RECOMMENDED

Signal Ensemble’s hit “Aftermath,” remounted in their brand new space, is an engaging musical portrait of a seminal period in the life and eventual death of the increasingly obscure Rolling Stones co-founder Brian Jones. Signal brings high spirits to their production and a fantastic attention to detail, found in the “backstage” laminates used as tickets/programs, to the carefully restaged album covers and posters adorning the walls. The songs, too, are staged with a studied authenticity, if not outright mimicry, that won’t disappoint. Though Ronan Marra’s script seems inclined to filter the thing through Jones’ perspective, with Mick and Keith and fellow bandmates portrayed in unflattering light, the sad truth of Jones’ life, and this production, is that Jagger and Richards were (and are) the stars, no matter how harsh the lighting got. For this ninety minutes, though, especially as personified by Aaron Snook, Brian’s light shines almost as bright, though Nick Vidal’s Mick brings just the right kind of swagger to make us understand Jagger’s devilish ability to make the girls and the boys swoon. (Brian Hieggelke)

At Signal Ensemble Theatre, 1802 West Berenice, (773)347-1350. Through December 12.

See also Neal Ryan Shaw’s spot-on review for Newcity this spring.

David Daniels (top) Esteban Andres Cruz/Photo: Dan Rest

RECOMMENDED

For those who musically associate Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” with the mirthful music of Mendelssohn, Benjamin Britten’s modern operatic setting of the Bard’s comic masterpiece will come as something of a culture shock.

Written for the 1960 opening of an expanded Jubilee Hall at Britten’s Aldeburgh Festival, the composer’s decision to write an opera for that reopening was made so late in the process that a ready-made libretto was needed. Britten and his longtime companion, the tenor Peter Pears, set about taking the Bard’s original text and streamlining it to its essentials, ultimately cutting the play’s prose in half and cobbling the remainder into a libretto that unlike, say, Verdi’s operatic Shakespeare adaptations which also needed to be translated into Italian, form a marriage of language and music that brilliantly preserves the character of the original. Here actual lines and soliloquies are recognizable not merely for exposing plot details—in many ways, the least essential element of the original play in any case—but for their sheer linguistic beauty with the added dimension of their being sung, or in the case of Puck, recited to notated rhythms against the score. Read the rest of this entry »

RECOMMENDED

A friend who made the decision to transition from male to female said his doctor told him that no one would want him to transition. He was right; I didn’t. I was afraid of what it would mean for him and his family. In “Trans Form,” Rebecca Kling chooses to face those same fears on her journey from manhood to womanhood, determined to become who she knows she already is.

Shows like Jane Anderson’s 2001 “Looking for Normal” have already covered the downsides of transitioning: the depression, the safety threats, the strained relationships with family and friends. Kling’s piece is occasionally awash in statistics and unrealistic expectations of clueless straight folks. But when she is specific about her unique experiences (her parents’ reactions, taming the dreaded DMV bureaucracy) Kling’s story becomes accessible and enjoyable. And the journey, as difficult as it may be, comes to its only possible ending. (Lisa Buscani)

New Suit Theatre Company at the Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 North Southport, (800)982-2787. Through December 5.

Dave Boren and Jamie Bragg

Spirituality and sexuality may strive for different results, but they both come from the same place: a deep sense of longing and passion for something beyond yourself. That’s what’s missing from The Right Brain Project’s “Halfshut”: depth, longing and passion.

The piece showcases seven twenty-somethings reflecting on relationships and religion. It’s an interesting premise, but just when it gets good, Randall Colburn’s script fails to finish what it starts. Relationships end for poorly articulated reasons, spur-of-the-moment kisses receive no follow-through, and frayed family ties are not explored.

The show is best when it offers novel, specific stories (a woman on a date with a less-than-ideal lover who shields her eyes from streetlights so she can sleep). It fails when “spontaneous” dialogue falls flat, or when a twenty-something utters the phrase, “Aging sucks!” in front of an audience of 40- and 50-year-olds. Kids, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. (Lisa Buscani)

The Right Brain Project, 4001 North Ravenswood, (773)750-2033, Through December 4.

Clockwise from left: Dan Beno. Jay W. Cullen, Andrea Larson, Erik Kaiko, Devin Archer/Photo: Jay Kennedy

RECOMMENDED

In the mood for the boy-band harmonies of drunken British lads on a sun-soaked Spanish vacation? I wasn’t either. But I was pleasantly surprised by Dougal Irvine’s ambitious “Departure Lounge”; it’s a confection with a bittersweet center.

Ringleader JB (Dan Beno) kills time in a departure lounge with his mates: acidic Pete (Jay W. Cullen), nebbishy Ross (Erik Kaiko) and ”ladies’ man” Jordan (Devin Archer). They sort out their drunken vacation-week memories of Australian hottie Sophie (Andrea Larson) before heading back to their uncertain academic futures and shaky relationships with one another.

The ensemble nails the singing and director Tom Mullen’s bright, hip choreography; they also handle the guys’ ties and personal conflicts with aplomb. Each performer takes his spotlight number and runs with it; Larson holds her own in this sea of testosterone. The accents are hit and miss, but that’s nitpicking; the show’s a high-flier. (Lisa Buscani)

Bailiwick Chicago at The Royal George Theatre, 1641 North Halsted, (312)988-9000. Through December 12.

Photo: Eduardo Patino

Eduardo Vilaro once told me that, as a Cuban-born American whose parents immigrated to New York when he was very young and who had spent most of his adult life in Chicago, he never developed a sense of home. As a young dancer in New York, Vilaro performed with the iconic Ballet Hispanico; in Chicago he founded his own company, Luna Negra Dance Theater—building a home in a new city. In 2010, after fourteen years in Chicago, Vilaro returned to New York as artistic director of Ballet Hispanico, experiencing a sort of homecoming of the itinerant. I talked to him about Ballet Hispanico’s upcoming performance at the Harris and the transition back to a new New York via phone.

“It’s certainly changed a lot in the fourteen years I’ve been away. It’s interesting to see how the mayors have worked to take back the public spaces. There’s a lot of Chicago in New York now. On 34th Street, a little kiosk where you can buy sandwiches and sit down… I mean, for me, growing up in the eighties…really? No.” Read the rest of this entry »

Lindsay Pearlman

RECOMMENDED

Half of the challenge of creating is protecting your creation from those who would steal it. Basing his tale on the story of Texans Henry “Dad” and Charles H. Garrett, who received a patent for an electrolytic carburetor in 1935, David Mamet dissects corruption while championing honor in this 1977 effort.

Charles Lang (Cody Proctor) builds an engine which uses water for fuel, then must protect it from thieves. Staged as a radio play, the audience is reminded of the meta conceit by artful folio work. It’s cool to watch and even cooler to listen to.

Brian Golden’s direction makes the imagined palpable; his actors are skilled vocally and physically. Proctor captures the put-upon genius searching for scientific certainty in the business world; George Zerante and Travis Williams are suitably oily as predatory lawyers. But the evening’s standout is Lindsey Pearlman; her timing and flexibility are a delight. (Lisa Buscani)

Theatre Seven of Chicago at the Greenhouse Theater, 2257 North Lincoln, (773)404-7336. Through December 5.

RECOMMENDED

The three women at the center of this new work from French writer Pierre Notte (in translation by David Bradby) are in a bad, bad way. Listless, tortured, haunted, desperate for an escape from the confines of their tiny apartment and tinier lives…what’s a girl to do? Manic, overbearing Mother (Beata Pilch) cooks and cleans with ferocity; nervous, raven-haired Marie (Sadie Rogers) retreats to her makeshift cabaret in the cellar for some sultry singing and self-mutilation; and the moping, languid Genevieve (Holly Thomas)? Why, she swipes her blonde hair out of her eyes, strikes a pose, and declares “I am Catherine Deneuve.”

There is much to admire in this darkly funny, bizarre and often touching ninety-minute play, directed by Valery Warnotte—but it’s the performances of Trap Door’s ensemble that make this “Deneuve” a must-see. The cohesive stylization keeps the audience hanging on even as Notte’s chaotic world spirals out of control, and both Thomas and Pilch are masterful in their eccentricity. But it’s the surprising and captivating performance from new company member Rogers as Marie—with her wide-eyed anguish and sad, sultry solos—who imbues this absurd world with palpable heartache and humanity. Also starring John Kahara as The Brother, with Gary Damico playing live piano. (Valerie Jean Johnson)

At Trap Door Theatre, 1655 West Cortland, (773)384-0494, Thu-Sat/8pm. Through November 20.

Karen Janes Woditsch, Terry Hamilton/Photo: Lara Goetsch

RECOMMENDED

It’s no small challenge to play an iconic celebrity of the likes of Julia Child, especially when a recent film portrayal featured Meryl Streep in Oscars-nom-worthy form. Karen Janes Woditsch is so absolutely perfect in the role at TimeLine, capturing not only the singular vocal style, but also the peculiar mix of bookish intelligence and gee-whiz awkwardness that made up so much of Child’s charm, that we left the theater discussing the possibility that she is actually a better Julia Child than Streep.

Another challenge when you’re dealing with the story of television’s first food celebrity’s discovery of the sumptuousness of French cuisine, and her journey from novice to master, is communicating food’s sensuality. Certain movies, like “Big Night,” have done it, but limited space, time and budgets can lead theaters to shortcuts that exile food out of the senses and into the imagination, like the production of “Po Boy Tango” at Northlight in 2009 that used pantomimed cooking and eating in a distracting manner. No such disappointments here, as the use of smells as a staging device come to the fore in the very first scene, when the succulent odor of shallots cooking in butter punish the theater-goer who’s failed to feast beforehand or, at the very least, made a post-theater reservation at a bistro. This even becomes a certain kind of high-risk theater when, Terry Hamilton, playing Chef Max Bugnard, teaches Child and her classmates how to make perfect oeufs brouilés (scrambled eggs), by actually doing so on stage. Call it theater of the delicious. Read the rest of this entry »

Usman Ally and Collin Geraghty/Photo: Johnny Knight

RECOMMENDED

It can get dangerously tedious, a play about a playwright and his novelist friend talking about the art and craft of writing throughout an entire play. But Itamar Moses’ critical darling “The Four of Us” not only edges past that basic premise to explore the longstanding mutual envy between the friends, but also, with a daring metatheatrical twist, manages to upend your every preconceived notion about the act of writing and acts of bitter friendship. “Frenemies” since they met ten years before at a young musicians’ summer camp, David nevertheless becomes the more jealous when Benjamin lands a book deal, while he struggles with unfortunate Midwestern productions of his plays, even though he’s always been more successful with women than David. Moses mischaracterizes the Midwest, as this is a sharp, brisk and funny Chicago premiere, featuring Usman Ally and Collin Geraghty in impressive turns as David and Benjamin respectively. I could have done without the Nickelback music cue; in general, the play has a slight but unnecessary reliance on current pop culture. But Theater Wit’s production of this incisively witty play is not to be missed. (Neal Ryan Shaw)

Theater Wit, 1229 West Belmont, (773)975-8150. Through December 4.