Archive post: January 2010, Chicago

CDS's Banana Shpeel

My review: Despite bad reviews, I was thoroughly entertained by this new Cirque du Soleil show. Whereas clown acts in other CDS shows have often felt like filler, here they take center stage and rightly so since at times they are truly hilarious. In an attempt to recreate a vaudeville experience, CDS has also filled this show with some high energy and fantastic (and mostly tap) dance routines that leave you wanting more. Typical circus acts are still present and don't disappoint. My favorites included an amazing hat juggler and a hunky male pole dancer. Unfortunately, a few book songs have found there way into the show and do nothing but stop it cold. Otherwise, this is a must-see for the CDS fan. As always, the technical aspects (especially the costumes and lighting) are top notch. My favorite small touch included fringed oven mitts that served as riding horses.

Million Dollar Quartet

My review: This show is only for the fans of the musicians it portrays. This is NOT the next Jersey Boys and there is nothing theatrical about it. A fictionalized account of the true story meeting of three famous musicians (Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash) and one as yet unknown one (Jerry Lee Lewis) at the recording studio in which they all got their start, it also mixes in a singly named, made-up female character so it's not a complete sausage fest. The show's strengths include it's very intimate staging in a tiny theatre and the actors who double as musicians (assisted by an onstage drummer and bass player as studio musicans). Levi Kreis's piano playing as Jerry Lee Lewis is amazing to see (and best viewed from the center to slightly house left). Unfortunately, these performances are going to be swallowed up completely when this show opens on Broadway in the spring at the cavernous Nederlander Theatre.

The Addams Family

My review: The Addams Family in its Chicago incarnation is DOA. In the macabre world of Charles Addams, this could be taken as a compliment, but unfortunately it's not. A perfect cast and an elaborate, ever changing set cannot hide a flawed book that needlessly retreads other shows that handle the premise of two very different families meeting for the first time much better (for example, La Cage Aux Folles). Given bad material, Nathan Lane does what he usually does...he hams it up as much as he can, except at times he is the only one laughing. The bad news: Bebe Neuwirth was out (for 6 shows in a row; I assume sick, but if she's smart she would get out for good). The good news: Bebe Neuwirth was out. Good because I got a refund on my premium priced ticket (since she's billed above the title), scalped a ticket for $40 bucks on the street minutes before the curtain, and then returned to my premium seat. Here's to me for quick thinking and acting. That's what the creatives are going to have to do to pull this show around in time for its March Broadway opening.