Krithika Rajagopalan/Photo: Amitava Sarkar

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Normally Bharata Natyam, a classical Indian dance form, occurs as a solo performance marked by lively facial expressions, precise gestures and rhythmic footwork. Hema Rajagopalan, founder of Natya, puts the form in an epic context in this full-scale theatrical production for twenty dancers. Rajagopalan worked with a handful of collaborators to develop the concept, her first time doing so. “You have to let go of your ego,” Rajagopalan says of the collaborative experience. Read the rest of this entry »

Matthew Polenzani and Anna Christy/Photo: Dan Rest

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The projected translation “I stumbled on a barren landscape” received a hearty laugh at Saturday’s lavish Lyric Opera opening night, given that much of Wacker Drive surrounding the Civic Opera House is in such a state of reconstructive disarray that just accessing the Opera House became a pre-opening-night scavenger hunt for patrons, some joking aloud about what formal hard hats might look like.

It seems hard to believe that it has been nearly thirty years since we have heard Offenbach’s “Tales of Hoffmann” at Lyric Opera, first presented in 1976 and remounted in 1982. Like last year’s “Lohengrin,” which was also absent from the company repertoire for nearly three decades, it becomes a treat just to hear it again after such a long drought. And given that the episodic opera itself is framed by a party setting, it seemed oddly appropriate to perform “Hoffmann” on opening night when the audience itself is a virtual extension of the opera’s festivities.  Read the rest of this entry »

Ted Evans and Marsha Harman/Photo: Tom McGrath

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If ever there was a show in the right performance space, this is it. The domed ceiling, dangling chandelier and slightly dated grandeur of this room in the Lincoln Park Cultural Center fit the trappings of a small-town Nebraska funeral home to a T. Set designer Michelle Lilly seals the deal with an overabundance of flowers surrounding a white, open casket and a thrust seating arrangement. Read the rest of this entry »

Sadieh Rifai/Photo: Michael Brosilow

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I have a hard time with the concept of forgiveness. It seems like denial of the unacceptable. I come from the Italian school of Vendetta, which stipulates that anyone who does to me and mine will bleed in the streets. Or something like that.

So I can’t understand the Amish community’s response to the 2006 murder of five young girls at a Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania Amish school. The community attended the gunman’s funeral and befriended his widow and family. They did what their faith demanded.

ATC’s simple yet mindbogglingly complex explanation of that decision is a moving testimony to the resilience of spirit and the indomitable nature of love. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo: Sean Williams

With a cast of seven handling a vast array of characters (with refreshingly little regard for gender/age/ethnicity) this remounting of John Musial’s “The Great Fire” (directed by Musial) features plenty of comedic asides, a helping of emotional depth, memorably striking choreography, a few clever musical interludes and even a hilarious miniature puppet show. Ultimately, though, these diverse bits don’t always connect properly, leaving this ninety-minute Chicago “creation myth” feeling disjointed and less impactful than it could have been. Read the rest of this entry »