Play Locally-Hot Happenings for the Weekend-6 CORNERS BBQ FEST & STUFFED AND UNSTRUNG

6 Corners BBQ Fest

Family Friendly Fun, Meaty Goodness, Film Festival, Great Tunes including Voodoo Kings at 6pm.....and More.   Click here for the FULL FEST SCHEDULE.

Chicago Filmmakers
is proud to screen a selection of digital shorts and 16mm films on
Saturday, June 16, at the Portage Theater, 4050 N. Milwaukee Ave.,
during BBQ Fest.  First up at Noon is a collection of films created by
youth in our Summer Digital Moviemaking Camps.
Following at  2 p.m., we will screen films from our collection by
Chicago’s own Tom Palazzolo including ‘At Maxwell Street’, ‘Jerry’s',
and ‘Ricky and Rocky’.  Join us to learn more about our summer youth
classes, film classes for adults, and other ways to get involved. For
additional information visit us at www.chicagofilmmakers.org

Bands

For the 6 Corners BBQ Fest, they strive to give you original talent,
and feature as many local bands as they can.

Saturday, June 16: Main Stage (on Milwaukee at Irving)

Waco Brothers: Saturday’s headliner

12:30: The Shams Band (We've given away their CD's to our readers, and shots stills and video of The Shams Band for years, and they're one of our local favs!    Search The Shams Band in our blog side bar for our past photo filled features, then get out and see them live TODAY!)

2:30 Four Star Brassband

4:30 Future Laureates (We've given away their CD's to our readers as well.   Future Laureates rock.)

6:30 Voodoo Kings (Highly recommended!  Check 'em out.   *Our freaky bit of family Voodoo from this week "AKA:  pix disappeared, but we got the tee shirt!"--Dug is on a shoot down in New Orleans and took a phone photo at Marie Laveau's House of Voodoo and sent it to us.    It didn't go through.   The same day, Du-Jay and I moved boxes around in the basement to make room for a new water meter and found a t-shirt on the floor under one from...you guessed it Maria Laveau's House of Voodoo.   It had been buried there for over TEN YEARS!   I pulled it out, washed it, and wore it.   When Dug called to ask how we like the picture we said "What picture?!"   Imagine our surprise when we finally saw the photo a day later!)

8:30 Waco Brothers

North Stage (On Milwaukee at Belle Plaine)

7:30 p.m. Polkaholics

(Another of our local favs.   Dare you not to dance.   Polkaholics are good time for all ages!)

Sunday, June 17: Main Stage (on Milwaukee at Irving)

A hometown band opening on Sunday

1:00 Old Irving

3:00 Andrew Diehl and the Nightmen

5:00 Magic Box

7:00 Brighton, MA

North Stage (On Milwaukee at Belle Plaine)

6: 00 Charlie Baran & The Groupo Gringo 

STUFFED AND UNSTRUNG

7:30pm at Bank of America Theatre

Yay!   Puppets behaving badly....one of my favorite genres.  This is one for the big kids AKA:  adults & 17+.   I've got my ticket, do YOU?    They're only in town through Sunday so get your act together and go already.    Stuffed and Unstrung is part of the TBS Just for Laughs Chicago comedy festival and also presented by Broadway in Chicago.    

If anyone needs to get out and see an R rated puppet show, it's parents of young children.    Sure, the childless and the hipsters can come too.....   But parents REALLY need a good old raunchy remedy for all the saccharine sweet, PC pablum we put up with in the name of entertaining our littles.   So book a sitter and come on out for laugh.   YOU deserve it.

Check out our full prior write up on Stuffed and Unstrung, including a video clip, by clicking right here.

National Theatre of Great Britain's Frankenstein a Must See at Music Box #review

Frankenstein--dark, dazzling & macabre

2012 TONY© AWARD-NOMINATED ONE MAN TWO GUVNORS, JUNE 16 & 21, AND DANNY BOYLE’S SMASH STAGE PRODUCTION OF FRANKENSTEIN, STARRING JONNY LEE MILLER & BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH, JUNE 18-19, & JULY 22, 25-26!

Check out our prior coverage including all the Music Box/ National Theatre show details HERE.

We were super stoked to have an advanced press sneak peek at Frankenstein (Version 2) Jonny Lee Miller as The Creature; Benedict Cumberbatch as Victor Frankenstein (2h 5m).   Pure theatre geeks will want to check out both versions, documented in this fabulous flip flop of leading roles.   We could only make the second version, but chatted up other critics who saw both and they personally preferred the second.   

Coincidentally, both actors are currently playing TV versions of Sherlock Holmes, and word is both did stellar jobs alternating in the stage roles of The Creature and Victor Frankenstein.  We thoroughly enjoyed Jonny Lee Miller's Creature, who embodied both the innocence and wonder and the vengeful fury of a toddler thwarted.  The brief "making of" documentary at the beginning was also an intriguing and informative high point and a welcome prelude.   

We've been doing a long form exploration via video interviews on How Creatives Parent and How Parents Create at ChiIL Mama/ChiIL Live Shows.   This was a stellar example of what we've been discovering.   Producing a new human changes you on a fundamental physical and mental level and flows through creative work in a vital way.  Miller said there was a lot of his two year old that went into his depiction, and it showed.   Even the initial entrance of The Creature was so birth like, as he emerged into this world.

By contrast, the others who saw Cumberbatch's Creature said his characterization was much more lurchy and marionette like.  The actors also studied stroke victims and those recovering from accidents, doing physical and speech therapy to regain control of their adult bodies, which also manifested in the physical characterization.   All in all, this challenging role was handled with impressive finesse.   

We were also quite impressed with the set design, lighting, costumes and make up.   The choices were unique and added much to the caliber of the show as a whole.   Sometimes it's hard to capture the immediacy and intimacy of live theatre on film, but the camera work is phenomenal and the show is still compelling on screen.  We liked the steam punk costume choices for the villagers.  The mob made a symbolically and visually impressive entrance when they first met The Creature, on their noisy, industrial, gear laden contraption.    

The Creature more closely resembles a man than a big green monster, but the play painfully and poignantly showcases the monstrous nature within man.   Mentally and emotionally this adaptation is more true to Shelley's book than most other Frankenstein movies and screen plays, but even more cynical and crackling with dark intensity.  The multilayered characters, excellent plot twists, and psychological and moral conundrums have us still thinking about the show days later.   Highly recommended.

We had planned to catch a press preview of One Man, Two Guvnors, too, but I ended up making an emergency trip to the vet instead, as my 110lb Akita was yelping in pain.   Fortunately it turned out to be a pinched neck nerve, so very painful but nothing lethal.   However, sometimes family....even the creatures under our care, have to take precedence.

Music Box tickets for all 3 shows are priced at $15 (advance), $18 (day of), and $20 to see both Frankenstein versions (advance sale only).  They can be purchased at the Music Box Theatre box office or online by clicking here.

The Music Box Theatre, Chicago’s year round film festival located at 3733 N. Southport Avenue, is proud to present limited engagement screenings of two National Theatre of Great Britain hits this summer:  the 2012 multiple Tony Award-nominated One Man Two Guvnors, featuring the current Broadway cast that transferred from the National, and Danny Boyle's smash hit stage production of Frankenstein, starring Jonny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch, who alternate in the roles of The Creature and Victor Frankenstein.   

*Can't make the Music Box dates?   You've got one more chance at Northwestern.
SAVE 20% ON THE NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE BROADCAST OF FRANKENSTEIN!
June 26 & July 24, 2012

Oscar-winner Danny Boyle (127 Hours, Slumdog Millionaire) returned to the theatre to direct this visionary production with Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller in alternating roles of Frankenstein and the Creature. It will return to cinemas worldwide this summer for a limited season of encore screenings, with two broadcasts at the Theater and Interpretation Center at Northwestern University: Tue, Jun 26, 7pm & Tue, Jul 24, 7pm.  The broadcasts will be held in the Ethel M. Barber Theater, 30 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston.  Mention code NUNTL and save 20% on full-price tickets (valid on advance purchase only).  (847) 491-7282 or  buy online!




Dueling Sherlocks


Can't get enough of JONNY LEE MILLER & BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH playing the same characters?


People on both sides of "the pond" and around the world dig Cumberbatch's Sherlock Holmes, on the BBC series of the same name.   A third series of the contemporary take on the timeless characters is slated for 2013.
 

This fall, CBS is set to unveil a new modern day version of Sherlock Holmes, "Elementary," set in New York and starring Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu.   Check out the trailer here.


The Show


On Air:
Thursdays 10/9c

 

Starring:
Jonny Lee Miller (Sherlock Holmes)

Lucy Liu (Joan Watson)

Aidan Quinn (Captain Tobias Gregson)

 

Executive Producers:
Rob Doherty

Sarah Timberman

Carl Beverly

Michael Cuesta

 

In a modern-day take on Sherlock Holmes, the iconic detective is taking on New York. Just out of rehab, he's been assigned to live with his worst nightmare-sober coach, Dr. Joan Watson. Holmes's unsurpassed skills of deduction and Watson's medical expertise come together to create a dream team for solving the NYPD's most impossible cases.


 

Seven Foot Bike Guy, Nick-TBS Just for Laughs Chicago (HD Vid Interview)

Check out our original HD video interview with Nick, owner of Sundance Bikes of South Carolina.   He created this rockin' SEVEN FOOT TALL BIKE and he's been ridin' high and makin' friends.    Why settle for a fixie when you can DIY up a fun, funky, true original!   

TBS Just for Laughs-Photo/ Video Kevin Smith Recap

Kevin Smith at Chicago Theater 6/14/12

TBS Just for Laughs Chicago continues







Over 100 comedians make Chi-Town funny ha-ha AND funny weird through this Sunday, June 17th.    Check out their main site here.    We had the great pleasure of checking out Kevin Smith (a not so silent version of Silent Bob) last night at Chicago Theater.    It was a pleasure to give away 10 tickets to our readers and to hear him get raunchy and real in a great Q & A.



  



At ChiIL Mama/ChiIL Live Shows, we've been doing a long running video exploration of How Creatives Parent and How Parents Create which you can check out here at our Pinterest Board.    I would love to catch up with Kevin Smith for a little one on one convo. about his wife and daughter.



Some great stuff came out at the Chicago Theater about how his family influences and inspires his creative work....from his wife's paranoid pot freak out to his toddler daughter's rocking out to theme music show credits, leading him to seek out a cameo appearance on one of their family favorites, Law and Order in 2000.   Smith is married to Jennifer Schwalbach Smith.   Their 13 year old daughter, Harley Quinn, was named for the Batman character.















 

Fan(atics) wait beside The Chicago Theater to get their memorabilia signed by Kevin Smith. 

Our favorite TBS promo was the 7
foot tall custom bike!   We scored an exclusive video interview with the
rider/bike creator/bike shop owner that we'll have up in the very near future.

    




Chi-town has character & characters! 






Even a street Tina came out to sing and dance with passers by! 



TBS Just for Laughs is ubiquitous this week.
  We saw their rickshaws and signage over outside of the Cubs game
yesterday and they had a bunch of billboard trucks outside of The
Chicago Theater last night.   They also had clever swag dispensers like a
free t-shirt vending machine that works with a Conan code and a human
roulette prize wheel.

There are still a ton of great shows going down Friday through Sunday.   Be sure to check out the full line up and performers' info here. 

Friday , June 15 SHOW VENUE TIME Tom Dreesen - Should Comedians Pay to Perform Laugh Factory 5:00 PM Best of the Fest UP Comedy Club 7:00 PM buy tickets Stuffed and Unstrung by Henson Alternative Bank of America Theater 7:00 PM buy tickets The Delocated Witness Protection Program Variety Show The Hideout 7:00 PM buy tickets Aziz Ansari: Buried Alive The Chicago Theatre 7:30 PM buy tickets John Oliver The Vic Theatre 7:30 PM buy tickets Stephen Merchant: Hello Ladies... Park West 7:30 PM buy tickets TBS LOL Lounge The Comedy Bar 7:30 PM buy tickets ALONE: Chicago's Best Solo Acts The Playground Theater 8:00 PM buy tickets Chris D'Elia Laugh Factory 8:00 PM buy tickets The Bitter Buddha Gene Siskel Film Center 8:00 PM buy tickets Breakout Performers Jokes and Notes 8:30 PM Kelly Carlin: A Carlin Home Companion UP Comedy Club 9:00 PM buy tickets Matt Braunger The Hideout 9:00 PM buy tickets Set List Lincoln Lodge 9:30 PM buy tickets TBS LOL Lounge The Comedy Bar 9:30 PM buy tickets Chris D'Elia Laugh Factory 10:00 PM buy tickets Jeff Ross Roasts Chicago Park West 10:00 PM buy tickets Never Been to Paris The Playground Theater 10:00 PM buy tickets 5-Star Leading Ladies Jokes and Notes 10:30 PM Aziz Ansari: Buried Alive The Chicago Theatre 10:30 PM buy tickets Natasha Leggero The Hideout 11:00 PM buy tickets TJ Miller Presents Performance Anxiety UP Comedy Club 11:00 PM buy tickets Set List Lincoln Lodge 11:30 PM buy tickets Scott Adsit and Jet Eveleth iO Theater 11:59 PM buy tickets		Saturday , June 16 SHOW VENUE TIME Tom Dreesen - The Joy Of Stand-Up Comedy And How To Get There Laugh Factory 5:00 PM Best of the Fest UP Comedy Club 7:00 PM buy tickets Stuffed and Unstrung by Henson Alternative Bank of America Theater 7:00 PM buy tickets The W. Kamau Bell Curve: Ending Racism in About An Hour The Hideout 7:00 PM buy tickets Nick Offerman: American Ham The Vic Theatre 7:30 PM buy tickets Sarah's Pro-Choice The Chicago Theatre 7:30 PM buy tickets Stephen Merchant: Hello Ladies... Park West 7:30 PM buy tickets TBS LOL Lounge The Comedy Bar 7:30 PM buy tickets ALONE: Chicago's Best Solo Acts The Playground Theater 8:00 PM buy tickets Chris D'Elia Laugh Factory 8:00 PM buy tickets Starting 5 Jokes and Notes 8:30 PM Best of the Fest UP Comedy Club 9:00 PM buy tickets Pete Holmes - You Made It Weird The Hideout 9:00 PM buy tickets The Dan Band House of Blues 9:00 PM buy tickets Set List Lincoln Lodge 9:30 PM buy tickets TBS LOL Lounge The Comedy Bar 9:30 PM buy tickets Chris D'Elia Laugh Factory 10:00 PM buy tickets Jeff Ross Roasts Chicago Park West 10:00 PM buy tickets Never Been to Paris The Playground Theater 10:00 PM buy tickets Nick Offerman: American Ham The Vic Theatre 10:00 PM buy tickets Best of the Midwest Jokes and Notes 10:30 PM Sarah's Pro-Choice The Chicago Theatre 10:30 PM buy tickets Brody Stevens The Hideout 11:00 PM buy tickets TJ Miller Presents Performance Anxiety UP Comedy Club 11:00 PM buy tickets Set List Lincoln Lodge 11:30 PM buy tickets Sunday , June 17 SHOW VENUE TIME Stuffed and Unstrung by Henson Alternative Bank of America Theater 7:00 PM buy tickets Stage Time Jokes and Notes 8:00 PM Vince Vaughn's Comedy Showcase The Chicago Theatre 8:00 PM buy tickets back to top Thursday , October 25 SHOW VENUE TIME Mike Birbiglia: My Girlfriend's Boyfriend Victory Gardens 7:30 PM buy tickets back to top Friday , October 26 SHOW VENUE TIME Mike Birbiglia: My Girlfriend's Boyfriend Victory Gardens 7:30 PM buy tickets Mike Birbiglia: My Girlfriend's Boyfriend Victory Gardens 10:00 PM buy tickets back to top Saturday , October 27 SHOW VENUE TIME Mike Birbiglia: My Girlfriend's Boyfriend Victory Gardens 7:30 PM buy tickets Mike Birbiglia: My Girlfriend's Boyfriend Victory Gardens 10:00 PM buy tickets

Play Locally-Highly Recommended Tonight--Blane Fonda Record Release & Goodbye Cruel World Opening at Theater Wit

Rock Out Tonight:



Blane Fonda Record Release @ Subterranean, Friday June 15 (17+)

Chicago electro-rockers Blane Fonda will celebrate the official release of Foolish Croon with a show at Subterranean tonight, Friday, June 15:

Blah Blah Blah and Volcanoes Make Islands will be the supporting acts.

House Call Entertainment, Inc. Presents!!

Blane Fonda/ Blah Blah Blah / Volcanoes Make Islands

Friday, Jun 15, 2012 9:00 PM CDT (8:30 PM Doors)
Subterranean
, Chicago, IL

17 years and over

Click here to purchase tickets

Check out the band's main site here for more info.





Act Out Tonight:



 

Production Photo Credit:  Tyler Core   Goodbye Cruel World at Theatre Wit



THE STRANGE TREE GROUP PRESENTS THE MIDWEST PREMIERE OF GOODBYE CRUEL WORLD


A SATIRICAL SOVIET FARCE PLAYING NOW THROUGH JULY 22 AT THEATER WIT

Adapted from Nicolai Erdman's 1928 play “The Suicide”, Strange Tree GroupBrings this Stalin-Banned, Side-Splitting, Sausage-Filled, Suicidal Story to Chicago



  

We've been promoting this show on our FB and Twitter feeds and are looking forward to checking it out.  ChiIL Live Shows will be there for opening night tonight and we'll have a full review up for you shortly.
 

The Strange Tree Group (STG) is proud to play a part in the torturous production history of Nicolai Erdman's The Suicide, “a spectacular mixture of the ridiculous and the sublime” that caused Joseph Stalin to send its playwright straight to Siberia before the thing could ever be produced. Adapted by Robert Ross Parker of New York’s Obie Award-winning Vampire Cowboys Theatre, with the literal translation by Marina Raydun, Goodbye Cruel World, crackles with comedy, 38 costume changes and terrible tuba playing. In the vein of Strange Trees 2010 Jeff Award-winning Shakespeare’s King Phycus, the ensemble is made up of six fearless actors portraying 27 distinctly different parts.

Directed by Strange Tree Group ensemble member Bob Kruse, Goodbye Cruel World is currently playing at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., in Theater 1, through July 22, 2012. Tickets are available at theaterwit.org or by calling 773.975.8150.

In this acclaimed 2010 adaptation our hero, poor Semyón Semyónovich, lives in a glorious worker’s republic, and yet, he has no job! His most recent scheme – to become a world-class tuba player and spend his fortune on vast quantities of eggnog – has fallen to ashes. In the depths of despair, Semyón contemplates bringing it all to an end…but that’s when his troubles truly begin. Before long, ambrosial actresses, passionate priests, and policy makers plot to exploit Semyón’s death for their own gain and, while they’re at it, topple an entire regime.

Goodbye Cruel World has only been produced once before by The Roundtable Ensemble in 2010 at Arclight Theater in New York. Of the production Jason Zinoman of the New York Times raved, “A rarely produced gem...Robert Ross Parker’s target is pure, silly farce. And he hits it, dead-on.”

One of the finest plays to come out of Communist Russia, Nicolai Erdman's The Suicide is a comic masterpiece, but unfortunately its production history is not as funny. Written in 1928, three of Russia’s acclaimed theatre companies, the Vaktangov Theatre, Stanislavski's Moscow Arts Theatre, and the Meyerhold Theatre all battled for the production rights.

The Meyerhold Theater won; however, after a closed dress rehearsal before members of the Cultural Propaganda Department of the Central Committee, the Stalinist government banned the play before its first public performance. Playwright Nikolai Erdman was arrested and exiled. The play wasn't produced in the USSR until 50 years later, after Erdman’s death. 
The Strange Tree Group is a collective of multifaceted individuals dedicated to creating intricate, intimate theatrical experiences that extend beyond the boundaries of a traditional stage. The company produces works that inspire creativity not only in its actors but also its audience. The Strange Tree Group is committed to producing pieces that celebrate the strange and the magical; the dangerous and the fantastical; and the surprisingly usual nature of unusual behavior.

The Strange Tree Group won a Non-Equity Jeff Award for Best Ensemble for their 2010 production of Shakespeare's King Phycus. The STG ensemble was nominated again for The Three Faces of Dr. Crippen, presented as part of the Steppenwolf Garage Rep, and Artistic Director Emily Schwartz won the Jeff Award for New Work for Dr. Crippen (which also picked up the Jeff Award for Best Director, given to Jimmy McDermott). For more information, visit strangetree.org.






Schedule & Ticket Information
The show runs Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. through July 22 at Theater Wit, 1229 West Belmont Ave., in Theater 1.

Tickets are $25 for general admission and $15 for Industry offered on Thursdays and Sundays (20 industry tickets available online per show, first come first serve); $15 for preview performances on June 13 and 14; and $13.50 for students with valid ID.

$20 discounted tickets available for groups of six or more. To reserve, call 773.975.8150.

$50 RIP (Really Important Person) seats, also known as the best seats in the Republic, along with a cast signed limited edition screen print are available.

Click here for tickets at Theater Wit's main site or call 773.975.8150.