Semyon has decided that life is not worth living and he wants to kill himself. In his initial suicide letter, he says no one is to blame. When one of the neighbors discovers his intentions, he begins selling people the opportunity to meet with Semyon before he kills himself. He brings many different Soviets including an intellectual unsatisfied with the government, a romantic, a priest, a writer, and more. They all want him to use his suicide letter to further their causes.

This is a very dark comedy. While the subject matter is gloomy, the absurdity of the situation does become very funny. The more people that show up insisting that his suicide note be about their cause, the funnier it gets.

This production features an impressive 3-level set designed by Kevin Hagan. It takes full advantage of the Bookspan space as it reaches up to the ceiling. The production also features two great musicians, Carolyn Waldee and Mary Spencer, who play before the play, during the intermission, and as beggar musicians in the play.

Todd Wojcik (The Pavilion, Wellesley Girl) is excellent as the opportunist selling people the chance to meet Semyon. Kathy Scambiattera is hilarious as the snarky mother in law of Semyon. She is also the Artistic Director and co-founder of The Artistic Home. Patrick Thornton (Why Torture is Wrong and the People Who Love Them, Requiem for a Heavyweight) is so funny as the priest preaching about the evils of hell while Semyon insists he doesn’t believe in God or any of what he is saying. Also, Daniel Shtivelberg is great as Semyon, contemplating the reasons to live or die. The rest of the cast is solid as well.

See the program here.

Cost of a ticket: $42

PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Worth It +

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Get tickets now for Dying For It through April 23^rd!

Quinn Delaney

On the surface, the Healys are a perfect family. The father is a partner at his law firm. The mother runs a perfect house and is loved by the community. The son was just accepted to Harvard. The daughter is a vary smart activist. But dig a little deeper, and you’ll see that each one of them has their issues to overcome.

Every song from Alanis Morissette’s debut 1995 album, Jagged Little Pill, is used along with other songs from later albums. This album is 10^th on the list of Best-Selling Albums of All Time. Alanis also wrote two new songs for the musical, “Smiling” and “Predator”.

Heidi Blickenstaff is outstanding as the complicated mother. Her vocals truly shine on “Forgiven”, in a very emotional performance.

Jade McLeod is superb as the girlfriend of the daughter. Their performance of “You Oughta Know” is an exceptional display full of raw emotion.

In addition to the drama, the musical also contains a lot of comedy. It is especially clever how they do “Ironic”.  Lauren Chanel presents it as an essay to her class. The students keep interrupting her to say that her examples aren’t really irony.

The choreography by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui is excellent. Jena VanElslander’s dancing is especially impressive. All the elements truly come together to make a world class production that is definitely worth putting on your playlist of must-see shows.

Cost of a ticket: $115

PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Worth It +

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Get tickets now for Jagged Little Pill through April 23^rd!

Quinn Delaney

Jukebox the Ghost just released an album this year titled Cheers. For the second song of their set, they play “Million Dollar Bills”. Someone from the second floor throws million dollar bills up into the air and they rain down on the audience below. It’s a very cool visual.

https://open.spotify.com/track/3WZFEgZDpbcPkhrRXFvL8K?si=b297115459af403b

Later on, Thornewill brings out a spinning wheel with song names written on it. He has an audience member spin the wheel to determine the next song. It lands on “Postcard”. “One of the rules about the wheel, is that we aren’t allowed to practice the songs”, says Tommy Siegel, the guitarist. Still, they play it perfectly, like true pros.

The drummer, Jesse Kristen, comes to the front of the stage, and is met with great applause. He sings the beginning of the song, “Hollywood”. He draws out the words in a funny lackadaisical manner. “If all the world’s a stage, then you’re my favorite actress. If all of life’s a game, I sure could use the practice.” He then runs back to his kit and the song picks up the beat. Ben Thornewill (Piano) sings “It’s the kind of love that doesn’t exist anymore. You want Hollywood, this is real life!” It’s great lyrics like this that really describe what it’s like to be in the relationship that audiences strongly connect with.

For the encore, they begin with “You Make My Dreams (Come True)”. This is such a fun 80’s song and everyone eats it up as they sing and dance along. Hall & Oates would be proud. The entire audience walks out with a smile on their face hoping they will see this great band again soon.

See the full setlist here.

Quinn Delaney

Gus is an artist try to get into the New America show at his local art museum. The curator rejects him because he is a white male. So, he hires a black female actress to pretend to be the creator of his paintings. Eventually, the drama builds as the actress demands to have more control.

James IJames has written a funny piece directly pulled from the headlines that explores issues of racism and sexism. It is much more relatable than his avant-garde Miz Martha. At 90 minutes, it is a bit long to not have a break It would be nice if they offered some performances with an intermission.

Tenaj Wallace is fantastic as the black female actress who truly loses herself in the role. Matthew Thompson is superb and steals a few scenes as Gus’s boyfriend who is shocked by his actions. Grace Blakeman is perfect as the museum curator. Within the gallery at The New Orleans Museum of Art, her performance seems so real. Lastly, Matt Armato is solid as Gus. However, he played the character a little too normal to have come up with this crazy plan.

See the program here.

Cost of a ticket: $38

PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Half Price +

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Get tickets now for White through March 31^st!

Quinn Delaney

The original Lafayette’s was a small venue that hosted some big names getting their start in the 1970’s. These names include Billy Joel, Big Star, KISS, Barry Manilow, and Leon Russell. It reopened 38 years after closing in the 70s. The venue features tables spread out on the floor for the audience to sit down to eat and drink during the show. This is similar to BB Kings Blues Club, Rum Boogie Café, and City Winery.

Smile Empty Soul originated in Santa Clarita, California in 1998. They now call Los Angeles their home. At 830, they take the stage, which is a bit on the early side for them.

Late in the set, they play “Silhouettes” from their 2003 self titled debut album. “I don’t wanna live like my mother / I don’t wanna let fear rule my life / And I don’t wanna live like my father / I don’t wanna give up before I die”. This is such a powerful song about hoping for a better life than your parents.

At the end of their set, they play “Bottom of a Bottle”, also from their debut album, which has over 61 million streams on Spotify. “I do it for the drugs / I do it just to feel alive / I do it for the love / That I get from the bottom of a bottle”. What a fantastic chorus that the crowd happily shouts along with the band.  This song still sounds just as great as it did 20 years ago.

Cost of a ticket: $25

PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Worth It +

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

Quinn Delaney

“The Play That Goes Wrong” is a play that was written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields, who are members of a British theater company called Mischief Theatre. They also created The Goes Wrong Show. The play premiered at the Old Red Lion Theatre in London in 2012. It opened on Broadway in April 2017. A long production in Chicago went from December 2021 to May 2022. And now in March of 2023, it opens at Theatre Memphis.

The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society are attempting to stage a murder mystery play, The Murder at Haversham Manor. However, as the title suggests, everything that can go wrong does go wrong, leading to a series of hilarious mishaps and misunderstandings.

The play is full of slapstick humor, physical comedy, and farcical situations that keep the audience laughing throughout the show. The over acting is especially funny. Whether you’re a fan of comedy or just looking for a good laugh, this play is definitely worth checking out.

See the program here. Be sure to read the bios of the “actors” on page 17!

Cost of a ticket: $25
PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Exceptional Value
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Get tickets now for The Play That Goes Wrong through March 26^th!

Quinn Delaney

Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams are a married couple playing as a duo tonight. They met in 1986 when Campbell was asked to play a concert in New York featuring Williams. Two years later they were married. In 1997, Campbell joined Bob Dylan’s backing band and played with them for eight years. Afterwards, they both joined Levon Helm’s band. In 2015, they made their official debut and released their first album. In 2017, they released their second album and now they are touring in support of their third album, Live at Levon’s!

Their sound is a mix of folk, americana, and rock. In addition to being great guitar players, they are also great storytellers. Throughout the night they spin tales that lead right into the songs. Campbell is also excellent on the fiddle.

Towards the end of Shawn Mullins set, he invites Larry and Teresa to join him on stage. They first play “Beautiful Wreck” “I’ve lost count of the times I’ve given up on you” he sings. The audience is fully engaged watching this master of songwriting and singing perform this beautiful song with Campbell on mandolin and Williams providing backup vocals.

At last they launch into Mullin’s 1998 hit, “Lullaby”, which has over 42 millions streams on Spotify. It’s a great song about LA. “It’s kinda like Nashville, with a tan.” “Everything’s going to be alright, Rockaby, rockabye, rockabye”. It’s a perfect end to a fantastic set of music.

Cost of a ticket: $43

PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Worth It +

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Quinn Delaney

It’s 1920 and Isaac Babel is writing in his journal about the Polish-Soviet War. Jump forward 90 years and this journal is given to a young man after a mysterious plane crash. It’s a play that blends historical drama, political satire, surrealistic fantasy, and meta-theatrical experimentation.

Rajiv Joseph (King James, Guards at the Taj ) has written a thriller that is on the longer side at 2 hours and 45 minutes. It’s an exploration of truth verse fiction. It is comprised of some great scenes and moments, but they don’t add up very cohesively in this production.

In the ensemble theatre, the set design is forced to be simple. No elaborate backdrop can be created for a theatre in the round which makes it harder to set the scene. Another issue is at all times, the actor will be facing directly away from some of the audience. If they are doing something directly in front of them, it will be missed. Also, many of the seats do not face towards the middle and you will be forced to sit sideways in your seat. This is especially true of the seats in the front towards the end.

Despite the issues mentioned, the cast gives great performances. Glenn Davis (King James, The Christians) is excellent as the KGB agent. James Vincent Meredith (The Minutes) is stellar as Isaac Babel, a Jewish writer journaling about the war. Yasen Peyankov (Lindiwe) is haunting as the Russian soldier.  Sally Murphy (The Minutes, Linda Vista) is splendid as the wife of the Russian soldier. Caroline Neff (You Got Older, Linda Vista) is great as the reporter trying to escape the country. Jack Cain and Charence Higgins are solid in their Steppenwolf debuts.  

Cost of a ticket: $68

PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Half Price +

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Get tickets now for Describe the Night through April 9^th!

Quinn Delaney

TINA – The Tina Turner Musical had it’s first performance in April 2018 in London. It first opened on Broadway in November 2019. What’s Love Got to Do with It, the Tina Turner biopic, was released in 1993, starring Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne. Now it opens at the Nederlander Theatre in Chicago in March of 2023.

The musical starts with Tina’s humble beginnings in Nutbush, Tennessee. It then moves to her career in Ike Turner’s band. At last, it moves on to her solo career.

The first half of the show is intensely dark. It’s hard to watch as she is abandoned by her mother, abused by Ike Turner, and deals with racism in the south. The second half is much brighter as enters the solo phase of her career.

The most heartbreaking scene is when Tina sings “What’s Love Got to Do with It” to the band member that she has been seeing after she accepts an engagement to Ike. “Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?” It’s such a powerful moment.

One of the highlights is the choreography by Anthony van Laast, which is both exciting and mesmerizing. The dance numbers are perfectly synchronized and complement the music perfectly, creating an immersive experience that will leave you wanting more.

“The Best” is the grand finale. “You’re simply the best / Better than all the rest / Better than anyone / Anyone I’ve ever met”. It’s a great song of triumph for Tina as she finally has found a great partner in Erwin.

After the curtain call, Zurin Villanueva returns as Tina to sing “Proud Mary” for an encore. On alternate nights, Ari Groover stars as Tina. This is necessary as the vocals required in this show that no one person could do eight shows per week. “Big wheel keep on turning / Proud Mary keep on burning / Rolling, rolling, rolling on the river”. It is a fantastically joyous way to end the night.

Cost of a ticket: $145 (Orchestra)

PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Worth It –

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Get tickets now for TINA – The Tina Turner Musical through April 2^nd!

Quinn Delaney