Monday, May 05, 2008

I Was In Top Form On Saturday

Chris Jones, the chief theatre critic for the Chicago Tribune, is a very nice man.

His review of Aladdin is very generous. The few negative comments he makes about our production - - and trust me, he could have written SO much more than he did - - are 100% accurate.

And in his review, he is very kind to me, stating...
"Rader, who invariably takes it upon himself to create an entire subtext for the pleasure of the adults in the theater, was in top form Saturday"

Sure, he follows that wonderful compliment with the phrase, "when you could hear him" but that's a body mic problem, not a "Stephen" problem, right?

I mean, I'm not Merman here.

Sure I THINK I'm Merman and I occasionally break into a full voice rendition of "Rose's Turn" when I'm walking down the street, but I still need a microphone, for God's sake!

14 comments:

Bunny said...

Yay for a great mention for you!! Congrats!!

Aaron said...

We KNEW you'd be the best thing about the show. Because nobody else cares as much as you do, do they? DO THEY??!

Sadly, Jones wasn't the Trib reviewer for "Die Mommie Die." Instead they got someone who clearly doesn't get the genre, but whatcha gonna do? Into a life full of butterscotch, every so often some camphor must fall...

whimsical brainpan said...

Congrats on the review!

And yes it was the mic, not you.

Anonymous said...

"Top" form is nice. "Bottom" form is nice, too, right?

Congrats on not having to worry anymore!

Project Christopher said...

YAY YOU! I knew you could do it! I will have to come see you now. I didn't want to come until Chris reviewed you... you know.. if the show is shit, why bother??? :)

KIDDING LOVEY!

ayeM8y said...

You just belt it out as loud as you can Ethel...Go on git back up there and belt us another’n.

Anonymous said...

that's great, stephen!

congrats, my unmet friend!

Jeremy Rizza said...

Awesome!

Maybe you should throw a little reconfigured "Rose's Turn" into the show. "Genie's talkin' loud!"

Anonymous said...

Toldyaso, toldyaso. TOLDYASO. Love, Mother

Stephen R. said...

bunny - Thank you!!!

aaron - How anyone can go to see DIE MOMMIE DIE and not fall in love with it is beyond me!

whim - You know it's the mic, cause you know me and you know I'm LOUD!!! :)

seriously flippant - Bottom form is just fine with me!!

chris - Mr. Jones was kind, baby. Very kind.

ayem8y - "Sing out, Louise!! SING OUT!!"

shirley - Thank you, sweetie!

blockade boy - I LOVE your idea!! "Here he is, boys!! Here he is, girls! Here's GENIE!!!" It's in the show at my next performance. DEFINITELY!!!

master aaron - I should know better than to ever doubt anything you tell me. Ever.

cb - I think he liked his fifty bucks better. :)

Anonymous said...

it was the body mic, not you
the one that keeps me thinking is

"And the warmly approachable Danny Bernardo at least captured the title character's sense of play."

what does the "at least" mean? :-/

db

dollar said...

congrats on the nice review. I hope to see the production next week.

Mark in DE said...

Woo hoo! Go Stephen, go Stephen, its your birthday, its your....

Mark :-)

AnonyMe said...

I do wish I could come to see it!
We all knew you were good!!Congratulations!