RECOMMENDED

This superb, song-packed revue of the early works of Stephen Sondheim created in the mid-seventies in Britain and lovingly revived by the Theo Ubique Theater Company reveals that while his lyrics clearly extend the legacy of his mentor Oscar Hammerstein II, there has never been a single, discernable Sondheim compositional style. Indeed, as you listen to nearly half the score to both “Follies” and “Company” interspersed with various Sondheim early hits and rarities, you begin to realize what a jarring transition it is to hear songs that contain Sondheim lyrics to the music of other, more melodically gifted composers such as Jule Styne (“Gypsy”), Leonard Bernstein (“West Side Story”) and Richard Rodgers (“Do I Hear a Waltz?”) alongside songs from shows that Sondheim wrote both the lyrics and the music to and which the music is undeniably subservient to the lyrics as a result. But Sondheim fans have always valued witty words over mediocre music, and there are plenty of both in this remarkably entertaining showcase in which five spirited performers, an offstage narrator and singing pianist perform these songs as if their lives depend on it. The cast captures the “devil may care” sophisticated subtlety and cutting-edge irony of even the most familiar Sondheim numbers and the punchy counterpoint of the ensemble numbers—no small feat, as countless bad Sondheim performances frequently demonstrate. For those who savor Sondheim, this revue is the best area production since Ravinia’s “Sondheim at 75” series. For those seeking to understand what all of the fuss is about, this is the perfect primer. (Dennis Polkow)

Fri-Sat/8pm, Sun/7pm. No Exit Café, 6970 N. Glenwood, (773)743-3355. $22, $40 with dinner one hour prior to show. Through Dec. 10.

A fractured fairytale show too sophisticated for children and too juvenile for adults, “Into the Woods” is one Stephen Sondheim musical that has always had an audience identity crisis—which may explain why performances of it are relatively rare. This Marriott Theatre revival will certainly attract Sondheimaphiles on that fact alone, but those seeking the tongue and cheek irony that can make the show click will be disappointed in that most of the fairytale characters are playing it straight in this production, missing the satire of the lyrics and James Lapine’s comedy with overdone seriousness and tentative timing. Sondheim’s deceptively simple ditty-filled score is also not well served here—its punchy counterpoint is often blurred with key characters delivering unconvincing performances due to timing miscues. (Dennis Polkow)

Wed 1pm & 8pm/Thu-Fri 8pm/Sat 5pm & 8:30pm/Sun; 1pm & 5pm. Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire, (847)634-0200. $45. Through Nov 19.

RECOMMENDED

It has become a cliché in music-theater circles to claim that the role of Mama Rose in “Gypsy” is the greatest Broadway score ever written for a female lead and indeed, in terms of demanding the most of both a top-flight actress and a first-class singer, the role is in a class by itself. That Patti LuPone, who came to prominence originating the completely sung Broadway role of “Evita” but whose acting was deemed too superficial to remain in “Sunset Boulevard,” has agreed to tackle a role for more dramatically demanding at a stage of her career when her pipes are not what they once were is a fascinating development, but the bets are high that LaPone would not take a risk like this if she wasn’t able to pull it off. But even if the performance is a bona fide train wreck, like last week’s pre-New York Ravinia tryout of Elaine Stritch’s new show, even that should be interesting. Thus, all theater-loving eyes and ears will be on Ravinia this weekend as LaPone attempts her first-ever Mama Rose in a staged production directed by Lonny Price and in the classy company of the Chicago Symphony—conducted by Paul Gemignani—playing the full orchestrations of this beloved Jule Styne score, which in case anyone forgot contains such iconic Broadway classics as “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” and “Let Me Entertain You” with the last lyrics that a young Stephen Sondheim wrote for another composer.(Dennis Polkow)

“Gypsy” plays at Ravinia Festival, August 11-13 at 7:30pm, Lake-Cook and Green Bay Roads, Highland Park; (847)266-5100. 

New York may be the town most connected to Stephen Sondheim, but Chicago has a long association with him as well, so a weekend-long, free Lollapalooza-like celebration of the musical theater of Sondheim spotlighting Chicago performers that will take place throughout Millennium Park is not quite as out of left field as it may appear.  (Dennis Polkow)

Millennium Park, between Michigan and Columbus, and Randolph and Monroe, (312)742-1168. Free. Read the rest of this entry »

RECOMMENDED

I love it when life imitates art. Four decades ago a legendary Broadway musical of burlesque stripper Gypsy Rose Lee introduced the theatergoing world to Rose, the meddlesome mother of all stage mothers. Four weeks ago, an article on CNN.com christened micromanaging but well-meaning “hyper-involved” and “hovering” moms and dads as “helicopter parents.” But they don’t hold a candle to the matron who set the standard, especially as played by Rebecca Finnegan in Porchlight Music Theatre’s revival of “Gypsy.” Finnegan possesses a fine belting voice that more than adequately handles Jule Styne’s sumptuous score. And it’s impressive to hear her approach Rose’s songs not just as the series of undisputable showstoppers that they are but—along with a punctilious reading of Stephen Sondheim’s lyrics—as deeply felt musical expressions of character psychology worthy of any dialogue in Arthur Laurents’ equally strong book. Also moving is Jess Goodwin in the title role and her portrayal of the untalented, self-conscious daughter displaying glints of haunting self-awareness into her mother’s emotional blackmail. The rest of director L. Walter Stearns’s deeply satisfying production finds a good balance between comedy and pathos and makes this revival a worthy opener to Porchlight’s eleventh season. (Fabrizio O. Almeida)

“Gypsy” plays at the Theatre Building Chicago, 1225 W. Belmont, (773)327-5252,through October 30.

RECOMMENDED

Okay, so sometimes the performances have been better than the works themselves: no matter; Ravinia’s five-year “Sondheim 75” series has been a gas for performers and audiences alike, and it’s a shame to see it all come to an end this year with the staging of one of the most obscure works of the Sondheim canon, “Anyone Can Whistle.” Despite having been financed by Richard Rodgers, Irving Berlin and Frank Loesser, among others, the 1964 work closed after a mere nine performances on Broadway and has been staunchly defended by Sondheim aficionados as having been too far ahead of its time ever since. Never having been given the opportunity to achieve the popularity of his later works, stagings are infrequent and so with Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald and Michael Cerveris all back, if anyone can make this piece “sing,” as it were, they can. John Mahoney narrates and Sondheim himself will be on hand for a pre-concert pavilion discussion an hour before the Friday evening curtain. (Dennis Polkow)

8pm, August 26, 7:30pm, August 27, Ravinia Festival, Lake-Cook and Green Bay Rds., Highland Park; (847)266-5100.

RECOMMENDED

Just like those famous lines proclaim in its brilliant opening number, there really is “something for everyone” in Marriot Theatre’s laugh-a-minute revival of “A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum,” Broadway’s 1962 musical-theatre valentine to vaudeville. Close to the show’s finale and by the time that three actors scurry about the stage dressed as the same golden-haired courtesan on the run from a handful of lustful Romans, the pre-coital comedy confusion that is “Forum” (courtesy of legendary funny men and book writers Larry Gelbart and Burt Shevelove) has just about skewered everything in its path: from vapid lovers to the geriatric; effeminate pimps to dumb blondes; eunuchs to erotic pottery. It’s sublime stuff for a musical that simply concerns itself with a wily Roman slave who will do anything (including getting his master laid) for his own freedom. The ambient challenges of theatre-in-the-round are in Marriott’s production a boon for a script whose laughs depend upon close-call run-ins and slapstick entrances and exits. As such, Dominic Missimi has directed the frenetic pace with the calm expertise of an air-traffic controller. A sweet and funny score by musical-theatre doyen Stephen Sondheim is the icing on an already very-rich cake. (Fabrizio O. Almeida)

Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire, (847)634-0200. Wed 1pm & 8pm/Thu-Fri 8pm/Sat 5pm & 8:30pm/Sun 1pm & 5pm. Through Sep 11.

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We’ve always known we were a town for theater. But this year perhaps we needed outsiders to remind us of just how great Chicago’s theater community is compared not only with New York, but with the rest of the world. Venerable London theater critic Michael Billington went so far as to herald our city as the “current theatre capital of America” after a recent visit, citing not only the three big S’s (Chicago Shakespeare, Second City and Steppenwolf), but also Victory Gardens and the Goodman. Other critics from New York and Toronto sent similar, although not quite as superlative, love letters this year. So it seems fitting this year that  our Players issue, in the past reserved for members of the theater community who wield the most power, focus on the artists—those both on stage and behind-the-scenes who make out-of-towners go home and drool. Read the rest of this entry »