Last week, we had the good fortune to go to our first downtown theatre district show! For Michel's birthday, I had gotten him tickets to Once, the musical based on the movie of the same name featuring the Oscar-winning song, "Falling Slowly". I had been waiting for this for over a month, and finally Tuesday arrived. It was a big deal for us. First theatre district show, first time getting dressed up since we moved, first big "date" night downtown. We started with dinner at Troquet, a cute little French bistro about 5 blocks from our apartment. It was a gorgeous night for the short walk to the restaurant...until we realized that we had both left our train passes and ID's at home. (Well, when you are changing purses, sometimes things get left out! I have no idea what Michel's excuse was.) Our short walk turned into a much longer hike, but we finally made it to Troquet. It was comfort food on special for the night, so it was a veggie croque monsieur with spinach, brie, and carmelized onions and sausage poutine for us. Lest we blow our calories all in one place, we got cupcakes, including a Bluth Banana cupcake, at the cupcake food truck right outside the bistro for dessert. Meh. They were fine. The best thing about the truck was its clever homage to Arrested Development, but, man, was it nice food trucking again! While we have many wonderful restaurants here in Chicago, food trucking does not quite seem to have caught on here the way it has in Houston or Austin. We miss them. And honestly, food trucks are often as good and sometimes better than sit down restaurants. Plus there is the thrill of the search, tracking your favorite truck's Twitter and facebook feeds, finally locating them in some weird part of town, and then enjoying your favorite item from their menu. Or the joy of the HEB food truck court (Montrose Market HEB, for all you Houston food truck lovers who haven't yet been to the food truck Mecca that is the HEB parking lot the first Friday of every month). But I digress.
After an unusually fast and rather terrifying train ride through the night, we headed to the historic Oriental Theatre on Randolph Street.
The Oriental Theatre (or Ford Center for the Performing Arts Oriental Theatre, as it is known today---yes, Ford the car company not Ford's Theatre of Lincoln's assassination) was built in 1926 as a movie palace on the site of the former Iroquois Theatre that burned down in a 1903 fire. The Oriental was one of many movie theatres built in the '20's, but patronage began to decline in the 1960's. Finally, it closed in 1981 for more than a decade. The theatre was restored and reopened as a performance venue in 1998, sparking the resurgence of the downtown Chicago theatre district.
All of that is fascinating to you, I'm sure, but the main thing is the interior of this theatre. It is spectacular! It totally reflects all of the stereotypes engendered by early 20th century orientalism, but that doesn't really matter. It is one of the most intricately designed, gorgeous theatres I've ever been in!
Lobby
Lobby
Lobby Ceiling
Interior of the theatre
Truly spectacular. Now I did take a picture of the stage, despite instructions against photography, but it didn't really come out, and I don't want to get in trouble with whatever theatre set copyright police might read this blog. However, the set of Once is a working bar. Super cool, right? Audience members can actually go up on stage before and after the show and during intermission for drinks. Sadly, we were high enough up in the theatre that it would take too long to get down there and back to our seats. But what was really lovely is that the simplicity and rustic nature of the set complemented the ostentatious nature of the theatre beautifully and in a way that really placed the focus on the stage. It was coincidental, I'm sure, but it was a really neat effect.
As for the show itself, we both loved it. It is quite true to the film and makes for a wonderfully unique piece of theatre. It's a blessed relief from the plethora of jukebox musicals crowding Broadway these days, and it is unlike anything I've ever seen. The show opens with most of the actors on stage, at least 15 to 20 minutes before the official start time, essentially having a jam session of traditional Irish and Czech music. The party melds seamlessly into the opening of the show, so you almost don't realize that the show has officially started. The music, composed by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, is hauntingly beautiful, much of it coming from the film, and the actors all play their own instruments, along the lines of the recent revivals of Company and Sweeny Todd. The show is about an Irish busker and a Czech flower seller and pianist. The girl pushes and encourages the guy to pursue his dreams of a music career and win back his girlfriend, for whom all of his songs are written. The girl helps the guy write more music and record a demo, and in the process they fall in love. The end of the show left me completely breathless. For me, it was one of those truly special, revelatory theatre experiences. Both Michel's and my only complaint was that the excess choreographed movement was frequently distracting and unnecessary, but the Act I finale, where the entire cast dances with their instruments as the Guy sings, was a spectacular piece of theatre. It was a perfect evening, and we cannot recommend Once highly enough. (Houston peeps, it's coming to you soon!)
I actually had the opportunity to attend the theatre twice last week. My friend Debbie, with whom I taught at Kinkaid, was in town to see her daughter, Lee, perform in a play. Debbie graciously invited me to a wonderful dinner at Bella Notte on the west side (delicious Italian, highly recommend! Particularly the seafood salad, tortiglioni carbonata, and the flourless chocolate cake) and then to Lee's show, The Goddess by Paddy Chayefsky, at the Artistic Home Theatre. The show is an adaptation by the show's director, John Mossman, of the 1958 film of the same name. It is about a young, troubled girl who heads to Hollywood in search of fame, attention, adoration, and love and explores the dark and dangerous side of fame, Hollywood, and excess. So it's not the feel-good-story-of-the-year. However, it was an excellent production in a tiny space that made ingenious use of gorgeous, vintage costumes as indicators of time and scene transitions. And Lee was a tour de force. I highly recommend checking out The Goddess, which runs Thursdays through Sundays through November 17.
Needless to say, I felt very theatrically cultured last week! Next up may just be a Chicago Lyric Opera performance!
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