We got a chance to see Potted Potter the week before Christmas, and I've been meaning to write about it. The show is hilarious, and well worth seeing, especially if you are a fan of Harry Potter.
As you might remember from our London sojourn we are big Harry Potter fans.
If you are not a fan-boy or girl, you will still have a good time, as long as you know a little bit about Harry Potter. I think even if you know absolutely nothing about Harry Potter, you will think it's funny, but you will have a really weird idea about what's going on in the book.
The show is delightful and fun and goofy. There are two characters in the show Dan and Jeff. At the start of the show Jeff is reading one of the books attentively on the stage, and Dan is endeavoring to shake everybody's hand in the audience. Once the show actually begins, it becomes clear that Jeff's mission is to tell the audience the story of the books, and Dan is along as Jeff's more trouble than he's worth helper. Along the way, Jeff is bound for disappointment, as Dan manages to "help" in ways that frustrate Jeff no end, and like any good clown show, the difference between what is aimed for and what is achieved is where a lot of the comedy comes in.
Dan and Jeff have a great working chemistry. Jeff hits just the right tones as an earnest fan wanting to share his love, and Dan manages to be stupid, cunning, charming, deceitful, mischievous, and innocent all at once. Dan does most of the heavy lifting in the comedy department, but without Jeff, it would not be meaningful or significant. They play well off of each other, and they clearly improvise at moments (as there were several moments where the actors started laughing and cmomenting on their improvisations. It's all in good fun, and they work very smoothly together.
Dan in the pre-show shaking everybody's hand. Here he holds an invisible wand.
Here my son and I pose in front of the marquee also holding invisible wands. He also brought his Gryffindor robes,
but declined to wear them in the theatre. Probably wise.
The show started as a street show and has since progressed to the stage. There are props, and while they are kind of goofy and fun, but they are mostly inconsequential. There is a large toy train that represents the Hogwarts Express, and while it's nice they have it, it's really inconsequential. The real story and the real comedy is between Jeff and Dave and of course the cast of characters that they present. I don't want to spoil the jokes, but my son (who is a big fan of Harry Potter) was laughing out loud for a good 50 out of the 80 minutes of the show (the show is 80 minutes long-- 10 minutes or so of prologue, followed by 70 minutes of sending J.K. Rowlings to her grave prematurely and making her roll around in it.)
Here's a promo video from their run 2 years ago in Chicago in 2015. As far as I can tell, the show hasn't changed appreciably. (Dan is the one in the wigs) This definitely doesn't give away a lot, and shows some great interaction between Dan and Jeff!
I do have a small warning: if you are a superfan of the books/movies, it's possible for you to take Umbrage with some of the choices here. Although they do a pretty good job of mentioning major plot points of the books, they miss whole parts, of which Dolores Umbrage is one. (See what I did there?) They also don't talk about the centaurs, Peter Pettigrew is mentioned once, Hagrid is given short shrift, and a bunch of other characters (poor Buckbeak) are not even mentioned once. In fact, what they don't talk about in the show probably outnumbers what they do talk about! Ultimately however, none of that matters. The joy and fun of working together and making the audience laugh uprariously trumps any minor imperfections.
Tickets are on sale now through January 21 when it closes. (Also please note, that the last couple of weeks there are only weekend shows, so see it early!) Tickets start at $25. The show is playing at the Broadway Playhouse in dowtownn Chicago.
Last Saturday, my son and I spent about 5 hours on a beautiful Saturday afternoon watching shows at the Chicago Fringe Festival.
It was the last weekend of the Fringe, and it was a lot of fun. It was (I think) my son's first Fringe festival, and I don't think he'd been to 3 shows in one day.
PLEASE NOTE: As with many of the theatre shows I review on this site, I did receive free entry to the shows with the hope that I would write about them. My opinions remain my own, uninfluenced by the price. I take my integrity seriously, and so should you.
While the shows are now over, many of these companies are Chicago based and continue to run programs that it is possible to see. I also think it's good to give artists a review of their work.
All told I saw 9 shows at the Fringe this year, and had a great time doing it. I hope to go to at least as many shows next year!
Here are the reviews of the shows we saw on the last Saturday of the Fringe.
That's Weird Grandma by Barrel of Monkeys
That's Weird Grandma is a show by Chicago group Barrel of Monkeys. They do something smart and pretty interesting. They go into schools and work with kids on storytelling. The kids write the stories, and then the improv troupe acts them out, the best of the stories they collect and put together into their shows, which appear regularly on Chicago stages (after the Fringe festival, they are starting another open-ended run at the NeoFuturarium.) In this way, they are getting paid by the schools to work together to develop material, and at the end, the student writers get to see their work put on by a professional company rather than just sit on a refrigerator somewhere. It's Win, Win, Win!
The show was a lot of fun, mostly because the stories all featured amazing kid logic. One of the stories was about a pie that doesn't want to be a cannibal and refuses to eat other pies. Another one featured a kid who wished for wizarding powers and what happened once she got them. A third story was a monologue by the monster that lives under the bed. The stories were all printed in the program, so you could compare the source material with the adaptation.
The 55 minute show had 15 stories in it, performed by a cast of 7 or so plus a musician who provided musical sound effects for all the shows. The costumes and props are relatively minimal (although there was a unicorn head that was fantastic as a mask. The acting was fine and entirely servicable, although perhaps a touch too broad all the time. It would have been nice to see on occasion, a lighter touch. Perhaps the best thing that can be said about the acting is that it never makes fun of the subject matter. The actors are there to serve the story, and they do.
This was an enjoyable show, and I'd highly recommend seeing a version of it if you get a chance.
(as I mentioned they will be doing an open ended run at the Neo Futurarium in the fall)
See a video about the process behind That's Weird Grandma
Semi- Circus Murmurations
The next show we saw was a circus from new circus group Semi Circus. Semi-Circus started in 2016 as a circus collective. They use circus skills, physical theater, improv and other skills to create plays. Murmurations is their first show.
The show starts off as a kind of therapy session. A therapist comes in and asks an audience member if they have been working on what they talked about last week. She then asks other audience members. Slowly the company comes in, and each of them has a quirk. Throughout the course of the show, each person stands forward to do their act as a way of dealing with/ expressing their quirk.
By the way, a murmuration is a formation of starlings that make complex and interesting formations as they fly. This is a good word for this kind of work, as the actors murmurate (assuming it's a verb) as they display their skills and their foibles.
The show was a very lovely mix of circus and theatre. There was a lot of comedy, some very impressive skills, and a lot of heart to the show. One particularly moving part for me was when the therapist does her bit, which involved a talking belly (her own). It was funny, brave, hilarious, and moving all at once.
The company is directed by local circus writer Kimzyn Campbell, and two of her children are in the show as well. It reminded me a lot of the Montreal circus company Sept Droits de la Main (7 Fingers of the Hand), a group of young circus artists who have now built seven or eight shows that tour worldwide with a similar aesthetic. The 7 Fingers are more virtuosic in their circus skills, but the ability to really share stories while in a handstand, or while juggling, or by doing barrel rolls is in some ways more important, and these young performers have that.
I look forward to seeing the next iteration of either this show or a new one.
Find out more about Semi Circus on their facebook page.
Melody by Tiffany Lawson Dance
The last show we saw of the Chicago Fringe was Melody by Tiffany Lawson Dance. Billed as an original superhero ballet, the show follows young dancer Melody, who has super powerful feet, and uses her dancing to vanquish bad guys. Her friends include Hoops, Hugs, and Courage, and they help her to get through to defeat her evil twin Dissonance. There is a live band, including a trombone player that was a lot of fun to watch and listen to.
Looking at their website, this looks like a show that they toured to Chicago libraries this summer. It seems like a great fit for a library's young audiences program.
However, my son is 9, and we were hoping for an actually choreographed superhero ballet, complete with lots of athletic moves and powers. This was more like a way to get kids to see their first dance show.
Don't get me wrong, the show was great for the 3-5-year-old set, who got to dance, and sing, and see live music and dance being played out. There were a lot of interactive little pieces, including a pre-show by one of the performers who is apparently also a kid's music singer, and he played some nice interactive songs (and plugged his CD!) During the show, director Tiffany was very proactive in making sure that kids would be included, would get up and dance, and helped encourage them.
This was listed as an all ages show, but without the participation element, I think the story, the performance, and the dancing were all too simplistic to be of much interest to non-parents or older kids. If you have younger kids, though, I think this would be a lot of fun. (My son would have loved it 6 years ago!)
Apparently, they do a lot of stuff that is not kid oriented, and I'd be interested to see that sometime!
Well, that wraps up my Fringe reviewing this season (unless some of the later Fringe's in the season want to fly me out to their Fringe to do more reviews, put me up, pay my per diem, and a small stipend! (I am open for suggestions!)
One of the best contortionists I've ever seen is part of Luzia.
Luzia is Cirque's "waking dream of Mexico" and it attempts to encapsulate in a 3 hour period the essence of Mexico. While this is a tall order, it does a pretty great job. The show features live music, crazy costumes and puppets, soccer juggling, virtuosic aerialists, a rotating stage, some funny clowning, and perhaps the best contortionist I've ever seen in my entire life.
It also features some astonishing uses of water as a set piece, including rain that seems to come down on command. (or stop on command as well) The director of the show Daniele Finzi Pasca had directed another show I saw about 10 years ago called Rain by Cirque Eloize, and he's expanded his vocabulary (and my guess is that Cirque has a larger budget to play with) The use of water in this show is phenomenal, and adds to the astonishing aesthetic and virtuosity for which Cirque is known.
Here's an example of some aerial work in the water (I took this at the show I was at on opening night!)
By the way, I haven't seen every Cirque show ever made, but my guess is that I've seen probably 12-15 live, and another 3 or 4 on video. I think this show is in the top 5. It's that good.
This is your last chance to see Luzia in Chicago. It must close on September 3.
Luzia opened on July 21, and it's original run was extended, but we are now near the end of that, and it must close on September 3. As a special offer, Cirque is offering a 30% discount to readers of this blog for remaining performances of Luzia in Chicago.
Don't miss your opportunity to see an amazing show at a discount. You will thank me for it!
We saw Aladdin last week as part of my son's perfect day. Since then, I realized I haven't reviewed it!
To make a long story short: It's awesome and you should definitely see it!
And here's the rest of the story.
Aladdin the musical has a pretty hard job-- it has to take a beloved animated musical, full of all kinds of crazy special effects, cartoon animals, pitch perfect and very distinctive songs (Hello, Robin Williams as the Genie!), and a pretty strong love story, and turn it into a live in front of you Broadway Musical.
It does it, and more. I think it does a great job of transforming the movie into a Broadway show, and a Broadway show that is appealing to lots of different people.
Here's a clip to give you an idea of the all out Broadway glitziness of the show. (This clip is from the musical's website, and contains some of the New York actors)
In Chicago, the lead actor Aladdin is played by Adam Jacobs, the same person who opened the show on Broadway. He is fabulous, as are all of the actors in the Chicago production.
I'd be remiss not to mention four of the actors by name:
Jonathan Weir as Jafar. The perfect villain!
• Isabella McCalla, who does an amazing job as Princess Jasmine, managing to be sexy, childlike, brash, and spunky all at the same time. We can see why Aladdin falls in love with her.
•Jonathan Weir as Jafar, who has a thundering voice, and can turn on a dime to be overly obsequious and imperious.
•Reggie DeLeon as Iago, who absolutely kills it as Iago, the bloodthirsty henchman. He is hilarious, and didn't quite steal every scene he was in, but made me want to see a whole play just about Iago.
•Anthony Murphy as the Genie, who also kills every scene he was in. He had particularly big shoes to fill, both substituting for Robin Williams (the movie Genie) and James Monroe Iglehart, who won the Tony for his original portrayal of the Genie and is now moving to Hamilton to become Lafayette/Jefferson. Murphy does stuff his own way, and it works! He's funny, real, and makes the part his own.
Here's a video clip of the end of the knockout song Friend Like Me. After this number there was a standing ovation for about a minute before people sat down. In fact, that might be my one quibble, after this song, they should have just had the intermission, but instead there's a a finale song that does nothing but simmer down the audience.
I mentioned earlier that they made some adaptations to make it better and more suitable for Broadway
In the movie, Aladdin has a pet monkey Abu, and Jafar has his pet parrot Iago. Rather than mess around with animatronics, or try to match the movie note for note, the musical wisely casts Iago the parrot as a person and the monkey as three people, Aladdin's best friends.
As I mentioned above, Iago is fantastic, and the three friends and Aladdin get a buddy song "Babkak, Omar, Aladdin, Kassim" (to introduce themselves to us (and it's where Jasmine and Aladdin meet for the first time) During the song they sing about their unbreakable friendship, as well as repeating their names a bunch of times for people who might be saying "But they are not in the movie!" . (As Princess Jasmine later notes in the show, "I know your name, you sang it like 50 times!")
Aladdin and Jasmine together for the first time.
From the musical/ story perspective, this works out better than the monkey, both because there's a lot of opportunity for comedy and jokes (I especially liked Babkak, who made a number of funny puns about food during the show) and because it sets up Aladdin not as a weird creepy thief/loner, but as someone with a community who is loved. I think one of the essential problems for Aladdin is always, "He's a criminal, but he's the hero."
By giving him a community to fit into, that makes it easier for us to accept his criminality. It also gives a bigger storyline when Aladdin becomes a Prince, and seems to forget his friends. More is at risk.
There are some special effects including a flying carpet that is nice, but no great shakes. It does give the actors the opportunity to sing their love song "A Whole New World" up in the air, and that was pretty spectacular.
All in all, you should definitely see this show. The show has been extended at least until September 10. This is the first leg of the national tour, so you should see it before it must move. TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets for Aladdin at the Cadillac Palace Theatre range from $44 – $153. In Chicago, tickets are available at all Broadway In Chicago Box Offices (24 W. Randolph St., 151 W. Randolph St., 18 W. Monroe St. and 175 E. Chestnut), the Broadway In Chicago Ticket Line at (800) 775-2000, all Ticketmaster retail locations and online at www.BroadwayInChicago.com.
A select number of Premium Ticket Packages, which include a prime seat location, a commemorative souvenir program and an exclusive merchandise item, are also available for many performances.
Ticket buyers are reminded that Broadway In Chicago theatres and http://www.BroadwayInChicago.com are the only official retail ticket outlets for all performances at the Cadillac Palace Theatre.
Ticket buyers who purchase tickets from a ticket broker or any third party should be aware that Broadway In Chicago is unable to reprint or replace lost or stolen tickets and is unable to contact patrons with information regarding time changes or other pertinent updates regarding the performance.
We attended opening night of Circus 1903 last night, as it made its debut here in Chicago. It was a fantastic evening at the circus, and well worth seeing. You will enjoy yourself immensely.
The show is a collaboration between the producers of The Illusionists (which played last month in the same theatre) and the puppeteers of the London West End sensation War Horse.
The show brings us back in time to 1903, the glory years of the circus. While we don't actually travel back in time, the costumes, sets, and performers all do a great job of reminding us of that time when television didn't exist, when radio didn't exist, and when all the factories and schools would shut down when the circus came to town.
David Willamson as ringmaster Willy Whipsnade
The acts in the show are sensational. David Williamson, who plays the ringmaster, does a great job of moving the show along. He plays his character somewhere in the middle of corny idealist and sharp con-man. He introduces all of the acts, plays with the audience, and most importantly sets the scene. Williamson is an accomplished magician, and although the tricks he does are all things you've seen before, he does them expertly, and most importantly his interaction with the audience is sharp, real, and funny. He is also a fine actor. Towards the beginning of the show, he has a simple monologue about the wonder of the circus that is simple and yet sensational. I really believed him, and given the text, it would have been easy not to.
Senayet Asefa Amare
The circus acts themselves are all pretty great. I was particularly taken with the Italian foot jugglers the Fratelli Rossi, who perform with a kind of speed and precision that is breath-taking to see. At one point one of the brothers does a double flip from his brother's feet, they reset, and they do it again! Astonishing!
Another great act was the contortionist Senayet Asefa Amare. She is perhaps the finest contortionist I have ever seen, doing a variety of tricks with ease and confidence. There's one piece where her lower body rotates around her upper body, which is fairly still. She bills herself as The Elastic Dislocationist, and I believe it.
A third very wonderful act was the juggler Francois Boire, who is a French club juggler. As is typical of European flash jugglers, he was very fast and precise, but he was able to perform 7 clubs! He also did a lot of incredible speed juggling, including a trick where he rotated the clubs sideways so that they were parallel to the ground instead of perpendicular. I've seen that trick before, but not with the kind of speed and virtuosity that he displayed.
Mexican tightwire act finale Los Lopez
The rest of the acts were very good as well, including a remarkable teeterboard act, a puppet elephant and its baby that occupied a slow and very beautiful part of the show, an artistic cycling act that was well done, an aerialist, and the finale was a Mexican tightwire act. Strangely, the program mentions three acts that weren't in the show that we saw-- I am not sure if they had problems getting visas, as they all seemed to be foreign acts, including what looked to be a terrific rolla bolla act, a clown act, a knife throwing act, and a Russian cradle act.
Williamson did a couple of magic acts to fill in those spots-- his bullwhip act was so so, but his Rocky Racoon act (which is a 20 dollar spring puppet) was wonderfully performed and got a great response from the crowd. He brought up 4 kids from the audience, and they had a fantastic time, and he knew how to play them for maximum response.
There were some lighting problems on the night we saw the show-- about half of the bows for the individual acts were done without light. Not sure if the follow spot operator called in sick, or they weren't able to set the lights due to their fast turnaround. I am sure they will be working on that tomorrow.
All in all it was a wonderful show. You should see it while it's here in Chicago, and if you can't see it in Chicago, they are going to be all over the United States for the next 6 months. Click here to see if they will be in your area.
The performers take their final bows.
Some video of the acts in the show (provided by Broadway in Chicago.)
Some of the performers seen here didn't make it to the opening night.
I am not sure if they will be in the rest of the performances, or if they
had problems getting visas.
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE IN CHICAGO
Wednesday, March 22 – 7:30PM
Thursday, March 23 – 7:30PM
Friday, March 24 – 7:30PM
Saturday, March 25 – 2:00PM & 8:00PM
Sunday, March 26 – 2:00PM & 7:30PM TICKET INFORMATION
Individual tickets for CIRCUS 1903 –The Golden Age of Circus at the Oriental Theatre range from $16- $80 with premium seats available for all performances. Tickets are available at all Broadway In Chicago Box Offices (24 W. Randolph St., 151 W. Randolph St., 18 W. Monroe St. and 175 E. Chestnut), the Broadway In Chicago Ticket Line at (800) 775-2000, all Ticketmaster retail locations and online at www.BroadwayInChicago.com.
When last I looked HotTix did have tickets available for some of the performances as well.
Whoever said that Circus was on its way out hasn't been to Chicago. Right now-- there are a number of circus shows coming up in the next few weeks (and some are ending in the next few weeks, or even next few days. So don't miss them!) And I'm sure I've missed a few as well.
CIRCUS SHOWS IN CHICAGO RIGHT NOW
MOMENT OF CIRCUS 2017 - THROUGH MARCH 12
It's actually going on right now, and somehow, although I knew about it, it fell off my radar. Despite the closing of the Chicago Contemporary Circus Festival this year, many of the same players put on a different, smaller, more local festival called Moment of Circus. It's sponsored by the Moment Collective, a Chicago-based organization devoted to presenting and promoting interdisciplinary, immersive performing arts. It is an expansive, responsive, inclusive group founded by Courtney Prokopas and Christina Kirts. Presently, Moment Collective has members from the circus, dance, moving-image, academia, street art, world music, storytelling, and comedy communities, but is constantly a growing, shifting, morphing bunch - let's make things happen, let's be in the moment.
There are three shows that you can still see, including El Circo Cheapo Cabaret and an aerial rope contest Luchadores des Ropes To find out more, visit https://www.moment2017.com/tickets
PLEASE NOTE that not all of the shows are kid-appropiate. Please check with the theatre.
QUEST at the Actor's Gymnasium: Closes March 19
Quest is an original circus-theater production loosely based on Leo Tolstoy’s short story The Three Questions. The protagonist asks three simple (but huge) questions, setting in motion a whirlwind journey to find the answers.
Our hero and her sidekicks venture through obstacles, misinformation, slapstick fun, unexpected detours, music and songs, near crises, and amazing feats of partnership in seek of answers. Fun, funny, surprising, action-packed, deeply moving, profoundly existential – something for everyone!
The show runs Fridays at 7:30pm Saturdays 4:30 pm and 7:30 pm Sundays at 3:00 pm through March 19.
Based on the book by acclaimed illustrator Giselle Potter, The Year I Didn’t Go To School: A Homemade Circus is the world premiere of a wonderful autobiographical story about the year Giselle and her family moved to Italy to tour in her parent's puppet company The Mystic Paper Beasts.
Join seven-year-old Giselle and her sister Chloë as they spend a year traveling through Italy by truck, eating spaghetti with a fried egg on it, and playing various animals in their families intimate street circus shows. This show has a lot of the local circus community in it: Julie Greenberg (of the Midnight Circus) plays the grandmother, her daughter Samantha Jenkins (also of the Midnight Circus) shares the role of Giselle, and Adrian Danzig (of 500 Clown) plays the Grandfather, and Aerial Emery (of the Midnight Circus, and of the National Tour of Pippin)
Broadway In Chicago brings us this touring show, a collaboration between the company who created the Illusionists (touring as well) and the company that created the puppets for War Horse.
Circus 1903 takes a step back in time to resurrect the Big Top in all its former glory, packing the ring with acrobats, jugglers, clowns and a wondrous, life size puppet of an African Elephant. All of the performers are dressed in the finest retro costumes and presiding over proceedings is a mustachioed ringmaster with a top hat and a mischievous glint in his eye.
Known as the world’s largest touring production, Cavalia is known for creating circus shows thatmarry the equestrian arts, stage arts and high-tech theatrical effects at never-before-seen levels. Their latest circus show
Their latest circus show Odysseo is larger-than-life (the tent at Soldier Field is 125 feet tall, the stage is bigger than the United Center Ice Rink and requires 10,000 tons of stone, earth, and sand to create, there is a waterfall that uses 40,000 gallons of recycled water) and the show features up close shots of the performers and horses on an 8400 sq ft screen)
It is also a feast for the eyes that succeeds in delivering the spectacular with soul. Audiences of all ages are passionately rediscovering the century-old relationship between human and horse.
As friends, partners and inseparable performers on stage, 65 horses and 48 artists lead the spectators on a great journey in a world of dreams where, together, they discover some of the planet’s most unforgettable landscapes.
One of my favorite events of the year, CHITAG, is coming up later this month It's a wonderful event celebrating the latest in toys and games.
Not only do you get to find out about some of the latest and greatest toys that are coming out this season (just in time for the Holidays) - you also get to meet toy inventors, see cool and fun events (this year there is a Yo Yo championship and a giant bubble show scheduled, among others)
A couple of years ago we saw the coolest walkaround dragon/dinosaur I've ever seen.
But one of the things that I like most is that they host a school-based game invention contest, where kids can invent their own games, and then get judged by both professional game designers and the public. I've seen some amazing creativity, and professional level artwork in the past, and I love to just hang around and talk to the kids who are so passionate about what they created.
The other thing is that not only do kids get in the action, but so do adults. There will be adults who are just starting out also, seeking representation, floating their labor of love ideas to see if they would work. I love that ChiTAG gives these guys a chance to meet the public even if they are not quite ready for prime time (though many just need the break) It's the best of all worlds.
And readers of this blog can get $3 off entry! Register online here and use the promo code CHITAG3
One of the educational interactive games we found at CHITAG.
Walk inside the World's Largest PomPomWow!
Super Power Sensory Hour 9:00 am – 10:00 am hosted by The National Lekotek Center providing early access to families of children with special needs
Inventor Meet and Greet throughout both days!! Want to meet the inventor of BopIt? Operation? Jenga? Nerf? Twister? You can say “hello” and get inside knowledge from all – they’ll at the Fair. Also meet upcoming inventors and try their products out. You’ll be able to say you knew them before they were hot!
