Things get Grimm

Having seen the horror puppet show and Halloween having passed, it was time for some tales from the Brothers Grimm.

The show was at The Jarvis Square Theater in Rogers Park. I guess they've got a fair number of storefront theaters in Rogers Park as I was at The Factory Theater there just this past spring. They also like their murals there as I think that every viaduct we encountered had them.

We had a little time before the theater opened so we grabbed some tea at a nearby cafe outside of which was Thoreau's Corner.

Once we were able to get in, we had a few minutes to spend in the lobby before the doors to the theater itself were opened. I perused the artwork on the walls and found a print of The Yule Cat. The artist was listed at "brynn d" and I am left to wonder if the d was for Douglas or Daníelsson or who.

Ere long the doors opened and we took our seats to be transported to a bar somewhere, sometime...

The premise is that Jakob Grimm is seeking his brother Wilhelm having lost contact with him after the pair rescued Little Red Riding Cap from the big, bad wolf. Jakob traces him to a bar on the moon - or did he have to go through the moon to get there? Gah!

The bar is populated by characters from their fairy tales who are taking refuge there, including that Wolf who has the strange ability to mimic a granny. Jakob seeks revenge on Wolf but a truce, of sorts, is made and the denizens of the bar instead act out the Grimm's tales. "Snow White", "Little Red Riding Cap", and "The Golden Goose" are amongst the stories brought to life at the mysterious tavern.

There's a nice variety here with Jakob being the serious one, although he adds some droll humor to the proceedings, while the rest of the cast aim squarely for the funny bone most of the time. There are even short, yet delightful, musical interludes. It's been a long time since I've read one of the Grimm's tales so I cannot tell just how closely the script adhered to what the real Jakob and Wilhelm published but there were moments that stood out as never having been in a Disney retelling. For instance, the Queen in "Snow White" gets to wear the red hot shoes and dance to her death.

Towards the end the play took a turn towards the serious as Wilhelm is found, so to speak. The Wolf is revealed to be the revenant story collector. Jakob is stuck in a Groundhog Day-like scenario wherein he leaves the tavern only to forget the events that transpired there and is destined to return once more in search of his brother. Parting is such sweet sorrow indeed.

I found the tragedy of their fraternal bonds to be quite affecting and not every eye that left the theater was dry that evening, I can tell you.

 

A little rough around the edges, perhaps, but a really fun show with a meaningful ending. The actors all did a swell job and we found out that one of them was just a high school freshman. Good on her! 

Since we'd eaten Thai on the return trip the previous weekend we decided to have a Middle Eastern dinner at al Bawadi Grill in Niles. It wasn't very far out of our way from our route back to the interstate so it was perfect.

The ghazawi salad was tasty although I wouldn't have minded a bit more hot sauce. For my main it was chicken shawarma.

I thought the chicken was dry and underseasoned but the garlic sauce that came with it was quite tasty.

 

We get a weekend off before it's back to the big city for some Dante. Divine!