Hermia is in love with Lysander, but her father wants her to marry Demetrius. So, she runs away to marry Lysander. Helena loves Demetrius, but he loves Hermia. This is a musical retelling of Shakepeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Dominick Alesia has written a funny and modern take on this Shakespeare classic. This production is very well done with great singing and excellent costumes. It’s also a lengthy one, coming in at just over 3 hours with an intermission.
The only issue is with the in the round seating, which results in the actors facing directly away from you at times. If they just removed one of the four sides, this issue would be fixed. As it is now, the best seats are the ones directly across the room from the piano.
Cost of a ticket: $26
PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Exceptional Value –
Rating Scale: Exceptional Value > Worth It > Discounted > Go for Free > Don’t Bother
Gil and Benny meet at a funeral. Gil is grieving the loss of his father. Benny has something important to tell him. His mother just told him that his father is the man in the casket. The two men go on to form a strong bond, a brotherhood that gets them through good times and bad.
Lolita Chakrabarti has written a very powerful play about brotherhood, which can even begin in middle age. Also, the ending of the story is quite unexpected.
James Vincent Meredith (Noises Off, Describe the Night) is great as Gil, who really enjoyed running a business with father and now wants to share this experience with his brother. Chike Johnson is superb as Benny, who is so happy to have discovered the other half of his family.
Cost of a ticket: $70
PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Discounted +
Rating Scale: Exceptional Value > Worth It > Discounted > Go for Free > Don’t Bother
Serge invites his friend Marc over to see the painting that he just bought. Marc describes the painting as some white lines on a white background. He can’t believe that Serge spent 200,000 francs on it (the equivalent of approximately $70,000 USD today). Yvan, the third friend, says he likes the painting, at first. Eventually, Marc reveals the other reasons for his anger and what he thinks this purchase really means.
Yasmina Reza has written a hilarious play about modern art and male friendship. The characters joke and laugh with each other but then really open up. At 90 minutes, it would still be nice to have an intermission. Join the Pro-Intermission movement here.
Chad Bay is great as Serge, who truly wants to share the grandeur of the painting with the others. Justin Albinder (The Lord of the Rings) is hilarious as Marc, who is shocked and amazed by the purchase. Eduardo Curley is suberb as Yvan, who finds himself in the middle trying to please both of them in a George Constanza style.
Cost of a ticket: $36
PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Worth It +
Rating Scale: Exceptional Value > Worth It > Discounted > Go for Free > Don’t Bother
A young intern is tasked with fact checking an essay over the weekend by his boss, the editor-in-chief. He sees this as a big opportunity for his career, and he takes it very seriously. He quickly discovers that many of the facts are incorrect. When he brings this up to the author, he says that he slightly changed the numbers to make them sound better and to make them fit better into his essay. Eventually, the boss has to come and sort out all the discrepancies.
The playwrights (Jeremy Kareken & David Murrell and Gordon Farrell [based on the book by John D’Agata and Jim Fingal]) have written a very fast paced, funny, and invigorating story that has the audience at the edge of their seats. What are the true facts of the story? Will the boss publish half truths?
This story calls to mind the scandal surrounding Hasan Minaj. It was revealed that he bent the truth in his stand-up special. The key to the issue is realizing the context. If he were bending the truth on his news show, The Patriot Act, that would be out of line. But to alter the story for a stand-up routine is perfectly fair. Who expects a comedian to only be telling true stories? Thus, the key to this play is the context of the magazine. Is it a factual news outlet, or is it one that allows some flexibility for dramatic storytelling?
Thomas Neumann is great as the enthusiastic and idealist intern. Jamie Ewing is fantastic as the author with artistic integrity and a skill for truth bending dramatic writing. Lori Rohr is superb as the editor who struggles to find a compromise between the two.
Cost of a ticket: $39
PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Worth It
Rating Scale: Exceptional Value > Worth It > Half Price > Go for Free > Don’t Bother
Theatre Pick: The Artistic Home Presents Cut to the Chase at The Den Theatre (Through May 4, 2025)
Cut to the Chase is a short play festival presented by The Artistic Home. This year it features six short plays that fall into different genres including drama, sci-fi, and dark comedy. It’s a showcase of playwrights (Will Dunne, Siah Berlatsky, Jillian Blevins, Nina Dellaria, Chelyn Cousar, Greg A. Smith) and actors. The festival has been specifically programmed with plays that have the theme of “What is real?” that helps tie them together into one show.
Check out our review of The Artistic Home’s production of Hedda Gabler here.
A family is watching a police encounter from their balcony. It starts to escalate as the man gets very angry and the cop pulls out his gun. Suddenly, there is a bright white flash and the man is gone without a trace.
Zora Howard has written a thought-provoking and hilarious play. The characters and situations are so real while the flash is surreal. Afrocurrentism is like Afrofuturism, but instead of imagining a future in which black people have full agency, it asserts that they have it now.
The world premiere of this play took place on February 13th at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. This is the same production now on stage at the Goodman. The set design by Matt Saunders is truly impressive. Full multi-level sets slide in and out with such grace.
The cast is fantastic. It consists of Mark Bedard, Cecil Blutcher, Renika Williams-Blutcher, Caroline Stefanie Clay, Bernard Gilbert, Caitlin Hargraves, Jorge Luna, Victoria Omoregie, Keith Randolph Smith, Ray Anthony Thomas, and Ivan Cecil Walks. The understudies include Jodi Gage, Cory Hardin, Gabrielle Lott-Rogers, Vernon Mina, Patrick Newson, Jr., Joseph Primes and Jazzy Rush.
The audience will be quoting this play, “It’s not an afterlife, it’s more life”, and processing it for days afterwards. It has a bright future which will likely include a Broadway run.
Cost of a ticket: $45
PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Exceptional Value +
Rating Scale: Exceptional Value > Worth It > Discounted > Go for Free > Don’t Bother
This is night two of Howie Day at the City Winery. “I played all the good songs last night”, he jokes in a great example of his sense of humor.
Late in the night, he plays “Bunnies”. This is one of his more experimental songs. It features a lot of loops and improvisations. Also, it stretches out to about 10 minutes.
“I think I need to play ‘Longest Night’ or else she will have a nervous breakdown!” So, he plays this song from 2009’s Sound The Alarm. “Is it dark where you are? Can you count the stars where you are?” Technically, you can count the stars from anywhere. Sometimes, the count might be zero.
Instead of the normal cheering for an encore, he requests that the audience be as quiet as possible and then he will return. The result is some quiet talking with others saying “Shhhhh”. The crowd erupts when he returns.
Howie says that sometimes when he’s in a bad mood, he doesn’t play “Collide”. Luckily, this isn’t one of those nights and he does play his biggest hit, from the 2003 album, Stop All The World Now. “But it won’t be the last song,” he says. “Because that would be too cliche”. This song has over 480 million streams on Spotify. “Even the best fall down sometimes / Even the wrong words seem to rhyme / Out of the doubt that fills your mind / You finally find / You and I collide”.
To close out the night, he plays “Treetops” from his 2015 album, Lanterns. “Cause we’re dancing on the treetops tonight / We’re hiding from the people and the lights”. It’s a great joyful song to end on and it sends the audience out with smiles on their faces.
Cost of a ticket: $54
PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Worth It
Rating Scale: Exceptional Value > Worth It > Discounted > Go for Free > Don’t Bother
Ben Kweller takes the stage and sits down at his keyboard. The audience immediately quiets down as he plays “Thirteen”. “Had passionate makeouts and passionate freakouts / We built this world of our own / It was in the back of a taxi when you told me you loved me / And that I wasn’t alone”. It’s a beautiful start to the show. Afterwards he says how he always feels the love in Chicago. “You’ve always been there for me”, he says. “It’s going to be a sing-along tonight!”
Later in the night, he plays “In Other Words”. “The butterflies are passive aggressive / And put their problems on the shelf but they’re beautiful”. This is such a gorgeous song and it sounds great tonight.
On bass today is Christopher Mintz-Plasse. He plays a right handed bass upside down. Many fans recognize him as an actor from Superbad and Kick-Ass. He is resistant to take a shot of Malort, which he did not enjoy the last time they were at Lincoln Hall. But eventually, he relents when they learn the venue doesn’t have Jager.
Midway into the set, Ben talks about how his son, Dorian, who passed in February 2023 at the age of 16 (He died in a freak car accident), had started to write a song called “Trapped”. In a tribute, he finsihed writing it and they go on to play it. It’s a very heartfelt moment. The song will be on their upcoming album, Covering the Mirrors, which be released on May 30th, Dorian’s birthday.
To close out the set, they play “Penny on the Train Track” from his self titled 2006 album. “I’m just a penny on the train track / Waitin’ for my judgement day / Come on baby girl let me see those legs / Before I get flattened away”. This is such a great song with a driving beat. The energy in the room is fantastic.
To end the night, he thanks a few people in the audience including a local radio DJ who always played his music. He promises they will returns soon, possibly in 12 months, and then jumps into “Wasted and Ready”. This song is his most popular on Spotify with over 4.3 million streams. “She is a slut but ex thinks it’s sexy / Sex reminds her of eating spaghetti”. He plays it with great passion and makes it a perfect finale.
Ok Go takes the stage and jumps into “This Too Shall Pass” from their 2010 album Of the Blue Colour of the Sky. They made a fantastic video for this song featuring a very elaborate Rube Goldberg Machine. During the video, you can see the band members covered in paint, which makes it clear this was not the first attempt at filming.
Next up is “Get Over It” from their 2002 self titled album. This was their first big hit which came out while they were living in Chicago. They talked about traveling around the city eating ribs at every restaurant that had them on the menu until their doctor said they should stop.
They follow this with “I Won’t Let You Down”. This is their most popular video on youtube with 51 million views. This impressive video was filmed in Japan, just outside of Tokyo.
Later on they play “Love” from their latest album, And the Adjacent Possible. The video is full of moving mirrors that creates a kalideoscope of a video. They also showed off the new vinyl, which features a pop-up sphere when opened.
Afterwards, they play “Upside Down & Inside Out” from their 2014 album, Hungry Ghosts. This video was shot in zero gravity in a plane taking nose dives. To find dancers for the video, they hired aerialists, who were the most comfortable being in the air.
This live performance was a celebration of their music. During almost every song, they shoot an enormous amount of confetti into the audience. Whether they meant to or not, most of the audience likely took some home with them.
James Bay takes the stage with his band and jumps right into “Up All Night” from his 2024 album, “Changes All The Time”. He recorded this track with The Lumineers and Noah Kahan. “Let’s talk about dreams, let’s talk about lies / Let’s talk about all the things that keep us up all night”. This joyful upbeat song sets a great tone for the night. The lyrics remind many of “Let’s Talk About Sex” by Salt-N-Pepa. “Let’s talk about sex, baby / Let’s talk about you and me / Let’s talk about all the good things / And the bad things that may be”.
Soon afterwards, they play “If You Ever Want To Be In Love” from the 2015 album, Chaos And The Calm. The crowd erupts after recognizing the song from the first few piano notes. “I’ll come around / If you ever want to be in love / I’m not waiting, but I’m willing if you call me up”. This is such a beautiful song and it makes for a great sing-a-long.
A few songs later, they play the opening of “Let It Go” and the audience screams. This is his most popular song on Spotify with over 1.29 billion streams. “So come on, let it go / Just let it be / Why don’t you be you / And I’ll be me?” The riff along with the lyrics make this an masterful breakup song.
For the final song of the encore, they play “Hold Back The River”, which was nominated for “Best Rock Song” at the Grammys. The opening sounds similar to “Let It Go”, which makes sense because they are both on the same album. “Hold back the river, let me look in your eyes / Hold back the river, so I / Can stop for a minute and be by your side”. It’s a fantastic song to end a superb night of live music.
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