National Theater shop - my hopes for Steppenwolf's new space

One of the things I love about the National Theater in London is that it is a multifunctional building, it houses three theaters, multiple food places, exhibition space, an open podium and a wonderful bookshop.

It's the bookshop I want to single out in this post.

With the demise of many brick and mortar bookstores everywhere (yes I'm guilty too, browsing in the stores only to then order the books online because books add too much bulk and weight when traveling by plane) I am completely in love with the bookshop at the National Theater.

It has plays, plays and plays... and biographies, books about plays, playwrights... and then some video's and merchandise to sweeten the deal... it's the kind of shop I can spend hours and hours in, browsing the plays, contemplating spending the extra money on the special editions.

Those who know me know that I have developed the habit of buying the play-books of the plays that I have seen, as a memento more than anything else, but also to, at times, read the play again and wonder about certain interpretations. It's sometimes hard to find the play-books, there are the specialized webshops of course, but nothing beats thumbing through a book before buying it, looking to see if there is a special edition to be found, or choosing between versions... book people will recognize the feeling.

All this as an introduction to something that occurred to me when killing time between plays on my last trip to Chicago.

Until a few years ago, whenever I would see two plays on one day in Chicago, often one of them would be a Steppenwolf production, and I would kill the time between plays at the Borders bookstore on the corner of Halsted and North (love the American habit of including coffee shops in bookstores!). But alas that bookstore disappeared a few years ago, nothing similar has taken it's place.

When I went to see the matinee performance of The Pianist of Willesden Lane (see post here) at the Royal George (across the street from Steppenwolf) with plans to see an evening performance at Steppenwolf I was wandering the area. Not really enough time to go 'home' relax and come back, but too much time to just hang around. It was a weird time to eat something (plenty of good eating places in the area these days), one can only spend so much time browsing the Apple store and Pottery Barn. What the area really needs for theater nuts like me is a decent bookstore!

Steppenwolf at this time has a small (tiny really) bookshop, mostly selling plays and merchandise of present productions... in desperation I ended up at their front door, waiting for them to open the lobby 1,5 hrs before performance to browse that little shop, it killed about 10 minutes...

Now, Steppenwolf is expanding, they recently bought the building next door and were diligently remodeling the place this summer.

I don't know what they are planning with their new space but I sincerely hope that they have planned for a bigger shop, a place for theater nuts like me to hang, spend some time and extra $$ before or after plays, preferably including a simple coffee shop (another missing feature in the area since Borders closed). Imagine the possibilities... you could do book signings of visiting playwrights, have play discussions there workshop style, organize meet and greets or at the very least simply make a few more $$ to fund your excellent theatre.

Just a thought...

The Pianist of Willesden Lane - Chicago July 2013 part 9

my trip was slowly coming to an end, time for another double feature.

I was too late to get tickets for the quickly sold out Simpatico at Red Orchid Theatre, as much as I'd have loved to have seen that play, for me it had a terrific silver lining, it opened up my afternoon to see a play that was not planned but came highly recommended by friends and critics: The Pianist of Willesden Lane, performed at the Royal George Theatre.

I was very fortunate that this play had extended a few times, so it magically fit my trip timeframe.

The play is a one woman show, it tells the true story of the performers mother who was a young Jewish girl, dreaming to become a concert pianist in Vienna, a dream rudely interrupted by World War II.

Mona Golabek is a gifted pianist herself, as she tells us her mothers (Lisa Jura) story through monologue and soliloquy, interspersed with beautiful classical piano performances she takes us the audience on a tour through the devastating events of the late 30's Vienna, where Jewish people were slowly stripped of their rights and the horrible truth of what 'The Anschluss" would mean for many people. Lisa's dream of making her concert debut at the revered Musikverein is shattered as her professor is no longer allowed to 'teach the Jews'.

Lisa's father manages to get one ticket for the kinder transport, an escape route offered in which the UK is allowing a limited amount of jewish children in the country. He only manages one ticket, the family has three children so now the parents have to decide which child to send to safety, they decide on Lisa and send her to family in London so she can continue her piano lessons there, follow her dream and fulfill her parents hopes for her. Lisa arrives in London only to find the uncle unwilling to take care of her and she is sent by the kinder transport organization to work 'in service' at a mansion in the country.

This is where the story starts to evolve solely around Lisa, her journey through heart-ship and pain but with great determination to fulfill the dream to become a concert pianist, not just because it was her dream, but even more so because it was what made her parents decide she would be the one sent to the UK on that one kindertransport ticket.

It is a very moving story, and Mona Golabek delivers it with such true emotion we are taken by the hand and are living her story to a certain degree. The stage is set bare, with a big Steinway piano and Mona Golabek dressed in all black. Behind her there are huge portrait frames where at the appropriate moments in her story we see family portraits and footage of the war. It's a much used prop in plays, but works very good in this show, at times suddenly this is no longer a one woman show but we see her family and friends on stage. Very impressive.

Lisa survives all the tribulations of course (since her daughter is right before us telling her story) but what of her family? her parents who sent her to London, her sisters who had to stay behind in Vienna? 

after the story is told, and the entire audience is on their feet giving a massive standing ovation, we get an epilogue on what happened... we sit down, listen and watch for another few minutes only to rise to our feet again for another standing ovation when the play is really over and Mona has to give many curtain calls... I'll not spoil the ending, but I can tell you there was not a dry eye in the audience.

Honestly I was so very happy to have seen this play, I shed many tears, it's definitely not a very uplifting play, but it was so very good and we need to be reminded of the truth of the horrible history of this world every now and then. When I left the theatre I wandered around the area for a while, trying to get my emotions to cool down a bit, it was an unsettling afternoon, but one I will never forget.

 photo's by Michael Lamont

Play overview from Broadwayworld.com

Set in Vienna in 1938 and in London during the Blitzkrieg, THE PIANIST OF WILLESDEN LANE tells the true story of Mona Golabek's mother, noted pianist and author Lisa Jura. A young Jewish pianist, Lisa dreams of a concert debut at the storied Musikverein concert hall. When Lisa is sent on the kinder transport to London to protect her from the Nazi regime, everything about her life is upended except her love of music and her pursuit of her dream. Golabek performs some of the world's most beloved piano music in this poignant true story of her mother's experience in wartime Europe. Adapted and directed by local favorite Hershey Felder, THE PIANIST OF WILLESDEN LANE is a riveting tale of hope that is a powerful testament to how music helps us survive through our darkest times.

"This beautiful tale told by Mona Golabek herself is performed in the style of musical storytelling that Chicago audiences have come to know from me," said adapter/director Hershey Felder, creator and performer of audience favorites including George Gershwin Aloneand Maestro: Leonard Bernstein. "Being able to work with her to present this piece has been an incredible joy both because her skill as a musician enables the evening to showcase some of the world's most beautiful and enduring piano music ever composed, and also because no one else could tell this story the way she can."

American concert pianist Mona Golabek has appeared at the Hollywood Bowl, the Kennedy Center and the Royal Festival Hall alongside major orchestras worldwide. A Grammy nominee, she has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Avery Fisher Prize, and has been the subject of several PBS television documentaries. Golabek is the creator and voice of The Romantic Hours, a syndicated radio program which combines classical music with readings of poetry, letters, and stories, and can be heard on 80 stations and XM Satellite Radio. Golabek and her family are founders of the non-profit Hold On To Your Music, which spreads the message of the power of the arts, especially music, to embolden the human spirit. In addition, Golabek and Lee Cohen are award-winning authors of The Children of Willesden Lane, the book upon which THE PIANIST OF WILLESDEN LANE is based.

Hershey Felder (Adaptation/Director)

Broadway, London's West End: George Gershwin Alone (Helen Hayes Theatre, Duchess Theatre). Regional and international appearances of "Composers Sonata" (1999-2013) - George Gershwin Alone, Monsieur Chopin, Beethoven, As I Knew Him, and Maestro: Leonard Bernstein - include Old Globe Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company,Geffen Playhouse, Laguna Playhouse, Ford's Theatre, Cleveland Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, American Repertory Theater, Hartford Stage, Ravinia Festival, Chicago's Royal George Theatre, Asolo Repertory Theatre,Prince Music Theater, The Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, Uijeongbu Theater Festival (South Korea) and many others, as well as a command performance of Monsieur Chopin for the Polish Ambassador to the United States, Polish Embassy, Washington. Winner of 2007 Los Angeles Ovation Awards, Best Musical and Best Actor forGeorge Gershwin Alone. Compositions include Aliyah, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra; Fairytale, a musical; Les Anges de Paris, Suite for Violin and Piano; Song Settings, poetry by Vachel Lindsay; Saltimbanques for Piano and Orchestra; Etudes Thematiques for Piano; An American Story for Actor and Orchestra. Recordings include Love Songs of the Yiddish Theatre, Back from Broadway, George Gershwin Alone and Monsieur Chopin for the WFMT Radio Network Recordings label;Beethoven, As I Knew Him and An American Story for the Eighty Eight Entertainment label. Worldwide live broadcasts, George Gershwin Alone, July 2005 and May 2011. Current projects include a new musical, An American Story, recorded with Chicago's Ars Viva Symphony conducted by Alan Heatherington. Mr. Felder has been a Scholar in Residence at Harvard University's Department of Music and is married to Kim Campbell, former Prime Minister of Canada.

The artistic team for THE PIANIST OF WILLESDEN LANE is led by Director Hershey Felder with Associate Direction by Trevor Hay. Scenic Design is by David Buess and Trevor Hay , Sound Design is by Erik Carstensen, Lighting Design is by Chris Rynne, Projection Design is by Greg Sowizdrzal and Andrew Wilder, and Scenic Construction is by Christian Thorsen and David Buess. Erik Carstensen serves as Production Manager and the Production Stage Manager is Brett Taylor.

The performance schedule for THE PIANIST OF WILLESDEN LANE is now through Sunday, July 7th. Performance times are: Wednesdays & Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m. Saturdays at 2 p.m & 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Tickets are $44 on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and $49 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets are now on sale at The Royal George Theatre and may be purchased by calling 312.988.9000. Box office hours are 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Tickets may also be purchased online atwww.theroyalgeorgetheatre.com.

review blurbs:

Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended "...In many ways, the simple act of Golabek sitting down at the Steinway piano that occupies the stage of the Royal George Theatre is a perfect statement of the play's main themes and enough to make your mouth fall open with a certain wonder at the way of the world. In watching this middle-aged woman's hands move in service of the creation of beautiful music, the sacrifices of her grandparents are made manifest. The Nazis succeeded neither in wiping out this family nor its accomplished artistry, here passed down to the next generation. The Nazis are gone. The piano playing goes on. It's all laid out before you in the most immediate, theatrical way." Read Full Review Chris Jones Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended "...'The Pianist of Willesden Lane," Mona Golabek's exquisitely rendered musical memoir - now in a limited engagement at the Royal George Theatre - begins, fittingly enough, with an exhilarating description of her mother, Lisa Jura, as she boards a trolley in Vienna and heads off to the highlight of her week - a piano lesson. She is 14 years old." Read Full Review Hedy Weiss Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended "...Golabek is a marvelous pianist--bright, strong, agile, and emotive. But as an actress, she's, well, a marvelous pianist. Physically and vocally unsophisticated, she lacks the chops to handle a character who ages from 13 to about 20 in the course of the story. What's more, the story itself isn't that remarkable in the lore of the Holocaust. All Golabek has to say is "Jewish," "Vienna," and "1938," and we've pretty much got the gist. Her obvious urge to valorize her mother doesn't help, either. Ironically, Golabek seems to have a much more intriguing story in the romance and marriage of her parents--but she only gets to that toward the end and leaves a lot of questions unanswered." Read Full Review Tony Adler ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended "...The Pianist of Willesden Lane is a story we need to hear as it begs the question concerning how many other children that didn't survive who had much to contribute to humanity? We are grateful that Lisa Jura did survive and we see how her music became her beacon of hope. First Lisa and now Mona do indeed channel their departed relative through the power of music. When Golabek made her beautiful music, I recalled memories of long-gone relatives and friends. The power of music does catapult memories. Mona Golabek's story stimulates us. That is the power of the live stage, especially when it combines rich narrative and music. Miss Golabek tour de force performance is a treasure not to be missed." Read Full Review Tom Williams Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended "...Based on the book, “The Children of Willesden Lane” by Mona Golabeck and Lee Cohen, this 90 minutes is sheer artistry, by the clever adaptation by Felder and the stunning performance by Golabeck. After all, this is her mother’s story and she tells it with great heart and when she sits at The Steinway, I for one can see the emotions that cross her mind as she tells this story of hope, dreams and survival. She opens the play by introducing us to the portrait of the times- that we begin in Vienna in 1938. Her mother, was one of three daughters, but the only one that had the talent of her mother at the piano. All her life, that was her dream- to be a concert pianist. Her mother’s name was Lisa Jura. Her dream was to play in concert at Musikvere. When Lisa goes to her final lesson, filled with happiness, she is greeted at the door of her teacher by a German soldier, and finds that her teacher can no longer teach her, because she is Jewish." Read Full Review Alan Bresloff Chicago Theatre Review - Recommended "...This once in a lifetime show is important for many reasons. Not only is the story one that should be told over and over again. All must hear how lives were tossed, like seeds, in all directions; families torn apart and lives lost. It is a story of love of music, and piano that helped a young girl cope in such a difficult time. And finally, as the years move on, a real connection from mother to daughter to audience will be lost. Mona Golabek's beautiful love letter to her mother is moving, and rich with moments that will resonate with all audience members for years to come." Read Full Review Lazlo Collins Chicagoland Theater Reviews - Highly Recommended "..."The Pianist of Willesden Lane" came to Chicago with little fanfare but it has found an audience (the show has been extended to May 25). Part of its success resides in the humanity of its story and part in the perfect pitch performance by Mona Golabek. It makes for a glowing, heartening evening in the theater." Read Full Review Dan Zeff

“Jessica Lange is a B-I-T-C-H. Bitch, bitch, bitch. Put it in the fucking magazine.” To which Lane replies, again, “Um, anyway…”

Had to put this here and save it for posterity.

Great 'Time Out Chicago' interview of Nathan Lane and Brian Dennehy (while in Chicago for Iceman Cometh) by Kris Vire.... I've put it here verbatim, all words and credit are Kris's I've changed nothing.

enjoy.

Nathan Lane and Brian Dennehy | Interview

The actors talk about the Goodman’s revival of The Iceman Cometh.

 By Kris Vire

Published: April 12, 2012

Nathan Lane and Brian Dennehy at Kasey's Tavern in Printers Row, Photo: Paul Elledge

Brian Dennehy has been here before. Nathan Lane has not.

I’m speaking of The Iceman Cometh, the Eugene O’Neill epic the two are pairing up for at the Goodman Theatre this month. Dennehy, 73, took on Iceman in a 1990 production helmed by Goodman artistic director Robert Falls, the first of an ongoing series of O’Neill collaborations between the two. Lane, 56, is tackling O’Neill for the first time.

I’m also speaking of Old Town Bar, the 120-year-old joint near Manhattan’s Union Square where the two actors meet me on a February afternoon to talk about how the Goodman production came to be. Though Lane lives close by, he’s unfamiliar with the place. But Dennehy, who’s driven down to New York from his home in Connecticut, recognizes the bar’s shabby decor as soon as we walk in.

“Yeah, I know this place,” the barrel-chested actor says, adding that he used to frequent the Old Town with his Columbia University football teammate Bill Campbell, who went on to become chairman of Intuit. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen this place in daylight,” Dennehy says. “Or before midnight, for that matter. We always used to come here to finish off. It’s a great old bar—”

Lane cuts him off as we settle in to a corner table. “You’re like an FM DJ,” Lane teases. “You just go on and on and on: ‘Hello, Minnesota!’ You’ve got the suspenders for it. ‘Welcome, Minnesota!’ ”

The pairing of these two actors—burly, rumpled Dennehy, winner of two Tony Awards for serious dramas Death of a Salesman and Long Day’s Journey into Night, and buttoned-down, droopy-eyed Lane, whose two Tonys came for musical comedies The Producersand A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum—for O’Neill’s bleak portrait of the denizens of a New York City saloon much like the Old Town may have struck some as eyebrow-raising.

But as their banter suggests, Lane and Dennehy are longtime pals. “Are you not wearing suspenders? Let me see,” Dennehy retorts. “You’ve got a better body than I got. I gotta wear suspenders. All belly and no ass.”

“Really? Really?!” Lane replies with an exaggerated shiver. “Don’t know how I’ll get that image out of my head.”

As our first round of drinks arrives—merlot for Dennehy, Guinness for me, Rolling Rock for Lane after our waitress shoots down his first few beer orders—the two actors explain how they met in 1980, when both were living in Los Angeles. Lane, struggling to make it in New York, had headed West with a comedy partner, Patrick Stack.

Stack was friendly with actor Michael Talbott, who lived with Dennehy in a West Hollywood apartment. “You can insert your own joke here,” Lane says drily, to a roar of laughter from Dennehy.

Dennehy was doing movies and television at the time. “But I always did theater—usually back East or in Chicago,” he says. After less than two years in L.A., Lane ended up back in New York. The two kept up with each other—“I’d go see him in theater, he’d come see me,” Dennehy says—but never worked together.

“And now we get to do this,” Dennehy says. “This is like the biggest jigsaw puzzle that you can possibly go to work on. The acrostic of all acrostics, this play.”

“That’s a good analogy,” Lane muses. “A jigsaw puzzle. A big, Irish-Catholic, nihilistic jigsaw puzzle.”

O’Neill’s play, written in 1939, takes place in 1912 in a Greenwich Village saloon and rooming house peopled with rundown drunks clinging to out-of-reach dreams. They await the annual arrival of Theodore “Hickey” Hickman, a charismatic traveling salesman who’s the life of the party, buying rounds, telling stories and making anything seem possible. But when Hickey arrives, he’s a changed man, sober and determined to make his compatriots face the truths of their pipe dreams. Hickey preaches reform; the someday the saloon’s derelicts are waiting for, he now insists, will never come.

The Iceman Cometh was tepidly received in its 1946 Broadway debut. But an Off Broadway revival a decade later, starring Jason Robards as Hickey, helped establish the play as one of O’Neill’s greatest achievements, and Hickey as one of 20th-century theater’s paramount characters. That the play is rarely revived—due in part to its large cast and four- to five-hour running time—helps to cement its standing.

“I consider this play, along with Long Day’s Journey into Night, really the pinnacle of American drama,” says Falls, talking in his office at the Goodman a few weeks after my outing with Dennehy and Lane in New York. “I think all modern American drama springs from O’Neill. And this is a play that Brian and I have just always talked about doing again, realizing it would be a very different production.”

In the two decades since Dennehy played Hickey, he and Falls have gone on to tackle A Touch of the Poet, Long Day’s Journey into Night, Hughie and Desire Under the Elms. This new Iceman, Falls notes, marks the first time in his professional career he’s returning to a play he’s directed before; Dennehy will shift roles to Larry Slade, a doomsaying former anarchist and chief foil to Lane’s Hickey.

Falls notes he’s in his fifties, as was O’Neill when he wrote Iceman. “I thought that was interesting, because I do see the play differently now than I did 22 years ago. You understand different characters in a different way, you have a deeper understanding. I remember struggling with certain threads; now I think I understand the emotional architecture of the play.” It was Dennehy’s talking up the project in the press that got the ball rolling for a new production. “The chronology as I remember it,” Falls says, “is that around 2008, Brian did an interview somewhere where he mentioned this as a play we want to do. I had not really talked with Brian about an actor to play Hickey, or anybody else in the cast. That’s how sort of young the conversation was.”

Over our second round at the bar, Lane acknowledges that his reputation as a comedian and musical-theater star may make O’Neill seem an odd choice for him—or he an odd choice for O’Neill. One commenter on The New York Times’ article regarding the show’s announcement last summer wrote, “I swear, for a moment I thought I was reading ‘The Onion’…”

“[People] know you for some of the more well-known things like The Producers or The Birdcage, and that’s how they see you. And I understand that,” Lane says. “But if anyone happened to be following closely the stuff I’ve done in the theater, there has been a variety of things, and certainly a lot of plays—Jon Robin Baitz, Terrence McNally.”

When he read that Dennehy and Falls might do an Iceman redux, he jumped. Not only had Lane long wanted to work on something with the two men, he says, but “this play that I had read as a kid and loved—that was sort of in the back of my mind. The play had stuck with me. And I’d been wanting to take on a challenge like this, push myself. I was just compelled. I contacted Bob, sent him an e-mail and put myself forward.”

“Believe me, when he put himself forward, that was the beginning and end of that conversation,” Dennehy interjects. “It was just a question of when and how we do it.”

Though Lane is a Broadway regular (most recently as Gomez in The Addams Family, which worked out some of its kinks in a pre-Broadway run at the Oriental Theatre), he says he’s looking forward to a solely Chicago experience. “I’ve worked there a few times, and the audiences are genuine theatergoers. It’s a part of their life, and they’re very savvy and up for a challenge,” he says as Dennehy nods along. “Not to mention the group of actors they have there.

“We’re not exactly going to be under the radar, [but] we’re just going to do the play. This isn’t about trying something out for New York; it’s just about having this experience.”

It’s clear both men have done their homework on O’Neill; they practically give me a seminar as the afternoon wears on. But Lane mentions that, alongside his O’Neill research, he’s been reading a biography of Spencer Tracy.

“At one point Katharine Hepburn is quoted as saying something like—because she kept going back to New York to do plays, to take on some challenge—and she said, ‘You know what, I would rather fail at something really difficult than succeed at something that comes easily,’ ” he says.

“I think that Hickey suits a lot of Nathan,” Falls later adds. “His persona for a good part of the play, of—I hate to use the phrase good old reliable Nathan, from Guys and Dolls, but you know what I mean: The guys love him. He sings, he’s ready for a party, he’s funny, he’s charming, and then it darkens as it goes along.”

Lane and Dennehy cite similar Irish-Catholic backgrounds as reasons they’re drawn to O’Neill’s work, which is informed by a personal and palpable lapsed religiosity—a weary anger at the failings of an absent Savior, a lament of confession’s lack of absolution. “It’s pretty self-evident for me. Irish Catholic, lapsed Catholic, whatever the hell you want to call it,” Dennehy says. “Somebody who’s definitely gone 15 rounds with the booze, and wound up with a lot of black eyes and broken teeth as a result of it.”

“It starts with being Irish Catholic,” Lane concurs. “You know, in some early interviews in my life, I would very often refer to my childhood as ‘bad Eugene O’Neill,’ I guess because in those days I thought it didn’t live up to the heights, but now looking back on it, I would say, Oh, yes, it [did].

“The things that led me into having a sense of humor, or working in comedy or musical theater, are some of the very things that qualify me for [Iceman]—my background, my family,” he continues. “I come from a long line of alcoholics; my father drank himself to death. And I’ve had my own issues with alcohol. I understand the kind of self-loathing, self-destruction, the anger and rage.”

“That’s really what O’Neill is about,” Dennehy adds, “is self-inflicted wounds.”

It’s sometime after Dennehy orders the third round, plus a round of single-malt, that I notice this: In our ever wider-ranging conversation about the history of Iceman and O’Neill, he and Lane have begun referring to great figures of the theater by first name only, leaving me to figure out the context.

It says something about these guys’ standing in the industry and their familiarity with each other that Dennehy can casually mention “Mike” when referring to Nichols. “George.” (Grizzard.) “Morgan.” (Freeman.) “Maureen.” (Stapleton.) “Vanessa.” (Redgrave.)

Dennehy, clearly having attained the doesn’t-give-a-fuck stage of his career, is more likely to tell tales out of school in a reporter’s presence, often eliciting cringes from Lane. Discussing Katharine Hepburn’s turn as morphine-addicted Mary Tyrone in the film version of Long Day’s Journey into Night, for instance: “Certainly it was a gutsy, ballsy thing for her to do,” Dennehy says. “Oh, absolutely,” Lane agrees.

Dennehy: “I mean, she always looked like somebody who was doing something she shouldn’t have been doing involving intravenous feeding. But I thought she was great.” Lane: “Yeah. Um, anyway…”

The best Mary Tyrone he’s seen, Dennehy says, was Canadian actress Martha Henry at the Stratford Festival. He and Falls tried to get Henry for the Broadway transfer of the Goodman production, he says, but the producers wanted Jessica Lange, who had recently played the role in London. (Redgrave took the part after talks with Lange broke off.)

“Jessica really fucked us over,” Dennehy adds, prompting Lane to interject in a baby-talk voice: “This is where we should turn the tape recorder off! ’Cause Daddy, Daddy can’t have any more merlot!”

Dennehy responds by leaning in to my recorder and clearly enunciating: “Jessica Lange is a B-I-T-C-H. Bitch, bitch, bitch. Put it in the fucking magazine.” To which Lane replies, again, “Um, anyway…”

A publicity assistant who arrived with Lane is waiting in the next room, out of earshot but in my line of sight; she’s given me the “wrap it up” signal a couple of times now, but Lane and Dennehy are still holding forth. Lane digs into his bag to show off a gift from his partner, producer Devlin Elliott: a first edition of Iceman, signed by the 1956 production’s Hickey, Jason Robards, and director, Jose Quintero. The conversation turns to anxieties about the potential pitfalls of O’Neill.

“He asks you to go off the cliff with him to these places, these very, very emotional and complex places, the darkest part of your soul,” Lane says. “And if you don’t really go with him, then it does seem melodramatic or old-fashioned.”

There’s no half-assing O’Neill, Dennehy agrees, especially Iceman. “This play,” he growls, “the only way to do it is to grab the fuckin’ audience by the throat, shake the shit out of ’em and say, ‘You think you’re getting out of here alive? You’re not. Prepare to spill your fucking blood, because I’m gonna spill mine, and you’re coming with me.’ ”

“Well, don’t soft-pedal it,” Lane deadpans.

“They’ve heard it from me before,” Dennehy says. “It’s not like it’s the first time they’ve heard Dennehy fulminate out of his fear.”

Finally the publicist enters the room, saying, “All right, we gotta go, we gotta go.”

“Why?” Dennehy booms. “Where do we gotta be?”

“Uh, nowhere,” she replies. “It’s just 15 minutes over. Unless you guys want to keep talking?”

“No, you know what?” Dennehy says. “I want another drink.”

“I know. We’ll sing ’em all and we’ll stay all night,” Lane says, quoting Judy at Carnegie Hall.

Dennehy one-ups him, referring to the book as he calls for another merlot: “We’re gonna stay long enough to read the goddamn thing.”

The Iceman Cometh runs April 21–June 10 at the Goodman Theatre.

http://www.timeoutchicago.com/arts-culture/theater/15235891/nathan-lane-and-brian-dennehy-interview?page=0,4

Death and Harry Houdini - Chicago July 2013 part 8

A play that was not on my list originally but came highly recommended by local theater friends was 'Death and Harry Houdini'  by The House Theatre of Chicago (currently performing at The Chopin Theatre).

Another smallish theater, a very quaint building, not an area of Chicago I've been before but I'll definitely be back there some day. This play is performed on an arena style stage (though not elevated, so actually playing on the floor) with audience on 2 opposite sides of the stage, similar to 'Blood and Gifts' I saw earlier at Timeline Theater (see earlier post) the cast is using the stage and the sides where there is no audience as an extension of the stage. Very good use of the space I thought and giving excellent view to all that is happening to everybody in the audience. 

As the 'stage' is at floor level, those on the front rows needed to tuck in their toes at times because the actors use every square inch of their space. It all adds to the charm of a space and set-up like this.

Not having read anything about this play but going blindly on friends recommendations I did not know what to expect... Harry Houdini, yes I'd heard of him, so I was expecting some sort of magic show but this was so much more!

Dennis Watkins, playing Harry Houdini, knows his magic, he does a fair amount of tricks that even sitting front row and knowing he's tricking you I still found it impossible to figure it out... they do things like cardtricks, walking on glass, the person-switch-in-the-box, the man-sawn-in-half and the famous Houdini escape tricks that are amazing!

Apart from the magic, which would have been perfectly entertaining on itself, there was a story to be told, Houdini's obsession with cheating death, how did he get there? why was he like that? who were the important people in his life and what were some highlighting events in his life... it was all there, neatly wrapped up in a two hour performance that was intense, funny, visually stunning and mind-boggling magical .

Set, Sound and Costume design deserve special mention here, 'Death' had a big part in this play and both costume, sound effects and set contributed to Death having an amazing presence on stage without scaring the kids in the audience but still undoubtedly Death.

Truly one of the Highlights of this trip... it's run is over now, but this was already a remount of this show so maybe you will get lucky and see it some day in the future, if you have a chance GO SEE IT, you will not be disappointed.

I saw this play on a friday, and discovered at the theater that every friday night, after the play, Dennis Watkins (playing Houdini) rushes off to another venue in town to do a late night Magic Show. Very impressive, as Houdini is a very physical play, especially for the lead character... hat off to you mr Watkins.

The Prologue

Cast & Crew Information:

Abu Ansari: Mayer Weiss, Ensemble

Johnny Arena: The Ringmaster

Carolyn Defrin: Bess

Marika Mashburn: Cecilia Weiss

Shawn Pfautsch: Theo, Dr Lynn

Tommy Rapley: Death, Hilmar, Ensemble

Trista Smith: Hilmar's Assistant, Ensemble

Dennis Watkins, Harry Houdini

Director/Playwright: Nathan Allen

Scenic Designer: Collette Pollard

Costume Designer: Lee Keenan

Lighting Designer: Ben Wilhelm

Composer/Co-Sound Designer: Kevin O'Donnell

Co-Sound Designer: Harrison Adams

Stage Manager: Brian Desgranges

Assistant Stage Manager: Sarah Hoeferlin

Wardrobe Supervisor: Bridgid Danahy

Master Electrician: Will Dean

Properties Master: Rachel Finn

Costume Manager: Amy Hilber

Assistant Lighting Designer: William C. Kirkham

Assistant Sound Designer: Jeff Kelley

Sound Engineer: Jenna Moran

Flight Choreographer: Justin Verstraete

Assistant Scenic Designer: Sally Weiss

Trailer

from the official website:

June 21st, 2013 to August 18th, 2013
Marvel with us as Houdini battles Death once more
Written and Directed by Nathan Allen
Magic by Dennis Watkins
Run time: 2 hours, 15 minutes with an intermission.
NOW EXTENDED! Our complete cast adds 7 more performances!


LOCATION: The Chopin Theatre
1543 W. Division St., Chicago, IL
See details and directions
PRICE: $40 for Regular Run (through Aug 11), $49 for Extension (Aug 13-18)
TIMES: Performances are Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays at 7:30; Saturdays and Sundays at 4:00pm and 8:00pmPlease see the calendar for a complete list of times.

Buy a Membership and save!

AGE LEVEL: Designed for adults, Death and Harry Houdini is suitable for kids that enjoy being a little scared by a story, and can sit comfortably through two 55 minute acts. We call it rated PG-13 for a couple of curse words and a very scary Death figure. Check out this awesome review by a (then) 7 year old. Or READ OURPARENT’S GUIDE.

A ringmaster leads us through the events of Harry’s life, all told through stunning magic, poignant dialogue and original music. We travel from the untimely passing of his father, through his first tent shows with his younger brother Theo, meeting his wife Bess, and beginning a journey towards fame on the vaudeville circuit. All the while, Harry feels Death close on his heels and he won’t rest until he’s conquered him once and for all. Harry will walk on broken glass, swallow razor blades and risk his life in the Water Torture Cell, but will he pull off an escape from Death?

There will be NO LATE SEATING FOR ANYPERFORMANCE.

If you are not present at the starting time of your performance you will either be sat at intermission or have to reschedule your performance for a later date (pending ticket availability) with the Box Office attendant – no exceptions. So please attempt to arrive 30 minutes prior to curtain to ensure you have enough time to get your seats.
REVIEWS and AWARDS
Equity Joseph Jefferson Awards:
Winner for Artistic Specialization – Magic Design to Member Dennis Watkins
Nominations: Best Production – Play Midsize, Best Direction, Best Lighting Design – Midsize, Best Costume Design – Midsize, Best Sound Design – Midsize, Original Incidental Music


Review blurbs

4 out of 4 Stars!
“A highly polished and visually thrilling show … strikingly well-designed and well-executed … MAGIC OF THE VERYHIGHEST ORDER!” – Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune

“…high energy and lack of artifice in a loose, buzzy blend of traditional storytelling, music and spectacle… ATHRILLING RIDE” – Kris Vire, Time Out Chicago

“‘Death and Harry Houdini’ soars on Dennis Watkins’ brilliance as a genuine magician and fearless stuntman…INGENIOUSLY WRITTEN AND DIRECTED by Nathan Allen.” – Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times

“The folks at the House Theatre of Chicago are celebrating their tenth anniversary by remounting their first show—and IT MAKES FOR A HELLUVA PARTY…Dennis Watkins is simply magnificent as Houdini.” – Kerry Ried, Chicago Reader

In the Company of Men - Chicago July 2013 part 7

next up: In the Company of Men at Profiles Theatre.

In the Company of Men is written by Neil LaBute, revised from earlier productions and a Movie script, Profiles got the World Premiere.

Neil LaBute is a hit or miss with me, I liked what he did with The Taming of the Shrew a while back at Chicago Shakespeare Theater but saw another play of his some time ago in London and absolutely hated it. I generally enjoy the productions at Profiles Theatre though and it got great reviews and it was directed by Rick Snyder... plenty of reasons to add LaBute's newest play to the schedule. This one I liked very much, not top of the list but close.

‘Let’s hurt someone... really mess them up.”

I won't give away the story, but it's brutal, there are 3 lead actors, all three were great, though I thought the girl playing the deaf woman was not always consistent in her manner of speaking, but that's really nitpicking.

I had not seen the movie before coming to this play, did not know much about the story so sat back and enjoyed... it took a while to get sympathy for the lead male characters, they come across as egotistical men (especially Chad), slowly we see a more sensitive side and I kind of got swept away by the story... only to discover how much we were all fooled... all in all an excellent play, I sympathized with all characters at some point, I hated all characters at some point and in the end sat back and thought about how I missed the clues (if there even were any) of the big lie. 

great cast, great space... I think even that abominable play I saw in London could improve much by this Company.

Why is it not top of my list? well, mostly because I have seen an amazing array of fantastic work this trip so it was a huge fight for the top of the list... but also because no matter how much I liked the play, I did not like the end, it was a bit to much for me and could have done without that last scene.

from the official website:

In the Company of Men
World Premiere
by Resident Artist Neil LaBute
Directed by Resident Artist Rick Snyder

May 16 - July 28, 2013

Profiles Theatre presents the World premiere of Resident Artist Neil LaBute’s revised stage version of In the Company of Men, now playing at The Main Stage, 4139 N. Broadway. Directed by Profiles Resident Artist and Steppenwolf ensemble member Rick Snyder, the production is now playing and has been extended through July 28, 2013.

Profiles Theatre presents the professional debut production of Neil LaBute’s revised stage play, In the Company of Men. The script, performed in various incarnations as a play at earlier stages of LaBute’s writing career as both a student and otherwise, was eventually made into the acclaimed film released in 1997 launching the careers of star Aaron Eckhart and Neil LaBute as a filmmaker and playwright. When it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, In the Company of Men created a firestorm of controversy with wildly divergent yet passionate opinions. It received the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay, the Filmmaker's Trophy at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival and The New York Film Critics Award for Best First Feature.

Two frustrated young executives vent their pent-up rage via a childish prank and end up paying a price in the psychological dark comedy, In the Company of Men. Former college buddies Chad and Howard, now in their late 20s, work for the same company. When the two begin expressing their mutual frustration regarding their lack of rapid advancement at work and their recent bad luck with women, they hatch a nasty scheme: Find a vulnerable young woman to court, slather with affection, and then callously dump. They choose a lovely, hearing-impaired typist named Christine, but soon their scheme creates escalating tension and psychological games not only with hapless Christine, but also with each other.

Resident Artist and Steppenwolf ensemble member Rick Snyder directs the World premiere production of the revised script of In the Company of Men following his acclaimed Profiles productions of A Behanding in Spokane, reasons to be pretty and the Jeff Award-winning Killer Joe (Production, Director, Principal Actor). Guest Artists for In the Company of Men include Jordan Brown as Chad, Brennan Roche as Howard and Jessica Carleton as Christine. Appearing in ensemble roles are Dennis Bisto, Alex Fisher, Kroydell Galima, Shelby Garrett, Poppy Golland, Sarah Herndon, Joseph W. Moore III and Laura Leonardo Ownby.

"I'm so excited to be putting this early work of mine into the hands of my trusted collaborators over at Profiles Theatre,” says playwright Neil LaBute. “The film was a fantastic experience for me personally, but I've always hoped that the script would make its way back to the stage. I've truly enjoyed the creative process of adapting the original play for the screen and now turning it back into a play again. I think it's in perfect hands with Joe, Darrell and Rick. I feel that these characters will still resonate with audiences and I know that Profiles will take In the Company of Men for the ride that it deserves--they never pull punches at Profiles and I love the artistic relationship that we have fostered together over the past few seasons. I consider myself a lucky man to still get work done regularly in Chicago and I believe I have a genuine home for that work at Profiles."

The stage version of In The Company of Men is produced by special arrangement with LaBute’s longtime collaborator and one of the film’s original producers, Stephen Pevner of Stephen Pevner, Inc and Company One Productions. 

 
Click here to read "Profiles Theatre gets playwright's 'Forest' before New York run"

Click here to read about Profiles' frequent collaborations with Neil LaBute

Review Blurbs:

“Highly Recommended! Profiles Theatre knows how to nail the juicy plays of Neil LaBute. Aside from his mordant wit and whip-fast pace, the director Rick Snyder's great strength here is in the way that he fleshes out the cubicle Satan and his sidekick, focusing on the moments when the faintest glimpse of compassion or complexity flicker across their brows. Jessica Carleton avoids the traps of sentimentalism but also breaks down with a level of realism so intense that it's kind of shocking. LaBute certainly has made this into a viable and wickedly amusing stage piece!”
-Chris Jones, CHICAGO TRIBUNE


“Highly Recommended! Rick Snyder has assembled an ideal cast. Jordan Brown is chilling for the full force with which he plunges into his reprehensible character and Brennan Roche is a fine mix of nerdy, bright and real. Jessica Carleton is utterly beguiling as a woman whose every vulnerability is played on, and whose exhilaration at suddenly being desired leads her to make bad decisions and an ensemble of eight actors creates just the right sense of office politics!”
-Hedy Weiss, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES


“Highly Recommended! Directed to chilling impact by Rick Snyder for Profiles Theatre, the 90-minute piece peels back the facade on entitled, violent, men who are driven by fear and rage. The production is grounded in reliably well-wrought performances. Jordan Brown crafts a portrait of a young man who embodies the male gaze at its most malignant and Jessica Carleton manages the meltdown with a believability that brings that LaBute's psychosexual parable of white male privilege to a wrenching end!”
-Catey Sullivan, CHICAGO MAGAZINE


“Recommended! LaBute's main target is the false equivalency perceived by the broken-hearted between pain felt and pain intended, a concept explored in Rick Snyder's level and often bitingly funny production. Jordan Brown gives a virtuosic comic douchebag performance as LaBute's black comedy evolves into a nuanced satire of misrepresentations of strength and the privileged class!”
-Dan Jakes, TIMEOUT CHICAGO


“Highly Recommended! In ninety chilling minutes, Rick Snyder’s kinetic staging crackles along with LaBute’s pulverizing dialogue. Jessica Honor Carleton makes Christine’s sudden loss of innocence and trust as palpable and shocking as an earthquake while Jordan Brown’s smooth-faced duplicity comes straight from hell. This show is definitely a must-see!”
-Lawrence Bommer, CHICAGO THEATER BEAT


“Highly Recommended! Rick Snyder expertly directs this talented ensemble and Thad Hallstein’s high tech, chrome-accented set is stunning. Jessica Honor Carleton is sweetly earnest and heartrending as Christine and Brennan Roche is a sadly likable, easily-manipulated Howard, but it’s Jordan Brown’s charming, cruel, immoral anti-hero Chad who stands out, haunting you long after the final blackout!”
-Colin Douglas, CENTERSTAGE


"Highly Recommended! LaBute’s revised version of IN THE COMPANY OF MEN is a fascinating study of pervasive malevolence. This show is a piece of work, charged by director Rick Snyder with the tension of a murder mystery and raised off the page into palpable life by three skilled actors!"
-Lawrence Johnson, CHICAGO ON THE AISLE


"Highly Recommended! Director Rick Snyder has guided IN THE COMPANY OF MEN's return to its stage roots immaculately with great performances all around in the company. A brilliant and deliberately nasty piece of work!"
-Scott C. Morgan, WINDY CITY TIMES


“Highly Recommended! The revised stage version of IN THE COMPANY OF MEN comes wonderfully off the screen once again at Profiles Theatre under the direction of Rick Snyder. Jordan Brown delivers Chad’s narcissistic rants and raves with such wit and humor you actually find yourself liking the guy and Brennan Roche gives Howard a heart, a brain and a backbone. Jessica Carleton did a wonderful job of the rounding out the character to more than just a hapless victim!”
-Joseph Hillenmeyer, SHOWBIZ CHICAGO


“Highly Recommended! IN THE COMPANY OF MEN haunts after our viewing of this black comedy is over. We're drawn to Christine, and much credit for that is due to Jessica Carleton's beautiful performance, making us feel empathy for her situation, but not pity. Director Rick Snyder gives the 95-minute intermissionless piece crisp direction—with the action moving briskly and cinematically between scenes!”
-John Olson, TALKIN’ BROADWAY


“Highly Recommended! This deliciously mean-spirited dramedy is still boldly unapologetic. Neil LaBute’s play IN THE COMPANY OF MEN is newly revised in a relentless and gutsy production at Profiles Theatre. Jordan Brown perfectly captures Chad’s ruthless ambition to win and as an effective counterweight, Jessica Honor Carleton gives a pitch-perfect performance as the deaf Christine. Brennan Roche succeeds in reflecting the audience’s own sense of rage-filled frustrations while remaining still charming!”
-Anthony J. Mangini, CHICAGOCRITIC.COM


“Recommended! As a portrait of malice at its most devious and relentless, the play carves out its own niche in modern American drama. Jordan Brown is a perfect physical choice to play the manipulating Chad and Brennan Roche is an effective Howard. Jessica Honor Carleton is the latest in a continuous stream of young little known actresses that Profiles casts in leading roles with bulls-eye accuracy. The entire audience will depart knowing its been taken on an engrossing if perverse ride!”
-Dan Zeff, CHICAGOLAND THEATER REVIEWS


“Highly Recommended! The World premiere of IN THE COMPANY OF MEN gives an imaginative and twisted look into the ladder climbing employee world. And for good measure, it's peppered with a thriller plot set to a love triangle. Jordan Brown is in fine form as the brash Chad, Brennan Roche is even better as Howard, and Christine is captured quite nicely by Jessica Carleton!”
-Phil Potempa, NORTHWEST INDIANA TIMES