"Wicked" still "Popular" a decade later

Elphaba (Alison Luff, left) and Glinda (nee Galinda,
played by Jenn Gambatese), share a friendly moment in "Wicked"
Photo by Joan Marucs

Cross-posted from Broadwayworld.com

It almost seems inconceivable that it has been more than 10 years since I first caught "Wicked" in previews in New York. Since that time, the show was named best musical by Time Magazine, recouped its initial $14 million investment in 14 months and has broken numerous box-office records around the world.

The original Chicago sit-down production (at the time the first sit-down production of a major Broadway show that the city had seen in years) ran for three-and-a-half years , played over 1,500 performances and grossed a gravity-defying $200 million in box office here in Chicago alone.

This marks the sixth or seventh time I have seen the show (I've reviewed it twice -including the original Chicago sit-down production). The Oriental Theater (where the show is again playing through Dec. 21) is practically a second home to Elphaba and Glinda (also known respectively as the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good).

Luff, defying gravity eight shows a week. Photo by Joan Marcus

The current production's Elphaba, Alison Luff, appears less comfortable in the character's awkward teen years, but comes into her own when she embraces the "wickedness" of her character. I had particular trouble with Luff's choices during a scene in a ballroom. In previous productions, Elphaba dances alone while the rest of the dance hall stares and laughs. In prior productions, the moves -while strange and certainly unique-have embodied a certain grace and beauty. Luff plays the awkwardness a bit too broad, here. I suppose it makes some sense (given this is the character's first dance party), but we are never really afforded the opportunity to see the inner beauty beneath the awkwardness.

Gambatese demonstrates Glinda's preferred mode of travel.
Photo by Joan Marcus

Jenn Gambatese's transformation from bubble-head Galinda to bubble-flying witch Glinda feels a bit more real, somehow. Vocally, she's the best Glinda I've had the pleasure of hearing (Apologies to Ms. Luff, but Ana Gasteyer still holds the title of my favorite Elphaba). One gets a full sense of the moral "weight" her character is carrying in "Thank Goodness," when Gambatese sings about the price of getting everything you want.   In addition to knowing her way around the musical's score and dramatic moments, Gambatese's also a great comedian, finding some interesting and unique moments to mine laughter.

Curt Hansen (Fiyero) can melt more than just two witches' hearts.
Photo by Joan Marcus

As Fiyero (the shallow rogue who comes between the two witches) Curt Hansen's movements at the end of the second act -without spoiling too much for those who have never taken a trip down "Wicked's " yellow brick road-are more in line with the character he is revealed to be. It's a nice twist and a welcome sight to those who have seen the show more than a few times.

As Elphaba's wheelchair-bound sister (and the future Wicked Witch of the East) Jaime Rosenstein's second act transformation is also more in tune with a collective memory of just who the Wicked Witch of the East is.

Never trust a smiling Wizard (John Davidson).
Photo by Joan Marcus

The show's Wizard, John Davidson, is a bit more "used car salesman" that corn-fed huckster for my tastes. And yet, when he sings of longing to be a parent, it's with heartfelt sincerity that works particularly well.

Kim Zimmer (Reva Shayne on "Guiding Light") does as much as she can with the thankless role of Madam Morrible, given the character is the least nuanced of any of the main characters and serves as the only true villainous person in the show.

"Wicked" is starting to show its age, at least in one regard. A comment late in the second act regarding a "regime change," which caused a collective audience gasp 10 years ago in the New York preview performance, doesn't hold the power it once did. Though we are still paying for the Iraq war (and will be doing so for several years), Americans have moved on -at least politically.

"Wicked" still holds much magic, however. "For Good" -the duet between the two witches, still speaks to that special bond of sisterhood, motherhood and basically any other 'hood you can think of.

Additionally, pretty much anyone should be able to identify with one of the show's central themes: that we sometimes have to abandon our idols, lovers and friends in order to reach our own potentials and soar.

Wicked" runs through Dec. 21 at the Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph. Tickets $37 to $107. Call (800) 775-2000. broadwayinchicago.com

Back for a second helping, "To Master the Art" continues to satiate our hunger for good theater

Julia Child (Karen Janes Woditsch) learns the proper way to scramble
an egg from master chef Max Bugnard (Terry Hamilton)

You probably don’t need the sweet, buttery smell of shallots cooking to know that TimeLine Theatre Company’s production of “To Master the Art” is the theatrical equivalent of comfort food. It would be nostalgic, sentimental and absolutely delicious without the onstage cooking.

And while the smell of cooking shallots will have you salivating, it is the performance of Karen Janes Woditsch as famed chef and author Julia Child that foodies and fans of good theater will savor. 

Woditsch gives one of the best performances of this season and the show is not to be missed.  

Though essentially a remounting of TimeLine’s 2010 off-Loop hit (there have been some minor tweaks to the book by William Brown and Doug Frew), this is anything but a reheated leftovers. Woditsch gives a performance that has both aged like a fine wine and marinated like a cut of beef. It’s sumptious, humorous and ultimately uplifting. There is perhaps no greater honor to a master chef who once quipped that food was “one of the simplest and nicest pleasures.” 

The play’s plot doesn’t cover much new ground (most of this was covered in either Child’s autobiography My Life in France and/or in the film “Julie & Julia”). Gourmands and fans of the late chef and author will find all the major highlights of Child’s time in France are covered here from the development of her sophisticated palate after a soul and spirit-defining first meal in France (a lunch of oysters, sole meunière and , because it is after all France, a bottle of white wine), through her humble determination to be accepted as an equal and not just some American debutante at the famed Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. 

The play also dwells on Child’s study under master chef Max Bugnard (the superb Terry Hamilton), her fateful meeting with Simone Beck (Jeannie Affelder, whose Simca gradually warms to both Child as a person and the nickname of “Simca” that Child bestows on her), the co-founding with Beck of the cooking school L'école des trois gourmandes, the decade spent writing the groundbreaking 726-page tome “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” with her and the struggle to get the book, which would eventually have an impact on American kitchens which continues to this very day.

Child’s relationship to her husband Paul (Craig Spidle) is, of course, tested while she struggles to get her book published and he is interrogated in Washington D.C. at the height of McCarthyism. The pair is a little too supportive of each other’s life choices and endeavors. They rarely argue in the show; this seems more playwrights Brown and Frew’s idolizing of their subject matter than it does with reality (every happily married couple I know fights over things big and small). 

Other notable performances include Sam Ashdown as Carolina, a fellow culinary student who dreams of opening a sophisticated barbecue shack and Janet Ulrich Brooks as both Child’s cooking school nemesis Madame Dorin and her book-publishing advocate Avis. 

Jane (Heidi Kettenring) prepares to say 'au revoir' to the Childs.

If there is any edge to the show it is with the character of Jane Foster (Heidi Kettenring). A friend who served with the Childs in WWII, Foster was famously indicted by a Federal grand jury for espionage in 1957 (charges she continued to refute until her death in 1979). A scene set towards the end as the Childs are preparing to move back to the states has Foster realizing she will never return stateside. It allows Kettenring to display her formidable acting chops, but it’s the culinary equivalent of getting a spoonful of aspic when you had been eating fruit salad. 

“To Master the Art” runs through Oct. 20 at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place, 175 E. Chestnut. Tickets, $24-$75. Call (800) 775-2000.

Preach the Gospel: The Mercury Theater's "The Color Purple" is a triumph!

Cross-posted from broadwayworld.com

You know you are in for some truly great singing when a show begins with a featured soloist who proceeds to knock it out of the park.

That’s just what happens with Mercury’s intimate and emotional production of “The Color Purple: The Musical.” Donica Lynn, last seen in Mercury’s production of “Barnum,” approaches both the Opening Act 1 and “Mysterious Ways” with all the passion and fire of a Southern Baptist revival. 

You just might find yourself raising your hand to God and shouting a few well-deserved “amens.”

Fortunately, the praise is not merely reserved for Ms. Lynn, but the rest of the 16-member cast and director L. Walter Stearns. Though the Mercury Theater may lack fly space or an orchestra pit, one still has the sense that this is a big show. In fact, it is as good as either the original Broadway production or the tour that came through here several years ago. The intimacy of the space (the Mercury isn’t much bigger than your average summer revival tent) seems to well-serve the story.  

Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker, the musical follows the trials and ultimate tribulations of Celia (Trisha Jeffrey). She is 14 when we first meet her, pregnant with her step-father’s second child. She is soon separated from her younger sister Nettie (Crystal Corrine Wood) when Celia is married off to the cruel and abusive Mister (Keithon Gipson). 

 

Jasondra Johnson (center) is perfect as Sofia.
With Evan Tyrone Martin as Harpo (right) and Keithon Gipson as Mister.

Jasondra Johnson’s Sofia is big, loud and proud. Married to Celie’s stepson Harpo (Evan Tyrone Martin), her unwillingness to let any man beat her down in the anthem “Hell No,” is one of the show’s highlights. It’s easy to see how the character might come to represent a beacon of freedom for Celie.

She's the king of the world!
Trisha Jeffrey (Celie) and Adrienne Walker (Shug)

As Shug Avry, the sultry jazz singer and one-time lover of Celie, Adrienne Walker sizzles in Shug’s show-stopper “Push Da Button.” She and Ms. Jeffrey also harmonize sweetly in “What About Love.” Ms. Walker plays up more of the comedy than the sensuality, however. In a musical that has already been accused of glossing over the lesbianism inherent in the original source material, it is perhaps a telling choice that Mr. Stearns’ production is geared more towards those in the pews.

The fabulous Church Ladies (Lto R): Sydney Charles (Darlene),
Carrie Louise Abernath (Doris) and Brittany L. Bradshaw (Jarene)

And speaking of church, I would be remiss if I didn’t give a shout out to the terrific, scene-stealing, comedic work of Carrie Louise Abernathy, Brittany L. Bradshaw and Sydney Charles. As a trio of busy-body, gossiping church ladies, Ms. Abernathy, Bradshaw and Charles mine their moments on stage for every laugh.

There are things even the finest production cannot seemingly overcome, however. A second act dream sequence “Africa” still sucks the life out of the show. Also, age mellows many things, but in its need to bring things to a satisfying musical conclusion, the show’s book resolves any lingering resentment Celie might have a little too quickly.

Still, as presented at the Mercury Theater, “The Color Purple” is a passionate and heartfelt production of one African-American woman’s ultimate triumph of self-discovery despite the odds stacked against her in a pre-Civil Rights era south.  

“The Color Purple” runs through Oct. 27 at the Mercury Theater Chicago, 3745 N. Southport. Tickets, $22-$59. Call 773.325.1700. www.mercurytheaterchicago.com

Drury Lane's 'next to normal' is anything but

Susie McMonagle: dust off that Jeff award shelf.

One would never associate “next to normal” with traditional summer musical fare. Light-hearted it ain’t.  The Tony-award winning show is an uncompromising look at one family’s attempt to cope with the matriarch’s mental illness. The show also serves as an indictment of a mental health industry that at times seems more interested in grooming life-long pill-popping consumers than addressing the underlying causes of some disorders.  

Musicals such as “Gypsy” have dipped the proverbial toe in the mental health water (“Rose’s Turn” is essential a nervous breakdown set to song), but few shows have ever wrote an entire book around the topic of mental health.

As a musical, “next to normal” is less “Mama Mia!” and more “Mother Courage.” This makes the current production of the show at Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace something of a major risk.

I mean no disrespect here, but the show’s gritty, sung-through, rock score and serious subject matter would seem to initially be incongruent with the typical, older suburban Drury Lane subscriber.

Whether it is the Pulitzer-prize winning script or the superbly acted, sung and directed show, the audience at the opening was incredibly receptive to the show.  

Jeff Tolle (Gabe) with McMonagle as Diana

If this production was a gamble, it has paid off in spades. In the lead role of Diana, a wife and mother trying to navigate the fine line between medication and memories, Susie McMonagle is riveting. While the show was originally a vehicle for Alice Ripley, I actually preferred McMonagle’s vocal approach to the role. True, Ripley’s voice had more of a razor’s edge than McMonagle’s that on the onset seems to be more true to the rock score, but McMonagle’s “folk-singer” style makes her Diana more approachable. If the statistics regarding mental health and bipolar disorder are to believed (and I frankly believe they are), we all know someone just like McMonagle’s Diana.

As her much put-upon yet still supportive husband Dan, Rod Thomas turns in what has to be the best performance of his career. Usually cast in comedic roles (you might have seen him in Second City’s “The People vs. Friar Laurence”), the funny man can not only emote, but also belt out the demanding score with the best of ‘em.

As son Gabe, Josh Tolle brings the needed intensity required of the role. The pacing and acting could not be better in the scenes where Gabe and Dan both engage in a tug of war in regard to Diana’s course of mental treatment. Gabe wants to flush the drugs; Dan wants to keep experimenting until they get it right. Each has their own selfish reasons for advocating their respective courses with Diana stuck in the middle.

Newcomer Callie Johnson (as daughter Natalie) has some pitch problems early on (a fate suffered by the Ms. Ripley in the original Broadway run, too). Should those persists, you’re likely to overlook them thanks to her intense portrait of a teenage girl who can’t seem to live up to perceived expectations. Her character resonated more with me than in previous productions. A second act scene between mother and daughter, set in a hospital, is exceptionally moving.  

Rounding out the cast are  Skyler Adams (hilarious as Natalie’s would-be boyfriend who just won’t quit pursuing her) and Colte Julian (in the dual role of Dr. Fine and Dr. Madden). Julian finds more meat the Madden than he does in Fine, but is nonetheless engaging.

Scott Davis’ monochromatic scenic design (ok, there are black chairs so I guess it is bichromatic) perfectly captures the sterility of an average suburban home. Costume designer Sally Dolembo follows a similar pallet in the first act, slowly introducing pops of color in the second act as a way of visually capturing subtle changes to Diana’s mental state.

Under William Osetek’s direction, the pacing and flow could not be better. Actors move from fantastical scenes within Diana’s head to those grounded in reality with aplomb. “next to normal” is musical perfection; it's a theatrical moment not to be missed.