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Articles by Lawrence B. Johnson

Cirque du Soleil’s East-West revue ‘Dralion’ offers high-flying thrills and fantastic critters

Jun 28, 2012 – 3:27 pm | 7,878 views
Aerial Hoop in Dralion by Cirque du Soleil costumes François Barbeau credit Camirand

Review: The place where Olympian gymnastics meet the ballet is known the world over as Cirque du Soleil, an impression that’s only redoubled by the company’s latest eye-popping production, called “Dralion.” There may not be any elephants in Cirque’s new show, but the entertainment value is pachydermic. ****

Role Playing: Baize Buzan hones the steel spirit of a brash Irish lass in ‘Cripple of Inishmaan’

Jun 26, 2012 – 11:29 pm | 7,366 views
Baize Buzan feature image

Interview: Baize Buzan knew she had the right slant on the feisty, egg-smashing Helen in Martin McDonagh’s dark comedy “The Cripple of Inishmaan” when she heard, distinctly from the audience at tiny Redtwist Theatre: “That awful girl is here again.”

With a winning smile and no visible effort, violinist heats Glass like a modern Paganini

Jun 25, 2012 – 1:56 pm | 4,225 views
Tim Fain feature image credit Briana Blasko

Review: No doubt the large crowd gathered June 23 at the Ravinia Festival’s Martin Recital Hall was drawn mainly by the prospect of seeing 75-year-old composer-pianist Philip Glass perform a program of his own music. And no doubt they came away delighted by the 90-minute sampler of Glass’ music through the decades and his affable flair for story-telling. But the brightest light on this evening was cast by the youthful, California-born violinist Tim Fain, who played – among other things — one prodigious movement from an unaccompanied suite that Glass has written for him. *****

When comedy runs amok, ‘Much Ado’ is nearly undone at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival

Jun 20, 2012 – 11:34 pm | 3,691 views
Much-Ado-About-Nothing-Stratford-Shakespeare-Festival-Deborah-Hay-as-Beatrice-2012-credit-David-Hou

Beatrice as a hysterical wit. 2 stars

Capping second CSO season with Bruckner, Muti pledges Austrian-accented 6th Symphony

Jun 19, 2012 – 9:07 am | 2,689 views
Riccardo Muti closeup conducts Chicago credit_Todd_Rosenberg

Exclusive Interview: When conductor Riccardo Muti recorded Bruckner’s Symphony No. 6 in A Major with the Berlin Philharmonic 25 years ago, he came to the task steeped in the Bruckner tradition of the Vienna Philharmonic – a distinctively Austrian way of looking at this thoroughly Austrian Late-Romantic composer. Now, to close out his second season as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Muti says he will bring that perspective to the Bruckner Sixth on June 22-24.

Sir Andrew Davis, Lyric Opera music director, adds the Melbourne Symphony to duties

Jun 18, 2012 – 3:17 pm | 2,378 views
SIR_ANDREW_DAVIS credit Dario Acosta Photography

Will shuttle between continents.

Role Playing: Stephen Ouimette brews an Irish tippler with a glassful of illusions in ‘Iceman’

Jun 17, 2012 – 12:45 am | 12,499 views
Stephen Ouimette  feature image

Interview: It is Harry Hope’s grumpy largesse that fuels the pipe dreams for the drunken inhabitants of Eugene O’Neill’s play “The Iceman Cometh.” And Harry, says actor Stephen Ouimette, who portrays the tragi-comic Irish saloon keeper in the Goodman Theatre’s production of “Iceman,” is one complicated lush.

Unveiling truth in ‘Blonde, Brunette, Redhead’ in more ways than meet the hoodwinked eye

Jun 11, 2012 – 7:50 pm | 6,004 views
Deborah Staples as Rhonda in The Blonde the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead Robert Hewett Writers Theatre 2012 credit Michael Brosilow

Blood and wigs at Writers’. 4 stars!

Shaw Festival: Catching America’s cultural swing to the syncopated beat of ‘Ragtime’

May 29, 2012 – 1:40 pm | 6,086 views
Ragtime Shaw Festival 2012 Thom Allison as Coalhouse Walker Jr credit David Cooper

Turn of the century saga. 4 stars!

‘My Kind of Town’ reconstructs police torture scandal as a complicated drama of real life

May 25, 2012 – 5:56 pm | 6,597 views
My Kind of Town by John Conroy at TimeLine Theatre 2012 Charles Gardner as Otha Jeffries and David Parkes as Dan Breen credit Lara Goetsch

Cops under gun at TimeLine. 4 stars!

Role Playing: Ian Barford revels in the wiliness of an ambivalent rebel in Doctorow’s ‘March’

May 17, 2012 – 4:52 pm | 6,293 views
Ian Barford feature image

Interview: He’s just making it up as he goes along, the Confederate turncoat portrayed by Ian Barford in Steppenwolf Theatre’s current production of “The March.” That’s what Barford likes about his opportunistic character called Arley. And in a sense, the actor says, he’s doing much the same thing on stage from night to the next, trying to track the pitch and roll of a soldier who’s trying to find his own meaning.

In lightning-quick Beethoven 7th Symphony, van Zweden and CSO deliver a poetic thriller

May 16, 2012 – 11:05 am | 4,611 views
Jaap van Zweden credit Hans Vanderwoerd

Review: It’s one thing to hear a hair-raising orchestra performance on a CD, and quite another to experience it happening right in front of you, live, in the splendorous acoustics of a concert space. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s rocket-sled finale in Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony on May 15 at Orchestra Hall, with conductor Jaap van Zweden, was one to send a writer combing his thesaurus for a higher form of wow. *****

Amid war to win vote for British women, flames of passion illuminate ‘Her Naked Skin’

May 15, 2012 – 1:00 am | 7,681 views
Her Naked Skin Rebecca Lenkiewicz Shattered Globe Theatre 2012 foreground  Sheila O'Connor Linda Reiter credit Kevin Viol

Suffrage at Shattered Globe. 4 stars!

Vivid characters and some great singing carry the day for ‘A Little Night Music’ at Writers’

May 12, 2012 – 9:47 am | 6,462 views
A Little Night Music Stephen Sondheim Writers' 2012  Brandon Dahlquist Count Malcom Shannon Cochran Desiree Arnfeldt Jonathan Fredrik Egerman  Michael Brosilow

Sondheim’s paean to love. 4 stars!

Theater Wit chases depression into sharp bite of comedy with Rosenstock’s ‘Tigers Be Still’

May 9, 2012 – 6:51 pm | 5,911 views
Tigers Be Still Theater Wit 2012 Matt Farabee as Zack Mary Winn Heider as Sherry Credit Liz Lauren

Bittersweet therapy with beast. 2 stars.

Chicago Symphony plans Asian tour with Muti, and adds Mexico debut to fall Carnegie opener

May 8, 2012 – 12:33 pm | 3,462 views
Chicago Symphony 2012-2013 tour map credit Nancy Malitz

Beijing, Mexico City, Seoul among stops.

Lang Lang, star pianist and global citizen, will bring Chopin, other friends to Chicago recital

May 7, 2012 – 2:35 pm | 4,601 views
Lang Lang feature image credit Philip Glaser

Preview: When Chinese piano sensation Lang Lang steps onto the stage at the Civic Opera House for his recital Saturday night, it will be a special moment for everyone in the house – including the pianist.

Goodman’s well-honed ‘Iceman Cometh’ slices through a boozy, painful cloud of pipe-dreams

May 5, 2012 – 3:03 pm | 8,437 views
Iceman Cometh Eugene O'Neill Goodman Theatre 2012 credit Liz Lauren 2

Brian Dennehy, Nathan Lane. 5 stars!

Chicago Shakespeare’s lean and brisk ‘Timon’ zooms in on crash-and-burn of a needy Midas

May 3, 2012 – 5:51 pm | 13,602 views
Timon of Athens starring Ian McDiarmid Chicago Shakespeare Theater 2012 credit Liz Lauren

Mega-rich tycoon falls low. 4 stars!

‘Pride and Prejudice’ at Lifeline: Mirroring Austen’s vivacious novel in memorable faces

May 1, 2012 – 12:46 am | 9,896 views
Pride and Prejudice Lifeline 2012 James Gasber as Wickham Laura McClain as Elizabeth Bennet Dennis Grimes as Darcy credit Suzanne Plunkett

A stew of great characters. 4 stars!

Strawdog taps 17th century vein of blood lust with Webster’s murderous ‘Duchess of Malfi’

Apr 29, 2012 – 10:43 pm | 19,569 views
The Duchess of Malfi at Strawdog Joshua Davis Lindsey Dorcus Justine C Turner (c) Chris Ocken 2012

Lust, greed and mayhem. 3 stars

Ian McDiarmid, revving the engines of anger, ready to take on Shakespeare’s raging Timon

Apr 28, 2012 – 12:21 pm | 4,353 views
Timon of Athens feature sub 250 Ian McDiarmid Chicago Shakespeare Theater credit Liz Lauren

Preview: The Scottish actor, a Shakespeare veteran, talks with Chicago On the Aisle about the dark and turbulent mindscape of “Timon of Athens.” The play opens May 2 at Chicago Shakespeare Theater.

Digital: ‘Four Seasons’ and Haydn symphonies flash style, finesse under McGegan’s baton

Apr 25, 2012 – 6:09 pm | 2,432 views
Philharmonia Baroque Vivaldi The Four Seasons jacket 300

CD Reviews: The latest evidence of the Philharmonia Baroque’s mastery of 18th century fare is a CD release of Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” – plus three more violin concertos by the Red Priest, as Vivaldi was known – featuring the orchestra’s wizardly concertmaster and all-world Baroque star Elizabeth Blumenstock. ****

Handel’s early vengeance opera ‘Teseo’ shines amid Chicago Opera Theater’s vocal splendors

Apr 24, 2012 – 12:37 am | 6,904 views
TeseoFeatured

Medea’s very, very jealous. 4 stars!

It’s the Bard’s birthday! Simon Callow reflects on the fanciful weave of ‘Being Shakespeare’

Apr 22, 2012 – 10:49 pm | 9,848 views
Simon Callow in Being Shakespeare Chicago Shakespeare Theater 2012 credit André Penteado

Interview: As “the soul of the age” turns 448 on April 23, the celebrated actor talks with Chicago On the Aisle about his one-man play “Being Shakespeare,” presented by Chicago Shakespeare Theater at the Broadway Theatre through April 29.

Steppenwolf captures pulse and horror of war with Sherman’s march through Georgia

Apr 20, 2012 – 1:51 am | 8,358 views
(front) General William Tecumseh Sherman (Harry Groener) and (right) Major Morrison (Cliff Chamberlain) watch the battle from afar with several other Union soldiers in Steppenwolf Theatre Company?s world-premiere production of The March, based on the novel by E.L. Doctorow, adapted and directed by ensemble member Frank Galati. The March runs April 5 ? June 10, 2012 in Steppenwolf?s Downstairs Theatre (1650 N Halsted St).

Doctorow’s novel on stage. 4 stars!

‘Fish Men’ at Goodman: When chess hustlers bait their hooks, slippery truth snaps at the line

Apr 17, 2012 – 4:13 pm | 7,336 views
Fish Men feature image Goodman Theatre Cándido Tirado Teatro Vista Mike Cherry Cedric Mays Raúl Castillo credit Dean La Prairie

Con game in the park. 3 stars.

‘Angels in America’ at the Court: Viewing AIDS and the yearning heart through a perfect lens

Apr 15, 2012 – 10:58 pm | 10,079 views
Angels in America featured image Court Theatre Rob Lindley Mary Beth Fisher credit Michael Brosilow

Tony Kushner’s classic soars. 5 stars!

Exploring the starry night at Adler Planetarium, ‘Starball’ will invite audience to shape new myths

Apr 15, 2012 – 8:40 am | 3,743 views
Starball John Kaufmann Dan Dennis

Preview: The stars are dream-catchers and story-tellers. Humans have always thought so, hence the mythic characters and lore written into the constellations. But, hey, if the ancient Greeks could puzzle out stories in the stars, why can’t we – and have a ball doing it? No wonder the community myth-making adventure on tap April 19 at the Adler Planetarium is called “Starball.”

Conductor Charles Dutoit leads French lesson as CSO matches Impressionists with Dutilleux

Apr 14, 2012 – 1:51 pm | 3,806 views
Charles Dutoit featured image credit Philadelphia Orchestra

Review: From the admixture of opulence and asceticism that constituted conductor Charles Dutoit’s program of French music with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra this weekend, one might have taken away good lessons offered in a perhaps subversively gleeful spirit. ****