There’s a whole lot of shakin’ goin’ on in town. Here are some highlights and some news from some of our favorite performers around town:
– When “Double Happiness” was released last year, Americans got their first look at Sandra Oh, its beguiling star. On Friday, Chicagoans can meet her in person, as she hosts the 8 p.m. screening of her latest film, “The Diary of Evelyn Lau,” director Sturla Gunnarsson’s 1993 tale about survival on the streets of Vancouver. Oh, who won a Juno Award (Canada’s equivalent of the Oscars) for her role in “Double Happiness,” will introduce the film and take questions. It’s all part of the Asian American Showcase, which runs through April. Oh will present the film at the Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Columbus Drive and Jackson Boulevard. For more information, call 312-443-3737.
– “Doorslam” is Dexter Bullard’s newest project. Bullard, whose work as writer, director and performer has appeared at Next, Famous Door and American Blues theaters, got a late-night berth at Steppenwolf Studio Theatre for his Vector Theatrical Laboratory. “Doorslam,” which the group markets as “145 entrances, 145 exits,” is a high-intensity piece of physical theater. Performed by four actors around three doors, “Doorslam” is all wordless action, often funny, sometimes creepy, frequently fantastic.
Performances begin at 9:30 p.m. Saturday and run Saturdays at 9:30 and Sundays at 7:30 p.m. through April 21 at Steppenwolf, 1650 N. Halsted St. Tickets are $10, $7 with a student ID. Call 312-335-1650.
– We’ve told you about the Mighty Blue Kings’ hot Tuesday nights at the Green Mill. Now, celebrating their recently released CD, “Meet Me in Uptown” (featuring their soon-to-be-classic “Jumpin’ at the Green Mill”), Jimmy Sutton, Ross Bon and their cohorts are taking over this Saturday. Show time is 8 p.m., but plan to get there hours early. The Green Mill is at 4802 N. Broadway. Call 312-878-5552 for more info.
– There’s a scene near the end of Donna Blue Lachman’s “The Thirst: A Work for Jew and Clarinet” in which a grainy black-and-white film of her family circa World War II unreels in the background. Her grandfather, who traveled with his mother through Europe just as Adolf Hitler was coming to power, shot this and other home movies on his extended wanderings. But this week in rehearsals, just as Lachman was about to move into that scene, director Susan Nussbaum and the Blue Rider Theatre Company’s artistic director, Tim Fiori, switched the family footage with the steamy Sly Stallone/Sharon Stone shower scene from “The Specialist.”
“We just about died laughing,” says Nussbaum, who cooked up the idea.
Lachman’s grandparents will be back in place for the show’s benefit on Thursday, April 11 — 10 years to the day since the Blue Rider opened its doors with “The Demon Show.”
Thursday’s gig is very different for the Blue Rider, which has always strived to remain accessible through ticket prices. This special staging is a benefit for the company, with tickets at $100. For that, theatergoers get champagne, a buffet and a screening of a Blue Rider retrospective compiled by Fiori.
“The Thirst” will also be performed on April 13, with $25 tickets, wine and a buffet. The regular run opens April 18; tickets are $12. The Blue Rider is at 1833 S. Halsted St. Call 312-738-2086.
– Ulali, not to be confused with local rhythmic kings Ulele, is a trio of Native American a cappella singers. They’ll perform April 19 at the Old Town School of Folk Music, 909 W. Armitage Ave. You might have heard their haunting voices on the PBS documentary series “The Native Americans,” or on the Robbie Robertson album, “Robbie Robertson and the Red Road Ensemble.” E. Donald Two-Rivers, a local poet, will open with a reading of his work in which he’ll be accompanied by Christian Bernal on bass. Admission is $15. Call 312-525-7793, ext. 21, for more information.
– You’ve probably noticed the huge, full-color posters all over Devon Street advertising “Rangele Dilwale,” the big pop movie hit in India. But the posters aren’t promoting a screening of the film at all, but a live concert with the movie’s stars. Producers are calling it “The Heart-Stopper Show” because it features dreamboats such as Shahrukh, Aamir, Mamta, Urmila and Sonali. There will be music and comics. Show time is 8 p.m. April 20 at the UIC Pavilion, Harrison Street and Racine Avenue. Call Al Mansoor at 312-764-7576 for more details.
– You’d think La Mafia, perched high on the Latin billboard charts, would be headlining “Canonazo Primaveral,” the big Latin music show at the New International Amphitheater April 20. Instead, the group is a “special guest” of Los Temerarios, Los Tiranos del Norte, Ramon Ayala Jr. and Impacto de Montemorelos. The sound is definitely Tex-Mex. The amphitheater is at 4220 S. Halsted St. Advance tickets are $27. Call 312-944-7272 for more information.
– There’s a particularly eerie show going on at the Lunar Cabaret Fridays through May 31: “I’m Afraid to Quit My Job” by Frank Melcori. Like his previous one-person shows, this one features Melcori center stage telling a story that, at first, appears to be relatively simple but eventually unfolds into something absurd, dark and often uncomfortably intimate.
In this piece, which runs at a relatively early (for Melcori anyway) 8 p.m., Melcori publicly dissects his desire and need to quit his job, as well as his fears.
For Melcori, who performs in a hypnotically slow, understated way, his entire identity as a contemporary man is tied in with job routine. Without its structure, will he disappear into a vacuum of timelessness? Without its benefits, how can he possibly avert medical disasters?
The show, like most Melcori works, isn’t exactly fiction, but neither is it strictly autobiography. His public peeling away is both disturbing and amazing.
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