to Jabari Dreams of Freedom

Yesterday I saw a play called "Jabari Dreams of Freedom" by Nambi E. Kelly.  I went with mommy. I saw it at the Chicago Children's Theatre at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts. It was directed by Lili-Anne Brown with music direction by Jaret Landon.

The play was about a young boy named Jabari (played by Phillip Cusic) who didn't want to go out the door because somebody almost killed his friend Emmett (Patrick Agada).  So Jabari was scared and he stayed at home and was dreaming a lot. He dreamed about dinosaurs (Matt Keffer), lions (Emily Glick), storm troopers, Barack Obama (Gavin Lawrence) sleeping under his bed, Claudette Colvin, Ruby Bridges (Leslie Ann Sheppard)  and Martin Luther King Jr.

First he met Barack Obama who took him to a bus to go for a ride next to Claudette Colvin. Claudette is an African American girl who was the first person to not give up her seat for a white person and she got arrested.  Jabari became friends with her on the bus and he watched her say "I'm not going to give up my seat because my legs are tired from standing and walking" and then the bus driver picked her up and took her to jail. Then Barack Obama took Jabari to meet Ruby Bridges who is just a little older than me, she is 6 years old, and she is a precious jewel who brings people together. She and Jabari drew a half of a dandelion together before she was the first young African American child to go to an all-white school. Then he met two kids who were making signs to walk out of school to protest segregation, which is a new word I learned today that means separating people from other people like black people and white people. Then Jabari watched a video of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and then he met Barack Obama as 7 year old kid. And then Jabari and Barack Obama played catch and Obama talked about how he wants to take MLK Jr's place if anything happens to him. And he said "Yes We Can!" And Jabari was like "Can he do it?" and then Barack Obama said "Yes We Can!"  and he said "I like that!"

The show was really cool I really l liked the lights around the door that glowed red (designed by Nick Belley) and the projections of the houses and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr (designed by Michael Stanfill).  The set was so cool it was designed by William Boles who also designed Hotel Cassiopeia, isn't that crazy? The set was like a tall wall and a fence and above that was a cloud and some houses. There was a really big glowing door and an old fashioned tv where a silly guy said "blah blah blah blah blobby pop." I really loved all of the singing and music in the play and the really cool sounds of the dinosaurs and lions and the Nae Nae song designed by Victoria Deiorio.

My favorite part was when Barack Obama was screaming. Gavin Lawrence was really really good at sounding and acting like Barack Obama, that was so cool.

I'm sad that I can't tell everyone in the whole wide world that they should go see it because we saw the last show. But I hope other theatres will choose to do this play, like maybe Stages and the Children's Theatre Company of Minneapolis or Filament should do this show because I really really really really loved it and learned a lot!

I GIVE THIS PLAY 12 POINTS BECAUSE I LOVED IT THE BEST!!

Love,
Gunnar

to see Hotel Cassiopeia

Last night I went to a play called "Hotel Cassiopeia" by Charles Mee and I saw it with Uncle Zach, Aunt Kerry and mommy.  And I went to see it at Filament Theatre which is the same theatre where we saw Pinocchio, but this show was performed by the North Park University Theatre. My mommy was the director of the play.

The play was about Joseph Cornell (Scott Todhunter) who was an artist who made boxes with birds and forks and pictures and things and it was also about his brother Robert (Kamren Smith) who I think had a sickness and never talked in the play but he was happy and funny sometimes.

There were three characters who wore white curly wigs and they kept talking about girls and birds and there hair was curly and white just like Joseph's hair, they were the Astronomer (Carri Stevens), Pharmacist (Raymond Hutchinson) and Herbalist (Tyler Skaffgard).  The other people in the play were the people in the movies (Annamarie Giodano, Stacey Klingberg, Olga Lebedeva, Ryan Sillins), and Joseph's mom (Bernadette Hagen) and the girls who used the puppet ballerina (Hannah Harper-Smith, Christiane Schaldemose, Emelie Ödén) there were also some silly and angry artists.

The play felt like FUN and happy and sad sometimes. It kind of seemed like it was a dream because things didn't even make sense sometimes.

There were some movies during the play and the characters in the movies came out and talked to Joseph and Robert and that was crazy because that couldn't really happen! Robert sang a song before the movies that reminded me of Star Wars and it was cool the way he sang it. And then Joseph sang a different song before the second movie.

There was one part where there was a guy with a toilet seat around his head, mommy said he was playing an artist named Duchamp (Tyler Skaffgard) who was silly and put a potty in a museum and said "this is art."  That was so silly!

The lights (by Maggie Fullilove-Nugent) were pretty and blue and sometimes red. The costumes (by Krissy Sneshkoff) were all white and blue and sometimes a little brown. The set by William Boles looked like a big box with a window, a ladder and a bed and some stools and the floor looked like the sky with stars. And one really cool thing was that I found a small square box of the set on a table in the lobby after the show it was just like the set.

There was lots of music (original music and arrangements by Michael Huey) and dancing (movement by Nicole Jordan) in the show. I heard a song in the show that I think I know from the Radio that everybody sang (well everyone except Joseph's mom) and I liked when they were stomping and clapping but that isn't in the song on the radio and at the end they said "Shhh" and that's not how the song goes on the radio but, that's ok. I loved the parts when Robert was dancing because he was a funny guy.

I liked some of the props (Archer Curry) because they were so big, I liked the huge fork and I liked the giant cups because they were very very very gigantic and so so big. One of my favorite parts was the big owl that always said "Hoot Hoot" every time he showed up in the window. There was also a ballerina puppet which was life size and it was just like a backpack but you could put in on your tummy and the girls could wear the puppet and become the ballerina. I bet it takes a lot of work to make a puppet like that, I don't even know how you do that.

My favorite part was when Robert was so excited when the guys with the wigs first came in and they were fighting over a hoop and then Robert finally got it but then the silly guy with the medicine on his head came back and ripped it out of his hands and that was so funny.

Everyone in the whole wide world should see this show because I think everyone in the whole wide world would love to know more about Joseph Cornell.

I give this show 10 points because I really liked it.

Love,
Gunnar

Hotel Cassiopeia has 3 more performances April 21, 22 and 23rd at 8pm. You can purchase tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hotel-cassiopeia-tickets-24449021682

to see "That's Weird Grandma"

Yesterday me and mommy and auntie Kerry went to see a play called "That's Weird Grandma" by the Barrel of Monkeys. This was my second time seeing the show but it was different because it didn't have the same stories, that's because the show is different every week. Barrel of Monkeys is a theatre company that does classes with kids and helps them write their own plays and stories and then the grown-ups (Barrel of Monkeys actors) perform some of the plays every week.

The stories this week were: Once Upon a Princess, The Game, My Holiday (Ice Cream Candy Sugar rush day!!!!!) the best Holiday Event, The Dumb Chicken, The Crazy Old People,  Love in Heaven, Where do People Come from?, The Day I drive a car, The Kid with the Donut Suite, UNTITLED (Cross the border), Running in the Snow, The Worst Zoo, The Football Player, Zyra, Day in the Life of Bacon, Buffalo Joe's Argument, and A Dinosaur that Came to Life.

My favorite stories were "The Worst Zoo" and "Where do People Come From?" I loved "Where do People Come From?" because the story was about a girl who didn't know where people came from so she asked her mom and her mom was giving her silly answers because she didn't know either so she said things like..."They come from cats hairballs, They come from chocolate and vanilla, The people come from Money, and People come from flowers" Every time the mom said a different reason where people came from a baby came out but he was a grown-up wearing a bib hat and a diaper and he'd say "MAMA! MAMA!" and it was soooooo funny!!!  "The Worst Zoo" was so funny because there was a girl who didn't like the zoo because there was hay everywhere and the animals are out of their cages which is so silly because every zoo has hay, that's what animals eat and if the animals were in cages you couldn't see them! I also liked the Dumb Chicken because the chicken died but he didn't fall down he was drowning in the toilet and praying in the toilet then he died, died, died! And it was so silly because they put a halo on his head and he looked silly. I also liked the game one because the dog was like "Hide! Hide! Hide! Flora! Hide" and Flora couldn't hide because she was a flower stuck in the ground!!

I think this play was good because it had funny stories. People who like funny things would like this show, if you like laughing this is the show for you. I think my friend Jo likes this show because I saw it with her before, but she should come back because the stories are different. I also think Jordan would like it.

I give this play 12 points because I liked it the Most!

Love,
Gunnar

The End.

Gunnar's Point System:
12 points: I LOVED IT THE MOST!
10 points: I loved it a LOT
  3 points: I liked some and didn't like some
  1 point:   I only liked a little
  0 points: I didn't like it at all

to Pinocchio A Folk Musical at Filament Theatre

Yesterday I went to a play called Pinocchio A Folk Musical, Adapted and Composed by Tyler Beattie at Filament Theatre, directed by Scott Ferguson.  When we walked in the theatre there was lots of things to do in the lobby like: games, coloring, chalk, popcorn and a piano.  I did coloring and I played a game and we had popcorn.

The actors were Felipe Carrasco (Geppetto /guitar), Mara Dale (3 consciences/piano), Kamile Dawkins (Fox/ upright bass), Nick Kmiecik (Lampwick/piano and banjo), Roberto Jonson (Pinocchio /guitar) and Maddy Low (Blue Fairy/saxophone and accordion). We first met them in the lobby where they gave us popcorn and showed us where the coloring sheets were and helped us play the games and took our tickets.  The actors were all amazing and good because they all could play several instruments, sing and act, even with puppets!

Mommy and me sat on pillows and blankets on the stage and that was comfortable. The stage
had a piano, a box, a banjo, a violin, a guitar, an accordion, an upright bass, a blue cart and on the floor there were blue circles. When the actors changed characters sometimes they wore different costumes (designed by Noel Huntzinger) and used interesting masks and puppets by Jeff Semmerling. When Pinocchio's nose grew they used a violin bow, that was funny and smart.  The music was pretty and my favorite song was the laughing wood song.
My favorite part was when the shark swallowed Pinocchio because they used a pennant banner as the sharks teeth and two umbrellas for the eyes. My favorite character was Pinocchio because he wore overalls, he grew ears and I liked him because he made mistakes but he learned the lesson to be good and he took care of Geppetto.

I really loved this show. I'm giving this show twelve points because I liked it the most and I think everyone would love it too! Everyone in the whole world!
By, Gunnar

Gunnar's Point System:
12 points: I LOVED IT THE MOST!
10 points: I loved it a LOT
  3 points: I liked some and didn't like some
  1 point:   I only liked a little
  0 points: I didn't like it at all

to Newsies (National Broadway Tour)

On Friday we went to see a musical called Newsies directed by Jeff Calhoun.  Mommy, Aunt Kerry and I went to a gigantic theatre in Milwaukee called the Marcus Center to see it.  When we walked in we had to go up five sets of stairs and when we walked in we sat in seats and I noticed a railing in front of me and the stage was down below us. There was a screen like a tv and on it was the word "Newsies."

The tv screen could move forward and backward and the screen is actually 3 huge levels of steel with 9 boxes that each have screens that can disappear when the kids are dancing. There were also moveable steel stairs with a bridge on top that could make different shapes on stage.

When the play started the screen backs up and shows a new picture of New York City, the bridge comes in with Jack and Crutchie and clothes hanging on strings came down from above. Jack Kelly (Joey Barreiro) and Crutchie (Zachary Sayle) are newsies who are kids that sell papes (or newspapers) for one cent per pape. The newsies buy 10 papes for 5 cents and hope to sell them all.  And one day Pulitzer (the chief and owner of 'The World' newspaper) said he wanted more money so he asked the newsies to spend 6 cents for 10 papes. The newsies were sad mad and they decided to STRIKE so they wouldn't give any of their money to Pulitzer (played by Steve Blanchard).  And a girl journalist named Katherine (Morgan Keene) helps them fight Pulitzer by writing a story about the newsies in a different paper.

Newsies is a musical with a lot of dancing. My favorite songs were "Carrying the Banner",  "The World Will Know" and "Seize the Day".  My favorite character is Jack Kelly who is the leader of the Newsies, and he wears a blue shirt. Davey (Stephen Michael Langton) and his brother Les (Ethan Steiner) are new newsies but they become selling partners with Jack and when the newsies go on strike Davey tells Jack all of the things to say and Jack says it in a way that make the newsies listen.

My favorite part is when Jack, Davey and Les go in the big door to talk to Pulitzer and then they get thrown out and Les and Jack Kelly are yelling at the door as its closing. I also liked any time they were dancing because the newsies could jump really high and leap in the air at the same time and do tricks and stuff. Mommy says dancing in musicals is called choreography and we should say that Christopher Gattelli did a really good job teaching the newsies how to dance.

The musical is different from the movie because in the movie there is a boy journalist and in the musical its a girl.  And there is more singing and dancing in the musical and some different songs.

I really liked the show but it was a little long and I was very sleepy because it was past my bedtime. People who would like the this show are Jordan, Jasper, Jacob, Jo and Wesley.  Other people who will like this show might be people who like really good dancing and great music and people who like history because this is based on a true story!

3 POINTS!


Gunnar's Point System: 
10 points: I loved Everything about it
  3 points: I liked some and didn't like some
  1 point:   I only liked a little
  0 points: I didn't like it at all

to Mr. Popper's Penguins at Lifeline Theatre

10 POINTS!!!!!

Yesterday mommy and me when to a play called Mr. Popper's Penguins at Lifeline Theatre (adapted by Robert Kauzlaric). It was directed by Paul S. Holmquist. When we sat in our seats I saw six ladders, I saw paint on the ladder, I saw the red curtains, a baby and a globe. We saw boats, a lantern, an old radio, a captain hat, and there was a big box made of wood. I liked the red light (designed by Jordan Kardasz) that was shining onto the curtains, it made me feel glad and warm.

When the play started the actors were singing all the time and the music (by George Howe) was pretty when they were singing together in harmony. We met Mr. Popper (Johnathan Schwart) and Mrs. Popper (Heather Currie). Mr. Popper was a painter and they didn't have enough money to buy food. Mr. Popper loved reading Antarctic Adventures. He read about the penguins in Antarctica and he said they'd make a good pet.
Then Admiral Drake (Josh Bernaski) sent Mr. Popper a penguin in a box. And then the penguin came out of the box and he was big and funny and cute. And the penguin kept saying "Ork! Ork! Ork!" So they called him Captain Cook because it kind of sounded like he said "Cook" when he talked. Then Mr. Popper took Captain Cook on an Adventure downtown and they went to every single place. Someone thought he was a pelican and someone that he was an ant eater.

Mrs. Popper said "What is that?" when she met Captain Cook but she loved him anyway. They put him in the fridge because it was cold in there and penguins live in the cold. Then they helped him make a nest and they put lots of stuff in the nest, and they put a banana in the nest which doesn't belong in a nest cause that's funny to put a banana in the nest because its just food. Then the zoo sent Mr. Popper another penguin because Captain Cook wanted a girlfriend, her name was Greta. And then they loved each other and had ten babies that were just cute. Then Mr. and Mrs. Popper taught the penguins to do an obstacle course and took it to a theatre so Mr. Greenbaum (Amanda Roeder) could help them feed all the penguins.

I loved the show a lot!!! My favorite parts were the banana, the seal chase, the baby and the globe.  I thought they (design by Joe Schermoly and Elyse Balogh) did a really good job with the ladders and I really like how they made a bus, a jail, the obstacle course, and a boat with the ladders. After seeing the play I really liked it and wanted to buy the book so I could read it!

I took the autographs from all the actors after the show and mommy got me a Captain Cook stuffed animal penguin.

Everyone should see this play because its really good. Jordan, Jaspar, Jacob and Jo would like this show. If you like penguins, ladders, music, painters, bananas, Captain Cook, puppets, or seals, you'd like this show.

The End. I Love you. Love, Gunnar 

To Dragons Love Tacos at Emerald City Theatre

10 POINTS!!!

Today I went with Mommy, Daddy, Margot, Auntie Kerry, Uncle Zach, Wesley, Jordan and Jo to see a play called "Dragons Love Tacos" at Emerald City Theatre, Co-directed with Chicago Repertory Ballet (there was lots of dancing) Adapted by Ernie Nolan, and directed by Morgan Ashley Madison. We went there with everybody because it was my birthday party, because I turned 5 years old on Sunday! I wanted to see this play because I have the book by Adam Rubin and Illustrated by Daniel Salmieri and I really like it.

When I walked in the theatre I saw a little house. The roof was red it was made out of bricks. The curtain behind the house was purple. The curtains covering the windows were blue. The bench was red. The chimney was red. There was a big tv in the middle that was black. There was a fence next to the house that was brown. And under a window there were pink flowers in a box.

The play didn't start the way I expected. When it started the boy (Liam Dahlborn) and his dog (Erik Streibig) were doing homework. And then the boys mom left and they were sad, they tried to play fetch but then there was lightening so it was raining so they couldn't go outside. They came back inside to play fetch. They did that for a while but they got bored so they watched tv. They watched silly things like when the man was trying to kiss the girl she was like "no! no!" But then a man (Andrew Goetten) was on tv and he was telling them about dragons and then suddenly he came out of the tv to tell them all about what dragons could do.

And the dragons came to the house by coming out of the hallway. There were four dragons, the Red Dragon (Christina Chen), the Yellow Dragon (Lucy Zukaitis), the Blue Dragon (Jon Martinez) and the White Dragon (Michelle Reid). The Dragons don't know how to talk but they did know how to dance and they did a LLLLLLL-AAAAAHHHHHHT (a lot) of dancing! The Red dragon was my favorite because Red is my favorite color, she had little wings. The yellow dragon had a tail and no wings, the blue dragon had claws and the white dragon had spikes. When the tacos came out they had a taco party, because dragons like parties and they like tacos.

My favorite part was when they were breathing fire and the white dragon took off a piece of the house! The one part I didn't like was the Thunder because it was too loud.

I liked the show a lot, 10 points. My friends like this show. I think Jaspar should see this show because he never saw it before. Girls and Boys who like dancing would like this show because there is lots of dancing.

The END.  

Love, Gunnar.