Traces Chicago - Hold on to your seats!

While most of the performers in the newly opened “Traces” have backgrounds that include time with Cirque du Soleil – Cirque this was not.

Traces felt like Cirque du Soleil had come to my corner of Wicker Park, selected seven local hipsters right off the street, and granted them superpowers. The show opens with a purely casual vibe, with seven friends dressed in comfortable street clothes just shooting the breeze in what can be imagined as some dank, gritty neighborhood.

While the primary focus is on circus and acrobatic feats, the show offers an array of performance arts - acoustic music, poetry slam, dance, piano playing…. even a humorous, skateboarding routine that reminded me of an old Hollywood scene.

Early on, the performers invite the audience to get to know them. They incorporate personal information into some acts, further lending to the feeling that we’re just hanging out on the corner with familiar friends (who are far more flexible than we are.) There was something about getting to know these performers as individuals, and seeing them in street clothes rather than sparkling, anonymizing costumes, that seemed to make everything they did even more daring.



Traces contains an unusual mix of darkness and humor. Adding to the vibe of the show is the uber-cool music; live imagery created for the stage by performers using a drawing board; and gritty, black and white live video feeds offering different angles of the performance.

While each act provided some unique sort of performance, the acrobatic prowess of these performers was the most amazing part of the show. Long-locked Florio, who looks like he just walked off the cover of a romance novel, did an entire solo act on a stack of chairs. I’ve seen performers balance single-handedly on top of a chair before, but typically they got to that position after first balancing on two hands and then removing one. Florio was on a stack of chairs, casually put his hand on top of the back of the chair, and then just launched himself up into the one-handed pose. Amazing.

The pole acrobatics were incredible. The performers leaped and flipped between 2 poles, threatening to land on their heads but always making their marks. And by the end of the show, with the performers flipping through small hoops at the top of a 6 foot stack, I was pretty convinced that they did indeed possess superhuman powers.

I recommend this for adults and for families with older kids. The performance is 90 minutes long with no intermission.

Playing October 26, 2010 - December 19, 2010 at the Broadway Playhouse, 175 E. Chestnut St., Chicago Illinois.

Shrek the Musical - Humor for the whole family

Last night, I saw Shrek the Musical at the Cadillac Palace Theatre - and I loved it! I've seen the movie of course, and as an adult who enjoyed it, I'd anticipated mostly adults to be in the audience. That was not the case - it was mostly families, and the show operated on different levels to please both its adult and child audiences. Just as in the movie, lots of lines and jokes could be interpreted different ways, depending on who was doing the interpreting. So there was plenty of humor for both kids and adults.

The opening scene was pretty somber - a 7-year old Shrek being pushed out into the world by his seemingly cold and uncaring parents. I'm not quite sure how the kids in the audience interpreted this, but it creates instant sympathy for an unlikely main character. Things turn pretty cheery early on though, when the fairy tale critters are banished from the kingdom of Duloc and put on a high energy, hilarious number.

The musical stays pretty true to the plot of the movie, and one of my favorite scenes from the movie – the torture of the Gingerbread man - was definitely done to my satisfaction.

The main characters of Shrek and Fiona were pretty much as I expected. Sometimes it was a bit disconcerting to hear such a beautiful voice coming from Shrek – the songs he sang didn’t always match the persona. However, the character of Donkey completely stole the show. Donkey is played by Alan Mingo, Jr., who played Tom Collins in Broadway’s Rent. His mannerisms, movements and delivery added up to comic perfection, and he lit up every scene he was in.

The songs were overall quite catchy and some of the lyrics had me really laughing – like the Big Bad Wolf, wearing a granny nightgown, singing about how they “tore my cotton granny dress, and called me a hot tranny mess.” At the end of the show, there's a number where the fairy tale characters celebrate their freakiness in a number called "Freak Flag," singing "Let your freak flag fly" and culminating with Pinocchio declaring "I'm wood, I'm good, get used to it!" Some of these lyrics definitely went over the heads of the kids in the audience, but that’s what made it so much fun for adults.

Overall, it’s one of those enjoyable performances that will please all members of your family. It’s recommended for ages 5 and up, which I think seems about right. It’s playing at the Cadillac Palace Theatre now through September 5, and you can learn more on the official web site at http://www.shrekthemusical.com