Cole Porter conjures up carefree images of champagne, cruise ships and penthouses, an elegant and wealthy escapist world that he loved so much that he wanted the rest of us to experience it vicariously through his shows and songs. What then to make a of a Porter revue show which attempts to use obscure Porter songs and bland narration to portray the world around him that Porter largely ignored by going decade by decade through his career? It didn’t work in 1965, and it especially doesn’t work when you have performers on stage who have virtually no stylistic sense of how to approach this music. This is the Cole Porter equivalent of Bill Murray doing his satirical singing nightclub act on the old “Saturday Night Live” with the difference being that this isn’t funny. A bewildering and major misstep from the usually reliable Light Opera Works. (Dennis Polkow)
Fri-Sat/8pm,Sun/3pm. Light Opera Works Second Stage, 1420 Maple, Evanston, (847)869-6300. $24-$39. Through Nov 12.
Think About the Gun: A Review of "Pippin" at Music Theater Works “Pippin” is not your everyday musical. A fictional work that makes loose use of medieval historical figures, the title character is Charlemagne’s oldest son returning home from university and looking for meaning in life.
A Fan’s Gotta Do: A Review of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog at Black Button Eyes Productions “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog,” the quirky three-part musical web series about the sad machinations of a supervillain, displayed an early example of what entertainment on the Internet could look like. Now, with Black Button Eyes Productions that 2008 “classic” has hit the stages of Chicago to benefit Season of Concern.
