Chicago's Arts Scene

To paraphrase Samuel Johnson: When a man is tired of Chicago, he's tired of life and we might add the same holds true for the ladies. With 72 hours to fill on our arts card, the choices were many and varied.

Bucking the current trend of new play development, Will Eno's Off-Broadway production Middletown has moved west to the Steppenwolf Theatre (to 8/14). Mr. Eno's investigation of Midwest angst does for the theater today what Robert and Helen Lynd's groundbreaking case studies did for sociology in the 1930s: offer a look at everyday life lived by everyday people. So the small-town conflicts and lives of quiet desperation have a fresh look in this elegantly designed (set, Antje Ellermann; lighting, Matt Frey; costumes, Janice Pytel), well acted play, but the loneliness, missed opportunities, and inertia persist in the worlds of these very ordinary characters. Mr. Eno's prose is reminiscent of Steve Wright's comedy: lethargic, deadpan, and, at times, cornball, and director Les Waters' considerate pacing lets the characters speak for themselves. Tony Award-winning playwright Tracy Letts delivers a poignant portrayal of the downward drifting John Dodge while artistic director Martha Lavey, in the central role of Librarian, is uplifting with her sunny optimism. Brenda Barrie is affecting as the incomplete Mary Swanson and Tim Hopper is subtly compelling in a number of demanding multiple roles, beginning with the prologue. Various narrators (Michael Patrick Thornton, Danny McCarthy) step out of the chorus to deliver asides through the fourth wall. There is also an imaginative intermission audience from the cast, when this very introspective work points the lens the other way. By the play's conclusion, one life will have merged into the infinite while another will come into being. This is an ensemble play for The Ensemble Company in American Theater. Recommended, 4 hands (out of 5), 2:20 w/intermission.

It's a David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly) moment in the Windy City with two plays ongoing (Chinglish and Yellow Face, 6/14-7/31) and another due to start (Family Devotions, 8/11-9/4). We took in Mr. Hwang's autobiographical Yellow Face mounted by The Silk Road Theatre Project in association with the Goodman Theatre and performed in an intimate black box space at The Historic Chicago Temple Building. Ostensibly about identity, race, and politics (in the universal sense), this semi-autobiographical play's structure just about defies classification. On the one hand, it's a mockumentary with characters commenting ironically on themselves and events as they are unfolding realtime or considered retrospectively. On the other hand, it's a revue without the music - at least the singing - with skits and satire and loads of self-referentiality. Think of filmmaker Christopher Guest (any movie, you pick) meeting up with writer John Dos Passos (USA Trilogy) and Sydney Pollack (Tootsie) and you'll get a sense of the tone, tempo, presentation, and stakes of the show. The real life playwright was asked to protest the non-Asian casting of Jonathan Pryce as the lead in Miss Saigon, transferring from the West End in 1990. He did so and what begins innocuously takes on a life of its own. When he later unknowingly casts an aspiring white actor as a Eurasian - by way of Siberia! - in his own play, Face Value, things explode. Real life starts to imitate art life as the principal participants, media, and organizations merge into the era's historical backdrop, petty family squabbles, and internecine ethnic tensions to make for a highly compressed evening of broad humor. We're talking highly compressed as in 7 actors playing 70 roles! Director Steve Scott keeps things in fluid motion on Tom Burch's minimalist set, with assists from Sarah Hughey (lighting), Matt Guither (costumes), and Peter J. Storms (sound). The fictional playwright and narrator DHW is given a stylized and antic performance by David Rhee, but the real star of the show is Joseph Anthony Foronda who is outstanding as his stage father and totally uninhibited in his many multiple roles. Tanya McBride, Lydia Berger, Christopher Meister, and Christopher Popio are asked to stand up and deliver--and do--in their principal roles and as members of the ever-shifting ensemble. Clayton Stamper is at his amorphous best as Asian wannabe Marcus Ghee née Dahlman. The play comes front-loaded with too many characters, subplots, and agenda - especially political and media bashing - to merit accolades. Still the fantasia that was one person's imaginative take on his life is pretty entertaining fare as presented by Silk Road. And the reverse bias, post-racial ruminations, and self-reflective mood offer plenty of food for thought. Put on your best face and look into that mirror if you dare. Recommended, 3 ½ hands (out of 5), 2 hours w/intermission.

Along the lines of collage provided in theater, The Museum of Contemporary Art is offering a provocative look at one of this country's premier assemblage artists in "Pandora's Box: Joseph Cornell Unlocks the MCA Collection" (6/18-10/16). Those lucky to have seen the Smithsonian American Art Museum retrospective of his work in 2006 will remember his primitive, almost whimsical, style of what most would call shadowboxes. In undoubtedly what is becoming a museum trend, MOCA showcases Cornell's work with the leading players on the contemporary art scene; roughly, one box is displayed with 10-12 pieces of other artist's works in "dialogue," per room, in about a dozen spaces. (So be forewarned: the whole of MOCA's extensive holdings of Cornell is not on display.) Some of these conversations work and others, well, it's a stretch, as the gallery curator Michael Darling would seem to concede. It's saying something when the collateral works exceed the splendor, if not the scale (by several orders of magnitude), of the headline act. Visually, the strongest case can be made for the repetitive imagery of Andy Warhol, the box as altar seen in Marisol - all perhaps derived from Latin American retablos - and the surrealist work of Max Ernst. Less compelling are the conceptual and postmodernist pairings, of say, Sol LeWitt, John Baldessari, and anything by Jeff Koons. Nonetheless, the show is informative and well displayed and any trip to MOCA, in my experience, is one of the pleasures of traveling to Chicago. This time's no different. Recommended, 3 out of 5 hands, allow 1 ½ hours for your visit.

For free classical music, nothing beats the Grant Park Music Festival in Millennium Park. Now in its 77^th season, GPMF offers performances most Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday evenings, with the chance to see the orchestra rehearse around Noon (32 concerts from 6/15-8/20). We attended a performance of choral masterworks featuring Bernstein, Bach, and Fauré. Bernstein's Chichester Psalms was by turns forceful and heavenly, with Conductor & Choral Director Christopher Bell coaxing a sublime performance out of the chorus in general and counter-tenor Ryan Belongie in particular. This was my first experience in hearing this range of voice live and it was a distinctly striking one. Mr. Belongie's eerie sound is not quite a falsetto, yet unlike a mezzo-soprano's; he was not overpowering on this night, but it suited the accompaniment with the chorus and orchestra, particularly in the slower, softer movements. Bach's Pleasant Rest, Beloved Soul's Delight Cantata featured the counter-tenor and a stripped down orchestra of about a half-dozen instruments, including organ. The soloist and musicians worked hard to fill out the Pritzker Pavilion stage and 1,000 plus patron crowd with uneven results; this is a piece better suited to a smaller space, though the chance to hear this rarely performed work with an up-and-coming talent was worth the effort. With the finale, however, Fauré's Requiem, a 19^th century Romantic blockbuster for soprano (Lindsay Metzger), baritone (Keven Keys), and orchestra, there were no harmonic gaps wanting. This had to be the most easygoing sacred work I've ever heard - uplifting where it is usually solemn, transcendent where it is usually final and bleak. The full-scale work, with Ms. Metzger's bright voice and Mr. Keys toneful sound, delivered a most satisfying conclusion to an evening well spent. Highly recommended, 4 ½ hands (out of 5), 1:45 w/intermission; excellent program guide.

The Chicago Cultural Center has an extremely moving exhibit on display (to 8/31) entitled "Wounded in Action," presented under the auspices of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. The mixed media show with about 60 pieces was assembled from work of serviceman, family members, caregivers, those afflicted with similar disabilities, and empathetic observers. Triage and modern medicine have enabled the survival of many - military and civilian alike - but the psychological consequences of extreme warfare have burdened the living (and their families) with a long road back to recovery. Every picture or object tells a story here about war's tragic effect and you won't have to strain to get it. But the take home message is that art has the power to heal and does so for the benefit of all. John Ton's "Patience," with an image (and shadow) of a hobbling survivor, assembled from bullet casings, stood out for me as did Stuart G. Hall's "Bombs That Go Bloom," a mobile, with either a hopeful or witty take on the theme of turning swords into plowshares. Dr. William R. Loscher's "The Golden Rule of War - No Closure," a pencil/graphite drawing of hand surgery, offers a pointed look at healing and survival. There are many others I could mention; some artists will impress you with their technique, others with their vision, but all with their commitment towards showing lives turned around and, as they do, helping us see and understand. Recommended, 4 hands (out of 5), allow 1+ hour per visit.

Across the street at 22 E. Randolph, you'll want to throw your hands together for the "Soul Train Photo Exhibit," now on display (to 9/5). Yes, Don Cornelius, star guests, and the Soul Train Dancers live on in 50 plus images, numerous artifacts, and video-recordings of the show's heyday in the early 70s until Big Don's departure in the 90s. For a dance party fan, one who grew up on black & white TV, it's a jolt to see these Motown and Funkadelic pics in all their vibrant color. The big names and acts are there once again looking young and slim and ready to jump up and groove. I was surprised to learn that the show got its start in Chicago, on top of the Chicago Board of Trade Building of all places. Talk about a prophetic beginning for this cash cow which closed under a new MC in 2005. You'll want to try to solve the "Soul Train Scramble Board," hopefully within the 60 seconds allotted to dancers, before starting your tour. This is a highly recommended stroll down memory lane, 4 ½ hands (out of 5), allow 1 plus hour per visit, or more as your spirit and feet move you.

That's all we were able to accomplish on this arts trip, but we've got some ideas for the next time. Till then!

Photo credit: John F. Glass