almost forgot

Oh my - things are quite busy and so I completely missed the Friday night outing for Steppenwolf's production of Constellations and then dinner at a new (to us) place called Oyster Bah....

this play reminded me of a David Ives play called "Sure Thing" on steroids- it started with the same - millions of alternative paths in life and went much much deeper on the scientific and existential levels and explored the relationship between two characters on multiple levels while interweaving some theoretical physics and quantum mechanics as the cocktail they were "stewing" in -

interesting intellectually but I never really related to the female character - a bit more to the male lead but overall I found it a thoughtful play but not one that grabbed me emotionally.  You can by the way see the David Ives play "Sure Thing" in various iterations on You Tube- a short fifteen minute funny film about alternative paths on the route to love... or even a date LOL-

Sure Thing is a short comic play by David Ives featuring a chance meeting of two characters, Betty and Bill, whose conversation is continually reset by the use of a ringing bell, starting over when one of them responds negatively to the other.

after the play we went to the Oyster Bah nearby - for some seafood- had some oysters- some crab legs- some chowder, some ceviche, and fish and chips, along with seafood salad- all quite good-

we brought our own (corkage fee reasonable) and it was perfect- still young and balanced - great with the seafood based menu we chose!

we headed home late and crashed - lots of holiday weekend plans--- so this 1st of July evening was the beginning of our settled in part of the summer in the city - Chicago!

far from a travesty

So last night we kicked off round two (the spring semester) of the Chicago theater season.  Because of our winters away we end up with a sandwich of Sarasota theater in the middle of two ends of Chicago theater.  And yet, because the theater season in Chicago is drawing to a close we have a very full week of catching up to do...

Our first play this week was Travesties by Tom Stoppard. Stoppard won an Academy award for Shakespeare in Love and its brilliance shows up in early form here.  I will go on with more information from the theater and then give you our reviews after that - so you have the background for our two views...

and they were hawking subscriptions to next years productions - which we already have signed up for-  with the exception of the Noel Coward :-( which is while we are away- in NYC/Cuba/FL

so here are our thumbnail reviews- I liked it very much - found it witty and fast paced and I loved the fun the actors were having with the material- especially the two male leads - Greg Matthew Anderson (the amazing Jeff winner for Chesapeake from a couple of years back - a tour-de-force of a one man show) and Jeff Cummings - with a shout out to James Houton.  They were respectively the Dadaist, the civil servant and Joyce.  The ladies in their Wilde-esque roles also added verve to the evening's entertainment.  Phil found it mildly amusing but had no time for the inherent "discussion" of what is art - especially in relation to the "modern- shock of the new"...  So I would give it a solid thumbs up and Phil a tepid one.

Up next, in order - for theater evenings-

Sunday-

the Tuesday play- with John Mahoney-

the Wednesday outing- my favorite film from the Sarasota Film Festival- playing one night in Chicago.

the Thursday dinner-

and Friday dinner with friends-

so more as the week progresses.... and then we are off to see family and friends in NYC before heading to Europe for two weeks.... lots to report back on... stay tuned