They're Altogether Ooky
The classic Michigan Avenue Bridge shot: Chicago, January 2010
I know it's been quite a while now since I announced I was headed to Chicago, and nearly as long since I went, but I'd been holding off on talking about the trip itself because (as strange as this may sound) I was trying to avoid certain spoilers in describing some aspects of it.
The better part of two months seems like more than enough time for a statute of limitations on spoilers (even personal ones), so I won't wait any longer before mentioning some highlights of how I brought in the new decade.
Just to clear this up right away, my friend Theresa and I were on the Michigan Avenue Bridge itself at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve. We had just come from seeing Avatar (I hadn't seen it before then due to a complete lack of social coordination happening in Winnipeg :/), and as I'd discovered to my chagrin on a previous visit to Chicago over the Memorial Day weekend in 2002, there just isn't that much to do in the city on holidays. After we'd watched the Navy Pier fireworks from the bridge and spent more time than we wanted to in the cold night air looking for something going on, we finally ended up at Timothy O'Toole's Pub. I can't complain too much about the setting, but we were basically there by default.
One thing we were able to do later on New Year's Day proper was see Taming of the Flu at The Second City. I'd been to a Second City show in Toronto way back in 1995, and I'd always wanted to follow that up with one on the Chicago Mainstage, but (surprise, surprise) it was closed on that previous visit. Since it's an anniversary year for The Second City, the Playbill also included a list of all past alumni at every location by year, and I was hoping to retroactively discover that I'd seen some superstar at that (now dimly-remembered) Toronto performance, but there was no "Before They Were Famous" moment--and keep in mind, the Chicago cast of that era included Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, Rachel Dratch, Tina Fey, and Amy Sedaris. :/
This show was very funny, for the most part, but the audience seemed to have no clue how to provide good suggestions for the improvised bits (and I could never beat anyone to their unamusing punch), which led (as you might expect) to some mockery of those audience members from the cast. There weren't any weak links among the performers, but I felt that Brad Morris had the most solid comedic chops. (Were I writing a clichéd review of the revue, I'd say he was "one to watch.") No word yet on who might achieve superstar status, though I've since seen Lauren Ash in an episode of Video on Trial, and that has to count for something, right? (She also implied on Twitter that John Corbett was there that same night. I did not see him.)
Another definite highlight of the trip was getting the chance to attend a preview performance of the new musical version of The Addams Family:
I didn't even know about this show before getting to Chicago, so I was thrilled that I could see something with such a classic Broadway cast whilst I was down there. Nathan Lane stars as Gomez Addams (being able to watch him live in anything at all was a big selling point), performing about halfway between John Astin and Raul Julia...although, honestly, he never really stops being Nathan Lane, you know? The rest of the cast is filled with other Broadway luminaries, though--Kevin Chamberlin, who plays Uncle Fester (essentially the narrator of the musical) was the original Horton in Seussical: The Musical; Jackie Hoffman (herself a Second City alumna), who plays Grandmama, was in the original cast of Hairspray; and Terrence Mann, who plays obligatory "normal" patriarch Mal Beineke, was Rum Tum Tugger in the original Broadway cast of Cats. Even Adam Riegler, who plays Pugsley, was in the original cast of Shrek: The Musical.
The real discovery for me, however, was Krysta Rodriguez. She has a Broadway career as healthy as the rest of the cast (most recently as part of the original cast of In the Heights), but I wasn't familiar with her, and I was totally blown away by her performance as Wednesday. Having said that, one criticism I would agree with about the show in general (since it does capture the spirit of The Addams Family, which was my main concern going in) is that it doesn't really have any breakaway hit number(s) going for it, which I'm sure would raise its profile outside of musical theatre circles.
Aside from all that, and some of the usual touristy stuff (but not a return to The Art Institute of Chicago, despite my original prediction), Theresa and I spent a lot of time looking at books, especially during our visit to Hyde Park. (How could I not get close to the University of Chicago, alma mater of Indiana Jones? ;)) My favourite stores in that area were Powell's Bookstore and the Seminary Co-op, where I picked up The Muslim Discovery of Europe, The Lost History of Christianity, and Rocky Horror: From Concept to Cult (whose authoritative status, or lack thereof, will have to be clarified for me by seweccentric ;)).
That part of the city was also the site of our ill-fated search for Barack Obama's Chicago residence, which was quickly aborted when the neighbourhood we were in started to seem more boarded-up than was plausible. Hey, I've seen Adventures in Babysitting--before you know it, I'd've landed in some seedy club where a guy was blocking the exit and telling me, "Nobody leaves this place without singing the blues."
Back in a more densely-populated area of Chicago, I also picked up FUBAR: Soldier Slang of World War II at a tiny bookstore in Willis Tower (linguistic stuff always draws me in, even if it's military), mentally added a bunch of items for my Amazon Wish List, and tried to get Theresa more current on the Star Trek tie-in line by pointing out the many titles written by people on my friendslist. :) She ultimately went her own way by choosing Full Circle, a tale of the Voyager crew after their return from the Delta Quadrant; and going over to the dark side by picking up Betrayal and Bloodlines, the first two books in the Star Wars: Legacy of the Force series.
As long as I was shilling for my friends on the trip, I made sure to get Theresa to download the Regator App for her iPhone (to maintain the trend of promoting multiple sources of reading material :)), but by then, it was just about time to return home...
I'm very glad to have marked the beginning of this decade somewhere interesting (but still affordable ;)), especially since I'm sure I would've been in a much worse mood--and seen it as a much more ominous portent of things to come--if I'd simply stayed here instead.
Now, where should I head to next...?