So, you know how everybody does those end of the year lists. I thought I would do one myself.
The ten best things I saw this year.
Here goes, in the order in which I saw them:
In February, I was lucky enough to work for the touring company of Movin Out. I worked on the original tour years ago and this production was just as great. The first time, it was with Elizabeth Parkinson. She was amazing, plus she was older than I was and had just delivered and was still amazing to look at and to watch. This time around, it was kids. A non-equity tour, the average age was probably 26. They had an energy that I hadn’t had for years and it was infectious. The band was hot, the show was a joy. Well worth the ticket price and something everyone should catch!
In March, I caught Carla Gordon at Katerina’s. Not my favorite venue and not someone who I had thought would do well in a piano bar setting. Piano bar is a different animal from a show on a stage with lights and a theme. Everyone is milling around, eating, drinking, talking and Carla isn’t a wall flower who is meant to be background music. But, Carla was fun and had the crowd in the palm of her hand. Her music choices were varied, her guest singers a great compliment to her. Carla does her burlesque ballsy material one minute and then she reminds us of her heart the next.
Jason Smith did his one man show at Strawdog Theatre at the ungodly hour of 11PM, also in March. Consulting Mavis, was a monologue about growing up gay in South Dakota. But, it was more than that; it was a look back at a childhood spent in the arms of a small town community. It produced belly laughs and pulled a tear from my eye. He would later put the show together with the monologist Roberta Miles’ piece: Life: a Work in Progress. Presented at the Skokie Theatre, both pieces were fascinating. Surprisingly, the two pieces worked together and made for a great evening. Roberta was someone you would like to get to know. Her show told me so much about her and yet left me wanting more. Fascinating people creating fascinating work.
Beckie Menzie and Tom Michael. Sure they are two of my
favorite people, but their show was wonderful even if I didn’t know them!
Broadway Our Way demonstrates cabaret at its finest. This pair continues to
impress me. The arrangements were tight. The patter was insightful and funny.
Beckie will always pull my focus so Tom has to work twice as hard to attract my
attention. In this show, my head
was playing tennis…my eyes darting back and forth between these two consummate
performers. Who will Buy? I will!
Hedwig and the Angry
Inch, I’ve seen it 3 times. Twice with Michael Cerveris and once with John
Cameron Mitchell. It is one of my favorite shows. I nevertheless, had high
hopes for it, when I saw it in May at the American Theatre Company. Nick Garrison blew me out of the water.
Making Hedwig his own, he added a layer of desperation and ugliness that was
perfect. Sometimes when you see a show that has been polished through years of
performance, you see a diamond that is perfect and that is what I saw in NY.
The Chicago production was perfect in its raw, frayed flaws. No diamond, this
was a performance of edginess and grit. I loved it. The piece will remain one
of my favorites.
Connie Frances was a huge star. But, did you know she has
recorded in more languages than any other performer? Neither did I that is
until I saw Where the Boys Are. Keely
Nicole Singer had a hot combo: Mark Burnell assembled a group of musicians
(Michael Favreau) that understood this music and still gave space to Keely to
be more than just a chick singer out in front. She made these tunes her own.
Wowing the audience with her grasp of languages, I sat there with a smile on my
face the entire night. Combining her life story with the life of Connie, the
evening was more than a concert by a woman at the top of her game…it was an
event I was pleased to have been invited to.
This was the year for Marianne Murphy Orland. I saw her
amazing Carpenters show out at Skokie in the fall. I was prepared to love it,
because of the evening I had watching her take part in: the Singer Spotlight at
Fitzgerald’s. Marianne had the room in the palm of her hand. Jumping from
standards to pop is not easy to do, especially when you have a band backing you
up who has never played with you before. She managed to make me feel like these
guys had been with her for years. How does one take a pop tune that you have
heard a thousand times and have you “hearing it” for the first time? Take a listen
to a true professional, 2009 was Marianne’s year.
Arthur Miller has always been a playwright I have enjoyed. All My Sons at the Timeline theatre was
amazing. Not only is this one of my favorite Miller plays, but it was handled
so well. The actors were at the top of their game. Plus, the set was so sweet.
Fitting into the space perfectly, it was meticulously proped and dressed to
transport me into the 1950’s. Roger Mueller and Cora Vander Broek brought to
life the complicated relationship of these two characters. They both managed to
find the complexities of their roles and deliver the lines with nuance and
depth…not just by shouting and gnashing their teeth. I felt true pain for them
and the choices they had made and were going to make. I rooted for Joe, even
though he was the “bad” guy. When Edgar G. Robinson is ingrained in your head,
it takes an actor of some magnitude to get the image out of it and Roger
Mueller did just that.
OH NO! I’m at 10 already…I saw amazing work from so many of
my colleagues this year: Amy Cole, Melissa Young, Ann McGregor, Lisa Steinman,
Bradford Newquist, Hilary Ann Feldman, Heather Moran, Tracy Adams, Michelle
Greenberg, Joan Curto, Robert Whorton, Alma Mendoza, Rob Dorn, Amy Orman…there
are so many who rose to the occasion in a difficult year to produce wonderful
work in spite of it. It’s not easy to work on your passion when your life is
chaotic and work is hard to find. All of these friends and artists should be
applauded.
