Evita

by Gregg Shapiro

It isn´t fair (or professional) of me to compare the movie version of a stage musical to a live, stage production of the same show. But, wouldn´t you know, during the intermission for Evita, currently in a limited engagement at the Chicago Theater, a woman walked by my seat on her way to the lobby and said to her companion, in regards to the actor playing the narrator Che, "I liked Antonio Banderas better." Wouldn´t you know it. After all, the movie is probably still pretty fresh in many people´s minds. However, for someone like my little sister, who never saw Evita before (either on stage or in the 1996 film adaptation starring Madonna, Banderas and Jonathan Pryce), a production such as this one offers new perspective on this theatrical phenomenon.

Of all the Andrew Lloyd Weber shows currently in production (somewhere or other on this planet), Evita has always been the one that reminded me the most of his first huge success Jesus Christ Superstar. It´s a musical about an unlikely subject, Eva Duarte Peron, the lower class Argentinean woman who rose swiftly through society to become the first lady of her homeland. Musically and stylistically, it also harkens back to Superstar. There are aspects of this current production that set it apart from previous ones, including the fact that Latin actors have been cast in all four leads. This is supposed to give the show some degree of authenticity (that, and the fact that they pronounce Argentina, with the "h" sound instead of the "g" sound), and to some extent it does.

The most effective performance was given by Raymond Jaramillo McLeod as Peron. He projected a masculinity lacking in previous Peron´s and oozed the same kind of over­ sized sexiness Bill Clinton once did before he became Pinocchio (and he has a thing for cigars, too). Natalie Toro, who played Ev(it)a, nailed her bratty, foot­ jiggling impatience as a young woman. As the older Eva, I found her to be playing the part of Eva Peron as if Madonna was channeling Saturday Night Live´s Cheri Oteri.

As for the woman who "liked Antonio Banderas better," I would have to say that while Raul Esparza was not the best Che I´d ever seen (this was my third time seeing Evita on stage since 1980), he had his moments. Most of those moments occurred in Act II, particularly in the scenes where he sang "High Flying Adored," "Rainbow Tour," and "And The Money Kept Rolling In (And Out)."

The simple, functional sets left plenty of room for the average choreography. However, the best scene in this production of Evita, the musical­ chairs of "The Art Of The Possible," utilized space, lighting and movement to great effect.

MILDLY RECOMMENDED: Evita

Evita, Chicago Theater, 175 N. State Street; (312) 902­ 1500

Chicago Gay Men´s Chorus

by Rick Reed I don´t know, maybe it´s just me, but I thought the holiday season was supposed to be a celebratory time. No matter what your particular spiritual or philosophical bent, the meaning of the season has traditionally been joy and love and sharing those things with people you care about.

With this year´s Chicago Gay Men´s Chorus show, I wondered where that spirit had disappeared to. Dark, gloomy and morbid are all words that describe this misconceived disaster. With topics like mental retardation, the homeless, abortion, alcoholism and death threaded through the program, I just didn´t feel too uplifted. Maybe I wasn´t supposed to. Oh yeah, I forgot another major theme: pancakes. There were at least five references to pancakes in the script. Maybe I´m losing my edge, but those flapjacks went right over my head.

The major good thing I can say about the show (and it´s a major, Martha Stewart ´good thing´) is that the music was, for the most part, wonderful. Performed with enthusiasm and even, at times, soulful grace, the selections were an interesting blend of traditional and well off­ the­ beaten path seasonal music, sung in several different languages (translations kindly provided in the program). The soloists were uniformly excellent and a good demonstration of the musical talent in the chorus. The other kind thing I can say is that this year´s show was ambitious.

But ambition and reality, at least in this case, were two different things. There was a special yellow sheet inserted into all the programs, giving a little explanation for the evening´s program. When I saw that someone felt it necessary to explain the show, I knew I was in trouble.

The show was interspersed with a series of monologues from different eras, everyone from a snotty doctor lamenting the pregnant retarded girl he had become stuck with as a patient, to a schoolgirl from the future dressed as a Hershey´s kiss. The monologues were the worst thing about the show: stopping any momentum the music might have created and casting a black mood over the whole proceedings. The acting in the monologues ranged from the mediocre to the awful. The chorus is well­ equipped to deliver some light banter that leads into a song, but these straight, dramatic solos require a lot more than the second­ rate delivery these chorus members delivered. To paraphrase Dorothy Parker, the actors in the show ´ran the whole emotional gamut, from A to B.´

And will someone please call the fashion police out and arrest whoever picked out the new uniforms the chorus was gotten up in? The blue blazers, blue shirts and gray slacks looked like they carried a K­ mart pedigree. I´ve seen several chorus shows, enjoyed all of them, but I´m sorry to say I´ve never seen them look worse.

The chorus needs to get back to what they do best: lighthearted, ´fun´ musicals. I hear the next show will feature show tunes ... that, to me, is what the Chicago Gay Men´s Chorus is all about.

Final thought: We wish you a dreary Christmas?

The Glass Menagerie

by Rick Reed

What becomes a legend most? A first­ rate director and gifted cast. Steppenwolf Theater´s production of the autobiographical ´memory´ play by Tennessee Williams, is nothing short of brilliant.

Williams´ story of longing and despair in 1930s St. Louis is probably familiar. The Glass Menagerie is the story of the Wingfield family: Tom, a frustrated poet working in a warehouse to support his mother, Amanda, a faded Southern belle who clings to her memories of the past and his sister, Laura, a disabled, painfully shy young woman. Laura is as fragile as the glass creatures she collects. Tom is both the narrator and a character and it is through his eyes we see the family dynamics. Tom warns us that this is a memory play, sentimental and skewed by his own perspective. Tim Hopper carries this demanding role extremely well. It would be easy for an actor to make this part too angry, since Tom feels hopelessly trapped, forced to take on the responsibility of caring for his mother and his waif of a sister, too fearful to even take a secretarial course at a local business college ... he longs to flee the clutches of his family and pursue life as a poet. He escapes in nightly outings to the movies and bars. Hopper makes us feel this young man´s pain and when he does erupt into rage, goaded on by his merciless mother, we understand and sympathize. Martha Plimpton, as Laura, could have made the mistake of making Laura so shy you´d want to shake her. But Plimpton makes us feel sympathy; we see how her overbearing mother contributes to her lack of confidence and fear. When the ´gentleman caller´ arrives for dinner, Laura is horrified to find that her brother´s friend from the warehouse is a boy she had a crush on in high school. One of the most beautiful things about Plimpton´s performance is watching how the delicate Laura blooms under the gentleman caller´s attentions: her voice grows louder and more animated as she forgets, for a moment, her fears. The crush of learning the gentleman caller is already ´spoken for´ becomes all the more tragic when we see Laura´s excitement dashed. David New is perfect for his part as Jim, the gentleman caller. We´ve known people like Jim before, not too smart but trying to make up for it with personality.

Molly Regan, as Amanda, could have easily crossed the line and been too irritating. And she is irritating ... nagging, complaining and forcing her view of the world and her memories on her children in an almost abusive way. But Regan lets us see the woman behind the shrew: a woman whose youth promised unlimited potential and through one bad choice (marrying the wrong man), her whole life has turned out to be a disappointment. To make Amanda Wingfield a sympathetic character is a true feat for any actor.

The set, the Wingfield´s meager apartment, framed by metal grating that suggests an urban environment of fire escapes: a cold universe that both traps and offers a tantalizing way out, works perfectly with the actor´s performances.

Final thought: Theater companies, large and small, produce this play all the time. But you´ll really miss something singular if you bypass this production.

The Glass Menagerie runs through Jan. 30 at the Steppenwolf Theater, 1650 N. Halsted, Chicago.

Long­ running theater favorites show no signs of slowing down

by Gregg Shapiro

What is it about a play that keeps it running seemingly for eternity? Dave Awl, Neo Futurist­ cast member of the long­ running Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind, says that a play must "send people away enthusiastic enough that they can talk other people into going" and seeing it for themselves. The person standing at the office water­ cooler has to be able to communicate "in a sentence or two, the twist of the show that grabs people´s imagination." Having just recently seen four of the Chicago theater community´s longest­ running "hit" shows (Forever Plaid, Blue Man Group, Shear Madness, and Late Nite Catechism), I would also have to add, as a justification, some degree of audience­ participation, the breaking down of the proverbial fourth wall, which is something that is done by all four shows to some extent. Even the aforementioned Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind, makes use of that device.

When I told people that I had just seen Forever Plaid, a show that has been playing in Chicago at the Royal George Cabaret Theatre for four years, making it the longest running musical in town, those who hadn´t seen it all had the same reaction. They were surprised to hear that there was actually more to Forever Plaid than just singing. I was too. I had expected to be serenaded by four guys in vintage clothes, and that´s it. In fact, Forever Plaid tells the story of a group of high school friends (Jinx played by Thad S. Avery, Smudge played by Fred Goudy, Frankie played Dan Matheson and Sparky played by Paul Pement), who form a singing group (The Plaids) during the early 1960s and cover the hits of the time. On the way to the gig that would have propelled them to the big time, they are involved in a car accident and thus propelled into the afterlife ("snuffed out mid­ coda"), thus becoming "Forever" The Plaids. Blending humor and harmonies, Forever Plaid, has found a winning and entertaining combination, and shows no sign of running out of steam or breath.

The indescribable Blue Man Group succeeds in doing what Laurie Anderson valiantly tried to do, and that is bring performance art to the masses. Apparently Chicago, a city that had embraced poetry (in the form of the competitive athletics of the poetry slam), was ready for this as Blue Man Group consistently plays to sold­ out houses and is in an open run at the Briar Street Theatre. A visual and sonic delight, Blue Man Group is also an intellectual experience that makes art AND makes fun of art. It is unlike anything I have ever seen before, and I got the sense from the audience that although some of them had seen it before they were back for more. Colorful and messy, funny and noisy, thought­ provoking and slightly homo­ erotic, the three blue­ in­ the­ face men who comprise the group during the performance (there are nine men in rotation for this production) move with the rigor and vigor of athletes and musicians. Blue Man Group is a dazzling sensual spectacle, like Cirque du Soleil on a much smaller scale, with the audience, at times, in the center ring.

The Mayfair Theatre, where the whodunit Shear Madness has been playing since 1982 (making it something of a record­ breaker), is not so much a theater as it is a converted ballroom. Nevertheless, this downright silly and occasionally slapstick farce seems to be unstoppable. Set in an upscale hair salon (on Oak Street, in Chicago), where the cast of characters (or more precisely caricatures) become embroiled in a murder that occurs upstairs of the salon during the show. Of course, each one of them, including the two hair stylists (Joe Sampson as Tony Whitcomb and Beneatha Barkley as Barbara De Marco) and the two clients (Tim Rezash as Eddie Lawrence and Marji Bank as Mrs. Shubert) has a reason for wanting the old, piano­ playing woman upstairs dead. That´s where the audience comes in. The two detectives investigating the case (John Librizzi as Nick Rosetti and Chuck O´Connor as Mikey Thomas) ask the audience for assistance since they are presumably reliable witnesses to the crime. They are, however, less reliable than they realize as the murderous cast member varies from show to show. Of the four shows in this review, it is Shear Madness that takes the fullest advantage of its locale by peppering the show with numerous local references.

Taking the concept of "I guess you had to be there" to the next level, Late Nite Catechism, at the Ivanhoe Theater, speaks directly to the Catholic experience. As Sister, in Vicki Quade and Maripat Donovan´s one­ nun show, Rosie Newton just wasn´t formidable enough. Being a non­ Catholic, I expected to fear Sister more than like her. She was actually at her most unnerving when latecomers arrived. As an instructor, though, Sister struck many familiar chords with Catholic members of the audience. Even non­ Catholics found things with which to relate because, as Sister herself says, it´s "cultural." In much the same way that Yiddish words and phrases (i.e., "Oy vey") have found a way into our vernacular, much of what the Sister spoke of was commonplace to all.

These four shows aren´t unique to Chicago (which, I guess, means that Chicago audiences aren´t unique) and are all enjoying (or have enjoyed) successful runs in other metropolitan (and, in some cases, international) areas. Whatever it is that makes these shows tick (and tick and tick and tick), one thing is for certain, with the holidays upon us, a ticket to any (or all) of these plays would make an enjoyable (and in some cases, unforgettable) gift. STRONGLY RECOMMENDED: Forever Plaid

STRONGLY RECOMMENDED: Blue Man Group

RECOMMENDED: Shear Madness

RECOMMENDED: Late Nite Catechism

Forever Plaid plays at the Royal George Cabaret Theatre, 1641 N. Halsted, (312) 988­ 9000; Blue Man Group plays at the Briar Street Theatre, 3133 N. Halsted, (773) 348­ 4000; Shear Madness plays at the Mayfair Theatre (in the Blackstone Hotel), 636 S. Michigan Avenue, (312) 786­ 9120; Late Nite Catechism plays at the Ivanhoe Theater, 750 W. Wellington, (773) 975­ 7171.

* Lambda Publications, The Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community,1115 W. Belmont 2D, Chicago, IL 60657; PH (773) 871-7610; FAX (773) 871-7609. See Outlines, Nightlines, Out Resource Guide, Clout! Business Report, Blacklines and En La Vida on the web at http://www.suba.com/~outlines/. E-mail feedback to outlines@suba.com!