Archive for the ‘Theatre’ Category

British light entertainment icon Des O’Connor is following the yellow brick road all the way to the London Palladium, where he will replace Russell Grant in The Wizard Of Oz.

The summer 2012 edition of the Access London Theatre brochure is now available, listing over 110 audio-described, captioned and signed performances taking place in the capital during the months of May, June, July and August.

As David Harrower’s A Slow Air comes to the Tricycle, we learn more about the Scottish playwright and his love of baking.

On a blustery, drizzly, depressing May evening, it is a treat to escape into Top Hat’s world of glamour and opulence.

Ricky Harris is new to the scene. He is hard to miss because he is about 6’3″ and the laugh of someone twice his size. This bodes well for his career choice as a musician and actor, because once you hear this guy’s voice, you will never forget it. We ran into the generally jovial Ricky Harris on the CTA Green Line at 3 AM while we were going to another “party”. At first he didn’t know who we were and called for help, but then, he gave in to our interview.

Ricky! Thanks for meeting us here on the Green Line at 3am! Please keep your scalding hot water handy in case of CTA mutants!

The Green Line is known for the best CTA mutants in the City!

The Green Line is known for lots of things. So what were you doing tonight before you met us here?

I was actually in a tech rehearsal for my upcoming show!

Well, what is it? All these riddles, Ricky. It’s too late for riddles.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee! Being performed at the Beverly Arts Center the first two weekends in May!

The Beverly Arts Center, eh? That’s in Beverly. Tell us a little bit about why you chose this show, who it’s for and all that stuff. Are you the director? Ricky?

(silence)

RICKY!? Oh good, I thought you were turning into a Green Line mutant for a second, but you aren’t. You just stopped paying attention.

Yes, now that you have my full attention I chose this show because it’s an awesome piece to perform and super fun. I am serving as music director for the show and also acting in it. I play the character William Barfee. We have a great cast of Chicago actors who really bring a fresh style to this show. Freda Humble, Warren Levon, David Boyle, Chris Galvan, Grace Lethiot, Lauren Omelson, Nathan Scheetz and Arya Daire. Shellee Frazee is our wonderful director/choreographer.

Lauren Omelson, eh? I hear she’s the kind of girl who’s gonna go places! That does sound like a great cast. Do you have to whip them into shape? They probably are pretty drunk most of the time, you know?

Lauren is a force to be reckoned with!

Do you think she would like us?

Yes just as much as the next pretty girl you see walking down the street! The cast was great to work with, though I found it easier to deal with them if they were high instead of drunk. They would be in a much calmer place and not as loud and kray kray.

Now Ricky, you are a Roosevelt grad, and a new face to the theatre scene in town. You are a member of The Barrel Of Monkeys and have done a few shows here and there. You are also a black man. How does being a black actor in this town work? Because, we have all traditionally heard that being a black singer/actor is essentially a free pass to an Equity card, but I don’t see you taking that route.

It’s not that easy. Being sort of a new face, there are other, better known black actors who are still taking all the roles. Once I can break in and get an opportunity I will jump at the chance for my Equity card. Being able to sing does help, but it is still no easy ride. Either I’m looked at for roles just for African Americans or ensemble parts. But in this production, I do get a chance to shine with my very own tap routine I do!

That sounds great! We can’t get enough of that Ol’ Soft Shoe. Do you think that going Equity will lead to better opportunities? Being that we are white dudes in the storefront scene, we hear common complaints all the time that there just aren’t enough people of color in Chicago storefront, simply because they get their Equity cards and move up in the ranks. Do you think you’d like to do some work at some of the storefronts in town?

Yes I would definitely work at some of the storefronts around. I think Chicago is famous for it’s black box and storefront theatres. I’ve done work the Stage Left and some others and have really enjoyed it but what you find with Equity is that it’s better paying opportunities! This is my job my craft and I survive off of doing Artistic work.

How did get involved with the Barrel Of Monkeys and what do they mean to you artistically?

The old fashioned way. I saw a listing for the auditions, I went and wowed them and now I’ve been with them for 3 years. Barrel of Monkeys is great because I get to act and create with an awesome group of artists from this city. Currently with the company, I serve as the Music Director and am also a lead teacher. It’s fun to bring the kids stories to life, to give them a voice that they have never heard and it’s great that we do it through fun theatre stuff! You can really grow as an artist within this company.

We wish we were Barrel Of Monkeys people. Can you get us an audition?

Yeah!

I’m pretty sure if we do our two man “Sunday In The Park With George” they will have to let us in. Will you play piano for us?

Definitely and I won’t even charge you!

Ricky, we hope you are around for a lot of years in the future. You are a great person and an incredible talent to have here in Chicago. Is there anything you would like our readers to know before we throw you off the Green Line train in the most dangerous section of town?

Please come check out my show www.beverlyartcenter.org for ticket info and all of that and continue to support and love all theatre! Chicago is a great place to be and before I go equity and become famous I’ll do any storefront show you guys have for me.

Spelling Bee Forever! Tell Lauren Omelson that we love her!

I’m sure she will be happy to hear from you!

Eric Roach, Anderson Lawfer

As I try to write about Three Kingdoms, I find myself wordless, but the show that begins as a crime drama before descending into I don’t know what has my jaw dragging along the ground.

Namesakes of Britain’s most famous couple, The Queen and Prince Philip, are being offered free tickets at the TKTS ticket booth in celebration of the Diamond Jubilee.

David Suchet will provide the voice of Aslan in threesixty’s production of The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, which previews from tonight in Kensington Gardens.

Actor Blake Harrison might be best known for playing the intellectually challenged Neil in comedy hit The Inbetweeners, but his West End debut sees a dramatic, sinister alteration.

Committed performances, a slick scenic design, a crack band and an interesting (if mishandled) storyline are the chief virtues of “Jersey Boys,” the hit musical based on the career of the Four Seasons.

For most of the women descending on Kansas City this weekend, their unlikely obsession with a British singer began on March 6, 2011.

Since making a striking impact with her award-winning 2007 play Gone Too Far!, much is expected of every Bola Agbaje project. Belong doesn’t disappoint.

Three is the magic number for the Royal Court at the moment.

Philip Ridley’s testing drama set in a post-Apocalyptic vision of London, Mercury Fur, is to play a West End season at the Trafalgar Studios 2.

The upcoming musical production of The Bodyguard is scouring the country for young performers to play Fletcher, the son of stalked performer Rachel Marron.

As director Jeremy Herrin and his cast polish Matthew Dunster’s world premiere at the Almeida, we peak into the rehearsal room.

Neal Foster, co-writer of Horrible Histories and founder of Birmingham Stage Company, will join the cast of Horrible Histories Barmy Britain, the latest stage adaptation from the much-loved series of children’s books.

He has become a regular presence on the Quality Hill stage, almost as ubiquitous as the company’s executive director and ingratiating emcee, J. Kent Barnhart.

It was an illness that led Kimberly Senior to the first principle of successful stage directing: Be a good listener. Senior has carved a prominent place on Chicago’s theater scene since arriving here straight out of Connecticut College in 1995. But her revelation came just two seasons ago while she was directing Martin McDonagh’s “The Pillowman” at Redtwist Theatre.

“At one rehearsal I was very ill — I had so much pressure behind my eyes — that I spent the whole time lying down on a bench, giving notes on what I had heard,” recalls Senior. “That turned out to be one of my most productive rehearsals ever. I think that’s when I really learned to listen. Just being in the same space with the actors was enough. I didn’t have to see anything. Now I spend less time with my head in a notebook.”

The 39-year-old director also has another guiding principle that applies more broadly to career building: patience. That one she learned long ago.

To look at what Senior has accomplished, the prominence she enjoys on the Chicago scene, the frequency with which her name pops up on production credits, you might guess it was ever thus. She won rave reviews earlier this season directing Ayad Akhtar’s “Disgraced” at American Theater Co. Her production of Amy Herzog’s “After the Revolution” is currently playing at Next Theatre. And the 2012-13 season brings a pair of debuts as she shepherds John Lowell’s “The Letters” at Writers’ Theatre and Matthew Lopez’s “The Whipping Man” at Northlight Theatre.

But she will tell you it has been a long, determined and, yes, patient climb from the time she arrived fresh out of school to begin an internship at Steppenwolf Theatre.

“I don’t think I’ve ever directed for someone who wasn’t a friend,” she says. “It’s all about trust, and you earn trust. When an organization empowers a director, a third or a fifth of their budget is in the artistic charge of that person. How could that be someone they don’t know?”

Senior cites her impending Writers’ debut as a study case for young directors who imagine themselves knocking on an artistic director’s door and expecting to be handed a show.

“I really wanted to work at Writers’,” she says. “I had admired their work and (artistic director) Michael Halberstam for a long time. I wondered, ‘How do I do that?’ Eventually, about five years ago, I approached Michael and told him I’d like to direct there. We had a nice talk. Then we began to build a relationship.

“From that time forward, I went to see his plays and whenever I saw him at another show or event, I would say hello and introduce myself again. Last year, we started talking about some educational work and some readings. He went to see my plays. Now we have an authentic friendship. We have trust.

“But it’s also about mastering your craft, and that also takes time. Some people say you don’t really become a director until you’re 40. At 25, I would have been totally devastated to hear that. I have over 100 professional credits. That represents thousands of hours working at the job, learning what actors need, just learning.”

Among the lessons of Senior’s career is the synergy of drama and comedy, and how they can spiral up together in powerful and often surprising ways. Talk with Senior very long and she’ll soon invoke her beloved Chekhov. This was that moment.

“Chekhov was the original genre bender. We’re complicated people and great plays remind us of that. I’ve done (Chekhov’s) ‘Three Sisters’ three times — once as an actor many years ago and twice more recently as a director. There’s an example of how tragedy creates the comic and vice-versa, and it means something new every time you visit it.

“But I also do a ton of contemporary work. New work is probably 60-70 percent of the plays I’ve done in the last five years. There’s plenty of genre bending in contemporary theater. Take ‘Pillowman.’ The play is hilarious and terrifying and bone-chilling. The way it can make you gasp and laugh is something else. I have a great fondness for McDonagh.” (Speaking of stretching genres and McDonagh, Senior directs his melancholy comedy “The Cripple of Inishmaan” at Redtwist, opening May 13.)

Yet whether the playwright before her is McDonagh or Chekhov or Ayad Akhtar, Senior says, her interaction with the actors who must make it work is the same.

“My job is to make sure all the parts are functioning at their utmost best, that people are pushing themselves. I’m a firm believer in actors bringing themselves to the role. Acting is about personal risk and cost. You have to share a part of who you are. The question is, how do I create that environment? The director is responsible for tone as well as understanding. No two plays are the same and no two circumstances are the same. There are no tricks or formulas you can apply.”

And that means no shenanigans with the playwright’s work.

“I always go back to the word,” says Senior. “I’m a traditionalist when it comes to the text. It’s our job to have the text sing. There should be no need to apologize for a play — and you’re doing that when you don’t trust what’s there. You know you’re headed for trouble when someone in the (rehearsal) room says, ‘You know what would be so cool — what if there was a dragon and…’ I’m a vigilant protector of the text.”

Lawrence B. Johnson
Contributing Writer
Lawrence B. Johnson is the editor of Chicago On the Aisle

When a show boasts about its 200 costumes, how could we turn down the opportunity to dig around behind the scenes of the wardrobe department?

We speak to the West End’s new funniest man about the pressure of following James Corden and being pelted with food.

Paul Bhattacharjee is to go toe to verbal toe with Meera Syal this summer when he performs the role of Benedick opposite her Beatrice in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Much Ado About Nothing.

Twitter-based talent search #searchforatwitterstar, which has had theatre fans across social site Twitter expressing their excitement in 140 characters or less, is to move out of the cyber world and into the real world.

Thea Sharrock will direct the much-anticipated and long rumoured musical The Bodyguard at the Adelphi theatre later this year, with Tony Award-winning actress Heather Headley and Lloyd Owen in the starring roles.