**** Highly Recommended Chopin in Winter is a poignant story about childhood memories written by Stuart Dybel and imaginatively stage and directed by Dexter Bullard. Set in an apartment building on 18th Street in Pilson, it is a uniquely Chicago story. 15 pieces of Chopin’s music, beautifully played by Pianist Jana Pavlovska, add a special feeling to the story. 4 Spotlights
The set is simple, a desk, a table & chairs, a bed and a piano are widely spaced on the Chopin Theatre main stage. The storyteller, Yasen Peyankov, begins the story as he descends the stairs from the audience. Interestingly, he actually reads the story, rather than reciting it from memory, which gives a more spontaneous feel to the show.
The story is told by a boy growing up in an apartment in a Polish neighborhood on 18th Street. Mardy, the daughter of the family upstairs, was expecting a baby. She spent all her time playing Chopin by the hour. To the boy, the music seeped through the walls, came in through the window and drifted down the stairs.
Yasen Peyankov; Jana Pavlovska at the piano.
An elderly relative the boy’s family called Dzia-Dzia (pronounced Ja-Ja sort of), who apparently led an adventurous life, came home periodically, always wearing the same two suits, one on top of the other. He’d spend his time sitting by the table soaking his feet.
One day, when the music started, he angrily told a story of the Prussian army desecrating the house where Chopin had just died. He went on to explain Chopin to the boy, playing all the notes on the table.
One day, Mardy left home to move in with her black boyfriend on the south side. Soon after, Dzia-Dzia put on his two suits, one on top of the other, and left on another adventure.
Chopin in Winter runs through October 18th at the Chopin Theatre, 15543 W. Division Street, Chicago. Running time: one hour, 15 minutes, no intermission. Performances: Fridays & Saturdays at 7:00 pm, Sundays at 3:00 pm. $30-$40. FYI (773) 396-2875, (773) 278-1500 or www.chopintheatre.com