Night and Her Stars (The Gift Theatre)

The Gift Theatre’s matchbox of a space provides some of the most innovative staging in the city. How in the hell the two brothers in ‘The Lonesome West’ went twelve rounds without barreling over into the audience is a miracle.

‘Night and Her Stars,’ now playing in the Jefferson Park space, transported the audience back into the 1950s and the Golden Age of Television, and the geriatric crowd on hand was more than willing to accept it.

Michael Patrick Thornton could’ve directed his thirteen member ensemble in my hall closet and they still wouldn’t have seemed cramped for space.

‘Night and Her Stars’ tells the story of the match-fixing scandals of the game show 21. But Richard Greenberg’s play is about much more than one controversial story. Mental health seemed to be prevalent in much of this play and in the performances, in addition to the glaring question television’s effect on the public and on the individual viewer. I like television, so naturally, I liked this play. I also like being hypocritical by blaming television for all the world’s ills, and the play satisfied that side of me too.

What can one say about Raymond Shoemaker? The guy is committed. As Herb Stempel, the obsessive, bipolar, Jewish knowledge junkie with illusions of a star-studded future as an actor, Ray chews up his scenes with an amusing and complex precision, nailing every moment with intensity. I’d pay fifty bucks to see this guy, in character, go toe to toe with IBM’s Watson in Jeopardy. It would be compelling entertainment. Stempel could not have cast more perfectly.

In addition to Shoemaker, the cast was full of kick-ass performances. No plays a jerk like Ed Flynn, and his turn as the Geritol sponsor was no exception. I was only disappointed that wasn’t on stage more.

Jay Worthington’s performance as a nervous, self-loathing prodigal son Charles Van Doren was incredibly compelling. Worthington captures a delicate balance between accomplished academic and father’s insecure pupil, his shy, nervous demeanor the perfect complement to Shoemaker’s aggressive obsession. If only there had been a third contestant, played, of course, by Dan Behrendt…

A special highlight came in the form of the American Chorus, an ensemble of actors that played various social groups and individual viewers, moving the story forward and providing the proper social context of the times. Thornton’s staging really took off during these moments.

This is also your last chance to see Lindsey Barlag before she becomes Lindsey Patrick Thornton later this spring, so don’t miss it! Barlag, one of RYCI’s Ten Women of Chicago Theatre, had the most memorable moment of the evening, with a cameo as a letter-writing housewife afflicted with a severe case of dermatillomania.

If you want to come down with a severe case of iluvathegiftheateromania, see ‘Night and Her Stars.’

A+

-Michael Dice Jr.

Toronto, Mississippi -Mary Arrchie (Theatre review MICHAEL DICE)

Carlo Lorenzo Garcia is the man of the moment. That familiar tinted impression, with sly grin and cool hat, is over-saturating the intrawebs at a meteoric rate, sending news of this man’s good will into the stratosphere.

In all of his charity, written about at great length in TimeOut, HuffPo, and the facebook, the guy couldn’t muster up a comp for his old college buddy. Yeah, Garcia is all class. Let me tell you all a little something about Carlo Garcia. Anybody ever owe you money? Better yet, anybody ever call you in a bind at 4:52 in the morning, needs you to dig a hole at a construction site in Batavia, no questions, never speak of this again? Yeah, neither has Carlo. In fact I can’t think of a time the guy’s said ‘no’ to me.

Undeterred, I still managed to gain admittance to the Mary Arrchie Theatre Company’s closing night of “Toronto, Mississippi.” Carlo and the kids have seemingly taken over the reins of Arrchie upon a Rich Cotovsky sabbatical to DC, and their first offering post-“Cherrywood” is a quiet, subtle Canadian snowball of a play.

I saw my first Arrchie production, “The Petrified Forrest,” way back in 1995, and as they celebrate their 25^th Anniversary, this splendid storefront gem of a theatre keeps dripping great work out of the rusty faucets of their homey Angel Island space.

Garcia and MATC Literary Manager Shannon Clausen seem to have a knack for digging up little jewels to showcase the acting chops of company member Daniel Behrendt. And what a f***ing surprise, Behrendt is once-again effortlessly brilliant. What a jerk.

Behrendt, Garcia, and I have a lot in common. All three of us are in mixed relationships, all three of us were at the Arrchie last night, and all three of us graduated from Illinois State University. In fact, Garcia and Behrendt have been tearing it up on stage right in front of my face since 2002 when I first saw them as Tom and Huck in “Big River.” Yeah… they can sing and dance, too… One day, DB, you’re gonna be not so great and believe you me, I’m gonna be there to see it! (UPDATE on waiting for Dan to fail: During intermission, Dan’s lovely girlfriend, talented actress Sadieh Rifai, informed me of his secret acting Achilles heel and you can bet I’ll be slipping a certain genre of script under Ms. Clausen’s pillow. Oh, hey Carlo… yeah… I know I’m in your bedroom… It’s all a dream. Go back to bed. )

I asked Shannon about any weaknesses in Carlo’s game and she replied “Who are you again?”

Back to the play. It’s Conners-meets-Huxtables is this family drama by Canadian playwright Joan MacLeod, as the Arrchie brings this hodge-podge of a family’s story to life with a set plucked straight from “Rosanne” and a sweater collection right out of Bill Cosby’s wardrobe.

The play follows Jhana, a mentally handicapped 18-year old girl, cared for by her mother Maddie, and her virgin-till-27-Canadian poet boarder Bill, played with striking honesty by Behrendt. Jhana longs for visits from her Elvis-impersonator father, while Bill kinda longs for her and her mother…

As with any Arrchie show, the gang brought the goods in abundance. Bill Anderson’s living-room set was lovely and sentimental in a 1987 sort of way. I love nothing more in theatre than a set that shows hints of familiar worlds beyond the front door and around the kitchen corner. And I must say, I’ve never seen the Arrchie look so clean. Surely another patented drunken orgy will fix that by year’s end.

The acting was tight as ever. In full disclosure, I must confess that Dan Behrendt is my favorite actor in Chicago, and I should know. We shared wife beaters, nudity, a moldy bathtub, and stage time with Lindsey Barlag over the summer. This performance was more of the usual brilliance from Dan. Share some of that talent with the rest of us, guy!

Eve Rydberg was simply fantastic as Jhana in one of the best performances I’ve seen this year. Rydberg was honest, creative, and disciplined in her performance, in no way Juliette Lewis-ing her portrayal of a special-needs character.

Garcia’s direction was filled with creative staging and surprise picture frames, both figuratively and literally.

All of this is irrelevant. “Toronto, Mississippi” has now closed and you will all have to wait till the spring for another Arrchie offering. (Geoff Button, anyone?)

Ever the do-gooder, Carlo is off to build a school in Mexico while the rest of us freeze and engage in Hallmark induced gift giving rituals. I knew you were on to something, Garcia Carlo.

So let’s all raise our eggnog and toast the Arrchie gang for 25 years of awesome theatre, and to Mr. Garcia, who has been on a goodwill tear this year. Safe travels and God Speed, old friend.

Toronto, Mississippi- A

Daniel Behrendt’s Performance, originally reviewed by Pitchfork- 7.8

Daniel Behrendt’s Performance, reviewed in Pitchfork’s Anniversary Re-Issue- 10.0

- Michael Dice

Octavarius...So Nefarious! How Hans Gruber Stole Christmas - A Die Hard Spectacular (Guest Reviewer MICHAEL DICE)

photo by Heath Hayes





I love Christmas shows. Not that multi-cultural holiday crap, but good, old fashioned birth of Jesus programming. So while sifting through the dozens of live-radio “It’s a Wonderful Life” options at my disposal in Chicago, I was greeted with a facebook invite featuring the cheeky smile of emberrorist extraordinaire Matt Castellvi.

If there’s one thing I love more than Christmas movies and Matt Castellvi, it’s 1988. What a banner year! Hoffman and Cruise light up the big screen in the action-packed “Rain Man,” The Los Angeles Lakers, led by the big three of Michael Cooper, Tony Campbell, and Mike Smrek, ruled over the basketball world, and Reagan and Gorbachev traded stories of summer days and friendly boy scout masters in Reykjavik.

Just as improv and sketch comedy are both synonymous with Chicago, “Die Hard,” a little-known chestnut of a film from 1988, has been gaining momentum as a bona fide Christmas movie classic. Fittingly, local improv trope Octavarius presented their year-end finale last night at Comedy Sportz, pondering “How Hans Gruber Stole Christmas: A Die Hard Holiday Spectacular.”

Octavarius, an improv/sketch group spawned from the ashes Illinois State University Bachelor of Science Degrees in Acting, is made up of seven men and one woman. Including veterans from ISU’s legendary Improv Mafia, Octavarius has been on quite the hot streak, capping off a 15-week run at CS Sunday night, while also earning selection as the Chicago Reader’s runner-up for Best Improv/Sketch group of 2010.

ComedySportz, the hosting venue, is also on a hot streak. “We do 17 shows a week. Why do you ask?” Managing Director Benjamin Young stated via text (Mr. Young was at home icing his back after a nasty fall at the time of the performance.)

As my lovely British-Indian girlfriend and I took our seats, we eagerly awaited the festivities at this year’s Nakatomi Christmas party. Based on my previous experience with ComedySportz, I was looking forward to witty banter, ‘clap-clap-rotate games,’ and hilarious audience suggestions like ‘Kate Gosselin’ or ‘Justin Beiber.’

Sadly, we were disappointed when a group of lily-white German terrorists busted in and took back our Christmas gifts that had been neatly placed on our tables. If you’re a fan of diversity like me, you hate nothing more than pale, pasty Bavarians spoiling a wholesome game of Ta-Do Run Run.’ (Though I did feel their firmly shouted ‘Schnell’s were very authentic based on my experiences watching “Judgment at Nuremberg” and “Inglorious Bastards.”)

Thinks started to pick up when Hans Gruber, immortalized by the Sheriff of Nottingham in the original film, pulled ComedySportz mainstay Matt Elwell from the crowd. This led to the first of many glittery, gut-blasting, brain–gushing executions right in front of our very eyes. My girlfriend was splattered with some of Keith "Keith" Habersberger’s small intestine before she herself was hit with a stray bullet.

I was beginning to think these Germans might possibly have something against her, perhaps for being of Indian decent, or maybe due her British accent (remember, remember the 6^th of June!) After all, she was the only non-white person in the house except for the guy playing kid-killing, twinky-dissecting officer Carl Winslow. Then I realized all of the harsh treatment was likely caused by her turning her nose up at the popular five-dollar Foster’s special for a six dollar glass of oak-flavored Chardonnay.

The show gained even more steam when Nick Mikula entered dressed as either Stanley Kowalski or Two-Bit Matthews from ‘The Outsiders.’ Turns out it was actually officer John McClane, the wife-beater-clad New York cop, who was simply looking to patch things up with estranged wife Holly Gennaro.

The eight-member group had the audience in the palm of their hand (and another bullet in my girlfriend) by the half-hour point before abruptly turning it over to The Crocodile Players, a four member improv team made up of two young looking old guys and a pair or old looking youngsters (think Taylor Hicks). They served their purpose as about twenty-minutes later, Stockholm Syndrome kicked in and we were begging for our Eastern European revolutionaries to return. They did and it was nerf shots the back of the head for TCP.

Back to the Nefarious ones…

There was an uncanny reenactment of Hans’ Hungarian indentured servant bringing a can of coke to the ill-fated, coked out Harry Ellis, played by the dashing Castellvi, as he “negotiates million dollar deals for breakfast” and handles the “Eurotrash.” Then my lady was hit by another stray bullet. What does Germany have against India, anyways? Other than condemning their 1998 Nuclear Arms test, which isn’t for another ten years.

After a hip reference to the Mole King brought the front row out of their seats, a player casually mentioned that he had recently completed an all night Star Wars marathon. The crowd went ape shit!

...until he followed up with ‘after watching all six movies,’ which got a smattering of boos.

Overall, it was a four star night. The gang recounted warm holiday memories, substituted the Grinch with Gruber for a hilarious musical interlude, and Mikula even walked blinded through a gauntlet of mousetraps. We were treated to spins on ‘Home Alone,’ which if you can picture Macaulay Culkin being a good actor, then you’ll probably be envisioning something along the lines of Brian Wohl’s layered, introspective portrayal of Kevin McCallister.

In the end, it was smiles all around. Wohl even gave my girlfriend a half hand slap/half hug. Tolerance is alive and well in 2010!

While their run at ComedySportz has come to end, expect great things from Octavarius in 2011. There are eight of them. And they are damn funny!

A+

-Michael Dice