| What did you think of "Children's Scientology Pageant"?
by Chelsea Keenan on 12/17/2009 07:39:00 PM
Our irreverent holiday musical starring eight of Chicagoland's most talented young performers is now playing through January 3. We've heard lot's of great things about this updated version of the OBIE Award winning hit! And in step with Next, we've heard great questions too. Add your thoughts, comments, review and questions as a comment below. Be a part of the conversation. "These kids are hysterically funny! The laughs are many and multifarious". - Chicago Tribune
"The success of the show depends upon the absolute sincerity of its performances. Director Kathryn Walsh understands that and, as a result, her guileless production strikes exactly the right tone." -Daily Herald "Children re-enacting with absolute earnestness the life of L. Ron Hubbard, the modern prophet of Scientology, is a premise with Wildean potential. But Next has pulled its punches and stayed closer to conventional home." - ChicagoTheatreBlog.com
"Any kids' pageant involves some kind of adult ideology -- yes, even the traditional nativity. And to its great credit, this show manages to simultaneously skewer Scientology and showcase the young performers in an upbeat, fun way." - Chicago Tribune
Labels: Children's Scientology Pageant, Critics
Post a
Comment
Subscribe to
Posts [Atom]
6
Comments:
The show was great. The kids all did outstanding work and the story made it clear that Scientology is at best a con and at worst a dangerous cult. But the bottom line is, the show was fun.
This is not a serious play. It is a high school or eighth grade quality performance and not something I would expect from a theater like NEXT. It wasn't particularly funny, the story was silly and thus not a believable critique of the cult of Scientology.
The Pageant was subversively hilarious. On one level, the costumes and scenery were old-school middle school pageants. Back when the kids did all the work. Loved the lamp shape hat for China headwear.
On another level, the enthusiastic presentation of a believe system calls into question other fundamentalist programs of more familiar faiths.
The performance by the young actors was professional but not slick. I believed that they were talented students in a pageant and not professional actors in a play. That made the show charming and engaging.
Well..it's a very clever premise
but sort of a one-joke idea.
Fifteen minutes would have been long enough. And it was, frankly, kind of mean-spirited.
The kids were talented and the
costumes were good.
Is it a good idea too make fun
of these folks? Who's next?
Could be us. It's discomfiting..
but not in a good way. And why involve kids in this?
They're impressionable as
history would tell us.
The show was "cute" - but not of the quality I expect from Next Theater. The hour drive from Arlington Heights was almost not worth the hour spent in the theater. Stick with the type of plays I have come to expect from Next - and leave the school plays in the schools. I honestly cannot say I would recommend it to any of my friends as a "must see" like I have done with other Next productions.
I brought my two boys aged nine and nearly thirteen along with my husband aged 46 1/2 to see the show. My husband was guffawing that it was the best performance by children that he'd ever seen. Even my two cycnical and Christmas theatre jaded kids managed an 'it was OK'... I loved the 'child made' costumes and props. They were hilariously apt for the premise of the show. Loved the exoncomy of the set and action. The casting of the kids was perfect, from the beautiful'angel' girl to the quirky pig tailed girl. The singing voice of the 'actress' who joined the cult brought tears to my eyes as I looked over at my two children and said a silent prayer that they would never join a cult and reject their old ma...Excellently done Next Theatre. A great antidote to the tired old wannabe English Nutcrackers and Christmas Carols out there. A real American classic in the making.
Share your thoughts on End Days
by Chelsea Keenan on 11/11/2009 02:35:00 PM
End Days probes big questions of faith and hope. We've heard lots of interesting feedback already, and now we hope you'll add your thoughts to the conversation.
 "...a lighthearted, fresh look into the ideas that make up evangelical religion, physics, the Rapture, and belief in general." (Edge Chicago)"Absolutely fantastic!!! A definite MUST see. We thoroughly enjoyed this and definitely recommend." (Scott S. via goldstarevents.com)" Laufer's characters are written too cartoonishly to truly connect; all we hear is the author's voice." (TimeOut Chicago)"...exceedingly smart, goofily apocalyptic tragicomedy ...provides plenty of food for thought and an array of bittersweet side dishes." (Sun-Times)
Leave us your full review a la the critics, a response to another write-up or just a thumbs up/down; we want to hear what you think!
Labels: Critics, End Days
Post a
Comment
Subscribe to
Posts [Atom]
13
Comments:
I really was disappointed with the production given the ticket price and the reputation of Next. The set was lovely but impractical and forced me to miss several moments happening USL (pivitol visual moments). I was disappointed with the lack of depth of the characters and the relationships which only seemed to develop in the second act. I enjoyed the script and hope to see more plays at Next, which I can expect to be held to a higher caliber.
It was fantastic!
Joe Wycoff as Stephen Hawking is worth the price of admission alone.
The play was performed beautifully by the cast but I thought it needed tightening since my attention was not captured continuoulsy as it became repetitive. The concept was very good and many one-liners earned well deserved laughter. The meta message of family cohesion could have been delivered without as much time waiting for the Rapture.
It was wonderful! Joe Wycoff as Stephen Hawking was outstanding! I like the way the spiritual and scientific "faith" was presented. It was interesting watching through the play how "Elvis" was really more of a savior than "Jesus" was. Great play! The cast was great!
The show was wonderful. I am so glad that no one was attempting a New York accent. Sometimes I just sit through a bad performance because I have a theater major at NYU and I hope people will do the same for her. I never looked at my watch or even thought of leaving. The play was delightful!
We thought the show was wonderful! Loved the script, loved the set, and each of the actors was top notch. Would see it again and have recommended to our friends. Thank you for a wonderful evening.
The first half put it among the very best plays I have seen in the past 5 years, with Jesus and Steven Hawking -- both played fantastically by Joe Wycoff -- keeping things lively. The second half was good, but not at the really high level of the first.
I thought this play exposed some timely and sensitive issues about family, fear, science and religion that could get a good conversation started. The cast was particularly good in presenting their individual dilemmas with a combination of seriousness, charm and humor. Another interesting production from the NEXT that held my attention throughout.
We took advantage of an industry comp
to see this play.
Wow! What a treat..it took us back to the olden days of storefront Chicago theatre.
(Yes, Evanston and Chicago share an umbilical cord..Sheridan Road and a Gestalt) We loved it so much we immediately signed up for the rest of the season and I'm sure we'll continue. You can tell the actors love this home..it really shows. Andy Atlass
I saw the first reading and thought the second act needed tightening. I thought it still needed it in the final production, but my friend thought it was fine. I very much like the wacky conceit of the plot and the fact that the evangelical character was not depicted as a nutcase. The message I took from it was that much of science is as much a matter of belief as religious belief. I find that food for thought.
Based on the grim title, I was expecting a heavy storyline. Next Theater instead surprised me with loads of comic moments and an uplifting experience overall. Playwright Deborah Zoe Laufer bravely tackles the fear Americans have wrestled with since 9/11 (but which many felt long before that), then shows ways to beat it. The cast and directing are terrific, but the fine script deserves the greatest accolades. Together they make us laugh at the quirky characters but also love and empathize with them. I did feel the opening segements could be tweaked, in that it took me a little too long to get oriented to the characters and the story. That's a minor criticism of a very significant theatrical achievement. "End Days" grapples with modern American angst and defuses it. Provocative and entertaining.
We thought it was a splendid production. Laura Fisher was splendid, Joeseph Wycoff was perfect, and the young Adam Shalzi was charming--definitely the crazy glue that held the whole thing together. We weren't completely sold on the set, but thought Muray's direction was excellent. Bravo! Light years ahead of Boom!
Share your thoughts on BOOM
by Chelsea Keenan on 9/29/2009 12:26:00 PM
 Peter Sinn Nachtireb's explosive comedy boom is being seen in no less than 13 theaters across the nation this season. (Next's current production is the Chicagoland Premiere!) That's big for a new play, especially one asking us to imagine the fate of humanity.
So we know it's popular among the nation's artistic leaders. Yet, it has elicited a big range of responses! We've got long-time subscribers pulling us aside to tell us how much they loved it, and some critics in town telling us they'd rather watch guppies in a tank at the pet store. New plays are a big risk and as we know at Next, when they bring up big issues like fate vs. free will, they are bound to cause some controversy!
So what did you think? Share your thoughts as comments below.Labels: Boom, Critics
Post a
Comment
Subscribe to
Posts [Atom]
17
Comments:
I am not sure about this play...intriguing and provacative but also very esoteric and confusing....I do like experimental theater and this is certainly an experimental piece. I found it absorbing and disturbing so for that purpose, I would recommend seeing it.
A wonderful experience - thank you!
"Boom" was delightful - well-produced, well acted and surprisingly polished. The concept, surreal but plausible in a fantastic way, was REAL science fiction, not the childish swill being served up to a 13-year-old audience at the local cineplex. Food for thought!!
The theater was great - easy parking, surprisingly comfortable, tons of good food and booze nearby.
Although this was a middling production from Next, I thought the acting of the two principals was very good and their story engaging. Contrary to another review I've read where the reviewer just didn't understand the play, we do know what happens to the characters, not immediately after they exit the stage together(not to give away too much!), but in the evolutionary future. The character of the museum docent shows us that future. Everything else about the docent, however, felt amateurish. Her story was not that interesting, the interpretation of the character too mundane. Direction seemed lacking here. Her costume looked like a cheap Halloween costume, but maybe I've missed the point here. The set, on the other hand, was intersting and clever. Parts of the play were very funny, but the frequent f-bombs probably bothered some older members of the audience for whom the word still holds its original meaning.
I am so sorry to say I thought it was just awful
The actors did a great job not their fault
I think the problem lies in the essence or thought How to make sense of creation For me it was just a poor effort Actually a most impossible task for a short play
Sadly I could not recommend this play to friends
As always, the acting on Boom was beyond anything I see in any regional theatre. I can't say enough about the brilliance of the those people.
Now the script was something else.
I won't belabor the point, I thought it was confusing and almost impossible to understand.
Next has produced some excellent theatre, but this won't be one that people will remember I'm afraid.
I enjoyed this play a great deal. The story explains itself quite adequately as it goes along, asking us throughout to contemplate (primarily) existence and evolution. It is an engaging, sometimes funny, and thought provoking story with a perfect unexpected twist at the end. I was puzzled about the purpose of the heroine’s constant M-Fing (it seemed pretty superfluous), but otherwise the dialogue maintains interest and keeps it fast paced. The acting was exceptional all around, the direction/production very good, and the set was great (as usual). Highly recommended for anyone looking for something beyond Hollywood fare. Perhaps not among the best that Next has done, but certainly above their average, which is still high praise.
The actors tried hard. The play was poorly conceived and written. The themes were blurred, allegorical meanings subdued. I kept thinking my librarian aunt would say, "Anyone that uses so many vulgar words shows a poverty of vocabulary." It was an effort to sit through to the end, but with no intermission I couldn't leave gracefully. Shame on all of you.
I thought it was a brilliant play in every way. My only qualm (spoiler alert) was that the last time evolution went from fish to humans it took over 300 million years, not 65 million years. Otherwise, high praise to Next for this production, and to the author for everything except what a quasi-paleontologist would notice.
I really enjoyed this play. This was my first time going to this theatre, and I would go back. The set design was terrific, and the narrator was hilarious. I enjoyed the acting of the main characters as well. Nice job!
I should have watched the guppies! $80 and 80 minutes I'll never get back.
My daughter and I thought this was great fun. We believe it would be a great movie one day.
Some very fine moments in a mediocre show. All three of the actors were solid, and should be commended; most especially the actor who portrayed Barbara impressed as she convincingly delivered the character from staid efficiency through to her escalating weirdness/madness/disintegration. Sadly, the play itself seemed to ‘go off the rails,” leaving me with mixed feelings. Language wise, less would have definitely been more, as the repeated swearing became a distraction rather than a positive contribution to the storytelling. Overall this was like a potentially interesting 2nd or 3rd draft of something that with considerably more fine-tuning could have been much better.
I’ll still be back though, because Next has given me many fine experiences through the years, and even the lesser ones leave me with something to think about, as this one does.
Boom was a Bust! We felt it was too sophmoric and had little depth.
I liked the concept of the play very much, and the acting was fine; but, as you know, it just didn't work. I sat in an audience that was deathly quiet, so that my every giggle was heard. If the playwright is going to work on it further, I'd suggest fewer f-bombs and a general toning down of the female character--she was so over-the-top all the time that it became grating. She also spoke so quickly (part of her explosive character) that a lot of "funny" lines were lost. Also, if the curator/narrator character had been a little more serious, professional, I think the story line would have been clearer.
Our first Next Theater experience. We were generally pleased at the quality of this play. It took us a few moments to realize that this was supposed to be a "museum" but after we caught on, it was very funny and thought provoking. We enjoyed the acting which we thought was quite good. We recognized Kelly O'Sullivan from her performance at Northlight Theater where we are regulars. She did the same "mount" in the other performance. :) John Stovis did an excellent job of protraying his character, in fact Shannon Hoag did a very good job as well. The set designer should also be commended in producing a convincing set for this play. We recommend this to anyone with a good sense of humor.
I thoroughly enjoyed Boom. I had the fresh, original quality that I usually get at Next, different than at the other theatres I attend. The Next productions usually stay with me, in my mind, longer than at other theatres and Boom did, too. I asked Jonathan after the show why the Chicago reviewers were down on it...what happened to that show. Maybe it was the state of the moon on opening night..........
Keep up the good season and don't let the critics get you down! The audience appreciates what you all do.
Carol Doctor
I want to thank everybody for their passionate comments about "boom." Part of what excites me about theater is the diversity of opinions a play can elicit and, while I'm sorry that the language put some people off of this play, I am thrilled to see how much dialogue came out of the viewing. This 29th season is a diverse offering of plays and I hope you'll all stick around and see the rest... and there are fewer swear words in the remaining four plays put together! We are also looking for folks who would like to participate in a focus group of our audience, so I welcome any volunteers. Please e-mail me at jasonsoutherland@nexttheatre.org.
Don't miss "End Days" by Deborah Zoe Laufer. Previews begin October 29th and it runs through November 29th.
Share your thoughts on THE OVERWHELMING
by Chelsea Keenan on 4/30/2009 03:01:00 PM
The Overhwhelming is playing to sold-out houses and we're hearing feedback from many of you about this powerful play.
Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune called this " one of the very best shows in the 28-year history of Nex" and Hedy Weiss of the Sun-Times hailed the show as "a volcanic Chicago premiere" and a "brilliantly realized production."
What did you take away from this production? Share your comments below with us and with each other.
Be aware - some SPOILERS below!
Labels: Critics, The Overwhelming
Post a
Comment
Subscribe to
Posts [Atom]
16
Comments:
I moved here from Boston after having lived just outside of NYC for several years. Boston was/is a wasteland, but Chicago makes up for my time in the hicksville wilderness after NYC.
NYC may have Boradway, but Chicago has a strong vibrant theater scene.
Nowhere has that been more obvious than in being able to see a play the quality of "The Overwhelming." With great actors, great pacing, great nuanced story, minimliat staging, and a relentness sub-surface tension, it was better than we had a right to expect.
Bravo.
JHL
THE OVERWHELMING is the first show I've seen at the Next Theatre. At first my mind was reeling back to 1994, putting the pieces of the inevitable catastrophe in Rwanda back in my head. As the characters were introduced and the panels slid to reveal a new location, I sat there, tense in my seat, knowing this whole landscape was about to explode. I suppose Clinton knew that too.
I thoroughly enjoyed the play. The performances were sharp and the direction and design were truly inspired. That second act comes firing at you almost cinematically. Bravo.
-Laura Lynn MacDonald
The play is very well done, engaging, and horrifying. A grand reminder of American innocence, naivete, and arrogance. We enjoyed it but did find the noise level to be way too high, especially before the performance and during intermission. That was not necessary to create the effect; it actually caused me pain.
BDW.
Unfortunately, my party of four was disappointed in the play. The view
was that the message was dated and
superficial. Perhaps this play has a
message for those who are not familiar with the issues described in the play. But we'll be back for
others!huffeckprepoksdoszoi
The Overwhelming was captivating, entertaining, and a joy to watch. The sets were great, the actors were outstanding, and the story was complex yet an adrenaline rush. I highly recommend this play to anyone.
On a sunny Sunday afternoon, I was hesitant to stay inside and watch a play, but had heard such good things about "The Overwhelming" that I didn't want to miss it. And I'm glad I didn't! The play was phenomenal. The acting, dialogue, direction, everything. I have recommended it to any one who will listen and am still thinking about all the issues and thoughts it brought to mind. Truly a wonderful performance.
We saw the "The Overwhelming" on Saturday night, awesome! What stays with me the most was how emotionally intense the play was from start to finish. The feeling of menace was woven in all of the scenes between the visiting family and the locals. All that stuff going on between the lines. I wanted to scream at the Exleys “Can’t you see what’s going on?!!?” but well then, that is the point. Nobody did.
Political, timely, and just damn good theatre. Bravo to the playwright, actors, director thanks for another great piece!
I thought that the Next Theatre did a brilliant job with the play, but I have to find fault with the playwright for the final scene. In that scene, the Rawanda guys burst in to the Americans' rooms and demand they give up the doctor who is standing there in plain sight. The playwright makes it seem like the Americans betray the doctor by "giving him up" or laying a guilt trip on the Americans. That's silly. The Rawanda men don't even need their weapons to overpower the Americans and just grab the doctor. I suppose the playwright wanted it to be so dramatic, but it doesn't make semse. Better, would be if the doctor was hiding in the house when they burst in, and t hey threatened to shoot the boy if they didn't surrender him. Then, the doctor could have appeared and given himelf up. Still dramatic, but believable -- unless the playwright wanted to throw guilt on the Americans. But he can't have it both ways.
The play was outstanding! The cast was outstanding! The first act sets everything up. The second act brings it all together. It is very intense and when it ends you sit there at a loss for words. Excellent production and it can hold its own against anything that is on Broadway! Congrats to all connected with this amazing play!
Carol Garbacz
Tries too hard to imitate the movie. Are we supposed to be shocked about the genocide? Anguished? What?
I didn't like The Overwhelming as much as I expected to after reading Chris Jones' review. But the fault was with the play, not the production. The American characters were naive to a fault, and we learned little about Rwanda except that we don't understand it. By contrast, Lynn Nottage's play "Ruined" (admittedly set in a different African country under siege) gave insight the lives and motivations of those living through horrors. But I will take away from this production a few compelling performances, especially by the young actor who played Gerard. His scenes with "Geoffrey" were the most exciting, unsettling moments in the play.
A phenomenal show with a stellar ensemble cast... the pacing of the show,the transitions from one scene to another are first-rate. This is adult fare for the serious theater-goer. Not to be missed!!
I responded to the issues tackled. One of the more interesting to me and one that I have thought about before is why do we always have to label "blacks" or "African-Americans." Even the professor's wife couldn't figure out herself.
The acting was wonderful, a great melding of multiple parts.
The ending was disappointing. I thought I would get hammered emotionally, but wound up facing a let down. The other posted comment on this was "right on."
I think some of the other plays NEXT produced this year and recent years were better, but just didn't get the raves. It shows how valuable (unfortunately) the critics are.
JAW
The Overwhelming is the first play I've seen at Next in a while, and I'm sorry I stayed away for so long - Next consistently produces interesting works with a very strong social conscience. The Overwhelming was very well-acted and I enjoyed it a lot.
That said, I didn't think it was an incredibly well-written play. Again, the production itself was very good, and I have no doubt the playwrite put huge amounts of research into his writings. But it did feel like a very white, Western perspective trying to pretend it wasn't a very white, Western perspective. That is, having the Americans as sympathetic characters for the (presumably) mostly-American audience makes sense to some extent, but I left with only a superficial idea of what the Rawandans thought of their situation and whether the views they were putting out were truthful or in an attempt to deceive the Americans.
Now, it's entirely possible that this was the whole point - we can't understand another's conflict. But I would have much rather seen something from multiple Rawandan perspectives to get a better idea of how they remember the leadup to genocide.
I had both my wife and a friend from NYC in town and took them to see this play - I'd already seen it.
It was as compelling this time as the first time. Its lack of finality or easy moral answers reinforced its attraction and thoughtfulness.
We live through ongoing episodes of ethnic cleansing and genocide. The world's, not just the US's, generally muted response to genocide beyond hand-wringing should be discomfitting to us all. When we are compelled to act or lobby our nation to act, then we will have made some progress.
Until then, plays such as "The Overwhelming" at least keep the issue front and center.
It's not "42nd Street", but it's engaging.
Thanks again.
The play was every bit as good as the reviews suggested. The moral ambiguities and situational complexities were beautifully dramatized. Unfortunately, the night we were there it was so hot in the theater that fighting wooziness was a full-time job. Work on the HVAC---the play's great!
AWARDS CONTROVERSY
by Jason Loewith on 8/22/2008 04:16:00 PM
As most readers of this blog know, every fall, a group of dedicated theater-lovers gather to salute the best plays they've seen on professional stages... these are the oft-beloved, oft-criticized Joseph Jefferson Awards, Chicagoland's closest equivalent to New York's Tony Awards, or London's Olivier Awards, or LA's Drama Critics Circle Awards. Next Theatre Company and its artists have been fortunate to receive many of them over the past 27 seasons... and this year's nominations are coming out on Monday, August 25. (Check their website for an update that day!)
Because of Chicago's love of the underdog, and its embrace of the storefront-to-stardom narrative, the Jeff Awards have been remarkably egalitarian for the past 39 years... almost to a fault. Which is to say, the best-funded, most professional world-class theater competes each year against the teeniest theater that can hire a single Equity Actor. But it's one of the things I've always loved about the Jeffs.
Not any more.
Starting this coming year - the Jeffs' 40th anniversary (and coinciding with MY 40th year, by the by) - the Jeff Awards will be tiered. "Large" companies (Steppenwolf, Goodman, Chicago Shakes, and a few others) will not compete with "Medium" companies (like Next) in the Best Production or Design categories. They will, however, all compete in the acting categories together.
This is a difficult muddle to wade through.
When I was asked for my opinion on this issue by the Jeff Committee (they were very inclusive in the decisionmaking earlier this year, to their great credit), I argued that a tier-system in the design categories was an alright idea. For example, last year Keith Parham's light design for ADDING MACHINE - which cost $500, featured about 60 light instruments, and was executed by a Master Electrician and one other person in about 10 hours - competed against (and lost to) John Culbert's design for MIRROR OF THE INVISIBLE WORLD at the Goodman. I'm guessing, but I'm pretty certain you can add a zero after every one of our figures to estimate what the Goodman expended on that design: $5,000, 600 light instruments, and 10 or more personnel working on it for 100 hours or more. And often, the Jeff Committee's love of the underdog means that major productions at places like the Goodman or Steppenwolf are ignored - and that feels ridiculous to me. My only real complaint with the split is that it'll make the ceremony a lot longer.
The main argument most folks have against the tier system, forcefully argued by Chris Jones in his blog for the Tribune, is that it denigrates the awards received by the "Medium" theaters. I hear that complaint, but I'm not sure I buy it.
After all, it's only theater people who care about the intricacies of the Jeff Awards - even local foundations and corporations couldn't care less. Most of them barely know that there is a difference between the Jeff Awards given to the professional theaters in the fall, and the Jeff Awards given to the non-professional theaters (i.e., those that don't hire Equity professional actors like we do) in the spring. And trust me, people outside Chicago are absolutely ignorant of the various awards programs. I routinely get emails from out-of-state colleagues asking why Next didn't get any nominations in the spring awards. And that bugs me. Next Theatre is an Equity company, we invest a lot of money in our professional actors, and we are proud that we compete with other Equity companies in the fall.
What bugs me more about the entire awards controversy, the tier system, and so on, is that the Jeff Awards are pretty much the only awards in town. (I am told by sources close to Gay Chicago Magazine that their After Dark Awards are being phased out - those were the only other major awards we had.) Because every other theater community of note in this country - Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia, you name it - has a critic-adjudicated awards program.
Don't misunderstand me: Chicago needs the Jeff Awards, and they should live on for another 40 years and more. The Jeff Committee are Chicagoland's uber-theater-audience; the most dedicated theatergoers in the country, and they love and support all of us. The Jeff Awards are like American Idol for theater, but with only the most-practiced 0.0001% of theatergoers getting to vote. Yes, I mean that as a compliment.
But critic-adjudicated awards programs are qualitatively different, and offer something else to the outside world. While the Jeff Committee members are Chicago specialists, the critics of our major media outlets are hired because of the breadth of their knowledge. Our best critics are in touch with what's happening theater-wise in New York, London, LA, Minneapolis and Moscow; they share the critical and theoretical backgrounds of our best artists; their opinions are vetted by editorial staffs and subjected to the rigor and response of the public.
I'll try to avoid making the sound of sour grapes, but here's an example: our production of Paula Vogel's Long Christmas Ride Home in 2005 was heralded by the critics ("It will fill you with faith in the theater" - TimeOut; "Impeccable and heart-breakingly tender" - Sun Times, "Astonishing in its artistry" - Windy City Times, etc.), but not only didn't get any Jeff nominations... it wasn't even Jeff recommended. Which meant the rest of the Jeff committee did not attend, and the production wasn't eligible for nomination. Of the 21 productions I've produced at Next in my tenure, Long Christmas Ride was one of only two not to be recommended by the Jeff committee. (I agree with their other decision wholeheartedly.)
And that's fine - that production was very gutsy, and very tough for many audience members to take. But the critics recognized its artistic achievement, and a critic-adjudicated awards program (the LA Drama Critics Circle, the NY Drama Critics Circle, etc) would have recognized it.
I had breakfast last week with a former Chicago theater critic who shall not be named here, and I asked him about this glaring lack in our otherwise worldly theater community. He told me there had been attempts over the years to start one because the critics do recognize they could offer something exciting in addition to the Jeff Awards... he also said some other things I won't repeat on this public blog. But mostly, he claimed there were not enough top-tier critics in town to make an appropriate circle.
I certainly don't agree. From the area's dailies to many of its weeklies and radio commentators, we've got some of the savviest critics in the country. Let's add something world-class to the Chicago theater scene: a critic-adjudicated awards program.Labels: Critics, Jeff Awards
Post a
Comment
Subscribe to
Posts [Atom]
0
Comments:
|
