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"Traces," the circus show that impressed at the Broadway Playhouse in Chicago last winter, is getting an Off-Broadway run. The show will open in August at the Union Square Theatre in New York.  It's the work of the Montreal-based 7 Fingers; Fox Theatricals are the producers.

The dancers of the Joffrey Ballet have been locked out of the rehearsal room, Nina Metz reports. It's part of a labor dispute that may lead to cancelled performances.

 
“1001 Nights,” by the British theater director Tim Supple, was commissioned by Toronto’s Luminato Festival and was supposed to open on Navy Pier in Chicago June 25.

TORONTO — Luminato, the festival of arts, culture and ideas that just concluded in Canada's largest city, has only been held for four years. But this citywide extravaganza already attracts a collective audience in excess of 1 million and spends millions of dollars on the commissioning of expansive international creations like Tim Supple's “1001 Nights,” a show that used 24 actors from across the Middle East and that was supposed to then come to the Chicago Shakespeare Theater before visa issues killed, or at least postponed, the booking.

But for all the lofty artistic aims spoken at Luminato, which claims to be the largest multi-arts festival in North America, one message here rings the loudest and the clearest: This festival was created to promote its home city and build its cultural prestige around the globe. Or, as the manifesto of the co-founders puts it: “to shine Toronto's light on the world and the world's light on Toronto.” You can't say it much clearer than that.

Surely, there are several lessons here for Chicago, a city that desperately wants to improve its international reputation and currently minimal share of foreign tourists. According to figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Chicago's share of international visitors to the U.S. actually shrank between 2009 and 2010: from 4.7percent to 4.5 percent, a share already below that of much smaller cities like Boston. In 2010, Toronto attracted roughly 2 1/2 times as many international visitors as Chicago.

THEATER REVIEW: "Beauty and the Beast" ★★½ Through Aug. 7 at the Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph St.; Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes; $18-$85 at 800-775-2000 or broadwayinchicago.com

I'm not the most enthusiastic welcoming committee when non-Equity tours of Broadway musicals such as “Beauty and the Beast” land in one of the major Loop houses like the Oriental Theatre, especially for a six-week run.

While these low-cost productions have a role in bringing tours to smaller cities, New York would erupt with howls of protest if such a production landed on Broadway. I fail to see why downtown Chicago should be any different. Especially when there is little or no disclosure of the distinction in promotion materials and no meaningful reduction in ticket prices. “Beauty and the Beast” will cost you up to $85 for the best seats, though discounts are out there.

What “non-Equity” (or non-union) means is that you're seeing actors who have never done a Broadway show (this at Broadway in Chicago) and are, most likely, just a year or two out of training and on their first tour (older actors tend to come from the light-opera world or a variety of international or nonprofessional backgrounds). These shows are massive profit centers when they sell well, because their costs are but a fraction of, say, “Billy Elliot” or “Wicked” — to name two top-tier shows that once filled this most fabulous of Chicago venues. Much of the orchestra you hear striking up most of Alan Menken's wonderful score is housed inside a computer. It ain't so much a matter of raising a baton as hitting “play.”

Just as the sun starts coming out in Chicago, so do a couple of terrific new plays.

The Goodman Theatre is just completing a season dominated by ambitious world premieres: "Stage Kiss" from Sarah Ruhl, "Mary" by Thomas Bradshaw, "El Nogalar" by Tanya Saracho. But while all of these shows had their merits, it has taken until the last show of the season for the Goodman to really have a hit. David Henry Hwang's "Chinglish" is that rare and desirable theatrical beast that's culturally wise, thematically complex and politically timely — but also enough of a good time that if you head over to Dearborn Street directly from the office, you won't feel like you've shelled out money to take part in some kind of academic, after-hours seminar.

You'll actually have a number of good laughs. Trust me on that.

Continue reading "Two worthy new summer plays: 'Chinglish' and 'The Homosexuals'"

In her Tribune column today, Nina Metz takes a detailed look at the filming of "Boss," the promising, made-in-Chicago new Starz TV show starring Kelsey Grammer and concerning a fictional mayor of Chicago.

Along with a re-creation of an entire floor of City Hall, she finds a lot of familiar names from Chicago theater on the set: John Judd, Craig Spidle, Kevin Gudahl, Ron OJ Parson and Carmen Roman, who gets thrown under a bus by the boss. 

Metaphorically speaking.

 
IN PERFORMANCE: Cirque du Soleil's "Ovo" ★★★½ Through Aug. 21 at the United Center, 1901 W. Madison St.; Tickets: $60-$130 at 800-678-5440 or www.cirquedusoleil.com

Insects are such a good match for the Cirque du Soleil, you have to wonder why those scurrying around that famous Montreal hive had not thought of them before.

In years of reviewing Cirque shows, from “Nouvelle Experience” on, this is the first time that Cirque's contortionists have made dramatic sense. In every other show, you admire the twists and turns, spend a few seconds pondering your own ever-growing inability to do even a fraction of the same, and then wonder not so much where those arms and legs might be going next as why they would be going there. Yet in Deborah Colker's distinctive, fresh and curious “Ovo,” which hatched a summer Chicago run Wednesday night, you actually get to see these performers create a slew of spiders, to name but one of the bugs under the creative microscope. Or so it seems. Some of the appendages display the kind of mutative powers that make the term “leg” redundant.

“Ovo” is my favorite Cirque show in a couple of years. “Viva Elvis,” the newest Las Vegas show, is trapped in the celebration of authorized Elvis, hindering creativity. The less said about the disastrous “Banana Shpeel” the better. In Vegas, Cirque now tends to split the demographic, offering different kinds of shows for different kinds of people (up next: Michael Jackson). Its track record in proscenium theaters remains mixed. And who wants to see Cirque is some sterile suburban arena?

But the first-run tent shows — “Ovo” is the latest in a long and very distinguished line that have been coming to Chicago for two decades — retain a certain purity of vision and connection to the company's outdoor roots. Gifted artists such as Colker, a major figure in contemporary Brazilian dance, are generally left alone to do their thing. The experience for an audience is intimate, yet full of spectacle. And for Cirque, the canvas is secured by 25 years of creativity.

"Ovo" is the new touring production by Cirque du Soleil.

In her native Brazil, Deborah Colker is a widely acclaimed choreographer with a long-established dance company, Companhia de Danca Deborah Colker. But Colker is also the director of Cirque du Soleil's touring tent show, “Ovo,” which opens Wednesday in Parking Lot K, next to the United Center on Chicago's Near West Side. It'll be in Chicago all summer.

Q: So you just arrived in Chicago from Brazil?

A: I love this city. This is my first time here and it's really a great surprise. Nobody knows how is Chicago. It's a little like New York, but nicer, cleaner. Really, I didn't know. I expected to see Don Corleone.

Q: Your show is about insects. Why insects?

A: At my first meeting with Guy Laliberte (Cirque's CEO), he told me he wanted to have a show about nature and biodiversity. I asked if it must be political and he said, “No, it's an artistic show.” So I had this idea to do a show about insects.

Q: They don't get much respect.

A: No. If we see an ant we stomp on it. Butterflies we respect. But insects are so small and so important. They are part of our world all the time.

Q: How do they translate into a show?

A: Well, for example, I wanted to find a relationship between acrobats and insects. How they fly. How they run. Insects have six legs or eight legs, and it's the same with the acrobats. They have more legs than usual people. And then, as well as the movement, there is the personality of the insects. Some can be nice and beautiful. Some can be horrible and dangerous. I wanted to put a lens in their small world.

The Steppenwolf Theatre Company has announced its slate of plays for the upcoming "First Look Repertory of New Works," a script-development project that premieres new work in modestly scaled productions. This year's line-up includes:

• "Man in Love" by Christina Anderson. Robert O'Hara directs a new play set in the 1930s.
• "Want" by Zayd Dohrn. A piece about former junkies and sex addicts in group therapy.
• "Oblivion" by Carly Mensch ("Weeds"). A play about trendy Brooklyn parents with a tricky teenage daughter.

First Look runs from Oct. 26 to Nov. 11 in the Steppenwolf Garage, 1624 N. Halsted St.