Events Search – Recommended
Sera Cahoone, Ryan Jeffrey
Sat., Jan. 26, 7 p.m.Rock, Pop, Etc
Sera Cahoone named her recent third solo album, Deer Creek Canyon (Sub Pop), after a park near where she grew up in Colorado; in the mid-90s she moved to Seattle, where she still lives, and played drums in Carissa’s Wierd, Band of Horses, and other groups. Almost every song on Deer Creek Canyon expresses a longing for home, familiarity, and companionship, whether she’s literally yearning for a place (on the title track) or struggling with the pull of romantic nostalgia (on “Rumpshaker” she sings, “But now that I’m here I don’t know why I came at all”). As with her previous records, Cahoone’s sometimes wispy, sometimes twangy folk-rock flirts dangerously with ethereal fluff a la Sarah McLachlan, but she saves her songs with the directness of her writing and the leanness of the arrangements. —Peter Margasak Ryan Jeffrey opens.
$10
Pygmalion
Through 2/10: Thu-Sat 8 PM, Sun 3 PMTheater & Performance
This fine Stage Left/BoHo Theatre coproduction reminded me how much richer and deeper George Bernard Shaw's 1912 comedy is than its sentimentalized musicalization, My Fair Lady. The tale of a misogynistic phonetics professor who teaches a cockney flower girl to speak well—and in so doing, transforms her into an independent woman beyond his control—Shaw's classic brilliantly satirizes gender roles, class, and morality, even as it delivers a sublimated but potent romance. In Vance Smith's staging, leads Steve O'Connell and Mouzam Makkar bring bristling intelligence to their strong-willed characters, both of whom use intellectual achievement to harness their chaotic emotions. —Albert Williams $25
Beautiful Thing
Through 2/17: Thu-Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 2 PMTheater & Performance
Jonathan Harvey's tender, tough dramedy focuses on working-class British teen Jamie and his complicated, sometimes combative relationships with the two most important people in his life: his barmaid mother, who dreams of owning her own pub, and Ste, the handsome young schoolmate who lives with his abusive father in the council flat next door. The material feels familiar because it's true to life, and Harvey's 1993 script tackles still-timely themes--bullying, domestic violence, teenage sexual identity conflicts--with a hard-edged humor that doesn't sacrifice seriousness. The success of John Nasca's Pride Films and Plays production hinges largely on Robert Hilliard's engaging performance as Jamie, a stocky, sports-averse 16-year-old whose confidence blossoms as he journeys toward self-acceptance. --Albert Williams $23-$25
The Glass Menagerie
Through 2/17: Thu-Sat 8 PM, Sun 7 PMTheater & Performance
A Saint Louis family clashes in Tennessee Williams's drama. $15-$25
A Grand Night for Singing
Through 3/10: Thu 2 and 7:30 PM, Fri 8 PM, Sat 2 and 8 PM, Sun 2 PMTheater & Performance
The Mercury Theater is aiming to join the ranks of old-school musical-producing companies like Drury Lane and Marriott Lincolnshire--which is fine, since it would be nice to have one within the city limits. And this joyous, reverent revue sends Mercury off on the right foot. Framed by Jason Epperson's elegant, starlit backdrop and accompanied by a six-piece band, Marya Grandy, Robert Hunt, Leah Morrow, Stephen Schellhardt and Heather Townsend sing 30 songs from the Rodgers & Hammerstein songbook. They sail past schmaltz to achieve grandeur and sincerity. The whole affair is made even better by being acoustically perfect. --Dan Jakes $25-$59
Bri-Ko
Open run: Sat 2 PMImprov/Sketch
How many bumbling buddies does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Or juggle? Or deliver a meal in a water balloon? On Saturday afternoons at Stage 773, the answer is three—specifically the three members of Bri-Ko. The sketch-comedy troupe Rube Goldberg would've created if Rube Goldberg had created sketch-comedy troupes, Bri-Ko puts on a silent clown show for the sort of kid who'd appreciate British humor. The name suggests bricolage—i.e., art improvised from materials found at hand. But the many kooky props at hand here (Nerf darts, ping-pong balls, various foodstuffs) are used to make a great, big mess. Tim Soszko, Brian Peterlin, and Chicago Sketch Fest founder Brian Posen bop happily about like Beaker the Muppet, contriving difficult ways to accomplish routine tasks. High art it's not, but the slapstick is practiced and the dumb smiles on these bozos' faces are contagious. —Asher Klein $10-$20
Blue Man Group
Open run: Thu 8 PM, Fri 7 PM, Sat 4, 7, and 10 PM, Sun 4 and 7 PM
773-348-4000Theater & Performance
Now in their 14th season at the Briar Street Theatre, the cobalt zanies have added wizard-worthy tricks to an already potent mix of visual puns, physical stunts, and cultural commentary. The latest edition conjures up a 2.5-D universe, giant "GiPads" that perform outsized multitasking, and Lady Gaga hat spin-offs. The same subversive spirit fuels the show's still-potent signature bits, including splatter-crazed "paint drumming." The secret of their cerulean success? Understanding that laughter and thought can be BFFs. --Lawrence Bommer $49-$59
ComedySportz Theatre
Open run: Thu 8 PM, Fri 8 and 10 PM, Sat 6, 8, and 10 PMImprov/Sketch
Part of a national chain of comedy clubs, this company is known for quick improv games (think Whose Line Is It Anyway?), but it also stages long-form improv. LCD screens and sophisticated lighting and sound systems amplify the sports-style improv of the company's eponymous production, ComedySportz. There's a snobbery in the Chicago improv community that looks up at the "art" of the long form, with its emphasis on story and characters, and down on the "entertainment" of the short, with its emphasis on games and punch lines. ComedySportz falls emphatically in the entertainment camp; its bottom line is laughter, and it gets plenty of it. The show is structured as a competition between two teams performing multiple games that require audience participation. A referee ensures that the players--a rotating roster from a company of about 50--work clean or they finish the game with a brown bag over their heads. The formula is practically foolproof: players may flash their quick wits in winning responses, but they're even funnier when they fail. In one game a team had to devise a pick-up line, each member contributing a word. Moving rapidly from player to player, the line developed: "Tonight-I'll-tango-with-your-face." Probably wouldn't work at a bar, but at ComedySportz it killed. --Ryan Hubbard
$19
Tonight It's Live
Open run: Sat 11 PM,Theater & Performance
For someone mourning the lack of live studio audiences in Chicago since Oprah's departure, this late-night talk show provided welcome relief. And drinks, not Kleenex, were free flowing. On the night I attended, host Tom Bambara interviewed members (human and canine) of the Dog Saving Network and graphic designer Kevin Scarbrough. The dogs' cuteness factor was high, but Bambara's distaste for slobber and witty banter were equally amusing. Then he introduced "more tame but equally as hairy" Scarbrough, who reminisced about drunken tattoos and crazy clients like Big Ass Dog pet food. Andi Woody was charming as Bambara's less-flustered cohost, and musical accompanist James Manno coolly played the sunglasses-wearing Paul Shaffer to Bambara's Letterman. —Marissa Oberlander
The Hot Karl
Open run: Sat midnightImprov/Sketch
Every Saturday at midnight, The Hot Karl folks start their gig by announcing that they're going to create the foulest, most disgusting fully improvised show in Chicago. Then they do it. The group's name comes from a sex act that involves pooping on your partner, and when I recently saw the show, the MC set the tone by asking for audience suggestions while riffing on the subject of fisting. The long-form improv that followed involved anal and oral sex, breast grabbing, and lots of dick jokes (hardly surprising since six of the eight performers were men). The material was very funny and very blue--much bluer than when I last caught The Hot Karl in 2002. The odd thing is that the grosser the players got, the more expertly they improvised: they were all in tune with one another, they never stumbled, and they treated the other performers' ideas with a respect only the best, most trusting troupes manage. Even an obvious accident, when one person initiated a montage sequence just when the scene was taking off in a different direction, was called back several times. Just as impressive are the rich, uncliched characters, deftly created almost as asides as the performers make their way to the next smirking reference to a muff or johnson. --Jack Helbig
$10
