Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
Think of “Blue’s Clues Live!” as the “Rocky Horror Picture Show” for the preschool set. But instead of getting dressed up like transvestites and throwing things at the screen, the tiny tots at the Rosemont Theatre on Friday night clutched their stuffed animals and shouted out answers to puzzles as the performers acted out a charming stage adaptation of the popular Nickelodeon children’s show.
If you closed your eyes and just listened to the voice, it was easy enough to imagine that you were at an Elvis Presley concert Saturday night at the Rosemont Theatre. Heck, even after you opened your eyes, the simulation by Presley stylist Trent Carlini was so good that it was difficult not to get caught up in the hysteria that permeated the concert.
“You must be in touch with your emotions if you expect to touch others,” a teacher says early on in “Fame–the Musical.” Too bad the writers of the play didn’t follow this advice. The play, which opened Tuesday night at the Chicago Theatre, wasn’t much of an improvement from the production that rolled into town last year. Full of cliches and stereotypes, the musical lacked memorable, well, music.
To parphrase ZZ Top, the Rockettes have legs…and they know how to use them. So it’s not surprising that the 18 leggy dancers were the stars of the “Radio City Christmas Spectacular,” which opened Friday night at the Rosemont Theatre. Displaying no first-night jitters, the Rockettes lived up to showman Russell Markert’s dream of forming a chorus line that moved and behaved as one dancer.
Following on the multi-legged heels of Dreamworks’ often dark and somber computer animation debut “Antz,” “A Bug’s Life” is Disney’s colorful follow-up to its mega-blockbuster “Toy Story.” While it doesn’t have the wit or great performances of “Toy Story,” it’s amusing in its own right and the animation by Pixar is even more astounding.
“Fatty Drives the Bus” sure sounds odd enough to be the followup to the Annoyance Theatre’s best known production, “Co-Ed Prison Sluts.” But the feature – which hits video stores today – actually marks the Chicago-based improv troupe’s first foray into film.
There are so many things wrong with “The Hungry Bachelors Club” that it’s easy to overlook some of the actors’ fine work. It’s unfortunate that they’re stuck portraying one-dimensional characters who make the “Melrose Place” crew appear deep.
The premise for “The Bachelor” probably looked great on paper. Get Chris O’Donnell and Renee Zellweger to star in a romantic comedy. Throw in a plot line about a $100 million inheritance if he marries before his 30th birthday, and add in a thousand extras dressed as brides.
Calling itself “The greatest show on earth”–as the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey circus does–is a bold claim to make at a time when Cirque du Soleil is captivating audiences with its sophisticated artistry, and Cher is touring with a team of spunky aerialists (and a battalion of wigs). Opening-night jitters Wednesday at the Allstate Arena may have been responsible for some missed tricks, but Ringling Bros., which was founded in 1871, still manages to put on an entertaining show year after year.
The great thing for artists playing at these B-96 multibill shows is that the audience will scream for you no matter what. Heck, even the dancers performing at the B-96 Halloween Bash on Wednesday night at the Allstate Arena were getting the star treatment, posing for pictures and signing autographs. Of the eight acts, though, it was Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera–both former cast members of “The New Mickey Mouse Club”–who stood out.
The adventurous impresarios at the Annoyance Theater have put some crazy stuff on their Wrigleyville stage, but no one could have anticipated this week’s radical stunt: They’re bringing a septuagenarian comedian to town. Charlie Callas, 71, will perform Wednesday and Thursday in the room that each weekend fills with beer-swilling twentysomethings catching the raunchy, long-running musical “Coed Prison Sluts.”
According to the Olympic creed, “the most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win, but to take part.” Try telling that to the managers and sports agents who are counting on the athletes to upgrade their medals into deals with the likes of Nike, Gatorade and McDonald’s. That’s a cynical view of the Olympics. The latest Omnimax film, “Olympic Glory,” presents a purer version of the Games.
Sure, its easy to make fun of the Backstreet Boys–especially if youre over the age of 17. But when things click just so–as they did Tuesday night at the Allstate Arena–the Backstreet Boys prove that they are the kings of the boy bands. At last year’s concert at the New World Music Theatre, the five-man group from Orlando, Fla., appeared dwarfed by the enormodome and was plagued by off-key harmonies.
In her one-woman show “I’m the One That I Want,” Margaret Cho recalls how getting her own sitcom in the mid-1990s signified acceptance to her–for the first time in her life. What she didn’t realize then was that acceptance came with a price.
Perhaps the best way to present “Grease” from now on is on ice. Ever since Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta starred in the 1978 film version of the play, most productions of the musical have been overshadowed by memories of the movie. But when you’ve got skaters performing double loops and death spirals, you tend to forget about the film and lose yourself in the fun.
It was a dog on a motorcycle that caught Kathryn Chandler’s eyes. The guy with the dog was Kyle Chandler, star of CBS’ “Early Edition” (which is filmed in Chicago). But back in 1993, there was no “Early Edition.” And Kathryn hadn’t seen Kyle in any of his other roles. All she knew was that any man giving a big dog a ride on his motorcycle was a little eccentric.
Got angst? Well, so do Alanis Morissette and Tori Amos. And the two women channeled theirs in very different ways Saturday at the New World Music Theatre. Opening her set with “Sympathetic Character,” headliner Morissette performed a variety of material that ranged from lusty rockers to lullaby-pretty ballads. She alternated between songs from her current album “Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie” and her breakthrough 1995 album “Jagged Little Pill” – which have sold more than 30 million copies worldwide – and gave the show a cohesive feel.
Before Shania, there was Olivia. In a greatest-hits concert Friday at the Chicago Theatre, Olivia Newton-John took the audience on a two-hour tour of songs that showed off her aptitude for country (“If You Love Me (Let Me Know)”), pop (“Xanadu”), rock (“You’re the One That I Want”) and ballads (“I Honestly Love You”). In the ’70s, when female country stars wore their hair big and their sequins even bigger, Newton-John – who was born in England, raised in Australia and pretty enough to be a model – ruffled many Nashville purists by winning the 1973 Grammy Award for best country vocalist.
At the end of the month, Olivia Newton-John will get out of jail. In a movie role, of course. “I begin shooting `Sordid Lives’ when this tour is over,” Newton-John says, phoning from Atlantic City, N.J. “I play a singer who just got out of jail. So she’s a little tough. I think it’ll be fun for me because it’s so interesting to do different things.” Playing a felon isn’t something that fazes Newton-John. But playing a guitar is.
For those unfamiliar with the 19th century children’s book of the same name, “A Dog of Flanders” is a cryptic sounding title for a movie. The film is less about a dog than it is a tale of goodness and honesty that – as many of these tales do – revolves around a sweet, orphaned boy determined to better himself.