Spring brings robot opera, offbeat local theater lineup
The spring theater season is up and running, with highly anticipated revivals of classics and world premieres presented on local stages.
But mixed in with more traditional offerings are a few rather unusual productions.
Robot opera, anyone?
Two British shows are playing at unconventional venues, while three musical works tackle complex subjects not usually addressed in song. Here's a sneak peek:
‘Black Watch'
The production arriving with perhaps the greatest acclaim is the National Theatre of Scotland's “Black Watch.”
Since its 2006 Edinburgh Festival debut, Gregory Burke's multimedia military drama about Scotland's storied regiment in Iraq has toured the world and won prizes like London's Olivier Award for Best Play.
It was a natural for the Chicago Shakespeare Theater to host “Black Watch” through its World Stage Series. The problem was finding the right venue.
“Black Watch” is staged like a small-scale Tattoo military pageant, with the audience on bleachers facing each other along an esplanade stage. The show mainly tours to former Army drill halls.
“It was important for us to honor the intent of that place,” said Chicago Shakespeare Theater executive director Criss Henderson. “We looked a little further north and found the Broadway Armory.”
The Chicago Park District now runs the Broadway Armory as a community recreation center, but the National Guard still periodically uses the venue, which has military origins stretching back to the 1910s.
Henderson has heard that current cast members of “Black Watch” are really excited to come to Chicago.
“They're thrilled to get this piece back into an environment where it was intended to be presented.”
“Black Watch”
Location: A Chicago Shakespeare Theater presentation at the Broadway Armory, 5917 N. Broadway St., Chicago. (312) 595-5600 or chicagoshakes.com
Showtimes: Tuesday, March 29, through Sunday, April 10: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Tickets: $38-$45
Note: Contains mature subject matter and strong language
High-flying ‘Pan'
Whenever a theater produces a version of J.M. Barrie's tale of “Peter Pan,” audiences expect there to be some behind-the-scenes flying special effects.
But with the 2009 British big-tent arena production of “Peter Pan,” the flying will be all around the audience. What's more, this new “Peter Pan” uses the latest digital projection technology to feature 360-degree computer-generated imagery effects to circle around the 1,350-seat custom-built theater.
A lot of puppetry is also incorporated into the mix, while the origins of this production have historical significance.
This “Peter Pan” debuted in London's Kensington Gardens, where Barrie originally met the Davies children who inspired him to write the fanciful play story.
“We thought long and hard about what title to do in a tent, and we wanted to do an all-ages show,” said Charlie Burnell, a “Peter Pan” producer and founder of London-based threesixty entertainment. “‘Peter Pan' certainly ticked that box.”
Finding the right Chicago venue for “Peter Pan” was a puzzler. Though a park might have been ideal, it's to be performed next to the Chicago Tribune Freedom Center.
Lest audiences worry about the industrial location, Broadway in Chicago Vice President Eileen LaCario offered plenty of reassurances.
“They are going to transform the area,” LaCario said. “They put in planters so it will be a gorgeous setting because it's right on the bend of the Chicago River.”
“Peter Pan”
Location: Chicago Tribune Freedom Center, 650 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago. (800) 775-2000 or broadwayinchicago.com
Showtimes: Friday, April 29, through Sunday, June 19: 2 and 7 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday, 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 1 and 5 p.m. Sunday
Tickets: $20-$75
Sci-fi sopranos?
Science fiction and opera don't normally go together. The closest sci-fi work to have really taken hold in the repertory is Leos Janacek's “The Makropulos Affair” (which was based upon a play by Karel Capek who was the first author to coin the word “robot”).
A new opera that might appeal to sci-fi fans is composer Tod Machover's 2010 work “Death and the Powers, The Robots' Opera,” which premieres locally in a Chicago Opera Theater co-production shared with Monte Carlo Opera and American Repertory Theatre in Massachusetts.
“To be honest, I am not a huge science-fiction fan, maybe because I am immersed myself in developing real technologies to address problems that I think are important,” said Machover, stating that he's more interested in building new musical technological devices to aid virtuosos or people with disabilities instead of just dreaming them up.
“Death and the Powers” uses technology to question how one might attain immortality, since the opera's dying main character uploads his consciousness into his high-tech house called “The System.” How his family reacts to this new technological patriarch informs the drama.
Director Diane Paulus (“Hair”) returns to stage her eighth Chicago Opera Theater production, which pushes the technological boundaries with a brigade of onstage robots designed by Hollywood veteran Alex McDowell (“Minority Report”) and fabricated by the MIT Media Lab's Opera of the Future Group.
The futuristic stage set also “comes alive” via a new technique that Machover calls “Disembodied Performance,” involving sensors and software to translate an opera singer's sounds and movement.
“This is rather a major undertaking,” said Chicago Opera Theater general director Brian Dickie about the years of technological work for the opera. “It would have been completely beyond our resources if we hadn't collaborated.”
“Death and the Powers, The Robots' Opera”
Location: Chicago Opera Theater at Millennium Park's Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph Drive, Chicago. (312) 334-7777 or (312) 704-8414 or chicagooperatheater.org
Showtimes: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 2; 6 and 8; 3 p.m. Sunday, April 10
Tickets: $30-$120
‘White' supremacy
Academy Award-winning actress and Tony Award-winning producer Whoopi Goldberg is the main backer of a newly revised musical making its Chicago debut with Broadway aspirations. “White Noise” deals with white supremacist singer-songwriters who find success in the pop mainstream when they come under the wing of an unscrupulous record producer.
This musical was conceived by Ryan J. Davis after seeing a news segment on “Dateline” about a performing duo who were encoding white supremacist messages into their music. “White Noise” has been revamped from an earlier production in New Orleans by playwright Matte O'Brien with twin brother composer-lyricists Robert and Steven Morris with Joe Shane.
“It's perfect for me because it deals with pop culture and politics,” said Sergio Trujillo, a Broadway choreographer (“Jersey Boys,” “The Addams Family”) who is adding the title of director to his credits for this musical.
“It is about showbiz, and there are moments in the show that are pure entertainment.”
“White Noise”
Location: Royal George Theatre Center, 1641 N. Halsted St., Chicago. (312) 988-9000
Showtimes: Friday, April 1, to Sunday, June 5. Previews: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 1-2 and April 8; 2 p.m. Sunday, April 3; and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday, April 5-7. Regular run: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 5 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 5 p.m. Sunday
Tickets: $49.50-$59.50 previews through April 8; $54.50-$64.50 regular run; $25 student tickets
‘Next to Normal'
Mention to most people that there's a hit Broadway musical about bipolar disorder and the response you're likely to get is an uncertain laugh.
But “Next to Normal,” a 2009 pop musical penned by playwright Brian Yorkey and composer Tom Kitt, has proved to be no laughing matter. The show garnered plenty of acclaim and awards, including the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Original Score.
“Both Tom and I have had people in our lives who struggle with depression and bipolar disorder,” Yorkey said. “It was something we were both very interested in and concerned about to understand what their experience was.”
One remarkable aspect about the current national tour of “Next to Normal” is that it features its original Tony Award-winning star, Alice Ripley.
“That hardly ever happens,” Yorkey said. “Alice is giving the performance of a lifetime and she wants to share with people who didn't get the chance to see the show in New York.”
“Next to Normal”
Location: Bank of America, 18 W. Monroe St., Chicago. (800) 775-2000 or broadwayinchicago.com
Showtimes: Tuesday, April 26, through Sunday, May 8: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and on May 1 (8 p.m. on April 26); 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday (and May 4)
Tickets: $37-$125