene with nudity, or at least that's what my tickets told me. But inside me, my optimistic told me that I needed to have an open mind and accept the show for what it was. It might not be my favorite show in the world but at least have an open mind to what I would experience at the theatre that night. Well after 3 full days of simply fantastic choral music to a world of rock music and acting was a bit of a shock to the system.
Now on to the show, this show opens with one of the two songs that I actually knew. Phyre Hawkins and the rest of the cast open the show with a rousing version of Aquarius. Phyre Hawkins has a simply amazing voice and her piercing soprano voice carries over the ensemble in this version of the song. Simply amazing. One difficulty I had with this show is that you never get too invested in any one character or story line other than that of Paris Remillard's character Claude. The character lines were not strong and the story left a lot of different story lines open ended and left you questioning what really happened to them. One of the only clear Strong characters that I saw was in the humorous portrayal of Margaret Mead by Josh Lamon. His character was simply the funniest part of the show in my opinion. The strongest point of this show was its music. The vocals from the entire cast were simply amazing. Each person who even had a short solo line sang beautifully and the music was well mixed. Another simply wonderful part of this show was their audience interaction. Of course sitting up in the balcony, you don't expect much in the form of audience interaction. Cast members did come up to the balcony and even passed out littler flyers that entertained me and were a cool keepsake for the show overall.
Now if you truly know me, you know I'm not a prude or even all that offended by jokes in a sexual tone or anything to that extent. That being said, the sheer number of these lewd jokes and fake sex positions on the stage got to be a bit much even for me. Also the nude scene towards the end of the first act was just in my mind a little tasteless. Of course its not that much of a surprise as for much of the show the men are dancing without shirts or with little shirts. That may just be a little jealousy as their muscles were far better than mine, but in the end the sexual content of the show was a bit much for me in the end.
Overall, I'm glad that I have seen this show and will no longer be oblivious to what this show is, but it may well be the one and only time I do see the show as it just simply wasn't for me. This show runs in Chicago until March 20 and then continues to tour stopping in Boston for the next few weeks and then Hershey Pennsylvania.
Rating 5/10
Theatremandan
Working- March 6 2011
Working- Broadway Playhouse- March 6 2011 at 7:30 PM
As a season ticketholder for broadway in chicago, I got tickets to a show that I knew nothing about. Working was the title. Working is based on the book by Studs Terkel. This show involved a number of scenes that are based off of interviews with real life people that Studs Terkel interviewed. So the basis of the story is learning about what people do for a living and how they live their lives and work their jobs. In this way there is no coherent plot to the story but simply a set of vignettes that aloow us to meet the characters for a short time and hear them sing about their life. That being said, the whole idea of working for a living ties the stories of the characters together. We see these actors change from character to character on stage as they only stay one person for one single scene.
Doing the small amount of study that I did on the show, I was anticipating seeing another show with one of my favorite Chicago Actresses, E. Faye Butler. Once again she did not disappoint. The last time I saw her on stage, she was portraying the lead role in Caroline or Change. This performance in Working was simply fantastic.Her portrayal of the many different characters was simply dynamic. Her vocal and character choices for each character that she portrayed were so different and strong. Her transformation from one scene as a prostitute to the next as a housewife was flawless. Also stealing the show was Michael Mahler. His character choices were strong and his voice was strong in his many songs. Emjoy Gavino and Gabriel Ruiz added a certain level of humor to each and everyone of their characters as well as adding more fantastic voices to the mix. My biggest disappointment was in the role of Gene Weygant. His characters were all very similar and his voice was simply not as strong as the rest of the cast.
Leaving the theatre, I was hesitant to describe a true stance that I had on this show. As the week after moved along and I looked more on the experience that I had had, I realized how much I really enjoyed this production. Yes I did miss a coherent plot and developed characters, but the characters and voices that came out of most of the actors, were strong and I loved them. Overall I did really enjoy this show and would see it again. Working plays at the Brodway Playhouse at Water Tower Place til May 08
Overall Rating- 7/10
Theatremandan
As a season ticketholder for broadway in chicago, I got tickets to a show that I knew nothing about. Working was the title. Working is based on the book by Studs Terkel. This show involved a number of scenes that are based off of interviews with real life people that Studs Terkel interviewed. So the basis of the story is learning about what people do for a living and how they live their lives and work their jobs. In this way there is no coherent plot to the story but simply a set of vignettes that aloow us to meet the characters for a short time and hear them sing about their life. That being said, the whole idea of working for a living ties the stories of the characters together. We see these actors change from character to character on stage as they only stay one person for one single scene.
Doing the small amount of study that I did on the show, I was anticipating seeing another show with one of my favorite Chicago Actresses, E. Faye Butler. Once again she did not disappoint. The last time I saw her on stage, she was portraying the lead role in Caroline or Change. This performance in Working was simply fantastic.Her portrayal of the many different characters was simply dynamic. Her vocal and character choices for each character that she portrayed were so different and strong. Her transformation from one scene as a prostitute to the next as a housewife was flawless. Also stealing the show was Michael Mahler. His character choices were strong and his voice was strong in his many songs. Emjoy Gavino and Gabriel Ruiz added a certain level of humor to each and everyone of their characters as well as adding more fantastic voices to the mix. My biggest disappointment was in the role of Gene Weygant. His characters were all very similar and his voice was simply not as strong as the rest of the cast.
Leaving the theatre, I was hesitant to describe a true stance that I had on this show. As the week after moved along and I looked more on the experience that I had had, I realized how much I really enjoyed this production. Yes I did miss a coherent plot and developed characters, but the characters and voices that came out of most of the actors, were strong and I loved them. Overall I did really enjoy this show and would see it again. Working plays at the Brodway Playhouse at Water Tower Place til May 08
Overall Rating- 7/10
Theatremandan
To Blog or Not to Blog?
So I feel as if every single person who ever starts a blog starts with this exact statement.... If I write down what I am thinking who is even going to read this anyway? Without saying that exact phrase....I feel it.
So here is my plan for this blog. As a theatre goer quite frequently, I love to talk about the shows that I have just seen and critique and come up with my own review of that show. So thats my plan, each show that I go to see in the foreseeable future, I will write my own critique of it. If you see the same show that I have feel free to comment with agreements or disagreements. That is the thing about theatre, its a fairly subjective area. What I like or dislike, could be something that you truly enjoy. So this is just one man's thoughts on the shows that he sees.
In the weeks to come, I will post as well about the show we are working on. My own review of the show I'm in might be biased but still fun to read as well.
Well enjoy!
Theatremandan
So here is my plan for this blog. As a theatre goer quite frequently, I love to talk about the shows that I have just seen and critique and come up with my own review of that show. So thats my plan, each show that I go to see in the foreseeable future, I will write my own critique of it. If you see the same show that I have feel free to comment with agreements or disagreements. That is the thing about theatre, its a fairly subjective area. What I like or dislike, could be something that you truly enjoy. So this is just one man's thoughts on the shows that he sees.
In the weeks to come, I will post as well about the show we are working on. My own review of the show I'm in might be biased but still fun to read as well.
Well enjoy!
Theatremandan
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