Marie Christine is a musical adaptation of Medea set in 19th-century New Orleans and Chicago, and it grabs you from the first note. It’s a wild ride on so many levels - the music is intense and kind of atonal, the vocals are incredible, the lighting is eerie, the dancing is sensuous and primal, the storyline has Greek tragedy twists and turns.......and then there’s the voodoo. (Yes! Voodoo! It’s just too fun.) The adapted time and place highlight racial and gender issues that feel contemporary yet also remind us the classics are powerful because they’re timeless. I was thoroughly absorbed and transported.
Half the fun of our theater challenge has been discovering so many different theater locations in Chicago - wonderful, small community spaces that house hidden gems and large, famous venues that have put Chicago on the world map. This week was our first to repeat a theater space, although certainly not because we’ve run out of new places to explore. Week 15 awaits!