I love it when shows surprise me when I leave with how much I enjoy them. This has happened with shows such as Working, and more recently American Idiot. But it's fantastic leaving with that "show high" that comes so often (one should hope) after leaving the theater. Val and I usually have to hit up the bar for an 11 o'clock night cap to talk about what we just experienced and just to calm down our excitment.
Fela! was a nice surprise though in many respects. I got a Yelp message (which lately I don't get many of) and it's telling me about comp tickets to the opening night of Fela! at the Oriental Theater. So of course I jumped right on that! When we arrived we found that we had not only free tickets, but free orchestra level tickets?! I was prepared to hike it up to the balcony and instead just walked right in. Very nice!
The story I had to look up before we came. The only thing I had ever seen of Fela! was a performance on the 2010 Tonys when it was nominated for 11 Tonys, including Best Musical! And I knew that Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith's names were attached to it in some fashion. So in looking it up online I learned of the real life activist and musician Fela Kuti and the turmoil he had to deal with just to make life in Nigeria a little better.
One thing I didn't expect from this show was how interactive it was. Just 10 minutes into the production "Fela" tells us to all stand and then teaches us how to shake our hips to the music. Lots of hoopin' and hollerin' and hip shakin' happened while actors ran up and down the aisles for encouragement! Fun and gets the mood set right away for the rest of the show.
Some notable parts, or should I say people, would be for one the fabulous Melanie Marshall playing Funmilayo. This woman could SING. Loud, soft, high note, low note. I was even amazed at the rolling of her "r's" (something I could never master in French class) while singing. She was incredible, and after looking at the Playbill and seeing the training she's had, it makes sense.
Now onto Fela "himself". Sahr Ngaujah was the original Fela and is now touring with the production, which I read is something he didn't want to do at first considering how taxing and emotional the show is to begin with, then you add the travel part! This man was the complete package ladies! He can sing, he can crack jokes, dance, play the saxaphone (while dancing) AND he's hot with his shirt off. Sahr was perfectly cast for this role. The way he interacted with the audience was hilarious, and he shows the exact characteristics that one might think Fela Kuti had.
The set was incredible and the sound made the floors shake! There's a scene with black lights that is eerie and gorgeous all at once! Paulette Ivory who played Sandra, also has a killer voice (and was the original Nala in London's "The Lion King"!). Also, I loved the touch of the actors running up and down the aisles to created a scene (you are suppose to feel like your in the Shrine night club after all!) and behind us there were people occasionally clapping and hooting and hollering to create the scene all around the audience. Touches like this make me smile ear-to-ear at the theater.
This show extended its run in Chicago for the Spring Break season and I highly recommend everyone go see it - grab a discount code if you have to! I'm sure the sounds projects amazingly up in the balcony too it's so loud! Enjoy and lemme hear ya say "Yeah-Yeah!".
Seeing something in English and I'm familiar with at the Lyric Opera isn't something I'm use to. Usually I'm asking Val "what is it", "what's it about", and "do I NEED to see it!?". If it's good, even though on paper (or internet) it sounds dull, and Val says YES you have to see this show, I will. And then something strange happened. The Lyric Opera of Chicago decided to do a production of a musical! The old, old musical Showboat - we're talking a musical from the 20's and one that I never hear too many people doing any more.
In learning about what it takes to put on Showboat I understand why too many places don't take this feat on any longer. For one, you have to have one ENORMOUS stage to fit, well, a showboat on....Then you have to make a show from 1927 appeal to a whole new audience. I think Lyric did a good job of putting this show on though. What was most interesting to me though, was the fact that the star of the show was not the opera fan's heartthrob, Nathan Gunn (who's shirt stayed on the entire time, sorry ladies and some gentlemen ;) ) But instead the shows set brought gasps and applause to the audience instead. The singers had to stop singing for a bit, so the inanimate object could get its applause time in! Amazing. And yes, it was incredible.
Beginning with the false wood panel wall coming apart in three pieces during 'Old Man River' and revealing behind it the front of a showboat pulling (yes it was moving) into the 'dock'. Incredible, and felt very surreal, like the theater was on that dock for a moment. Some other scenes of note that the audience (and myself) adored, were the Palmer House and the park. The Palmer House Hilton is highly recognizable to most Chicagoans. So when the curtain rose to show the gorgeous ceiling, staircases and interior of the hotel, murmurs of approval ran throughout the main floor. The perspective was dizzying and I envy the eye of whoever painted it. Then there was a scene in the park which made you feel like you were outside, downtown Chicago (a LONG time ago based on the buildings or lack thereof in the scene) and flying kites. One thing I love about this city? Flying kites is still much adored here. Beaches, parks, wherever! Love it!
The singers were great, though it was weird to see people I've watched in other operas, well, singing in English for one! Not to mention, Nathan Gunn not having as big a part (and shirtless). He came across well though as the swarmy Gaylord, and stole the heart well from Magnolia.
One cast member that gets a mention all his own is Morris Robinson who plays the part of Joe. Better known as, "the guy that sings 'Old Man River' throughout the show". His deep and sultry voice was amazing, and perfection for that role and more importantly, the one song that everyone knows from Showboat. He was the only actor who received as much applause as the false boat did on stage.
I'm liking Lyric's effort to bring in some new things not usually seen at operas, and if this is the beginning of that, then I welcome a new direction. And am super curious to see what they bring to the table next. We already know that subscribers get to see Renee Fleming herself in 'Streetcar Named Desire'. Now, how does lil ole me get a ticket to that? *wink*
Talk about a show that you went into it expecting nothing, and walked out in amazement! Like all other musical enthusiast, we had seen American Idiot and Billie Joe Armstrong strut their stuff on the Grammys and the Tonys. Upon hearing in 2011 that American Idiot would begin touring the United States, I immediately put it in my memory bank that if it came to Chicago then it was a "must see" (only two others are on the list....Book of Mormon and Sister Act - both of which are on their way!).
I was a Green Day fan back in the Dookie, Insomniac, and Nookie days of my high school years. I later loved 21st Century Breakdown when it was released. It told a story. It was in Acts!? Nutty - but I loved it. So when I heard that Billie Joe and team signed on for Broadway, I wasn't surprised, but I was skeptical. And then it was nominated and won for some Tony awards!? Say what? Green Day? The punk rock band of my high school youth were on Broadway and successful at that. The fact that even the New York Times raved about the show peaked my interests.
All that to say, I was in Chicago and it was in NYC. But not for long - it left the The Great White Way and headed out on tour. So, even though we're in a money saving mode, on the day we were downtown to get our civil union (yay!), we had already planned on purchasing tickets at the box office. To make matters even more solidified, in three stores we went into they were playing Green Day on their music.....okay, okay we'll go!
Now onto the show....the short premise of this is the story of three friends in a small town: Johnny, Will and Tunny. Their dreams to get out of this small town all go in different directions instead of together as best friends as they had hoped. Will stays home with his pregnant girlfriend, now stuck which Johnny and Tunny go off for adventures. The city is harsh to them and Tunny joins the army, while Johnny loses himself to drugs.
The choreography is not much, but it's effective. It's a lot of thrashing and arm pumping. But not in a dumb way. These kids are angry. Angry at themselves. Angry at what's happened to them. Angry at the world. And just plain angry at life! The movements in the choreography reflect the lyrics and the emotions that the actors are portraying on the stage.
The singers were crisp and clear. Some even got lifted into the air by wires! Incredible talent all around. Tunny falling in love with the Extraordinary Girl after losing a leg in the war was sweet and poignant, but not sappy to ruin the whole mood of the dirty war and the wounded soldiers. Another scene that was incredible was the sex scene with Johnny and Whatshername. The mimicking of having sex on stage was quite visual - more so than I've ever seen before. This was not just your average "moving around under a sheet" people - there was thrusting and hard kissing and whew! Some parents with their kids in the audience has to be uncomfortable....
In any case, the show ended and we were all out of our seats - and then the BEST part happened. The curtain lowers and quickly goes back up again - as usual. But in that brief moment some very quick and nimble stage hands had delivered guitars on stage. To every. Single. Performer. That's right, they could ALL play the guitar!! And what was even more amazing was that they all started playing and singing Green Day's "Good Riddance" (or better known as the graduation song or "Time of Your Life")!! People singing and bouncing in their seats at a musical. I hadn't had this much fun since Rock of Ages!! In any case it was the *perfect* ending to a great show!
The show is short sadly, but it works. It's only 85 minutes long and no intermission. The people that came to the Saturday evening show were super mixed from older people you wonder how they ended up there, to 40 year olds, to the kiddos in their Green Day concert t-shirts. In any case, no matter what the age, this show is politically charged and connects to anyone who felt lost in life at one point or another. Check it out if it swings into your town!
In fact the night before, Val and I were discussing an upcoming trip to NYC for the sole reason of seeing this production. Which at earliest was going to be April, considering all other tickets were gone. The following morning I'm on my Twitter feed and see a breaking news announcement. I couldn't believe it. Chicago got Book of Mormon to start the second leg of their tours! Thank goodness we didn't book that trip. Though April 2012 is closer than December of 2012, but I'll take it!
The following day, BIC decided to announce their spring season of shows. And I read the article and finished thinking about when I wrote that we were no longer BIC subscribers (which we aren't) but now, we might have to be again. Here's what Chicago can look forward to for the Spring 2012 season:
American Idiot Bring It On Fela!
along with: South Pacific In the Heights Mamma Mia Riverdance Cats Jersey Boys
And then Book of Mormon for the holiday season. American Idiot I've been wanting to see just for something different in the Broadway world besides remakes of old shows. And being a Green Day listener since 'Dookie' I tend to listen to their newer albums. The first time I heard American Idiot, I thought it was quite powerful, so I wasn't surprised when it took to the stage. It wasn't something I was going to make a trip for, but now that it will be here, that's easy!
Fela! always has sounded fun, emotional and powerful. Though most of what I've seen was on TV, I think it will be enjoyable. Bring It On, well, this one I'm not sure of. The movie I adore in all it's cheesy campy style. The musical? I'm not sold, but I won't turn it down. I kind of want to down a bottle of wine before hand to make it funny. But who knows? On it's own it might be. Also, seeing the cheer-leading competition going on on stage could be interesting, right? Well, we'll see!
The latter shows, are some I'm not enthused about but there's only one I don't want to see and that's Cats. But then I think, am I a bad theater goer since I've never seen it's stage production and only viewed it on DVD? I loathe that music though, and the whole concept seems silly. So I suppose, if it's in the package, fine, I'll suffer through, but let's hope it doesn't come to that. In The Heights is one I would like to see the most. Lin-Manuel is brilliant (as seen with his fine writing below for the 2011 Tony Awards, NPH's great rap written on the fly) and this show looks edgy and gritty with well written music.
So Chicago, which show(s) are you most looking forward to? Of course everyone in the Theater Loop is abuzz about Book of Mormon. Heck, we're getting 15 of our closest friends to get the earliest tickets available I think! But, do you agree that this Spring season makes up for the Fall of 2011? Though....I will miss those awesome Bank of America seats we had when we canceled our subscription....*sigh*
There are magical times when you just wish something you saw live was on film. For instance, I've adoredRent forever and wished that I could just pop in the DVD to watch it whenever I wanted. And then the movie came out and I took that back (blech!). Rent I can see again and again and that way it's special every time I see it.
But a couple of months ago, we took a weekend trip to see a show of a lifetime. Something that would never happen again. And they filmed all four performances of it! Meaning we get to see it again in our city! So we marked the date and bought the tickets. As there were only four shows of it at the New York Philharmonic, there are only four showings of it in theaters as well.
This was an interesting experience though. I didn't know quite what to expect. And largely in part to Company's performance on the Tonys the weekend before, the shows had sold out in Chicago. So we decided, best not take any chances and get there early. And when we arrived about an hour before showtime, a line had already formed! Dedicated fans.
Inside it was an older crowd, though by eavesdropping on conversations, all huge fans of musical theater. I'm assume these are the same people that come for the Metropolitan Opera showings that they do in the theaters now. A way for people that can't jump on a plane in a gut decision and see a show in NYC. I think myself and my wife, and a coworker and her roommate were the youngest ones in the theater.
Annoyance and hilarity ensued when a disgruntled gentleman tried to get the gentleman that were first in line to move so he could sit with his date. He left the theater, only to come back to announce that "the assholes won today!" with an embarrassed date off to the side. Only to be followed up with the queenie-ist of voices going, "what we'd miss? was there a fight?!" and laughter was had to break that short tension. I hope that woman left that guy, cause, yeesh, anger issues!
So not knowing what to expect, the lights went down and clapping began! The only time I've ever been in a movie theater and people clapped was when I've been at a premiere or something nerdy on opening weekend like X-Men, Batman or Harry Potter.
And the funny thing was, the clapping continued! Throughout the movie, just as you would in the Philharmonic itself these audience members clapped after every number! It was adorable. And I wish that the magnificent actors that were in this show could have seen/heard this.
All-in-all, seeing this on screen was amazing. It sank in halfway through while staring at Neil Patrick Harris, someone I have adored since childhood, that we *saw* this. In person. How privileged do I feel? How lucky am I? And how amazing was it that I got to share it with friends that didn't get to jump on a plane to New York? I really love that they released this into theaters, and I hope the response was great around the US.
And please, please, please come out on DVD because I will watch it again and again and again. And there's two more showings this weekend of Company. If you can make it (and if it's not sold out) go see it! It's one of the most hilarious shows with incredible people. You won't be sorry.
Whoops! In the whirlwind of summer beginning and us going to the Kentucky Derby, I forgot about Next to Normal. One of the primary reasons we purchased season tickets with Broadway in Chicago.
After watching it nominated for 11 Tony's in 2009 and winning three of them, we knew this is one that we would jump on if it came to Chicago. I mean, it also won the Pulitzer Prize in 2010 for Drama making it the eight musical to ever be given that award, the previous winner (and my personal favorite) was in 1996 when Rent was given the prize.
We were tickled when Broadway in Chicago announced that Alice Ripley was going to be continuing her role as Diana Goodman. She won a Tony for playing this part - and she was coming with the touring show! Super exciting
Until......*cue the foreshadowing music* .....because nothing can ever be perfect.
We enter the Bank of America theater, nab our Playbills, sit down in our seats (complete with an annoying paper stickered to them reminding us to renew our subscription yeah no and read all about that HERE) opened them up and CRAP. The dreaded piece of white paper falls out into our laps. "Alice Ripley will not be in this performance". Well that's just lovely. And she didn't perform what seems like 5 performances that week, with no explanation. Nothing. Usually you get something - and she performed some charity event or whatever on Belmont a couple of days later, but couldn't show up to the shows. Hope she's okay, but don't keep toting that a super star of Broadway is going to be in something and then she doesn't even show up!
Moving on.....this show was incredible minus Alice Ripley. It has a three tiered set that moves and changes colors based on what's going on. The actors were all fantastic. Ms Ripley's understudy was even quite good - though I felt bad for her when there was clapping at the very beginning that ceased as soon as they saw it wasn't the star they were looking for.
It's hard to write a review about this show though because there are plot twists in it that I don't want to give away. I'll just say this though. There are few shows that I don't know the storyline of, and maybe because this one was a newer show and all I knew was the soundtrack - I don't know. But during the birthday cake scene I had an "OMG I had no idea that's what was going on!!!" moment. Something huge that I never knew and never realized from listening to the soundtrack.
This show is intense and highly depressing, but very reflective. It's not afraid to show a modern family. People have issues. Families help each other out. Love is still possible. Next to Normal deserves all the praise and awards it's received. See it if you can and hopefully you'll get to see Alice Ripley.
I know a ton of my friends and followers saw this show - what did you think? Did you enjoy it even without Alice Ripley as Diana Goodman?
I love it when shows surprise me when I leave with how much I enjoy them. This has happened with shows such as Working, and more recently American Idiot. But it's fantastic leaving with that "show high" that comes so often (one should hope) after leaving the theater. Val and I usually have to hit up the bar for an 11 o'clock night cap to talk about what we just experienced and just to calm down our excitment. 
One thing I didn't expect from this show was how interactive it was. Just 10 minutes into the production "Fela" tells us to all stand and then teaches us how to shake our hips to the music. Lots of hoopin' and hollerin' and hip shakin' happened while actors ran up and down the aisles for encouragement! Fun and gets the mood set right away for the rest of the show. 
Now onto Fela "himself". Sahr Ngaujah was the original Fela and is now touring with the production, which I read is something he didn't want to do at first considering how taxing and emotional the show is to begin with, then you add the travel part! This man was the complete package ladies! He can sing, he can crack jokes, dance, play the saxaphone (while dancing) AND he's hot with his shirt off. Sahr was perfectly cast for this role. The way he interacted with the audience was hilarious, and he shows the exact characteristics that one might think Fela Kuti had. 
The set was incredible and the sound made the floors shake! There's a scene with black lights that is eerie and gorgeous all at once! Paulette Ivory who played Sandra, also has a killer voice (and was the original Nala in London's "The Lion King"!). Also, I loved the touch of the actors running up and down the aisles to created a scene (you are suppose to feel like your in the Shrine night club after all!) and behind us there were people occasionally clapping and hooting and hollering to create the scene all around the audience. Touches like this make me smile ear-to-ear at the theater.
