Loving Repeating
(Photo © Michael Brosilow)
February may have only 28 days, but the Chicago theater industry is squeezing a whole lot of shows into them.
The month’s big event is Loving Repeating: A Musical of Gertrude Stein, created by the Museum of Contemporary Art in association with About Face Theatre Company. This new musical theater piece is conceived and directed by Tony Award winner Frank Galati, and features a score by Tony Award winner Stephen Flaherty. Whether spoken or sung, the words are those of Gertrude Stein, drawn from her 1932 novel A Long Gay Book (February 18 – March 12).
Craig Wright’s Grace focuses on a born-again Christian couple — and a murder. The show marks the Northlight Theater debut of Dexter Bullard, one of Chicago’s most highly-regarded directors, and local favorite Mike Nussbaum is in the cast (through February 26).
As usual, Chicago offers a gaggle of world premieres: Greg Allen’s A Child’s History of Bombing, a politically-edged world premiere at the Neo-Futurists (February 4-March 11); Blind Mouth Singing, a Latino world premiere (performed in English) at Teatro Vista (February 6-March 6); Softly Blue, a new play by Shepsu Apsu (MPAACT Theatre Company at Victory Gardens, February 5-March 12); and Somebody Foreign, a based-on-fact murder mystery by Douglas Post (City Lit Theatre, February 13-March 5); The Way of the Wise Guy, a drama adapted from the story of Donnie Brasco, the cop who went undercover to infiltrate organized crime (Chicago Center for the Performing Arts, opens February 14); and Fellow Travellers, Margaret Lewis’ play about artists and Nazism (Stage Left Theatre Company, February 21-April 1).
Meanwhile, the Next Theatre Company in Evanston is presenting the area premiere of Caryl Churchill’s A Number, her 55-minute work about human cloning (through February 26); Victory Gardens Theater continues its season with I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document Given to Me by a Young Lady from Rwanda, the award-winning British play by Sonja Linden (through March 5); and the American Theatre Company serves up the Chicago premiere of St. Scarlet, a bizarre if hilarious family comedy by Julia Jordan (February 27-March 26).
More familiar work on tap includes a revival of William Inge’s Bus Stop, the 1950’s tale of a young cowboy who falls in love with a singer (Writers’ Theatre, through March 26); Eve Ensler’s acclaimed solo show, The Good Body (North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, February 28-March 5) as well as a production of her political drama Necessary Targets (St. Sebastian Players, February 10-March 5); Christopher Marlowe’s Dido, Queen of Carthage by Camenae Ensemble (February 15-March 18); Tina Howe’s Museum (Appetite Theatre at the Chicago Cultural Center, February 17-March 26); Charles Busch’s The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife (Apple Tree Theatre, February 26-March 15), and Jeffrey Hatcher’s Tuesdays with Morrie, which is the opening attraction of the recently restored LaSalle Bank Theatre (February 28-March 12).
Musicals this month include the long-overdue Chicago premiere of Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake (Cadillac Palace Theatre, February 21-26); the world premiere of Jackie Taylor’s Nina Simone: High Priestess of Soul at the Black Ensemble Theatre (opens February 19); and the world premiere of Josephine Tonight! This musical biography of legendary entertainer Josephine Baker was penned by Broadway veteran Sherman Yellen and the late Wally Harper (Theatre Building Chicago, February 20-March 26).
Bailiwick Repertory is following up its four-year run of Naked Boys Singing (which closed New Year’s Eve) with a similar product of its own devising: Bare Naked Lads in the Great Outdoors. Unlike its predecessor, the new work is not specifically –or at least not entirely — gay. It even includes a woman in the cast (opens February 21).
Families have a number of enticing options this month including the Chicago premiere of the award-winning musical A Year with Frog and Toad by the brand-new Chicago Children’s Theatre (The Goodman Theatre, through March 5) and the Emerald City Theatre Company’s presentation of the beloved children’s tale Charlotte’s Web (Apollo Theater, through April 1). For teens, there’s a 75-minute Goth-styled Macbeth, adapted and staged by David H. Bell for Chicago Shakespeare Theatre (through April 22) and Lady Madeline, an adaptation for adolescents by Mickle Maher of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher presented by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company (February 11-25).
