Lien Chan visit to campus

Lien Chan was on campus as a distinguished visiting scholar to the Social Sciences Division.

Hamlet and a visit by Mr. C

Hamlet at Chicago Shakes. That Canadian Hamlet, thumbs up. The rest of the cast (and this means you Ophelia) not so much, but still a solid effort, as we have come to expect from the crew at Navy Pier.












After the play we had dinner with Mr. C who was in town with all the other folks in for the conference that has association with Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis...who knew the big connection to U of Chicago? Now I do. Lots going on in both our lives, but good drinks and good food at Zocolo. Good new restaurant, focusing on small plates, in a spot previously occupied by anther Mexican restaurant.

Zimmer Presidential Inauguration

The University of Chicago has a new President and you better brush up on your Ergodic Theory, buddy. The weather was iffy, but the festivities were top notch. A serious lack of Bob Dylan tunes, but then it was Zimmer, not Zimmerman.

You can view the speeches in Rockefeller (Memorial Chapel to you buddy) here. And do check out the ever witty and ever smart and ever dapper Bob Pippin.

Hatfield and McCoy

My occasional personal trainer, Mr. M. , directed a really riveting production of Hatfield and McCoy. He really got the complex mix of Shakespeare and the Bible as influences to the two families, and the violence was really brutal and messy. Great show. Good job, Mr. M, who is now off training to be a Blue Man. Mr. M's soon-to-be-bride, Ms. S (same S as my own Ms. S) was terrific, terrific in a matriarchal role.




















I'm going to quote a good portion of the The Chicago Sun-Times review:

House turns the 'Hatfield' feud into an engaging musical

Hedy Weiss

September 18, 2006

Production: Hatfield & McCoy

With a nod to the Old Testament and Shakespeare, an ear for bluegrass and rockabilly, a stylish way with clog dancing and moonshine swilling, and an endlessly inventive approach to shootin, stabbin' and other techniques for the mutilatin' and killin' of kin, the House Theatre of Chicago has devised a darn near irresistible new musical drama. It's called "Hatfield & McCoy," and it is based, of course, on the story of the many generations of feuding clans from Kentucky and West Virginia who existed in history, but were transformed by myth to become the closest thing America has to the Montagues and Capulets. These two pioneer families (who were sometimes more than kissing cousins), embodied the most uncivil aspects of civil war. And as is the case in most such wars, the combatants were far more alike than they were different. With a smart, tragicomic book (that could use some trimming), and a slew of rousing, beautifully integrated songs, all the work of company member Shawn Pfautsch, plus superb musical direction by Kevin O'Donnell, unusually strong overall direction (and ingeniously brutal fight choreography) by Matthew Hawkins, and a cast of nearly two dozen actors who often double as first-rate instrumentalists -- the show is by far the most mature and emotionally compelling work this company has produced in some time. Eschewing much of the pop cartoonishness that sometimes undermines its shows (but retaining just enough to offer comic relief), this House production displays the troupe's always impressive ensemble spirit. And the company's boundless energy, imagination and sense of play -- as well as its impassioned quest for some moral grounding -- makes "Hatfield & McCoy" richer. As with many such massive feuds, just what set this one in motion gets lost in a haze of charges and countercharges. But with the moonshine industry and the pig farming, the proliferation of grudges and guns, and the fierce belief in Bible-sanctioned eye-for-an-eye justice, the chaos rarely abates -- at least, that is, until any further slaughter becomes meaningless. Pfautsch has framed his story with a little help (and some verse) from Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," with the linchpin for the action the marriage of youthful lovers from the opposing families -- Rose Anna McCoy (Sara Hoyer, a silver-voiced little charmer) and Johnson "Johnse" Hatfield (Erik Hellman as a most engaging pretty boy). Rose Anna is the smart, theatrically minded daughter of Randolph "Ol Ranl" McCoy (quietly haunting work by Kurt Ehrman), a strict man who believes the Bible is far better for his many children than the modern-minded plays his daughter devises and performs (in the manner of Chekhov's Nina, in "The Seagull"). Randolph is married to the upright and courageous Sarah (Stacy Stoltz, outstanding as the mother who pleads for her sons' lives). Johnson is the cute if not overly bright son of Capt. William Anderson "Devil Anse" Hatfield (a red-bearded Nathan Allen in top form). The Captain, a larger-than-life charismatic preacher, is married to the equally formidable Levicy (show-stopping work by Marika Mashburn), a woman who likes, and needs, her whiskey. Pfautsch's songs are woven into the story with great finesse so that they emerge completely naturally. Mashburn is terrific in her bravura liquor-oiled number. That "O Brother Where Art Thou?" sound is alive and well here. And the script has its own quirky music, as when a mother sees a melee coming and warns: "I don't wanna be pickin' my good silver out of the elm tree this time!" The black humor grows downright tragic by the end, as the truce between the families suggests an exhaustion that might (or might not) endure.

New York City Ballet

Ok, so this was like a really big deal for Chicago. City Ballet coming to town for the first time in something like twenty years. Ms. S couldn't make the second program, so I took one of her work mates.





















I'm writing about this much post-facto (January 2007) so it's hard to find the programs, but found this with casting notes. Fun for posterity.

New York City Ballet
Principal Casting

October 17-21, 2006

Harris Theater-Chicago IL

Tue. Eve., Oct. 17, 2006 at 7:30 pm [KAPLOW]
Serenade: KISTLER, NEAL, *BOUDER, KOWROSKI, *MARTINS
Intermission
Concerto Barocco: WEESE, RUTHERFORD, EVANS Delmoni, Nikkanen
Pause
Duo Concertant: BORREE, HÜBBE Walters, Nikkanen
Intermission
Symphony In C: 1st Mov: A. STAFFORD, J. STAFFORD
2nd Mov: WHELAN, ASKEGARD
3rd Mov: FAIRCHILD, DE LUZ
4th Mov: PECK, *J. ANGLE

Wed. Eve., Oct. 18, 2006 at 7:30 pm
[B]+ DIvertimento No. 15: FAIRCHILD, HYLTIN, BORREE, A. STAFFORD, WEESE, VEYETTE, LIANG, J. STAFFORD
Intermission
In The Night: RUTHERFORD, SYLVE, WHELAN, T. ANGLE, ASKEGARD, MARCOVICI Grant
Intermission
[K] The Four Temperaments: ARTHURS, *DANCHIG-WARING, HANKES, RAMASAR, *KROHN, ORZA, MARCOVICI, SOMOGYI, ASKEGARD, EVANS, REICHLEN McDill

Cloud Gate Dance Theatre

A riviting performance by Taiwan's leading contemporary dance company with an inspired blend of Eastern and Western dance styles. The bill was Wild Cursive, "influenced by kuang chao (wild calligraphy), considered the pinnacle of Chinese cursive aesthetics, in which all the rules are broken and the characters freed from any set form. The Cloud Gate dancers' spellbinding movements echo the serpentine lines of the black ink as it flows down cascading streams of rice paper onto the stage."

The dancing was great and and the auto-calligraphy was a really, really cool set piece.

Raisin

The consistantly good Court produced Raisin. Like Man of LaMancha it was small, focused, terrific.

PDT 1944-2006