Events Today – Recommended
Johnny Young, Michael Vallera, MT Coast, Double Morris
Tue., Jan. 22, 9:30 p.m.Rock, Pop, Etc
In the duo Cleared, multi-instrumentalist Michael Vallera launches surges of jagged guitar chords and looming electronic fog banks against Steven Hess’s unyielding drumbeats. In solo settings Vallera sticks to an electric guitar and pedals, but his music hardly sounds limited; without another player to establish a rhythm or set boundaries, he stirs up masses of sound that feel as big as weather systems. Tone and texture can vary drastically from one set to the next; I’ve heard him drone like a squadron of WW II bombers and swirl like he was auditioning for the Cocteau Twins, and on the upcoming EP Dead Suns (Nihilist) he lets fly with some shredding that sounds like someone fed steel girders into a lumber mill. —Bill Meyer Johnny Young headlines; Michael Vallera, MT Coast, and Double Morris open.
$8, free with RSVP at rsvp@emptybottle.com
Lady M
Through 2/6: Sat 4 PM, Sun-Wed 7:30 PMTheater & Performance
Laley Lippard has taken apart Shakespeare's "Scottish play" and reassembled it with the idea of making Lady Macbeth the protagonist. To achieve that aim Lippard cleverly elides key elements (the prophetic witches are entirely omitted) and adds others (such as a sultry sex scene) that are merely alluded to in the testosterone-fueled original. If Lippard's deconstruction is effective, her direction is even more impressive. She makes smart uses of minimal space (by banging on the outer walls of the theater, for instance, to simulate inner turmoil) and primitive lighting, relying on little more than four light bulbs, a doorway, and a lantern. Kristi Webb is terrific as Lady Macbeth; the other actors didn't seem as strong to me, but then I may've been distracted by the bizarre decision to outfit them in cargo pants. --Tal Rosenberg $15-$20
Bud, Not Buddy
Through 2/24: Tue-Wed 10 AM, Thu-Fri 10 AM and 6:30 PM, Sat 2 and 6 PM, Sun 11 AMTheater & Performance
Director Derrick Sanders doesn't miss a beat in this well-orchestrated stage version of Christopher Paul Curtis's 1999 children's book, about an African-American boy searching for his father in Depression-era America. Each part of the show just hums along: Sanders's eye-pleasing staging, Rick Simms's ear-pleasing sound design, Courtney O'Neill's superb scenic design, and the tight, playful ensemble. Among the many fine performances are Travis Turner's as the title character and Cedric Young's as a grumpy bandleader who may be Bud's dad. Though clearly pitched to school-aged children, there's enough texture in both the book and the wonderful Chicago Children's Theatre production to move adults as well. --Jack Helbig $36
1016 N. Dearborn St.
Gold Coast/Mag Mile/Streeterville
847-864-5323The Motherfucker With the Hat
Through 3/3: various times, see websiteTheater & Performance
An ex-con quarrels with his girlfriend while attempting to reenter society. Read the full review >> $48-$72
The Sound, the Soul, the Syncopation
Through 3/15:Galleries
Sam Worley writes, "With photos and text, 'The Sound, the Soul, the Syncopation' looks at how close-knit subsidized communities in Brooklyn, Houston, Detroit, and other cities have helped produce talents like Barbra Streisand, Kenny Rogers, and Diana Ross." Check out the rest of his review right here.
The Book of Mormon
Through 9/18: Tue-Fri 7:30 PM, Sat 2 and 8 PM, Sun 2 and 7:30 PM; no show Tue 12/25Theater & Performance
I know it'll seem incomprehensible to you fans of talking turds, but I've never paid Comedy Central's South Park much mind one way or another. And when New York fell all over itself last year appreciating The Book of Mormon, I wondered if there wasn't just a smidge of hyperbole in calling the musical by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone (along with Robert Lopez) the best of the "century." Now that I've seen the Chicago production, however, I've been—well—converted. A wise mix of nasty satire and compassionate truth telling, Parker, Stone, and Lopez's tale of Mormon missionaries in Uganda is as entertaining—and, strangely, uplifting—a piece of work as anything in recent American theater. Although the book draws whole quivers full of big red arrows to everything that's ludicrous about the Mormon way, it also ends up making a case for the hope we all derive from silly myths. Meanwhile, playful as it is, it ranks up there with Lynn Nottage's Ruined in exposing the danger, dignity, and distortions of African life. The cast is uniformly and perfectly seductive. And is that Steppenwolf's famously earnest James Vincent Meredith, showing a new side of himself as the Ugandan village chief? Incredible. —Tony Adler
$65-$125
Cook County Social Club
Open run: Tue 8 PMImprov/Sketch
These four performers are as brazenly committed to improv's "affirm everything" mantra as any I've seen. Their dark, flamboyant comic sensibilities clearly aligned, they orchestrate black-comedy vignettes tethered to richly odd characters. But what most impressed me was how fluidly and creatively they transitioned between scenes, usually dangerous improv moments. The Frank Hayes 4 opens. --Ryan Hubbard
$12
The Reckoning
Open run: Tue 10:30 PMImprov/Sketch
Six years ago members of some disbanding groups hooked up to form the Reckoning, whose ten performers have now been together longer than any other group at iO. These players always stand out when they appear in other ensembles, and together, as masters of iO's signature form, the Harold, they're remarkably consistent at giving audiences something to laugh at and students something to study. Bits and jokes are cleverly brought back; scenes shift smoothly or jarringly depending on what works with the action; performers who aren't center stage often remain in character. But despite all the hard listening and cooperation, they do call each other out on odd responses. When someone playing an insecure man asked the woman playing his girlfriend/wife, "Why'd you look away at that light when you said that?" he called attention to a pregnant unconscious gesture, which gave her an opportunity to riff on his meta-comment. On Thursdays they do long-form improv, and on Tuesdays they let loose, experimenting with forms and styles. Past Tuesday shows have included stage versions of films and stand-up sets by each player. --Ryan Hubbard
$5-$12
Cascade Drive-In
OngoingIllinois
The drive-in theater is open seven nights a week in the summer, with first-run double features on weekends. Pets and children under 5 are free, and there is a deal of $14 per carload on Tuesdays. See website for showings. $5-$9, $14/carload on Tuesday
Chicagoland and Fish Nuts
Open run: Tue 8 PMImprov/Sketch
At the start of each show an all-star ensemble creates a tableau onstage, then asks after a blackout, "Where in Chicago did that take place?" "Soccer practice" was the response the night I was there, and after an hour the improvisers--intensely alert and feisty--had crafted a veritable community, complete with idiosyncratic characters, unpredictable backstory, and tragicomic intrigue. Veteran T.J. Jagodowski, recognizable from a series of Sonic commercials he's done with quick-witted cast member Peter Grosz, played a thick-accented German coach. Abruptly launching a new scene by charging to the front of the stage, he squatted and gestured as he yelled at his coed youth team, "I will yank on your nuts like the Hunchback of Notre Dame working a bell!" --Ryan Hubbard $8
