Theater spotlight: Oil Lamp revives 'Love, Loss' in Glenview

Posted April 10, 2018 6:00 am

Nicola Howard, from left, Gabrielle Gulledge, Anne Marie Lewis, Madeline Bunke and Katie Barberi star in Oil Lamp Theater's production of “Love, Loss and What I Wore.” Courtesy of Gosia Photography

'Glued to the tube'

Comedian Mike Toomey pairs reminiscences of how television shaped his life with impressions of TV celebrities and observations about his favorite programs in “TV & Me,” part of the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre's ongoing comedy series. The one-man show proves Toomey's grade school principal was wrong when she told him “no one ever made a career out of watching television.” 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 14, at 111 W. Campbell St., Arlington Heights. $30, $35. (847) 577-2121 or metropolisarts.com.

Checking in

An ailing bookkeeper living out his final days, a destitute baron, a fading ballerina, a typist dreaming of stardom and an honest businessman gone bad converge at a Berlin hotel in 1928 in the musical “Grand Hotel,” by writer Luther Davis and composer/lyricists Robert Wright and George Forrest with additional music and lyrics by Maury Yeston. John D. Glover directs and Libertyville's Brenda Didier choreographs Kokandy Productions' revival of this show about dreams and despair, success and failure, endings and beginnings. Previews at 7 p.m. Sunday, April 15, Monday, April 16, and 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, April 19 and 20. Opens April 21 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. $25-$40. (773) 975-8150 or kokandyproductions.com.

Life (and fashion) stories

Five women weave together stories of themselves and their relationships in “Love, Loss and What I Wore,” by Delia and Nora Ephron. Oil Lamp Theater's revival stars Nicola Howard, Gabrielle Gulledge, Anne Marie Lewis, Madeline Bunke and Katie Barberi performing monologues about significant events in their lives, all of them filtered through their fashion choices. Elizabeth Mazur Levin directs. Opens at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 19, at 1723 Glenview Road, Glenview. $35. (847) 834-0738 or oillamptheater.org.

Love, soul, rock 'n' roll

Porchlight Music Theatre concludes its season with the musical “Memphis,” about a Caucasian radio DJ in the 1950s who introduces rhythm and blues — known then as “race music” — to his listeners at the same time he falls in love with an African American chanteuse. Black Ensemble Theater associate director Daryl D. Brooks makes his Porchlight directing debut with the show, which stars Liam Quealy as DJ Huey Calhoun, Aerial Williams as star-in-the-making Felicia Farrell and West Chicago's Lorenzo Rush Jr. as Felicia's overprotective brother Delray. Previews at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 19, at the Ruth Page Center for the Performing Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn St., Chicago. The show opens April 25. $33-$60. (773) 777-9884 or porchlightmusictheatre.org.

Mike Toomey

Aeriel Williams plays Felicia Farrell and Liam Quealy plays Huey Calhoun in Porchlight Music Theatre's production of the musical "Memphis." Courtesy of Michael Courier

Jeff Pierpoint, of Carol Stream, is among 20 actors appearing in Kokandy Productions' revival of "Grand Hotel," choreographed by Libertyville native Brenda Didier.

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