A schoolteacher travels to a new town for a new job. However, this is no ordinary town. Everyone here is an absolute fool. They are comically stupid. A curse was put on the town to make everyone dumb. The only way to break the curse is for a young woman to marry the strange older man who lives up on the hill. To complicate things further, the schoolteacher is falling in love with this woman. Hilarity ensues.

James Byous (Westside) is charming and hilarious as the schoolteacher. His facial reactions when confronted with idiocy are priceless. Parvesh Cheena (Outsourced, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Chicago Sketchfest) is so funny as the shepherd who can’t keep track of his sheep, except for in his dreams. Jason Paige is a major highlight as the strange older man. In his solo, he singing about wanting people to like him has the whole audience laughing. Bruce Green is excellent as the young woman’s father. He acts so proud of her for doing the simplest things!

Ron West and Phil Swann did an excellent job turning Neil Simon’s play into a musical. They truly have a hit on their hands.

Get tickets now for Musical Fools through January 26^th!

Cost of a ticket: $35

PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Worth It +

Rating Scale: Exceptional Value > Worth It > Half Price > Go for Free > Don’t Bother

Quinn Delaney

A middle aged man named Preacher is playing an acoustic guitar in a rundown bar. He is singing and drinking as the bartender, Johnson, looks on. A young man, Harley, enters the bar with excitement in his eyes. He exclaims that this is the bar where one of his musical heroes killed himself. He can’t believe that he found it. Preacher is annoyed by the interruption.

Harley goes on to say that he is planning to sell his guitar at the pawn shop across the street. His wife is pregnant and it is time for him to give up on his dream. He needs to get a steady job and support his family. Preacher sees a bit of his younger self in Harley. He tells him that this plan will never work. He may try to let go of his dream, but it will never let go of him. As the afternoon goes on, they discover they have a lot more in common than they could have ever expected.

David Atkinson is excellent as the preacher, who is similar to Jeff Bridges’ character in Crazy Heart. Both of them are older musicians full of heartache who never found success. Christopher Fordinal is great as Harley, the young musician ready to give up on his dream. They are both good guitar players and singers. Nina Herzog is solid as Destiny, Harley’s wife. However, the one weakness of this play is that her reactions to the situations in the play seem a bit unrealistic. Lastly, Leonard Earl Howze is golden as Johnson, the bartender. He’s a great listener who sees the big picture and then shares this wisdom.

The music in this play is excellent. It’s singer songwriter style acoustic rock. Hopefully they will record a cast album!

Get tickets for Salvage now through January 19th!

Cost of a ticket: $35
PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Worth It +
Rating Scale: Exceptional Value > Worth It > Half Price > Go for Free > Don’t Bother

Quinn Delaney

In 1961, Patsy Cline played a show in Houston in a large honky tonk. One of her biggest fans, Louise Seger, arrived hours early. She spotted Patsy when she first entered and she introduced herself. They struck up a conversation and began to develop a friendship forged by the power of music. This play is a sweet southern tale of two women bonding over their troubles with life filled with 1950’s and 1960’s style country music.

https://open.spotify.com/track/6zFsz86nAj5gcvzyVqNL3k?si=3SdlFIrmTkasdFYZ8fSMgQ

In tonight’s production, Christina Hall played Patsy Cline. Her voice is excellent and she combines star power with southern charm. Harmony France played Louise. She was overjoyed to meet her hero and poured on the southern hospitality. They switch roles every night and it would be quite interesting to see the differences.

One of the best songs is “Crazy”. “I’m crazy for trying. And crazy for crying. And I’m crazy for loving you.” The song was written by Willie Nelson. The band is fantastic, prominently playing at the back of the intimate stage.

Another great song is “Leaving On Your Mind”. “If you’ve got leaving on your mind, tell me now, get it over.” It’s so simple and so heartbreakingly beautiful which also perfectly describes the show. If you aren’t familiar with Patsy Cline’s music, this is an excellent introduction. 

Get tickets now for Always… Patsy Cline through January 25!

Cost of a ticket: $45 and up for one show or $50 and up to see both versions

PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Half Price + for one show or Worth It + to see both versions

Rating Scale: Exceptional Value > Worth It > Half Price > Go for Free > Don’t Bother

Quinn Delaney

A dance team of preteens are striving to compete at nationals. The actors playing them range in age from being in their 20s to their 70s. This is very funny at first, and the actors play it up. Eventually, you grow used to it as they truly do embody these young girls and a boy. Also, a few times they act as their characters’ older selves looking back at this time in their life in a cool time shift.

The play has some very vulgar and honest language. It’s a very in depth dive into these girls lives. It is similar to The Wolves in that the teens discuss typical youthful interests but also some very adult topics as well. One small downside, is at two hours long, this play could really use an intermission. I don’t think anything would be lost by adding one.

One of the best parts of Steppenwolf is being able to see great actors play so many different roles and really see their acting range. This is a very strong ensemble piece. Each actor has their time to shine. Audrey Francis (The Doppelganger, You Got Older) is excellent as Mom and Vanessa, a dancer who doesn’t make it past the first performance. Caroline Neff (You Got Older, Linda Vista) is great as Zuzu, a surprising choice for a dance solo. Tim Hopper (Downstate, Linda Vista) is hilariously serious as the dance teacher. Karen Rodriguez (La Ruta, The Rembrandt) is powerful as Amina, the best dancer who is uncomfortable in that position. Ariana Burks, Adithi Chandrashekar, Shanesia Davis, Torrey Hanson, and Ellen Maddow are all fantastic as the rest of the dance team.

Get tickets now for Dance Nation through February 2!

Cost of a ticket: $56 and up

PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Worth It

Rating Scale: Exceptional Value > Worth It > Half Price > Go for Free > Don’t Bother

Quinn Delaney