Troilus and Cressida at the Shakes

A solid and a little bit sexy production at Chicago Shakespeare. Are they bringing sexy back? Don't know...

Ms. S's last day at RIC

Soriano smacks a three run shot at 7:48 pm at the exact moment Ms. S walks in the door from her last day at RIC. Coincidence? I think NOT.

Diary of Anne Frank

Really, at Steppenwolf. Yes, really. You think of it as an old chestnut, but it was compelling, and lively and good.

Arcadia at Court Theatre

A really, really enjoyable production of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia at the Court Theatre.

From Chris Jones's Tribune review:

"The heady complexities of Tom Stoppard -- a playwright whose allusions contain allusions to allusions -- have been amply noted. But even though his writing shows unusual political neutrality, he's among the greatest living playwrights because of the passion of his characters. Once a Stoppardian person unleashes the meaning of the universe, it's like an over-articulate revolutionary at the barricades. When done right, you get smacked right in the chops.

Stoppard's "The Coast of Utopia," which recently finished its run at New York City's Lincoln Center, has that riveting, hopelessly impassioned quality. And so does director Charles Newell's provocatively assertive revival of "Arcadia" at Chicago's Court Theatre. Even as Stoppard's characters -- the pursued from the early 19th Century and the pursuers from the late 20th -- yak on about gardens, Newtonian physics, Lord Byron, mathematics and sex, the ever-smart Newell gives you the sense here that they're all a bunch of spluttering, well-dressed atomic particles whom he has dangerously unleashed on our world, much as Enrico Fermi and his nuclear crew once did in 1942, just a bit farther south on Ellis Avenue.

...

Smashing performances abound, including the suave Grant Goodman as the tutor Septimus Hodge and, especially, Erik Hellman as Valentine Coverly, that character's rough modern equivalent. Tortured, smart and weirdly emotional, Hellman offers a close-to-perfect performance. And Mary Beth Fisher (as a modern writer) and Bethany Caputo (as a prodigy from the past) offer stellar turns. Caputo really takes some risks and makes her choices work. In fact, the whole show works best in its boldest directorial moments, which makes you think it could have gone even further."

Alumni Weekend

It was Alumni Weekend at the University of Chicago. Pretty low key since graduate students don't tend to congregate at this event, but there were a couple of highlights. The alumni medal went to James Dewey Watson, PhB’46, SB’47. Dewey was awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his co-discovery of the structure of DNA. His address at the Alumni Convocation was off the cuff, a little weird, and wildly entertaining. The Uncommon Core session moderated by NPR commentator Ray Suarez, AM’93, on Saturday afternoon was great. There was also a great session with Jim Heckman, who won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2000, and Bob Lucas, AB’59, PhD’64, who won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1995, reflecting on the work of Milton Friedman, AM’33, who won the Economics Prize in 1976.

Get the Nobel Prize winner theme? Pretty amazing.

Chicago Opera Theatre: B & B

The opera again? Yes, another matinee on a beautiful day...but well worth it.

Hector Berlioz's "Beatrice et Benedict."

Energetic, lively, and as always, well staged.

From John von Rhein's Chicago Tribune review:

"The savvy stage director Nicola Raab takes some liberties with the text, updating the action to Sicily at the end of World War II, where the soldiers bivouac, the women are made up to look like the Andrews Sisters, and the sexual banter is spelled out in Styrofoam letters."

And the drinks after with Ms. J. at Aria Restaurant in the nearby Fairmont Hotel were really good as well. Let it be the summer of cilantro...

A Visit by Ms. E

Our niece, Ms. E, came to town for a long weekend. Shedd Aquarium, Wicked, and shopping on Michigan Ave. were among the highlights. And of course, the requisite photo by the Bean.

Chicago Opera Theatre

Bela Bartok's "Duke Bluebeard's Castle" and Arnold Schoenberg's "Erwartung."


Dark, dark, dark. And pretty good, too.

Black Diamond at Lookingglass

A really strong show at Lookingglass. Depressing how little I know about African politics...



From Chris Jones's Tribune review:

Most beginning playwrights get their first productions in the rough. But even though J. Nicole Brooks' debut drama, "Black Diamond," lies somewhat outside the core aesthetic of the Lookingglass Theatre, this Chicago troupe truly has thrown all of its heart and resources into creating a high-profile, big-budget, fearless, pumped-up, powerfully acted, massively energetic and thoroughly expansive realization of Brooks' eclectic vision. In recent Chicago theater history, at least, no new writer has been better served.

And you can see right away what got Lookingglass so excited.

Not only does "Black Diamond" have a dazzling straight-from-the-news heroine -- the titular leader of a band of young Liberian female freedom fighters anxious to throw off the oppression of real-life dictator Charles Taylor -- but it reveals a young writer with talent. Part the kind of serious geopolitical, neo-feminist drama that one could imagine catching the attention of Angelina Jolie and part sophisticated, post-modern cultural satire in the style of Suzan-Lori Parks or even Quentin Tarantino, "Black Diamond" deftly evokes the bizarre cultural polyglot that seems to make up all modern African wars. Brooks understands that the Liberian conflict was, in part, born in the conflicted, compromised motives behind that nation's historic foundation. And one could say the same, of course, about Iraq, which also pops into mind here, deepening the moment.

More impressive yet, Brooks also captures the kind of jarring African contrasts that show up in movies like "The Last King of Scotland," and that we've all seen, and winced at, on the news for years.

Kids with innocent smiles and AK-47s. Horrific poverty and leaders who live like rap stars. Freedom fighters ignored by America but endlessly in love with Hollywood and hip-hop. "Black Diamond," it feels, just gets that side of modern African war with clear-eyed compassion. And when you add a fearless, zestfully funny visual production (co-directed with great flourish by David Catlin and Brooks herself on a fabulously atrophied African set from Sibyl Wickersheimer), with the emotionally resonant Alana Arenas anchoring the central role, this is one risky, exciting, Chicago show.

05/06/07 Dalai Lama and Massages

The Dalai Lama was in Chicago on 05/06/07. Groovy. We got massages from the fabulous Alicia, who unfortunately is closing down her practice at Bikram Yoga. This is the dawning of...uh...something.

Chicago Convenes

Our big annual event for donors was today. The two panels I helped organize were:

Performance Under Pressure: Experts vs. Amateurs, Insiders vs. Outsiders
Learn when and why talented people choke under pressure from the study of performance of tasks ranging from golf putting to high-stakes academic tests. Compare how managers learn when they compete with rivals within their company and in other companies.
Faculty Panelists: Sian Beilock, Tanya Menon, Howard Nusbaum

An Emerging Giant: China Today and Tomorrow
China’s rapidly expanding economy and increasing military and diplomatic presence on the world scene is the focus of a panel that will explore what kind of relationship the U.S. and China will have in the decades ahead and China’s influence on the global economy.
Faculty Panelists: James Hevia, Raghuram Rajan, Dali Yang

Pinter's Betrayal at Steppenwolf

A really strong production at Steppenwolf.



Sometimes you yearn to see new actors, but this time it was really great to see Tracy Letts and Amy Morton going through their paces.

Visit to Boulder to see Fiddle

We went to Boulder to see Fiddle. Spent most of our time with her at Frasier Manor, but we did have dinner at Sushi Zanmai and a breakfast at The Buff with the sorority crowd. On Friday, we had dinner with Ms. K. and Mr. J at Turley's (formerly The Harvest) but none of us had the spiced tea.

Taos: L=McC

It was Mr. P's birthday. A good time was had by all in Taos.

Click here to see the full photo album. Go to the April 2007 folder. The password is the street that we live on in Chicago.

Flyin' West at Court

Court...consistently good.























"Set in 1898, Pearl Cleage’s powerful look at the African American woman pioneer explores the lives of a small group of women as they leave the oppressive South for the West and settle together in the all-black town of Nicodemus, Kansas. Directed by Ron OJ Parson, who brought the critically-acclaimed and sold-out production of August Wilson’s Fences to Court’s stage last season."