Theater & Performance Search – The Short List (Theater)
Homecoming 1972
Through 6/23: Thu-Sat 8 PM, Sun 3 PMTheater & Performance
Beautiful acting and a strong sense of time and place flesh out Robert Koon's otherwise generic new one-act about an embittered Vietnam veteran's return to his Minnesota hometown. It's an election year; President Nixon is trying to wind down the war while still shoring up his conservative base. Director Kimberly Senior's cast includes Matt Holzfeind as unstable soldier Frank and Brett Schneider as his brother Joe, a state trooper, along with Joan Allen look-alike Greta Honold as Joe's wife, Julian Hester as a cocky college kid, and the remarkable Molly Glynn as a diner waitress swept into the conflicts. Glynn is only with the show through June 9, and her compassionate, finely nuanced performance shouldn't be missed. —Albert Williams $15-$32
312-633-0630Lipstick Goes on Last
Through 6/23: Thu-Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 3 PMTheater & Performance
Charting where this nostalgic comedy goes awry may actually require graph paper. The domestic dissatisfactions of Meredith, a shrill, alcoholic 70s housewife and sometime beauty queen, come to light in the run-up to her daughter Megan's first school dance, and are felicitously resolved when, after some soul searching, Meredith determines to forgive, forget, and quit drinking. The script redraws no emotional boundaries, and other obvious problems, like stifling marital arrangements and closeted homosexuality, receive no serious treatment, unless loads of pointless innuendo count. Drunkenness, outrage, and teen angst seem simultaneously arbitrary and forced. As Megan's dad, Guy F. Wicke brings a much-needed shot of freshness to a production otherwise inoculated against funny. —Jena Cutie $30
Richard III
Through 6/29: Thu-Sat 8 PMTheater & Performance
Set in the rough confines of a 1970s Pittsburgh biker bar, this heavily atmospheric production benefits from the most badass classic-rock soundtrack ever to grace one of Shakespeare's history plays. Recasting the "rudely stamp'd" Duke of York's ascent to the throne as an outlaw biker's intragang power struggle, Wayward Productions gets a delicious opportunity to lay bare the universal savagery of court politics. But, unlike a battle for the crown of England, there's little sense here that events onstage affect anyone off of it. The drama loses much of its sweep. Directing himself, Carlo Lorenzo Garcia treats Richard's wily asides with the same drunken braggadocio as his dialogue, a critical blow to the aristocrat's sympathetic potential. —Keith Griffith $15-20
Beaten
Through 8/11: Thu 7:30 PM, Fri-Sat 8 PM, Sun 5 PMTheater & Performance
Three generations of women struggle to save each other from abuse. Suggested donation of $32
Don't Blink: A Doctor Who Burlesque
Fridays, 9 p.m.Theater & Performance
Eleven actors have played the title role on Doctor Who over the years--a fact the creators of the long-running British sci-fi television series acknowledge with a plot device called "regeneration." Quirks like that make it risky to stage a parody of the show, since they can render things difficult for the uninitiated. But the friend I brought with me to see this Gorilla Tango burlesque knew nothing about the series and still laughed at all the jokes--particularly the ones having to do with regeneration. Busty Warren's smart writing, the cast members' comically awful Brit accents, and a judicious use of bawdry make Don't Blink a success--though Kay Smiles's amateurish choreography grows tiresome towards the end. --Tal Rosenberg $28-$35
The Empire Brings Sexy Back
Open run: Sat 10:30 PMTheater & Performance
An all-female version of Star Wars is an interesting proposition to begin with. When those females end most scenes by stripping down to pasties, it just gets even more, well, interesting. The Gorilla Tango Theatre cast pulls it off beautifully in a funny, clever reimagining of Star Wars: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back that references the original without getting too bogged down in plot. Among the many successful scenes is one where Yoda teaches Luke Skywalker the ways of the Force, a power that in this version is activated through vigorous shimmying. When Luke gets frustrated and complains that she's not well enough equipped to levitate the X-wing fighter, Yoda displays her own modestly sized breasts and gently advises that "cup size matters not." —Julia Thiel $28-35
A Nude Hope: A Star Wars Burlesque
Open run: Sat 7:30 and 9 PMTheater & Performance
Answering the prayers of nerdy straight guys everywhere, this Geek Girl Burlesque show features a bunch of scantily clad women reenacting the first Star Wars movie. The only character who isn't played by a woman, R2-D2, is represented by a trash can. M.C. Curran's script closely follows the plot of the original except that the action frequently pauses so cast members can strip down to pasties and panties. Even Chewbacca gets a turn. In the spirit of Minsky's, Timothy Bambara's staging is more suggestive than raunchy and as concerned with laughs and novelty as with titillation. It also offers the rare chance to see Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi perform a posthumous striptease to the Bee Gees' "I Started a Joke." —Zac Thompson $35
Holy Bouncing Boobies: A Batman Burlesque
Open run: Sat 11:59 PMTheater & Performance
"Holy bi-curious moment, Batman!" says the Boy Wonder in this entertaining superhero burlesque from Gorilla Tango Theatre. Clothes are shed early and often as our hero(in)es deal out double entendres along with bams and pows in their battles against the Joker, the Riddler, the Penguin, and other villains. Marie Curieosity is full of silly self-importance and unbridled libido as the Caped Crusader, and Crystal Paradise makes a campy Robin. In fact, the whole cast show sexy confidence and solid comedic timing, creating a Gotham City that's a lot more fun than Christopher Nolan's. If you found The Dark Knight Rises too violent, you'll prefer the fight scene here in which Robin gives the Riddler a titty twister and gets motorboated in return. —Marissa Oberlander $28-$35
Boobs & Goombas: A Super Mario Burlesque
Saturdays, 12 a.m.Theater & Performance
Originally, Mario's famous mustache was just an animator's dodge, a way to avoid rendering detailed facial features on the eight-bit NES. At the very end of Gorilla Tango's clunky, opportunistic spoof on the long-running Nintendo franchise, performer Paly Flames takes off her thick Mario 'stache, and her strikingly beautiful visage may be the show's most sensual reveal. The burlesque numbers are hurried, the periodic audience shakedowns for "coins" distracting, and the parlor-psychology dives into Mario and Luigi's motivations exasperating. Director Jeremy Eden's cast includes attractive women of all body types, but hearing the "level up" sound effect when they flashed pasties made me cringe. If self-empowered sexuality and the conquer-and-proceed imperatives of video games can comfortably coexist, they don't do it here. –Keith Griffith $35
The Shit Show
Last Friday of every month, 8:30 p.m.Theater & Performance
A few rows of chairs were set up on the second floor at the Shambles bar in Wicker Park, but most folks chose to stay on their feet (it ain't called stand-up for nothing) as they watched hosts Rasa Gierstikas and Ever Mainard introduce a string of comedians. They were rewarded with a sidesplitting show and the privilege of shouting "Best joke!" at the funniest comedians. In addition to the hosts, ten comics gripped the mike—glistening with holiday pirate decorations—to kvetch about everything from Pepe's Mexican food to Tim Burton's allegedly homophobic oeuvre and stripping to music by Aphex Twin. There were refreshingly few strained silences or hecklings during this big-hearted monthly bonanza. Comics cordially waited their turn in the crowd, last-minute performers casually dropped by, and drinks were definitely allowed. —Hannah Gold
