friday night i had the pleasure of seeing court theatre's THE MISANTHROPE.
what: the misanthrope by moliere
where: the court theatre at the university of chicago
accompaniment: dustin!
drinkability: bad! no byo and no drinks for purchase sans soda & water.
show length: two hours with a 15 minute intermission
out of four: three and a half/four
this was my first experience with both the court theatre as well as the misanthrope, so i went into the evening not really sure what exactly was ahead of me. a college classmate of mine, desmond, appears in the misanthrope as one of only two non-equity actors so i was very excited to see him in action as well as finally catch a show at the court. he was kind enough to get us tickets (as court theatre has pricier tickets than most, ranging from $15-$65. pro tip: always check hottix!) so thanks, des!
i knew walking in to the court that this was going to be highly produced and incredibly well acted and i am so happy to say that it lived up to all my expectations and beyond. at one point i mentioned to dustin that as much as i love "diy" theatre and storefront theatre in chicago, its easy to forget WHAT and HOW MUCH can happen when a bunch of money is behind a production.
the misanthrope was one set, on display as you walk into the theatre. beautiful wood work on the floor (you can catch a glimpse in the photo above), gorgeous gold curtains drape from the ceiling, a fainting chair covered in black fabric sits center stage, and the playing area is almost playground-like with center stage dipping down a step, giving the actors a chance to jump or step from the center to the outside platforms as well as making picturesque levels massively convenient for the director. the fabric on the fainting couch is later removed and the gold curtains drop and its an entirely new bedroom. and its done flawlessly.
other tech highlights include the awesome music score. andre pluess & josh horvath work together in sound design to create classical pieces with hip hop beat backgrounds. it makes for awesome transitions as the attitudes, costumes and general disposition of the actors is quite modern while the language is classical. the star of the technical aspects, though was costumes. my goodness. jacqueline firkins: i hope you win all the awards there are out there for this production. a black and gold motif dresses all the characters flawlessly. the designs are beautiful and left me with incredible costume envy. seriously, go see this show for the costumes alone!
but of course you can't have a breathtaking show without some talent to back it up. erik hellman who plays alceste steals the show for me. from his first few lines i was drawn in at his absolute natural and effortless management of the text. he's also all over the place and the stage, but with distinct and calculated movements. rather: he moves around a lot without flailing incessantly. he makes the perfect rich boy pouty lover and i ate up every moment of his performance.
celimene played by the beautiful grace gealey was number two for me. girl is talented and her musical theatre background stood out in her choices. she also had such a fierce handle on the language as well as the ability to flawlessly rant without tripping up on one phrase. bravo, bravo.
the misanthrope at the court is just absolutely a gem. not too long or overwhelming- just as i was starting to lose focus and gaze out at various places on the stage for far too long the show concluded. it was also kind of a twisted joy to see such a downer ending. you don't get many of those these days, do you?
this show closes this weekend. missed it? won't have a chance to get there in time? no worries, they open TARTUFFE in 2 weeks with the same ensemble of actors. fingers crossed i can catch these players in action again.
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upcoming june shows:
friday june 14th, 7:30pm: the brown paper box company's aloha, say the pretty girls
friday june 21st, 8:30pm: second city training class performance
saturday june 29th, 8pm: prop thtr's slaughter city
join me, will you?
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