march #1: rich & famous

friday night i saw my first show of my four in four series: jackalope theatre's RICH AND FAMOUS.

what: rich and famous by john guare

where: the den theatre, wicker park

accompaniment: my multi-talented fiance, dustin

drinkability: awesome. there's a bar in the den with affordable drinks. for him: pbr. for me: red wine.

show length: no intermission, 90 minutes (give/take)

out of four: three/four

now, simply put: i'm a big fan of the people over at jackalope. i met a good handful of them shortly after i moved to chicago in the summer of 2009 and we were in a production of baal together at the ep theatre (rip). i've been following their work from afar for the last couple of years and have recently made the decision to not miss a thing these incredibly nice and talented people do because...well, anything they put on always leaves me with just a good feeling. plus, these folks are damn good at giving hugs.

rich and famous is no exception to my enjoyment of jackalope's work. i didn't really know what i was coming in to, and i don't know quite what to qualify this production as (musical? musical comedy? comedy with music?) but either way, it was fun.

we walk in to a preshow that extends rather seamlessly into the opening of the play. pre-show performances are hard to do, and if you have one that relies on the audience its even worse! (try doing a pre show when there's only 5 people in the audience that you're supposed to interact with...for minutes and minutes on end....say it ain't so!). lucky for the r&f cast, no direct audience communication was needed...but it still didn't relieve them of the awkward tension you could feel between the actors not-really-acting while the audience isn't-really-watching. while it was a clever set up with the actors setting up all set pieces in preparation for the show, i found myself cringing for the actors needing to fill the time and look totally natural.

once the show opened all of that flew out the window. the cast of four (andrew burden swanson, baize buzan [sorry, coolest name ever? i think so.], bernard balbot [again, with the cool names, come on guys] and torian miller) had a nice chemistry and interaction with each other throughout the entirety of the show. all but swanson boasted of their 'jackalope debuts' in the programs, and will be, i expect, on the jackalope stage again in the future.

swanson stars as bing ringaling, a playwright on his verge of success (or is he?). he's charming and funny and experiences all of the emotions we humans experience in this gem. it was so fun getting to watch this challenge come alive in him.

my favorite scene in the show (also the longest. like, so long. but luckily it was my favorite, so. i got to enjoy it) was the interaction between swanson and balbot in this scene:

seriously. i don't laugh very hard at much and balbot had me in some uncontrollable giggles. dustin later described it as me "kind of losing it". yeah, i'll admit it. see this show for this scene alone.

overall, jackalope made me laugh and smile with this one. while the script itself is a little wiley and can get out of hand (see: funniest scene also feeling uncomfortably long after a while), the actors were charming and changed seamlessly between the different character challenges that they faced. go see this show for a nice night out. biggest post-show drawback? having to tip toe around between the den's other shows simultaneously happening. so remember to be quiet and hug those jackalope's goodbye.

--------------

upcoming march shows:

sunday the 17th 3pm: babes with blade's (all female) julius caesar

tuesday the 26th 8pm: lights out theatre company's skin!

saturday the 30th 8pm: right brain project's the bacchae

join me, will you?

resolute!

new years resolutions, what are they good for? (absolutely...nothing! that's right.)

i find myself always starting the year with the best of intentions, and this one was not an exception. i also started a mini tradition that i stole from other bloggers on birthdays. dustin and i talked about what he wanted to achieve before 25 and what i wanted to achieve before 27. a lot of times its "26 things to do before 27", but we kept it simple with just a few things.

now, i live in chicago. january you're coming off the high of christmas and new years and everything seems totally conquerable...until the temps start dropping and you start eating pizza and (veggie) burgers and chili and ohmygod why have we never watched west wing before this?! oh, its. february. and i haven't really done what i resolved to do. again.

so, here it is. almost march and i'm ready to start my year. i live in one of the best cities for artists to express themselves and i want to get out there and see it more often. sure, i see theatre more often than the average joe on the street, but not nearly enough as i'd like to. so, now i am.

the goal is to see (at least) four shows in four weeks and then write my thoughts on them. i may see all four in one week or i may spread them out over the month. the idea is to see as many different companies, shows, friends, ideas, concepts, spaces, etc. and to see them all with you.

yes, that's right. i'm going to try my best to display when i'm going to see what show and you are more than invited to join me. let's grab a beer afterwards and discuss what you thought. (afterall, isn't that the best part about live theatre? keeping your mouth shut for those two hours and then blabbing on for just as long after.)

i'm going to try my best not to see (or rather, review) the same company more than once a year (at least every 6 months) in order to get myself out to see new companies and productions.

here's my (tentative) plan for march. join me, will you?
1. Friday March 1st: Rich and Famous by Jackalope Theatre at the Den, 7PM
2. Sunday March 17th: (all-female) Julius Caesar by Babes with Blades at Raven Theatre, 3:30PM
3. Date TBD: SKIN! by Lights Out Theatre Company at Lincoln Lofts
4. TBD. Have a suggestion? Send it my way!

hope to see you in the audience. xo