Young at Heartland Performs at the Normal Public Library Friday

Heartland Theatre Company’s senior performing troupe, Young at Heartland, will perform their fall showcase, offering dramatic and comedic scenes and monologues — maybe even a song or two — at the Normal Public Library on Friday, October 14th.

This free event, open to the public, will take place from 2 to 3 pm in the library’s Community Room. And refreshments will be offered.

If you are over 55 and you’ve been considering joining Young at Heartland or adding acting and performance skills to your resume, you will want to attend to see how much fun the members of Young at Heartland have and just exactly what they do.

YOUNG AT HEARTLAND
Friday, October 14, 2011
2 to 3 pm
The Community Room at the Normal Public Library
206 West College Avenue
Normal, IL 61761
www.normalpl.org

"The Artist Struggles...beautiful disasters" Opens Tonight at Eaton Galleries

Brian Simpson, owner of Uptown Normal's Babbitt's Books, is part of a new exhibit called "The Artist Struggles...beautiful disasters" with a special reception tonight, October 7, at the Eaton Gallery in downtown Bloomington. One of Simpson's works, titled "Between" is shown at right.

Simpson is showing drawings collected under the label "Grace and Ineptitude," while gallery owner Herb Eaton will offer paintings and drawings he calls "Caught in the Thickets."

Eaton Gallery has scheduled an artist opening and reception for tonight from 5 to 9 pm, followed by an artists' talk on Wednesday, October 19, from 6 to 8 pm. "The Artist Struggles...beautiful disasters" runs till October 19 at the gallery.

Eaton Gallery
411 N. Center
Bloomington, IL 61701
www.eatonstudiogallery.com
309-828-1575

Fall TV Update: The Networks Slash and Dash

When I wrote about the new fall TV schedule a mere 11 days ago, there was optimism and a hint of promise in the air. Since then, NBC has wielded a mighty ax, canceling its execrable attempt at a "Mad Men" rip-off, "The Playboy Club" and the mildly unamusing "Free Agents." At least "The Playboy Club" had a recognizable title. I'm willing to bet that 80% of viewers have no idea what "Free Agents" was at all. (It was the one with Hank Azaria, scheduled to go with "Up All Night," the "Oh, no, we have a baby" comedy starring Christina Applegate and GOB Bluth, er, Will Arnett.

And speaking of which, NBC has balanced out the axings by giving full-season orders to "Up All Night" and another execrable show, the eponymous "Whitney." I lasted for a mere three minutes of "Whitney" before deciding I had better things to do. It's not funny, Whitney Cummings is not pleasant or attractive or anything I would want to watch, and I am shocked, shocked, I tell you, that this series got an early pick-up.

Meanwhile, the CW's nasty little pop culture show "H8R," hosted by Mario Lopez, has been axed after only four episodes. I guess everybody H8'd it.

Back in the positive column, CBS has picked up "2 Broke Girls," with Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs as unlikely roommates, for a full season, while Fox has ordered a full season's worth of episodes of "New Girl," the too-zany-for-its-own-good Zooey Deschanel vehicle that makes me want to hurl but is frolicking happily through the ratings, smirking at the H8Rs like me.

I have now also seen the season openers for returning favorites "Parks and Recreation," "Happy Endings," "Modern Family," "Community," "The Office" and "House," and I would give them A+, A, B, B, B and B+, in that order, with that last grade for "House" not a permanent mark, but open to review. Its season-ender last year was so awful that even though I liked its first fall episode a lot (and I never don't like Hugh Laurie) I am going to wait and see just where it goes from here.

"Parks and Recreation," meanwhile, gets better every episode, and I wish some more viewers would tune it. Leslie Knopes running for office and Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman, an alum of our very own University of Illinois, shown below with Ron Swanson's Pyramid of Greatness) fighting off extra Tammies has been fabulous. But, no, the TV audience is apparently too busy goobering over the likes of Zooey and Whitney for their sit-com fun. I fear for "Parks and Recreation." Ron Swanson still reeks of greatness, though.


"Happy Endings," meanwhile, continues to be adorable and silly, with fresh, zippy characters, while "Modern Family" is trying hard to keep up its winning ways, but only partly succeeding for me. I do like that baby Lily has gotten older and more difficult, but I'm tiring of Claire's type A personality on overdrive, as well as Cameron and Mitchell always squabbling.

The squabbling is also my problem with "Community," which can be very, very funny (its season finale was a paint-spattered, conspiracy theory classic) but its trademark bickering and kvetching within the study group is starting to wear thin. Ditto for "The Office," with its new boss intrigues. There have been some good post-Michael Scott moments, but I'm feeling a bit fatigued there, too.

And over on "Project Runway," which is winding down, I am more and more unamused by the Man Behind the Curtain, or whoever it is that is running the show. The designers seem perhaps less talented in general, but the manipulation and team challenge after team challenge has muddied the waters so much I have no idea who has talent and who doesn't. Anya has only been sewing for four months! Josh the Oompa Loompa is a drama queen and a jerk! Nobody likes Bert! Laura is a smack-talking spoiled baby! Anya is gorgeous! The judges love Anya, even when her clothes are falling apart on the runway or are not remotely acceptable for real life, given that there's no zipper and the thing has to be cut off and sewn onto the model! But she wins, anyway, because she is gorgeous and has only been sewing for four months and was a beauty queen with a sex tape so WHEEEE does she have buzz! And Kimberly and Victor seem talented but there's a lot more drama with the beauty queen who can't sew and the Oompa Loompa with the bad attitude, so let's keep handing wins to them, shall we?

Yeah, I should probably stop watching "Project Runway."

"Think of All That We've Been Through..." (By Kevin Paul Wickart)

Kevin Paul Wickart is back to give us the inside scoop on his directorial debut, as he opens a Neil Sedaka jukebox show called "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" with Prairie Fire Theatre on October 14th.

Take it away, Kevin!

I'm directing my first show.

How innocuous those words seemed when I first uttered them several months ago. Now, less than two weeks before opening night, they loom over me like a giant...looming thing. It is fortunate, then, that I am blessed with a cast and crew composed of experienced, talented and supremely capable people who tell me that everything is going just fine.

The show is "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do," a fairly new musical comedy featuring the music of Neil Sedaka, the guy who wrote about half the songs from the 1960s and 70s that get stuck in your head. The show features eighteen of his songs including "Where the Boys Are," "Laughter in the Rain," "Calendar Girl," "Lonely Nights," and of course the chart-topping title song. The songs highlight a script that is unashamedly, and often tongue-in-cheekedly, rooted in 1960.

Here's the plot: Young dental student Marge Gelman has just been left at the altar. Her best friend Lois talks her into going to Esther's Paradise, the supposed-to-be honeymoon resort in the Catskills, to meet boys and forget her troubles.* When Lois convinces Del Delmonaco -- the resort's up-and-coming singing star -- to romance Marge, it looks like the plan might just work. But Del has a little secret that involves his cousin Gabe, who is working the resort as a handyman. The resort's owner, Esther herself, is trying to cope with needed repairs that she can't afford to make, in spite of the questionable help of the nightly variety show's emcee and comedian, who is her late husband's best friend, Harvey. This gumbo of comic cliché is brought to the boil by the news that a producer from "American Bandstand" is coming to hear Del sing in the very last show of the season.

If you are a veteran viewer of musical theatre, you can probably figure out most of what happens. That's fine, because the plot isn't really the point. The show is designed to celebrate Sedaka's music not only by providing a framework in which to showcase it, but also by following a script that is as romantic, clever, triumphant, and just downright fun as the lyrics. Sure, it's a dramatic lightweight, but it is as full of little surprises as Neil Sedaka himself.**

What is no surprise is that the show is just plain fun to perform. The song arrangements are richly harmonious, the script brisk and delightful, and the choreography joyous and elegant.

Of course, all of this would be wasted without a cast sufficient to the task. Most are local theatre veterans, with a couple of relative newcomers to spice up the gumbo. Aimee Kerber is the emotionally vulnerable Marge, with Natalie LaRocque as her vivacious best friend, Lois. Headliner Del is played to the overbearing hilt by Nick McBurney, while the role of shy, clumsy Gabe is filled by Sean Stevens. Jennifer Lumsdon is the eternally put-upon Esther, while Your Humble Correspondent hams it up as Harvey. Each cast member is a vocal power individually, but when their voices blend it raises the music to often dizzying heights.

Supporting this cast are equally accomplished people. Michael Schneider holds the baton as Music Director and Whitney Spencer serves as Choreographer. Wardrobe and Props are handled by Opal Virtue and Sherry Bradshaw, with Lighting and Sound by Jamie Wilson. Ken Johnson designed and is building the set while his daughter Hanna, as Assistant Director and Stage Manager, organizes the whole process and keeps me from doing anything really stupid.

These people are not merely talented performers and crew. They are people with whom I have worked before, and come to respect and value their abilities. They are my friends, and without their support, dedication and professionalism I would be coming apart. But, like the song says, "Love Will Keep Us Together." And it does.

*This, boys and girls, was actually considered to be a good idea in the 1960's.

**At age 16, Sedaka published his first song and co-founded a musical group that later became The Tokens. About the only thing I accomplished at that age was being a complete dork. He is the only artist to hit the Billboard Top 10 twice with different arrangements of the same song. That song was, of course, "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do," and the feat was accomplished fourteen years apart. Sedaka isn't just about pop music. When he records songs in Italian, he does so with a flawless accent. He's also a virtuoso pianist who was slated to represent the U.S. in the 1965 Tchaikovsky Competition in Russia; his performance was canceled because of his connections to rock and roll--a form the Russians hated at the time. I consider myself lucky that I can even spell "pianno."

BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO
Prairie Fire Theatre

October 14–16, 2011, at 7 pm at Westbrook Auditorium-Presser Hall, Illinois Wesleyan University, 1210 Park Street, Bloomington.

October 21–23, 2011, at 7 pm at Shamrock Hall, Saint Patrick’s Church of Merna, 1001 North Towanda Barnes Road, Bloomington.

For more information, go to the "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do"
Facebook Page.

No Off-Season for the Illinois Shakespeare Festival

We all think of the Illinois Shakespeare Festival as a summer phenomenon, but it turns out they stay pretty busy the rest of the year.

First, the ISF has announced their slate for next summer, with "As You Like It," 'Othello" and "The Comedy of Errors" from Shakespeare, along with Richard Brinsley Sheridan's "The Rivals." I remember seeing "The Rivals" back in 1990 at the Festival, and it was absolutely wonderful. I suppose that's why I still remember it! I am guessing that one of the three Shakespeare plays will be the "theater for young audiences" choice, performed as a shorter version on the Ewing Manor grounds during the day, rather than on the main-stage at night. My guess would be "The Comedy of Errors" since that one is listed last on the Illinois Shakespeare Festival site. We'll just have to wait and see if I'm right on that one! Tickets will be available after January 9th, 2012, and performances next summer are scheduled from June 28 to August 11. (If you don't want to wait to buy tickets in January, or if you'd like to give a little Shakespeare for Christmas, you can get a gift certificate now. You are advised to call the box office at 309-438-2535 for more information.

In the meantime, you can help support Milestones Early Learning Center and the West Bloomington Revitalization Project by attending a joint fundraiser for those two groups on Friday, October 7, from 5 to 8 pm at the BlueLine (602 N Main Street in downtown Bloomington). Tickets are $10 at the door and admission includes five "tastes" of wines personally chosen by the BlueLine owners. A basket from the Illinois Shakespeare Festival (with Platinum Plus seating and dinner packed inside) will be one of the items available in a silent auction. Here's your chance to help out two worthy organizations and score tickets and dinner at the ISF as well.

And if you are a teacher or otherwise connected to an area school that could benefit from a little Shakespeare, you'll want to know about the "Shakespeare Alive! Outreach Tours," available to tour to schools from October to December. This year, the choices are "To Thine Own Self Be True," billed as "a montage of scenes, stories, and monologues that interweaves true socially relevant stories with Shakespeare’s work," intended for junior high or high schoolers, or "Fortune's Fool," subtitled "Folly & More," which involves a game show, a Jersey Girls' explanation of "Romeo and Juliet," and something or other about Pyramus and Thisbe, all included in this "zany introduction to Shakespeare's work," intended for kids in elementary school or junior high. If either show sounds like something that would work at your school, call 309-438-8697 for more information.

The Discovery Walk Continues...

The weather has been fabulous, which means the Discovery Walk at Evergreen Cemetery in Bloomington has been very, very popular. Candace Summers, from the McLean County Museum of History, reported that almost a thousand people took the tour last weekend and got a good look at ten citizens from Bloomington-Normal's past.

This year's characters are:

George and Frances Ela (shown at left), a young married couple separated by war but maintaining their love and their patriotism in letters. (Performed by Nick McBurney and Gwen de Veer; script written by Kathleen Kirk.)

William Horine, a private in the McLean County Regiment who sent home very colorful letters about the conditions of war. (Written and performed by Michael Pullin.)

Eliza Esque, a former slave who helped organize celebrations in honor of the Emancipation Proclamation and a reception for soldiers, including her husband, when they returned from the Civil War. (Performed by Jennifer Rusk; script written by Julie Kistler.)

Lewis Ijams (seen at right), a Union soldier, severely wounded and assumed dead on the battlefield, who managed to make it back to Union lines and eventually home. (Played and written by Rhys Lovell.)

John McNulta, a Union colonel and commander of the McLean County Regiment who employed innovative methods to ensure the safety of the men under his command. (Played by Mickey O'Sullivan; script written by Todd Wineburner.)

Martha Rice, a Southern woman living in Bloomington. She and her husband, a Confederate sympathizer, were not looked on kindly by their neighbors. (Written and performed by Kathleen Kirk.)

John C. Roeder, a German immigrant who hunted lawless Confederate outlaws and desperadoes in Western Missouri. (Performed by Kevin Paul Wickart; script written by Ron Emmons.)

Lee Smith and George Stipp, doctors who experienced the horrific conditions both surgeons and patients faced in an ill-equipped, over-crowded Union hospital housed in a former hotel on the outskirts of Washington DC. (Performed by Jeff Ready and Todd Wineburner; script written by John Kirk.)

Audiences are enjoying the charming love story between the Elas, Eliza Esque (above) serenading them with a gorgeous performance of "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" as she shares her joy at emancipation, injured Lewis Ijams hanging tough and fighting for freedom in the face of adversity, Colonel McNulta's take-charge military presence, Martha Rice sweetly but tartly explaining her side of the war on the homefront, wild-eyed John Roeder trying to hang onto his marbles and the good doctors Smith and Stipp doing their best to survive the horrors of Civil War medicine.

Tours continue next weekend, with start times of 11 and 2 on Saturday and Sunday. My friend, the talented photographer Dana Colcleasure, took the photos accompanying this piece last Saturday. Fabulous images, Dana!

Click here for more information about the Discovery Walk at Evergreen Park.

October Has Arrived (Along With Plenty of Things to See and Do)

Shows opened at both ISU venues (Westhoff Theatre and the Center for the Performing Arts) last week. You still have a few chances to catch "The Merchant of Venice" at Westhoff or "The Women of Lockerbie" at the CPA, with both shows running through October 8th. You can click here to read what I thought of director Jeremy Garrett's take on "Merchant" as a comedy hovering on tragedy as pretty heiress Portia, her beau Bassanio and their rich, frivolous friends hover on the brink of the Stock Market Crash of 1929.

"The Women of Lockerbie" is an all-out tragedy (no hovering here) about the aftermath of the terrorist attack on a jet flying over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1998. ISU is augmenting the production with a visit from playwright Deborah Brevoort scheduled for Tuesday, October 4. You are encouraged to bring clothing donations to the CPA to echo the humanitarian efforts in the play.

The Discovery Walk at Evergreen Cemetery is now well underway and the weather has been beautiful so far. Performances continue next weekend at 11 and 2 on both Saturday and Sunday. My husband will be acting as a tour guide again next Saturday, so ask for Scott's tour if you want a good show from a learned guide. If you're interested in buying tickets for this historical tour around Evergreen Cemetery, with actors portraying colorful characters from Bloomington-Normal's past (this year all relating to the Civil War), you can get them at the McLean County History Museum, at the Garlic Press in Uptown Normal, or at the cemetery itself. Tickets are $12 for adults and $4 for children and students.

Eureka College opens its official fall season on October 4th, with George Bernard Shaw's "Arms and the Man," which takes a satirical look at war, heroes, idealism and romance. Oh, and a little chocolate. What more do you need? "Arms and the Man" is directed by EC Theatre Professor Marty Lynch, and continues through October 9.

The Station Theatre in Urbana brings "God of Carnage," the Tony-Award-winning play by Yazmina Reza, to its black box theater on October 6th, with performances till the 22nd. Celebration Company Artistic Director Rick Orr directs "God of Carnage," a story about two married couples trying to deal with a playground skirmish between their sons as well as their own lack of civility, with a cast that includes Jessa Thomas, David Barkley, Rachel Bradley and Jeremiah Lowry. (Extra notes: Roman Polanski has directed a film version of the script starring Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly, Christoph Waltz and Kate Winslet, and it has played to excellent reviews at the Venice and New York Film Festivals. I saw it on stage in New York, and my review of that Broadway production is here.)

Don Shandow and New Route Theatre continue their One-Shot Deal series at the Eaton Gallery in Bloomington with a performance of "Soda," a new play by Kamaya Thompson, on October 12th. "Soda" is described as a play in poetry, touching on issues "such as 'old and new racism,' minority education levels, and the path that uneducated, underprivileged youth are currently taking," and performed "in a way that challenges and provokes." A discussion will follow the performance. "Soda" is directed by Jamelle Robinson and includes Matthew Robinson, Ariele Jones, Corey Hardin, Anne Cook, Charlene Ifenso-Okpala, Matt Vlazny, Tamar Lange and Terrance Washington in the cast.

As always with New Route shows at the Eaton Gallery, seating is limited and you are advised to reserve in advance by e-mailing a request to new.route.theatre@gmail.com.

The Normal Theater begins a tribute to ISU alums with "The Bucket List" (the ISU alum involved is Sean Hayes, who plays Jack Nicholson's valet in the movie) on October 13, followed by "Best in Show," the Christopher Guest "mockumentary" about dog shows (whose cast includes ISU alum Jane Lynch) on October 14, the superhero movie "Iron Man" (with special effects by ISU alum Brian Connor) on October 15, and "Of Mice and Men," the 1992 adaptation of Steineck's novel (starring John Malkovich, a very famous former student of the ISU School of Theatre). All shows are at 7 pm.

Fresh off his stint as a somewhat crazed Civil War soldier stalking bushwhackers in the Discovery Walk, my friend Kevin Paul Wickart is directing a musical based on Neil Sedaka songs for Prairie Fire Theatre. The show is called "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do." Kevin has written a piece on that show for me, and I will be happy to share that a little later in the week, so stay tuned for that! You can catch performances of "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" at Westbrook Auditorium in Presser Hall on the IWU campus from October 14 to 16, or in Shamrock Hall at Saint Patrick’s Church of Merna over on Towanda Barnes Road in Bloomington October 21 to 23.

I used to be a huge fan of the British improv show "Whose Line Is It, Anyway?" and then a medium fan of the American version. If you, too, enjoy people doing the Alphabet Game blindfolded or a Kung Fu soap opera played sideways, you'll want to check out "An Evening with Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood" (both of whom can be seen on reruns of "Whose Line Is It, Anyway?" on the ABC Family channel) on October 15th at the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts.

The Champaign-Urbana Theatre Company (AKA the CUTC) is offering a special "Rocky Horror Show in Concert 2" as a fundraiser at the Canopy Club in Urbana one-night only on October 22. Click here for details.

Parkland Theatre over in Champaign opens the intriguing Sarah Ruhl play, "Dead Men's Cell Phone" on October 26th. It's a popular play, with another production, directed by Rhys Lovell, taking the stage at Eureka College November 15. It's always fun to see what different directors do with the same material, so if you're looking to expand your theatrical horizons, you might want to try a compare/contrast with the two versions and report back.