PicksInSix Review: Jersey Boys - Mercury Theater Chicago

Sweet, Sassy, Success Story, Richly Told!
PicksInSix® Gold Review | Ed Tracy

After an electrifying opening on Thursday night at Mercury Theater Chicago,  “Jersey Boys,” the mega-hit Tony Award-winning musical has officially launched its first regional production in Chicagoland. Get in step, folks. This will be the hot ticket to get in town!

The Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice book follows the origin story of The Four Seasons, one of the top selling vocal groups of their, or any, time told from the perspective of each of the four guys who traded up from a Newark street corner to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – Tommy DeVito (Adrian Aguilar), Nick Massi (Jason Michael Evans), Bob Gaudio (Andrew MacNaughton) and Frankie Valli (Michael Metcalf).

JERSEY BOYS: The Story of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons at Mercury Theater Chicago through May 19, 2024.

Along the way, all night long, the memorable Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe hits keep coming, backed by the highly-charged Mercury Theater band under co-musical directors Eugene Dizon and Linda Madonia, and with choreography by Christopher Chase Carter, all under the co-stage direction of L. Walter Stearns and Brenda Didier.

And everyone on and off stage make it look easy, something that this magnificent show is decidedly not. With over 30 numbers, lots of moving parts, and barely over a dozen players covering numerous roles, Mercury’s “Jersey Boys” is a sweet, sassy, success story, richly told. Things move along at lightning speed on Bob Knuth’s mammoth, two-story scenic design framed with G. “Max” Maxin IV graphics that serve to both reinforce the story and provide multiple visual surprises. With Rachel Boylan’s costumes, lighting by Denise Karzcewski and Stephanie M. Senior’s sound design, this marvelous production is everything you could hope for.

The show also serves as a right of passage for a very select group of actor/singers at the top of their craft who can navigate a musical marathon of intricate harmonies, stage show choreography and the rigorous ebb and flow of a dramatic story that allows for multiple narrators to tell their own version of the story about friendship, family, overcoming obstacles and achieving success.

The multi-layered Mercury creative team hit solid gold with this extraordinary cast. Aguilar’s gritty, commanding portrayal of Tommy DeVito, the hardened, street smart leader of the group, propels the origin story forward at the outset while Evans’s superb, more introspective, troubled Nick Massi wins us over, particularly when the stress of keeping up wears him out.

The teaming of MacNaughton and Metcalf is inspired. MacNaughton’s pure voice and vocal range add depth to the musical mix and Metcalf has all the right stuff for the demanding vocal range and lush delivery of Frankie Valli—a star turn of the first order—charming and poised, with just the right mix of confidence and vulnerability.

Grant Alexander Brown shines as the ebullient matchmaker Joe Pesci. Starmaker producer/songwriter Bob Crewe is played by the multi-faceted Adam Fane who hires the group as backup singers to his corral of recording artists and becomes the pivotal driving force in their success co-writing with Gaudio. It’s in Crewe’s studio where the transformation begins, their unique sound starts to coalesce and the show throttles up. And true to the real-life rags-to-riches story, Gaudio delivers the chart busting hit they have been waiting for and “Sherry” vaults the Four Seasons on to fame, fortune and all the trappings that follow.

From top to bottom, strong supporting performances from the ensemble are delivered by Dan Gold (Nick DeVito), Eric A. Lewis (Barry Belson), Kayla Shipman (Mary), Jason Richards (Norm Waxman), Haley Jane Schafer (Lorraine), Carl Herzog (Gyp) and Maya McQueen (Francine).

When we get through the drama of it all, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons find their place in history, and Mercury’s “Jersey Boys” is on a path all its own–another milestone run on Southport for the foreseeable future.

Oh, what a night, indeed!  

PHOTO|Liz Lauren

Mercury Theater Chicago
presents
JERSEY BOYS
3745 N Southport Avenue
EXTENDED through July 28, 2024

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PicksInSix Review: Little Shop of Horrors - Paramount Theatre

Boy Meets Girl Meets Bloodthirsty Plant.
PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy

There’s a little show about plant food and world domination that’s getting a big-stage theatrical revival at a theatre near you. The smash hit 1982 Off-Broadway musical “Little Shop of Horrors” featuring book and lyrics by Howard Ashman and music by Alan Menken is currently blooming nightly in a fast-paced and highly entertaining production directed by Landree Fleming at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora.

For the humble and lovable Seymour Krelborn (Jack Ball), being on Skid Row as a junior employee at Mushnik’s Flower Distributors is looking more and more like a dead-end job every day. It doesn’t help that the awkward and inept Seymour is hopelessly infatuated with his coworker, Audrey (Teressa LaGamba), who happens to be entangled with a sick, demented and abusive lover Orin (Russell Mernagh), the nitrous oxide addicted dentist from hell you love to hate.

The Mushnik flower shop is on a perennial bubble of its own. With his inventory shriveling and not one sale for the day, the dejected Mushnik (Gene Weygandt) is about to throw in his trowel and pull the door shades down for the final time. Grasping for a hopeful life-vine, Audrey urges Seymour to bring out his newest project, a fascinating and irresistible plant he has dutifully named “Audrey II” in honor of the woman of his dreams.

What starts out as fun-loving camp turns quickly to ghoulish satire with a succulent score and a top rate ensemble led by Ball and LaGamba as the unwitting marks for the charismatic, and inherently evil, foliage from another planet that has a taste for world domination and fresh hemoglobin. It’s Ball’s Seymour who is first enchanted into feeding his own fancy for fame and fortune until those closest to him begin to succumb to Audrey II’s insatiable erythrocytic appetite.

Along the way, Ashman and Menken’s brilliant collaboration shines in the capable hands of music director Kory Danielson who conducts the Paramount Band and choreography by Michael George and Mariah Morris. LaGamba’s lofty and poignant rendition of “Somewhere That’s Green” and the superb duet with Ball “Suddenly, Seymour” are particular highlights. Standout performances abound from the Urchins—Lydia Burke (Crystal), Tickwanya Jones (Ronnette) and Marta Bady (Chiffon)—who serve as the show’s Greek chorus, to Weygandt’s irascible turn as Mushnik in “Mushnik and Son.”

The magnificent multi-level Skid Row set is the work of Jeffrey D. Kimec. Add Jose Santiago’s crisp lighting and Yvonne Miranda’s evocative 60s era costumes and you have the perfect backdrop for the ever-present, and all-consuming, Audrey II—voiced by Je’Shaun Jackson and puppeteered by Adam Fane—designed and created by Skylight Music Theatre and the props team who are working overtime for this show and make Paramount’s “Little Shop of Horrors” a creeping-crawling hit that’s good to the last drop!     

PHOTO|Liz Lauren

Paramount Theatre
presents
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
through October 15, 2023

23 East Galena Boulevard
Aurora, IL 60506

(630) 896–6666

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PicksInSix Review: Merrily We Roll Along - Blank Theatre Company

Now You Know ‘Blank’ Means Business.
PicksInSix® Review | Guest Contributor | Scott Gryder

Edgewater was admirably gifted with a mosaic of melodies and lyrics when the one-month run of Blank Theatre Company’s “Merrily We Roll Along” opened at the Reginald Vaughn Theatre this week. As the audience filled into the impressively intimate venue, who would have guessed that this most modest staging space would so capably present the multi-dimensional musical work of “Merrily.”

Stephen Sondheim (music/lyrics) and George Furth (book) have devised a complex, time-traveling musical, setting its audience on a backwards rollercoaster ride of character development as old friendships become new again and careers unexpectedly careen from finish to start. It’s like watching a trainwreck—set to music—backwards. Acutely fascinating of “Merrily We Roll Along” are the intricate parallels that pop up as the plot unfolds, creating mirrored moments, where once a character’s text meant heartbreak, later, those same words celebrate growth and new beginnings. Moreover, “Merrily” proves to be especially relatable as its audiences can too look back on their own rollercoaster journeys to ask: ‘How did we get here?’… if they dare.

Blank’s Co-Artistic Director & Founder Dustin Rothbart brings a brash and driving wit to writer Charley Kringas, markedly poking knowing holes into the wet rag role of Franklin Shepherd, played by Christopher Johnson. Johnson doesn’t give into the villainized role of Shepherd; instead, he presents us with a convincing underdog charm and passion, while maintaining attention to mixing chest and head voice throughout. And Brittany Brown bears the tragically spiraling novelist Mary Flynn with tortured limerence and vocal confidence. But it’s Justine Cameron’s Beth Spencer that truly shines. Starting with a showstopping rendition of Sondheim fan-favorite “Not A Day Goes By,” Cameron gently layers in subtext while sharing a vocal command of a range that seems limitless in all directions. With a continuously captivating stage presence, Cameron’s Beth delivers a notable range, from gut-punches of pain to subtle perceptive glances, inviting you to fall in love with her at first sight. And providing the most natural execution of musical comedy humor is Blank Managing Director Aaron Mann as producer Joe Josephson, who, with the slightest raise of an eyebrow or sideways look, plays a multitude of nuanced intentions. Mann has also cracked the witty wordplay of Furth’s book, making his scenes alone worth catching “Merrily.”

Boldly kicking off their 2023 Season with “Merrily We Roll Along,” Blank Theatre tackles one of Sondheim’s most mixed musicals. Though often lauded for its score, the original, short-lived, Broadway run proves its lukewarm acceptance by critics and audiences alike. But in the hands of director Danny Kapinos, also a Blank Co-Artistic Director & Co-Founder, the show takes on a bolder, more relatable energy when crunched into the narrow thrust-meets-in-the-round staging. Instead of putting on the Broadway-style overproduction of past productions, Kapinos hones in on the humanity of the characters, refreshingly welcoming us into the up-close living-room drama of their lives. Furthermore, delightfully ironic are Sondheim’s catchy melodies, tricky and almost unnaturally unhummable, that follow us out the door, for the fictional team of Kringas and Shepherd’s songs are so often rapped for taking on non-hummable forms themselves. Ah, the perpetual genius of Sondheim.

Although the skillful band, led by Aaron Kaplan and Sachio Nang, was tucked away in the neighboring cubby of a room, the balance between instrumentation and vocals was impressively set overall, never overcoming the pitapat of lyrics. Spotlight on trumpeter Michael Leavens who kicked things off with a sparkling start in the show-opening overture. Utilizing a very limited light plot, lighting designer Benjamin Carne clearly delineated scene focus with minimal adjustment, swiftly honing in on monologued flashes, while also shining emotional washes across the larger ensemble moments. The buffet of character apparel by costume designer Cindy Moon was visually delicious, brilliantly spanning so many decades of fashion trends with darling dresses and handsome suit options. And Tony Pellegrino expertly choreographed pushes and falls within the compact performance space, tightly yet unforced.

Blank Theatre Company embodies the true essence of Chicago storefront theatre that’s drawn so many aspiring artists to Chicagoland for decades. Presenting a challenging work as Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Along” not only proves that Blank Theatre has what it takes, but they are in it for the long haul.

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR | SCOTT GRYDER received a Non-Equity Jeff Award for his performance in the one-man show BUYER & CELLAR. www.thescottgryder.com

PHOTO | Eli Van Sickel/VanCap Images

BLANK THEATRE COMPANY
presents
MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG

The Reginald Vaughn Theater
1106 W. Thorndale Ave.
through July 23, 2023

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PicksInSix Review: Cabaret - Porchlight Music Theatre

Barrelling Down the Track of Life!
PicksInSix® Review | Guest Contributor | Scott Gryder

Perhaps you would have thought you’d gotten lost along the way to the opening night performance of Porchlight Music Theatre’s “Cabaret” at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, for the stage had been transformed into a magnificent train depot the depth of the theater. Although I was familiar with the musical beginning with a trip, I was in no way prepared for the runaway train experience coming down the track brought on by an engine of brute force talent fueled by the finest directorial and choreographed momentum.

John Kander and Fred Ebb’s “Cabaret,” based on the 1951 Broadway play “I Am a Camera” by John Van Druten, appropriately starts with a train ride to Berlin by aspiring American novelist Clifford Bradshaw, who’s seeking inspiration for his latest work. The first German he meets, Ernst Ludwig, punches his personal ticket to rapture and ruin. Beyond the intimate bonds Clifford forges with vulgar club performers and hardworking, hardened day dwellers, the backdrop of “Cabaret” is a Germany politically seething with the growing threat of Hitler’s Nazi Party agenda, which eventually sends Clifford’s new life and loved ones scrambling to find their footing amid the inevitable devastation.

What really charges the show is the synergy between every single member of the cast. Whether a featured or ensemble role, each performer brings fully formed characters to the stage. Even cameos are dynamically developed. There were times when, even as the stage is filled with rambunctious activity at the Kit Kat Club, one can readily identify each character from across the show’s scenes thanks to their nuanced behaviors. This cast is committed to character. Between hit novelty numbers at the Kit Kat, multiple characters completely saturate the book scenes with profound truth. The glamor and vulnerability of Erica Stephan’s Sally Bowles is breathtaking, while Mary Robin Roth brings a fierce compassion to her Fräulein Schneider to a degree that would make even Lotte Lenya green. Additionally, Neala Barron’s brash Fräulein ‘Fritzie’ Kost, with a vocal apparatus that bellows, belts and sears, comes through with humor and heart. While, lastly, wreaking of a smarmy charm, Josiah Haugen’s Ernst Ludwig is nearly irresistible, embodying the Nazi nature with a frightening charisma.

As an intensely avid fan of the legendary Broadway songwriting team, this production, on the whole, is just what a production of “Cabaret” ought to be. It’s bawdy. It’s sincere. It’s disturbing. And each actor fits firmly into their roles, fully embracing the subtext of every line and lyric. Implementing a phoenix-like rising from the ashes, time-travelling establishing moment, PorchLight’s Artistic Director Michael Weber has gifted us a ticket to a searing production that transports us full steam ahead into the heart of the story. Add to that the ever-scintillating dance sequences by Chicago-beloved choreographer & associate director, powerhouse Brenda Didier, and the scenes and musical numbers are of famed Moulin Rouge caliber.

Scenic Designer Angela Weber Miller’s stunning railway-inspired set creates a fully playable canvas, easily absorbing projections to help designate locations, and flawlessly transforming between the famed Kit Kat nightclub and Fräulein Schneider's boarding house. Costume Designer Bill Morey dominated the epic task of not only costuming a cast of featured characters in the main plot with delicious textures and swanky style, but he created provocative visuals for the multitude of senses within the scenes at the Kit Kat Club. What added bonus depth to the stage was the cinematic lighting by Patrick Chan. Taking advantage of the steady haze silently creeping onstage, Chan achieved movie-like close-up energy by utilizing sharp spotlights across clouds of emoting washes of reds, blues and golden hues. The orchestra, under the baton of conductor and musical director Linda Madonia, was sublime. They executed Kander’s music with incredible precision and stamina. Kudos to trumpeter Greg Strauss! Has he got sonant spunk! If only, considering the glitz and personality given to the actors' costumes, the orchestra had also been outfitted with thematic pizzazz instead of street clothes.

The engine of this “Cabaret” only continues to gain propulsion as each new relationship is forged or broken or as each dream is won or lost, relentlessly pushing the plot and the lives of those involved to go faster and faster. Eventually, as trains do, the best laid plans are derailed, grinding goals to a halt and sending lives smashing. And the ride from start to finish is worth it! As a ticket-buyer tip: look for seats center or house right, so you’ll have a better view of the action, especially stage left. You really must come to Porchlight’s “Cabaret,” old chum!

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR | SCOTT GRYDER received a Non-Equity Jeff Award for his performance in the one-man show BUYER & CELLAR. www.thescottgryder.com

PHOTO|Liz Lauren

PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE
presents
RENT
Ruth Page Center for the Arts
EXTENDED
through March 19, 2023

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Additional Cabaret Content

Courtesy of Porchlight Music Theatre January 2023

Cabaret - Origins
Cabaret –Influences
Cabaret at Porchlight!

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PicksInSix Review: The Steadfast Tin Soldier - Lookingglass Theatre Company

A Mesmerizing and Unforgettable Theatrical Treasure!
PicksInSix® Review | Guest Contributor | Kaitlyn Linsner

The beloved and delightfully creative holiday treasure, “The Steadfast Tin Soldier,” is now playing at the Lookingglass Theatre in the Water Tower on Michigan Avenue. Mary Zimmerman first brought the Hans Christian Andersen tale to life in 2018 and years later, it remains an unforgettable theatrical experience. 

“The Steadfast Tin Soldier” follows a small tin soldier through a whirlwind of adventures including falling in love with a ballerina, getting swallowed by a fish and befuddling a rat working in the sewage system’s customs department. The story itself has great charm and enduring life lessons, but it is Zimmerman’s use of wordless storytelling techniques that make this a larger-than-life spectacle. 

Why speak the language of love when you can dance? Or better yet, just slick back your hair, stand up tall and ask your crush out by pantomiming a play-by-play of your ideal date. It’s an absolute riot, and not only does this approach work for the show, it lingers outside of the theater by striking up a curiosity about how to interact in time and space with that same childlike playfulness and imagination.

In addition to the stellar pantomiming, the puppetry, visual imagery and original music by Andre Pluess and Amanda Dehnert elevate this production from endearing to truly remarkable. The musicians play well together, and with the cast, to deepen the experience and connection with the characters. The costumes from Ana Kuzmanic and sets from Todd Rosenthal also dazzle. 

Same goes for the exceptionally talented ensemble cast - Kasey Foster as the Ballerina, Anthony Irons as Goblin, Christopher Donahue as the Nursemaid, John Gregorio as the Rat, and Adeoye as the Tin Soldier - who skillfully play multiple roles and cultivate magic on the stage. Highlights include Irons’ animated movements as the haunting jack-in-the-box Goblin and Gregorio’s hilarious pantomiming as the Rat and the googly-eyed fish monger. 

At a running time of only an hour, the show is perfect for all ages looking to enjoy music, movement, charisma and great comedic timing. “The Steadfast Tin Soldier” continues to embody whimsy and wonder and will leave a lasting impression of just how darling things can be. 

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR | KAITLYN LINSNER is a Chicago-based attorney practicing construction and surety law.

PHOTO CREDIT | LizLauren

LOOKINGGLASS THEATRE COMPANY
Presents
THE STEADFAST TIN SOLDIER
through January 8, 2023

Water Tower Water Works
821 N Michigan Ave.
(312) 337-0665

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2019 PicksInSix Review

Listen to our 2018 CONVERSATIONS podcast with Mary Zimmerman

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PicksInSix Review: RENT Porchlight Music Theatre

Solid Vocal Power Pays ‘Rent’ Tribute
PicksInSix® Review | Guest Contributor | Scott Gryder

The historic Ruth Page Center for the Arts was fully transformed into the shadowy streets of 90’s New York City with Porchlight Music Theatre’s opening night performance of Jonathan Larson’s Rent. Although nearly 3 hours long, including one intermission, with masks required inside the theater, each act bustled by like Manhattan rush hour. The energy and commitment of a cast willing to risk it all was rocking!

Since its 1996 off-Broadway opening, Rent has been a musical theatre staple. The piece, a sort of rough retelling of Puccini's La Bohème, aims to capture the heart of late 80’s/early 90’s rock, and Porchlight’s production successfully does the same. Under the baton of Dr. Michael McBride, the music, much like the inspired 1896 opera, is the key to the storytelling of Rent. With a majority of dialogue and action shared through song, these struggling bohemian artists musically monologue their stresses and fears of the times, navigating love and life day by day.

The tight-knit leads are the glue to Rent’s plot. Within a year’s span of the piece, the audience is given a crash course of each character’s struggles and dreams, witnessing how each day brings new challenges and lessons learned. Although David Moreland’s Mark Cohen is the most grounded of the central characters, it’s the charismatic yet maddening chemistry between Teressa LaGamba’s Joanne Jefferson and Lucy Godínez’s Maureen Johnson that sparked the greatest applause, specifically after their duet “Take Me or Leave Me.” The ensemble rounds out the grimy and real struggles of New York City living in short spurts, filling out scenes and vocals with a certain brash commitment.

Along with Rent’s popularity has come a multitude of tours and local performances, each one attempting to recreate the grunge artistic life of the time; however, that mark is often missed. With Porchlight’s production, director Adrian Abel Azevedo takes risks not to remount a carbon copy, instead focusing on the impressive vocals to execute much of the passion behind each scene’s emotional momentum. No riff nor modulation was left unexplored, bringing a fresh new take to the well-known score.

What pops most with energy throughout the production is choreographer Laura Savage’s group moves. Instead of individual expression when dancing, many moments with motion are synchronized, as if the characters have a shared language in their movement. To fill the stage with that mirrored movement packs a punch (and a few fierce fist pumps). What also successfully captures the energy of the scene is Maggie Fullilove-Nugent’s lighting design. The neon light vibes accentuate the subtext and emotion, focusing most of the set in looming shadows and only spotlighting heightened scenes and more poignant moments. But it’s scenic designer Anne Davis’s full-on VHS tape-style centerpiece that really takes the audience back. The nuances in detail, from creating cityscape visuals to full-on usability as an apartment building, make Davis’s set a fun house of nostalgia. Although fairly consistent throughout, the sound mixing issues were the only distraction.

Porchlight’s Rent, powered by serious vocal stamina, will surely rock Chicago’s musical theatre scene through the end of this month. If you’re looking for an evening of solid nostalgia and youthful energy in an intimate venue, make sure you pay this Rent a visit.  

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR | SCOTT GRYDER received a Non-Equity Jeff Award for his performance in the one-man show BUYER & CELLAR. www.thescottgryder.com

PHOTO| Liz Lauren

PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE
presents
RENT
Ruth Page Center for the Arts
EXTENDED through December 11

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PicksInSix Review: Songs for Nobodies

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Stunning Northlight Return for Bethany Thomas!

For the second time in as many weeks, I found myself in a theater so consumed and satisfied by a live performance that I actually closed my eyes for a moment just to listen. What I heard was the rapturous voice of Bethany Thomas, channeling the enigmatic Billie Holiday in a spot-on rendition of “Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do.” It is one of five encounters with greatness that are richly told in Joanna Murray-Smith’s “Songs for Nobodies” now playing in a stunning production at Northlight Theatre.

The solo piece, artfully directed by Rob Lindley, is a commanding showcase for the gifted Thomas who is recognized as one of Chicago’s most versatile actors and recording artists and whose powerhouse vocals are equally at home in a theater, a cabaret and on a rock concert stage. So, it may be no surprise to some that the wide and diverse range of vocal styles from Judy Garland, Patsy Cline and Edith Piaf to Holiday and Maria Callas land firmly and gloriously in Thomas’ extraordinary wheelhouse.

There is, however, much more at the heart of Murray-Smith’s staggeringly smart and sophisticated play. Lindley has skillfully incorporated the talented Thomas’ inexhaustible creative reservoir with Murray-Smith’s eclectic characters who have random encounters with legendary singers in order to tell their compelling stories. Each fascinating character comes to life in Thomas’ brilliant performance that culminates with Callas’ “Vissi d’Arte” in one of the most stirring theatrical moments you will ever experience.

The play is constructed with historical wayposts weaved within its imagined encounters. A random April 1961 meeting in New York City between Judy Garland and the fragile Bea Appleton, a ladies room attendant with sewing skills. Backstage with Patsy Cline in March 1963 when venue usher and southern belle Pearl Avalon’s brief rendition of “Amazing Grace” earns her the opportunity of a lifetime. A stirring homage to the French resistance performer Edith Piaf by the bilingual librarian Edie Delamotte from Nottingham whose father’s life she saved. An interview by the feisty urban features writer Too Junior Jones breaking through the thick public curtain of Billie Holiday. And then, culminating in the observations at sea of Orla McDonaugh of the turbulent love affair between Callas and Ari Onassis.

Each successive interlude is played out on a multi-level stage designed by Jeffrey D. Kmiec, draped above with microphones and cables of the era that serve to evoke the multitude of nights these performers have connected with their audiences. The suspended microphones provide powerfully introspective transitional moments as well, enhanced by Jesse Klug’s lighting and the elegant simplicity of Thomas’s attire designed by Mieka van der Ploeg. With music director Andra Velis Simon, crisp sound design by Lindsay Jones and Eva Breneman’s dialect work, “Songs for Nobodies” is a multi-sensory experience.

In a feat that could only occur in the theater, with no props, projections or other distractions, Bethany Thomas magically transforms her towering presence into the size and vaulted styles of each singer, performing with such intensity, emotion and authority that we are joyfully reassured the power of live theatre, struggling mightily to return, will live on.

PHOTO|Michael Brosilow

NORTHLIGHT THEATRE
Presents
SONGS FOR NOBODIES
through October 31, 2021
9501 Skokie Blvd

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(847) 673-6300

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