Last night, my sis and I went to see The Sparrow, at the tiny Apollo theater. What a good show! It's such a fantastic little success story; a homegrown Chicago theater company puts together this show, it's a success in a tiny indie theater (The Viaduct) and Steppenwolf and Broadway in Chicago step in and provide the money and backing for a bigger production, and a more polished one (at least by all accounts). And it's really good. I mean, the story is weird, and the show includes some very strange elements (or, strange to me, who doesn't go to many plays), but it was just enjoyable. Funny, too.
Kate said after the show that she didn't think it would have been as good had the music not been so good, and I think she's right. I'm almost 100% sure that the music is all original, and it WAS good. It had a slightly...Sufjan-esque feel to it. I walked out of the theater singing Sufjan Stevens, if that's any clue (The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is Out to Get Us!) as to how Sufjan-esque it really was. The music (and laughter) really made the show. A couple of times, though, I felt like Kate and I were the only ones laughing, and sometimes I felt as if we were laughing longer than some of the other people in the audience. I think we have a similar sense of humor, and apparently the show was playing right to our particular sense of humor.
That, or the audience was a little bit too old to grasp some of the high school funniness of the show. I'm not sure, though I read a review earlier yesterday that said the show does play best to those who vividly remember their high school years. And Kate remarked, before the show started, on how surprised she was at how old the audience was (lots of older women), knowing the subject matter of the play. But that's who goes to plays now, right? Older ladies. It's not meant to be derogatory, it's just a statement. They're keeping the theater industry afloat. And someday, Kate and I will be those older ladies keeping the industry afloat.
Anyway, that was a tangent. I highly recommend The Sparrow; even if you don't like theater, this might be something you might like. It's quirky and fun, and especially if you're a person who hates shows and has a partner who loves them, this might be one you could sit through to win some brownie points.
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