Willow brings her girlfriend home to New Orleans with her during a break from classes at NYU. But, she just says it’s her friend as she hasn’t come out to her family. Her grandmother is trying to have her reconnect with her first love by inviting him to Sunday dinner. This is against the wishes of Willow’s mother. This all leads to an incredibly dramatic dinner table scene.
Isis Elizabeth has written an extremely powerful play. It’s full of great drama along with some very humorous moments. It is an epic show coming in at three hours long (with an intermission). It’s similar in many ways to Purpose (which ran at Steppenwolf last spring), and has the potential to be just as big.
The entire cast puts on an incredible performance. Yahdina U-Deen is so strong and powerful as the grandmother trying to tell everyone how to live their lives. Sierra Coachman (Relentless Understudy) is superb as Willow, who keeps the audience guessing about what she’ll do next. Dylan Rogers (Relentless Understudy) is so very confident as the first love. Monique Marshaun is great as the mother who has some dark secrets. Lastly, Ash is so funny and self-assured as the girlfriend.
Cost of a ticket: $52
PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Worth It +
Rating Scale: Exceptional Value > Worth It > Discounted > Go for Free > Don’t Bother
Get tickets now for Beneath the Willow Tree through September 29!
Mat Kearney has been coming to Chicago often since he released Nothing Left to Lose in 2006. He started at Schubas and has since played at the Metro, the Chicago Theatre, and the Riviera Theatre. This is his first time playing at the Vic Theatre. He has built his fan base solidly through all this touring and by releasing a solid stream of albums.
They open with “Headlights Home” from his brand new self titled album. It’s a beautiful song and it instantly proves that he is still writing great music.
He follows it up with “Anywhere With You” from his 2021 album, January Flower. “Found there’s only so much / You wanna see alone … I’d go anywhere with you / I know you feel the same thing that I do”. This is another lovely song that has the couples swaying back and forth together.
Later on he plays “Money” from his 2018 album, “CRAZYTALK”. “My girl is money, money / Dollar, dollar bill / Ain’t nothin’ like her, nah, nah, nah / Can’t live without her, nah, nah, nah.” This is such a fun and sweet song.
Midway in the set, Kearney plays another song from the same album, “Wanted Man”. It’s just Mat on acoustic guitar. It’s so great when a band can switch gears like this. To have slow parts and fast parts really creates a full show. “I ain’t no Butch Cassidy or Sundance Kid / But I stole your heart with a-just one kiss / You were there by my side when the only reward / Was ridin’ shotgun in that Honda Accord / You’re my partner in crime when you take my hand / You make me feel like, a wanted man.” Wow, what a romantic love song for a wedding.
Towards the end of the night, he plays “Ships In The Night” from his 2011 album, “Young Love”. This is his most popular song on Spotify with over 61.5 million streams. It features his style of speak-singing on the verses.
At the end of the encore, he closes with the title track from his 2006 album, “Nothing Left to Lose” from 2006. It sounds just as fresh as it did 18 years ago!
The acting is great. Rebeca Alemán is excellent as Paulina struggling to recover her speaking ability and her memory. Erik K. Roberts is superb as Rodrigo, her co-worker and caretaker.
The subject matter is life or death.
Cons:
The main action doesn’t take place on stage. Instead, it is just talked about.
The subtitles are displayed on an uneven curtain which makes it difficult to read. Also, they are in both English in Spanish, depending on which language they are speaking. This is very confusing. The audience doesn’t know whether to listen or to read, so they try to do both, which is practically impossible. A good solution is to have the English subtitles displayed in a different location than the Spanish subtitles.
At 95 minutes, it is a bit long to not have an intermission. Join the Pro-Intermission movement here.
The listed start time of 7pm is not the actual start time. It starts about 20 minutes later.
Cost of a ticket: $30
PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Discounted
Rating Scale: Exceptional Value > Worth It > Discounted > Go for Free > Don’t Bother
[title of show] first premiered at the Musical Theatre Festival in NYC, in September 2004. It opened off Broadway in 2006. It premiered on Broadway in 2008. And now, in September 2024, it opens at the Pride Arts Center.
Two guys are writing a musical for a festival that has a submission deadline in three weeks. The musical they are writing is the musical that you are watching. This results in some very funny self referential material.
Photos by Logan and Candice Conner, Oomphotography.
At 90 minutes, it is a bit long to not have an intermission. Join the Pro-Intermission movement here.
Casey Coppess and Jonah Cochin are excellent as the two writers. They have great chemistry as they throw ideas off each other. Lexi Alioto and Shannon McEldowney are fantastic as the two friends brought in to help them finish this ambitious project. All of them are great singers and hilarious. Lastly, Robert Ollis is superb as Larry, the keyboard player.
Gaslight Anthem kicks their set off with a banger, the title track from their 2010 album, American Slang. The rocking guitars perfectling align with the rocking drums and the powerful vocals.
They follow with “45” from their 2012 album, Handwritten. “Hey hey, turn the record over / Hey hey, and I’ll see you on the flip side”. This is another great rocker that keeps the energy level high.
Midway in their set, they play “Michigan, 1975”, from their 2024 album, History Books. This mellow song is hauntingly beautiful and slows things down for just a bit.
Towards the end of the night, they play “Great Expectations” from their 2009 album, The ’59 Sound. “I saw tail lights last night in a dream about my first wife. / Everybody leaves and I’d expect as much from you. / I saw tail lights last night in a dream about my old life. / Everybody leaves, so why, why wouldn’t you?” The crowd eats it up as they dance around.
For the penultimate song, they go with “The ’59 Sound”. “Did you hear the fifty-nine sound coming through on grandfather’s radio? Did you hear the rattling chains in the hospital walls? Did you hear the old gospel choir when they came to carry you over? Did you hear your favorite song one last time?” The song’s title references a 1959 Fender Bassman amplifier that Brian Fallon (the lead singer) built.
They close with a fantastic version of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana. The opening bands join them on stage in a huge celebration of this legendary song. “Here we are now, entertain us!” yells everyone in the entire Salt Shed.
Red Wanting Blue are from Columbus, Ohio, the 14th largest city in the US. They have been playing their brand of Americana for 27 years.
They are touring in support of their brand new album, Light It Up. They kick off the night with “Hey, ‘84”. “We felt love / We knew love / Before we ever even knew / What love was!” This song frickin’ rocks and instantly proves they are still making great music and it’s going to be a great night.
They follow with the title track, “Light It Up”. This beautiful song has the audience holding up their cell phone lights and waving them to the music. The passion and truth in Scott Terry’s voice is so strong on this one and throughout the night.
Soon afterwards, they play “You Are My Las Vegas”, which is a crowd favorite. It’s a joyfully fun song that puts a smile on everyone’s face “What are the odds that you’re going home with me, real soon?”
“Younger Years” is a great singalong song. “What do you wanna be when you grow up?” “I don’t know! I don’t know!” It gets the crowd going early on and they maintain this energy throughout the show.
Later on, they launch into “My Name is Death”. It’s a fantastically cool tune from the point of view of the Grim Reaper. “I’m the baddest motherfucker you’ll ever meet” sings the audience gleefully.
Towards the end of the night, they play “Audition”. “I’m just a friend / I want a larger role / I’m just a friend / I never told you though.”
Terry says that they love it here in Chicago. “Tuesday night here is like a Saturday night anywhere else!” What a great line! You could also say that any night that Red Wanting Blue is playing feels like a Saturday night!
The film version of Network was released in 1976. Peter Finch, William Holden, and Faye Dunaway all won Oscars for their roles. The play version first premiered in November 2017 at the Royal National Theatre.
Howard Beale is a network television anchor. Due to low ratings, he announces on live TV that he is going to kill himself live on air in one week. This leads to a ratings boom where Beale rants his truth to his audience.
Photos by Aaron Reese Boseman Photography.
James Turano puts on a strong performance as Howard Beale. “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore” he says. Anne Trodden is excellent as Diana Christensen, the producer. Chuck Munro is great as Max Schumacher, the head network executive. The rest of the cast is solid in their supporting roles.
The set is an impressive recreation of a TV studio, complete with real TV cameras and a control booth.
Cost of a ticket: $27.50 (Mondays)
PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Worth It
Rating Scale: Exceptional Value > Worth It > Discounted > Go for Free > Don’t Bother
Get tickets now for Network through September 29th!
It’s always something of a homecoming when Umphrey’s McGee plays a show in Chicago, their erstwhile hometown. The six-piece band’s roots are in South Bend, IN, but a few years after their founding they relocated to Chicago and called it home for years. With the band members’ homes now scattered across the country, gone are the days when fans could count on double-digit shows per year in the Windy City. Recent years have seen Umphrey’s play their extended-length, two-night, fan-directed extravaganza UMBowl (2022) and three-night New Year’s run (2023) at the Riviera Theatre in the city’s Uptown neighborhood, but the Chicago Umphreak these days has to “Get in the Van,” as one of their early song titles beckons, and travel if they want to see the band as often as they could have for most of the 2000s and early 2010s in town.
The band’s first-ever show at the Salt Shed Fairgrounds on Friday also marked their first outdoor summer concert within the city limits since a 2019 appearance at the now-closed Lakefront Green. Announced as a single-set performance occupying a two-hour-and-fifteen-minute time slot, the show would mark, by the band’s own count, the 173rd Umphrey’s McGee performance in Chicago since forming in 1997. On an evening marked by perfect weather conditions at the Salt Shed’s riverside setting, fans were first treated to a performance by Stolen Gin, followed by the soaring, blues-based improvisational rock of New Haven-based quartet Eggy.
Experienced Umphrey’s fans knew to expect that, unlike a standard two-set-plus-encore performance, the 10pm cutoff and single-set format would lead to a family-friendly atmosphere (guitarist Brendan Bayliss at one point between songs joked that “all” the kids from his own childen’s sports teams and classes were there as guests) but also a narrower range of the band’s improvisational abilities on display. There would be no 27-minute version of any song, such as the extended “Attachments” that was unleashed on fans in St. Louis the previous night. That show also opened with the aforementioned “Get in the Van”, an instrumental tune that has become a rarity in recent years and whose title once served as a rallying cry for fans who had to travel in order to see the band play.
By contrast, Friday’s performance was heavy on old, nostalgic favorites like “All in Time” and “Hajimemashite”, soaring rock anthems whose lyrics express the uncertainty and yearning of young adulthood, and “In the Kitchen”, the band’s ode to their former hometown of Chicago. The most inspired stretch of improvisation occurred within one of the band’s newest songs, a dreamy, haunting bit of pop rock called “Staircase”. Effortlessly evolving from a sparkly, spacey sound to driven jazz-rock, and then into a dark, industrial metal sound that included a reprise of guitar riffs heard earlier in the jam from guitarist Jake Cinninger. Umphrey’s improvisational game was as tight as ever. But maybe too tight for fans who enjoy seeing the band at its most exploratory. Other show highlights included the second-ever full performance of The Police’s “Message in a Bottle” and the intricate progressive rocker “2nd Self”, a song that, while mellow by Umphrey’s standards, seems to dazzle no matter how many times they play it. While there was no half-hour jam, nor was there a rare original tune that might have numerous long-time fans scratching a title off their list of unseen songs, Umphrey’s McGee brought the same danceable energy and musicianship they have been known to consistently deliver for a quarter-century. It’s what keeps the band’s loyal fanbase coming back to show after show, year after year. But it’s helpful to know that during the summertime, to see Umphrey’s push themselves to the limits of their abilities, break new ground, and play their rarest songs, you need to “Get in the Van”.
Colin Hay was born just south of Glasgow in Scotland. When he was 14, he moved to Melbourne, Australia, with his family. After Men at Work called it quits, he moved to LA.
Early in the set, he says the next one is a very simple song with just a few chords, which is true of most of my songs. This song is about all the extra time I had after I quit drinking. He goes on to play “Beautiful World” from his 2000 album, Going Somewhere.
Colin says that in the original, it is saxophones playing the melody at the start of “Who Can It Be Now?” On guitar, it sounds much more eerie. It sounds like the music they play before going to commercial on Forensic Files. This is great example of the charming and funny stories that he tells about the songs before playing them.
Next is another one from the Men at Work time, “Overkill”, which was on their 1983 album, Cargo. “People seem to still like this one”, he says. 20 years after the release of the song, he ran into someone who said they he really likes the song about the goats. The lyric goes, “Ghosts appear and fade away”. Colin thought it was quite funny that this guy thought the song was about farm animals. This reminded him of a story about when he and his housemates bought a goat because the grass in the yard was getting out of control. It turns out that goats don’t eat grass and it just came inside at night and watched TV with us!
He often gets asked by people if they should go into songwriting. He responds that he wrote this one song in 40 minutes, and it has kept him going for 40 years, so, Yes! He goes on to play “Down Under”, from their 1981 album, Business As Usual. It’s Men at Work’s most popular song on Spotify, with over 878 million streams.
Fun Fact: Zach Braff featured Hay’s music in his 2004 film Garden State and his sitcom Scrubs, which gave Colin a bump in is popularity in the early 2000s.
Super American begins with “Manager Haircut” from their 2024 album, Gangster of Love. “We should be PCH pulled over trading tongues in the back / But I’m on my Robinhood app / Seeing how the stocks are doin’ / You should be putting my hands where you want them / Waited this long to feel somethin’ / But I’m playing nine holes of golf with an old ass man”. These are some great pop punk lyrics and a great way to start off their set.
Later on they play “how big is your brain” from their 2021 album, SUP. This is their most popular track on Spotify with over 3.6 million streams. This song is incredibly catchy and the crowd happily sings and dances along.
Soon afterwards, they play “RIP JEFF” from the same album. “I named my ego Jeff / Fuck you Jeff / Go die a brutal death / Yeah / It’s no sweat / Glad to get you off my chest”. A fan right next to stage is holding up a sign that says “Fuck you Jeff”. This is an audience favorite.
This is their first tour headlining anywhere outside of Buffalo, NY. The crowd was on the smaller size, but they were very enthusiastic. They’ll surely draw more people next time as everyone at this show tells their friends about this great performance.
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