REVIEW: PIRATES OF PENZANCE.

As mentioned in my previous post, Uncle Fun was only the first part of our cultural doubleheader this past Sunday.  After that show, we hightailed it over to Evanston's Cahn Auditorium to see Music Theater Work's excellent show Pirates of Penzance, complete with giant cast and 26 piece orchestra. (That production plays on through June 17, and is a great production to make your child's first Gilbert and Sullivan- it's beautifully done, well-performed, and Pirates itself is a classic. And tickets for those 25 and under are half price! If you want to buy tickets, go here right now. Don't worry, I'll wait!)

GETTING THERE.

We had some setbacks getting there.  Uncle Fun started at 11:30 and was supposed to end at around  12:30.  That gave us an hour and a half to drive to Evanston, grab a quick bite, and get to the Cahn Auditorium (on the Northwestern Campus).  Plenty of time!  HOWEVER:

• Uncle Fun was nearly filled, so they delayed the showtime to make sure everybody was seated (they completely sold out the other two screenings!)
• There was an extra long Q & A, about 15 minutes long.
• We had to park about a 3 minute walk away from the theatre.
• We drove to Evanston, as we drove there, I estimated that our best bet was to get fast food (even though my son and I are not big fans)  I chose the Evanston Burger King on Orrington, since it's so close to the theatre.
  

  

  James Harms (Major-General Stanley) and ensemble.
  PHOTO CREDIT BY BRETT BEINER
• My son was cranky, and elected to stay in the car and rest his eyes while I grabbed the food.
• That Burger King is the slowest in the world.  They had one person doing everything, and even though there was one person ahead of me, it took me about 15 minutes to get our food.
• When I got out to the car, it turned out that for some reason, my son had a bloody nose in the car and was panicked!  (He sometimes gets them when the weather changes, as do I!)  He did the right thing though, and found tissues and napkins in the car.  (He should have come out and got me, but he was afraid that the alarm in the car would have gone off)  I calmed him down, washed the blood off his hands, shirt and face, and drove the five minutes or so to Cahn, while eating our terribly greasy food.
  
  

  

  Larry Adams (Pirate King, center) and ensemble.

  PHOTO CREDIT BY BRETT BEINER
• I went the wrong way and missed Cahn the first time (lots of one way streets in Evanston)  Managed to find street parking (also about 3 minutes away from the theatre) and we walked into the theatre's box office  at 2:01 pm. The show had not yet begun.
• There was a lady ahead of us at Will Call, who was stubbornly asking how to leave a ticket for her husband who was parking.  She didn't seem to understand what the box office attendant was saying, and he had to repeat everything three times.
• We made it into the theatre, sat down, and thought we made it.  That's when my son realized he had to use the bathroom.  
• We made it back into the theatre as the lights were going down and the music was swelling up  (We took seats in the back row that weren't occupied, as we didn't want to disturb our seatmates twice.)
  

  

  PJ Wilborn (Sergeant of Police, center) and ensemble.  PHOTO CREDIT BY BRETT BEINER

Whew!  That was a lot.  But we persevered, we showed adaptability, and more importantly, we got to enjoy a great production of Pirates.  And really, it's little adventures like this that make everything worthwhile, and will give us great memories of the time we went to see a show and everything conspired against us.

THE REVIEW OF PIRATES OF PENZANCE.  FINALLY

Everything we've seen at Music Theatre Works has been very well done, and this show was no exception.  Every actor had a great voice, they performed their characters clearly, the orchestra was all fantastic, the staging was well designed.  Professional is the word I'd use.

Ben Barker (Frederic) and Cecilia Iole (Mabel).
PHOTO CREDIT BY BEN BEINER

This was my son's first Gilbert and Sullivan, and he liked it a lot, although he had a hard time at first understanding everything that was being said.  But he got into the language and the inherent silliness, and there were 5 or 6 laugh out loud moments for him, including a particularly good joke which I will talk about below.

 I am sure I've seen it before (perhaps a university production) but what struck me is how damned clever Gilbert and Sullivan are.  I knew about their word play and the camp/silliness factor, but what I'd forgotten that at times they can be downright Oscar Wildean.

This was one exchange that both my son and I guffawed out loud when we heard the character say it.

It's said by the Modern Major General, who talks about disappointing his ancestors.  The young man Frederic points out he just bought his house a year ago, and they weren't his ancestors.  This is his reply:

Frederic, in this chapel are ancestors: you cannot deny that. 

With the estate, I bought the chapel and its contents. 

I don't know whose ancestors they were, but I know whose ancestors they are, and I shudder to think that their descendant by purchase (if I may so describe myself) should have brought disgrace upon what, I have no doubt, was an unstained escutcheon.

This is a fantastic quip!  Worthy of Oscar Wilde.

We also really laughed at the whole "But We're Orphans", and the farcical elements of following your duty even though it ends up ruining your life.

All in all, the show took our minds off our previous hour of madcap insanity, and we left the theatre in a great mood, and what more can you ask from a Gilbert and Sullivan show?

Tickets start at $34
Age 25 and younger 1/2 price (suitable for 8 and older)

REMAINING SHOWS
Friday, June 15 at 8 pm
Saturday, June 16 at 8 pm
Sunday, June 17 at 2 pm
visit https://www.musictheaterworks.com/pirates-of-penzance/Or call (847) 920-5360

REVIEW: Uncle Fun: You're The One.

We had a busy cultural extravaganza this past Sunday.  My 9 year old son and I went to see two pretty great (and radically different) cultural events, rushed around like crazy to make them, had a panic moment, and recovered.  In other words, the perfect Dad Sunday.  (My wife was at a conference all weekend, so it was all dad, all the time!)

The first event was  the World Premiere of Uncle Fun: You're The One,  a documentary about the iconic but now gone toy store  Uncle Fun and its quirky owner Ted Frankel. It played at Chicago Filmmakers, a 30 year old center for budding and accomplished film-makers in my neighborhood.  (They've just moved into a new building about 8 blocks from my house)


The second event was Evanston's Music Theatre Works excellent production of Pirates of Penzance, complete with giant cast and 26 piece orchestra.  (That production plays on through June 17, and is a great production to make your child's first Gilbert and Sullivan- it's beautifully done, well-performed, and Pirates itself is a classic.  And tickets for those 25 and under are half price! If you want to buy tickets, go here right now.  Don't worry, I'll wait!)  (and I review it in the next post!)

In the meantime here is my review of Uncle Fun

REVIEW UNCLE FUN YOU'RE THE ONE

Uncle Fun You're the One was a quirky labor of love.  The filmmaker, Laura Scruggs,  a Chicago based actor and playwright, was an enthusiast of the store Uncle Fun and when Frankel decided to close, she decided to make a movie about this thing she loved.  Scruggs was not alone in loving the store. It had a whole band of enthusiasts (including me, who tried to go there every time I visited Chicago,) and I was really sad when we moved here in 2014 and it was closed down.  My sister in law, who is the prop master for Whose Line Is It Anway,  (and now lives in Evanston) turned me onto the store.  We were supposed to go to the movie together, but at the last minute she got ill and couldn't make it.  She will love it when she does see it!

The quality of the video is uneven, the filmmaking narrative is a little weird, and there are moments of bizarre and amateur singing sprinkled throughout (see above trailer), but the love and care and meaning that Scruggs puts into the movie beats out all of those technical issues.  I'd much rather see a flawed artwork with heart and character than a polished artwork without a soul.  In fact, one could argue that this is in part, the message of the movie.

Scruggs love of the store, its ethos, and the owner Ted Frankel showed through.  It was nowhere more evident than when, as a special surpise, Ted Frankel  showed up at the Q and A. (He has since moved to Baltimore, where he runs the quirky gift store at my favorite museum in the whole world The American Museum of Visionary Art.)

I was on hand for the Q and A, and videotaped it.  I think you get a real flavor for Frankel and Uncle Fun and Scruggs through the Q and A.  (and my son is the one who asks the question, "What was your favorite part of owning Uncle Fun." and Ted Frankel answered "The Customers.")


Laura Scruggs, filmmaker, with Ted Frankel and Laura's husband Jake.

The movie sold out in 2 of the 3 screenings, and the management of Chicago Filmmakers said they were going to work on bringing it back.  It's a great, quirky film, and well worth seeing, especially if you were a fan of the store.  And even if you had never been, you get a great taste for the wonder that it was.

You can find out more about the movie and where it will play next  at https://unclefunyouretheone.com/