The world premiere Louis Armstrong musical starring Tony Award winner James Monroe Iglehart as Louis Armstrong plays through October 29, 2023

World premiere musical A WONDERFUL WORLD has a wonderful lead in James Monrie Iglehart as Louis Armstrong. Iglehart embodies the acclaimed vocalist and trumpeter completely; he nails Armstrong’s signature raspy voice and vocals and larger-than-life presence, but he’s also a master at embodying the role’s emotions. He’s a joy to watch in every moment he’s onstage, even as Aurin Squire’s book charts both Armstrong’s successes and his more human mistakes. In terms of framework, A WONDERFUL WORLD surprisingly reminded me of Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss’s SIX. The musical starts and ends with Armstrong’s four wives: Daisy Parker (Khalifa White), Lil Hardin (Jennie Harney Fleming), Alpha Smith (Brennyn Lark), and Lucille Wilson (Ta’rea Campbell). Each of the musical’s four parts is centered around one of Armstrong’s wives. While the musical piqued my interest in Armstrong’s biography as a whole, I think this framework meant the timeline on his route to fame was incredibly condensed. And the musical certainly conveys that Armstrong was quite the philanderer; Squire’s book and Christopher Renshaw’s direction and conception don’t shy away at all from the fact that Armstrong cheated on each of his past wives with the next one. 

Continue reading “Review: A WONDERFUL WORLD — THE LOUIS ARMSTRONG MUSICAL Pre-Broadway World Premiere” →

Brett Neveu’s world premiere play runs through November 5, 2023

Although the title may be bold, Brett Neveu’s world premiere REVOLUTION is a true “slice of life” play. In fact, the Revolution of the title refers to a rather mundane establishment: A hair salon. Co-workers and best friends Puff (Stephanie Shum) and Jame (Taylor Blim) meet in the alley behind the salon to chat, and on the day of the play, to celebrate Puff’s birthday. While Jame is eager to make a big deal of Puff’s special day, the anxiety-ridden Puff seems content to just drink cider in the alley and eat her share of Sour Patch Kids, Hershey’s Miniatures, and Mike and Ikes. When Puff and Jame invite the beleaguered Georgia (Natalie West), an employee at the mall’s nearby Ross, to join them, the evening becomes a meeting of friends old and new. 

Continue reading “Review: REVOLUTION at A Red Orchid Theatre” →

The Chicago premiere of this campy horror musical runs through December 10, 2023

Kokandy Productions’ Chicago premiere of AMERICAN PSYCHO: The Musical is a delectable, campy romp. Producing Artistic Director Derek Van Barham’s production is a mainly bloodless vision for the bloody tale of serial killer finance bro Patrick Bateman — and it’s an approach that works incredibly well for the material. I know that AMERICAN PSYCHO: The Musical was short-lived on Broadway and that that production was a literal bloodbath. The fact that Kokandy’s production substitutes red confetti for stage blood is a microcosm of how well this scrappy interpretation of the musical works: By making the show more camp, less horror story, audiences are then free to indulge in the satire and fun. 

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TimeLine Theatre Company’s Chicago premiere of the epic, three-act play runs through November 26, 2023 at Broadway In Chicago’s Broadway Playhouse

THE LEHMAN TRILOGY is a sweeping play that covers 164 years of history as it weaves together fact and fiction to chart the rise and fall of Lehman Brothers. The play’s title mirrors the ambition of the piece: It has a run-time of over three hours that unfolds in three acts — all performed by only three actors. The trilogy in the title is thus a literal reflection of the play’s structure and the roles, but it’s also suggestive of the piece’s mythical nature. Likewise, playwright Stefano Massani’s script (adapted by Ben Power) has a rhythmic storytelling style; the actors often narrate their own stories and actions in a chamber theater type of presentation. Although the run time is long, the fact that THE LEHMAN TRILOGY covers so much ground means it remains interesting throughout.

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It seems fitting that Goodman Theatre opens new Artistic Director Susan V. Booth’s inaugural season with THE NACIREMA SOCIETY, a play that’s about coming out to society. This Chicago premiere marks a continuation of Booth’s long-standing relationship with celebrated Black playwright Pearl Cleage. THE NACIREMA SOCIETY takes the form of an extended farce, following the incredibly wealthy Dunbar family in 1964 Montgomery, Alabama. In this light-hearted (if not always legitimately laugh-out-loud) comedic play, Cleage draws heavily from classic farce conventions. As the centennial event of matriarch Grace Dubose Dunbar’s beloved Nacirema Society, Montgomery’s organization for Black young women, dawns — and she awaits her own granddaughter Grace’s coming out — the antics become more and more heightened as family secrets come to light. 

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Steppenwolf’s season opening production of the play by Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok runs through November 18, 2023

In Martyna Majok’s SANCTUARY CITY, two teenagers in Newark, New Jersey — named only B and G (presumably standing for Boy and Girl) — must contemplate the complexity of their simultaneous youthfulness and the need to make grown-up decisions well beyond their years. Both B and G are migrants in the United States; they emigrated from unnamed countries as young children, and now as they approach high school graduation, must grapple with what it means to live illegally in the United States. When G becomes a naturalized citizen, she offers B a bold proposition so that he, too, might be able to stay. Majok’s play beautifully threads this needle between youthful impulsiveness and the immense pressure on the protagonists to make weighty adult decisions. 

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The national tour debut of the Michael Jackson jukebox musical plays through September 2 

Is MJ THE MUSICAL a fun and entertaining musical that treats audiences to many of Michael Jackson’s iconic hits? Yes. Does MJ also demonstrate why bio jukebox musicals are tricky? Yes. In the musical, MJ emphatically tells fictional MTV reporter Rachel that he wants to be remembered for his music. But can the art be separated from the artist, or are the two intertwined in all their messy, complicated ways? I don’t have an answer to that question, but I think MJ struggles with making the struggles and demons of a complex person — the real-life Michael Jackson — seem simplistic.

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Les Waters’s production of Harold Pinter’s classic absurdist play runs through August 20, 2023

It’s easy to see why Harold Pinter’s NO MAN’S LAND has been categorized as Theater of the Absurd: The play focuses on four male characters in a nebulous space, debating nothing and everything all at the same time. Les Waters directs a game ensemble of actors who wholeheartedly embrace the true absurdity and existentialism of the text. The production design mirrors the liminal state of the play: Andrew Boyce’s set is a staid, elegant, and sparsely populated living room (chiefly featuring two armchairs and two decidedly less comfortable chairs on each side of the stage). All of the action takes place inside a literal room, with walls flanked by an open blue-gray space. Janice Pytel’s costume designs are likewise timeless: Well-tailored suits that seem oddly formal for just sitting around, talking about nothing. But they fit the production nicely. Mikhail Fiksel’s sound design lends an extra sense of eeriness to the production as well.

Considering that Pinter’s writing is comprised of many meandering moments, Waters’s staging often felt static. The direction would have benefited from more dynamics and movement to aid the text’s fleeting nature and help ground audiences in the production. The actors often delivered long monologues sitting or standing in one place. For example, Mark Ulrich’s Spooner delivers a lengthy, pleading monologue to Jeff Perry’s Hirst, the master of this liminal house, while standing in one spot the entire time. There’s some more dynamic moments, particularly from Hirst’s household staff Briggs (Jon Hudson Odom) and Foster (Samuel Roukin). As Briggs, Odom’s preciseness and bluntness infuses some humor into the piece; his physical work is some of the best in the production — just watch as he ever so slowly opens a champagne bottle for Spponer. That said, I was craving more movement and visual elements to Water’s staging.

That’s not to say the individual performances are lacking, but the vision needed more visuals for the audiences to take in. Perry is the practical embodiment of absurdism as Hirst, flitting from moment to moment with a simultaneous air of self-importance and inanity. Ulrich responds in kind as Spooner, clamoring to gain a foothold in a space in which Hirst seems to hold all power. Roukin has an impeccable sense of timing as Foster, undoubtedly the quietest character on the stage but his line deliveries pack a punch. 

Overall, NO MAN’S LAND conveys an aching sense of limbo. Watching this production, however, I was more interested in the play’s overall sense of absurdity and existentialism than in the specificities of this production’s vision. 

NO MAN’S LAND plays Steppenwolf’s Downstairs Theater, 1650 North Halsted, through August 20, 2023. Tickets start at $20. Visit Steppenwolf.org. 

Photo Credit: Michael Brosilow

Originally published on BroadwayWorld.com

Director Terry Kinney’s production of ensemble member Kate Arrington’s world premiere play featuring Judy Greer runs through July 30, 2023

Continue reading “Review: ANOTHER MARRIAGE at Steppenwolf Theatre Company” →