Spotlight on Reviews

***RECOMMENDED***   You may have heard of the old jazz standard "What a Difference a Day Makes." Well, it can also be said that more than a mere 24 hours can alter how we perceive something or how we may process it. A particular language can make a major difference as well, as evidenced with Lyric Opera of Chicago's latest "Don Carlos." This is the very first time that Lyric is presenting Verdi's epic work in the 1886 five-act version in French and the one that the composer himself believed to be the most complete. The four-act version sung in Italian is most frequently encountered and has been performed multiple times at Lyric in the past.  3 SPOTLIGHTS

**** Recommended **** To open their final season, First Folio decided to reprise Jeeves Intervenes, which first appeared on the stage in the Mayslake library in 2008.  Most of the original cast members have returned too, making this a delightful evening.  Jeeves Intervenes is a comedy of manners, in a time when disputes and conflicts were settled with civility and good manners.  You can’t help laughing as Jeeves rescues that lovable twit, Bertie Wooster from family follies and his own scrapes.  Jeeves Intervenes is slightly insane and totally hilarious.  4 Spotlights

*** Recommended *** Sometimes directors have a vision for a new approach to a musical.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it fails   Porchlight Music Theatre’s production of Rent it didn’t just fail, it collapsed.  Rent was written as a rock opera about starving artists with all their angst and desperation.  It should be a little ragged, a little dirty, and a lot defiant.  This wasn’t.  Most of the songs were sung in one key – loud.  I really missed the emotion and nuance of Larson’s original score.  3 Spotlights

Camelot is a place where everything is right, in a time long ago….until King Arthur meets and weds Guinevere.  Initially it is a relationship made in heaven and the kingdom is perfect. Then, Lancelot enters the picture. King Arthur is enamored with him and bestows knighthood
and makes him a knight of the Round Table.  And then, Guinevere is enamored with him too and this does not end well.