August 2013: Chicago

Lollapalooza

This year's trip to Lollapalooza allowed me to take in some quality theatre, but I thought I'd also comment on the annual music festival itself. I got to take in Icona Pop, Crystal Castles, New Order, and Lana Del Rey on Friday; Ellie Goulding, the Lumineers, and Mumford and Sons on Saturday; and just the Cure on Sunday.

One of the highlights was definitely love-her-or-hate-her Lana Del Rey. It's unfortunate that the hate-her camp base there opinions on the horrendously odd performance she gave on SNL, which may go down in history as the worst ever and which was so brilliantly parodied by Kristen Wiig the very next show ("based on the public's response I must have...clubbed a baby seal while singing the Taliban national anthem"). I'm a huge fan of her two albums so it is a relief to say that based on her Lolla set, she not only sounds great live, but she has a really warm, wonderful stage presence. Headlining one of the smaller stages (against the Killers and Nine Inch Nails!), her rabid fans packed into viewing area so tightly that the previous band's fans could only get out by being passed overhead! A crazy good time to say the least!

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The Jungle Book at the Goodman

I hate to admit this, given the fact that I'm somewhat of a Disney fanatic, but I've never seen the classic animated movie version of the Jungle Book, on which this new stage production is partly based. I have seen previous Mary Zimmerman shows (loved Metamorphoses, but was greatly disappointed by Candide) and this one falls somewhere in the middle. Zimmerman does her best to make this a high-brow piece eschewing traditional musical theatre idiom (a song list isn't even included in the program), but it only succeeds when it gets down and dirty in the two musical numbers closing out the first act: "The Bare Necessities" and "I Wanna Be Like You." The staging of the later is high, high energy and marvelously put over by Andre De Shields as King Louie. It was confusing though to have De Shields also play Akela, but I guess either role alone was too small a part to entice the actor. The costumes (and a few nice staging flourishes) are the other main highlight of this production with the animal characters anthropomorphized in traditional Indian grab. This one would never survive as a commercial piece, but it could become a regional theatre staple. If only someone who relished musical theatre had been given the reins.

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Mary-Arrchie's The Glass Menagerie at Theater Wit

When I first heard about this alternative take on The Glass Menagerie, I knew I had to see it. It's my favorite play of all time and I've never seen a completely satisfying stage production of it. I do remember loving the Paul Newman-directed movie version though (minus the opening sequence, which clearly looks like NYC instead of STL) and am still holding out for an eventual DVD or Blu-ray release. Thankfully, this Chicago-by-way-of-LA production proved so popular with multiple extensions that I didn't even have to make a special trip to Chi-town to see it.

Directed by and starring Hans Fleischmann, this Glass Menagerie takes place in the back alley in which an older, homeless Tom now lives. Amanda and Laura come forward as his memories of them resurface. It's a very interesting take on the play, made even more so by the fact that Fleischmann himself looks and recently was homeless. The first act in somewhat hampered by the conceit with the actresses playing Amanda and Laura mostly seated, on either side of Tom, and reciting their lines forward to the audience. The initial lack of interaction among the three main characters is frustrating at first, but it fits with the director's vision. The rest of the first act and second act are much more satisfying, but this production works not because of the concept, but because of the truly heartfelt performances on stage (and the best damn script ever written!). This production is probably even more firmly rooted in memory than most. It isn't the version I have envisioned in my head, but it is a great effort nonetheless.