Ring in 2012 with Blue Man Group

Blue Man Group, the critically hailed theatrical phenomenon on stage at Chicago’s Briar Street Theatre (3133 N. Halsted Street), is wishing Chicago a Happy 2012 with three performances on New Year’s Eve. The day of performances kicks off with a matinee show at 4 p.m. for families to celebrate the holiday together and ends with the 7 and 10 p.m. performances featuring a complimentary champagne and sparkling cider toast and party favors. The final performance of 2011 will feature Blue Man Group counting down to the New Year and playing a special rendition of “Auld Lang Syne” on their custom made instruments including the Tubulum.

Blue Man Group’s production provides its audience with a unique and thrilling multi-sensory experience that blends innovative theatrical spectacle and dynamic original music with hilarious comedy, art, technology and science to create a performance experience unlike any other.

In the show, the Blue Men encounter a variety of environments to discover, engage with and explore of-the-moment situations with cutting-edge technology. Many of the signature scenes that have made Blue Man Group one of today’s best-loved theatrical productions have been in the show since its opening, though new material has been integrated. Newer passages include Blue Men interacting with “GiPads;” a funny and perceptive look at contemporary communication vehicles; and a pulsating new finale featuring an original Blue Man Group music score.

With rave reviews and accolades, from the Chicago press and media, under its belt, Blue Man Group’s appeal is multi-generational, with several projects specifically designed for young people, including “Making Waves,” a popular touring exhibit for children, and the recently launched national “Invent an Instrument” competition.

So if you are looking to welcome 2012 with a BANG, say goodbye to 2011 with one of Chicago's most celebrated entertainment shows, the Blue Man Group.


BLUE MAN GROUP TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets prices for the 4, 7, and 10 p.m. shows on New Year’s Eve are $55 - $75. Tickets may be purchased at the Briar Street Theatre by calling the box office at (773) 348-4000; by calling Ticketmaster at (800) 982-2787; at all Ticketmaster ticket centers or via the Internet at www.ticketmaster.com/bluemanchicago. For more information, visit www.blueman.com/chicago.

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"The Nutcracker"

We enjoyed a very beautiful performance of The Nutcracker at the Elgin Community College (ECC) Arts Center this past Saturday.

The holiday classic was divided into two acts, the first where the celebrations are on at the Stahlbaum's on Christmas eve as adults and children dance to merry tunes, run around and wait eagerly for the Stahlbaum kids' Godfather and the talented toymaker Drosselmeyer. Among other things what striked us was the simple yet elegant setting of a 19th century household on the eve of the grand holiday. The set seemed to come alive with the vibrant Christmas tree in the background as also the people in lovely costumes who surrounded it. The children were immensely talented, as one being a mom of two young kids is bound to notice :)  They acted so well, danced in perfect rhythm and co-ordination and seemed to be enjoying themselves so much. It all looked like one big happy family. The expressions were so real and natural, I almost felt like a part of the party myself.

I and my 4 year old daughter waited for the second act with a lot of anticipation to look at all the different dances we had only read about in the kids' books and looked at pictures. What we didn't know was that the act is going to be all dance without a single word being spoken. If you are familiar with the story, in the second act, in honor of the young heroine Clara who has saved the Nutcracker from the Mouse King and helped him turn back into a prince, a celebration of sweets from around the world is produced: chocolate from Spain, coffee from Arabia, and tea from China all dance for their amusement; candy canes from Russia perform a Trepak; Danish marzipan shepherdesses perform on their flutes; Mother Ginger has her children emerge from under her enormous skirt to dance; a string of beautiful flowers perform a waltz. To conclude the night, the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier perform a Pas de Deux. Each one of the dances was more fascinating than the other. Even my 6 year old son who is not easy to impress sat mesmerized. My daughter can't wait to learn ballet herself. It was the first time we saw ballet live on stage and to say that we were in awe is an understatement.

The ECC Arts Center had secured the services of the ECC Culinary Arts and Hospitality program to prepare a delightful selection of gourmet treats for a pre-show Clara's Christmas Tea Party in the Spartan Terrace dining room, just down the hall from the theater. Fare included delicious hot chocolate and festive pomegranate cranberry "mimosas;" a mouth watering selection of tea sandwiches including peanut butter and jelly, turkey and cranberry, smoked salmon and chive cream, roast beef and horseradish cream and sundried tomato, fresh mozzarella and basil pesto; plus assorted scones and Christmas cookies.

 The ECC Arts Center has a diverse line up of events, both touring artists as well as their own college/in-residence ensembles. You can check out the interesting 2011-12 season here.

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The Holiday Lights Tour Experience

So we took the Holiday Lights Tour past Saturday. Needless to say the city looked magnificent in all those dazzling lights, smelt exquisite in those smells of cinnamon and coffee wafting through the air and just felt so 'tugging on your heart strings' kind of magical with the festivities and the cheer and the happiness on people's faces, the Christmas carols playing in the background  as the trolley meandered its way through busy with the holiday crowd streets. We were treated to the festive lights and enchanting sights of wintertime in Chicago, including the twinkling lights of the Magnificent Mile, the posh Gold Coast Neighborhood, Macy's Holiday Windows, Daley Plaza's 40-foot tree, the John Hancock Plaza tree, Navy Pier's Winter Wonderfest, Buckingham Fountain and the Christkindlmarket. 


The lightly narrated tour which was supposed to be 2 hours long ran for an extra half an hour owing to rush traffic and also earned us a parking ticket as a result :( Apart from that there was nothing to not like about it. With stops at two brilliantly illuminated holiday attractions, we had time to hop off at both the Zoo Lights at Lincoln Park Zoo and the Christkindlmarket, a traditional German American Holiday Market with distinctive crafts, artistic glass ornaments, delicious sweets, holiday food and drinks. Both the stops were so much fun by themselves that we are planning to return to just those to spend more time at each of those.


The tour is great for especially families with young kids or older people who get to see much of the city without having to walk in the cold. Both our kids had an awesome time riding the trolley as well as at both the stops. Just a word of caution to park for close to 3 hours. We parked at Pearson St 2 blocks from Michigan Ave where the parking was available for a maximum of 2 hours and we thought we would make it in an additional 5 minutes or so but we returned a half hour late and had a ticket by then.


The "Holiday Lights Tour" runs on Fridays and Saturdays, Nov. 25 - Dec. 23, 2011, with four departure times at 5:30 p.m., 6 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. The tour departs from Chicago Water Works Pumping Station located at Michigan Avenue and Pearson Streets across from Water Tower Place. Tours hold 32 passengers each and tickets must be purchased in advance online at www.chicagotrolley.com.

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The Magical Shrek the Musical

So we watched the much awaited and a packed show of Shrek the Musical at Rosemont Theater. If I was to describe it in one single phrase, it would be magical. I watched a musical of this magnitude after a really long time I thought to myself during the show. But it was indeed fascinating. Be it the hotheadedness yet the basic goodness of the heavily costumed and made up ogre Shrek or the great comedic skills and the charm of Princess Fiona, the goofy and extremely lovable Donkey or the selfish yet delightfully shortened Lord Farquaad, it was an engaging and very well crafted show. The beautiful sets just merged into each other very naturally and effortlessly like the pages of a fairy tale book. With just a drop of a curtain, the lovely woods magically transformed into the menacing castle of Lord Farquaad to next change into the dragon guarded tower where in lay Princess Fiona. The music was upbeat with the best songs for me being the ones with the feisty Princess Feona. She was nothing short of a riot  as she danced and sang and joked with amazing facial expressions in 'Morning Person' and the sequence where she engaged in a competition of burps and farts with Shrek in 'I got you beat!' Another high point of the show was the incredible dragon that was a combination of a really big puppet manually operated by 8 people in a horse style!

It played for only one weekend, the one following Thanksgiving here in Rosemont, IL. However, check out this link to see if its coming close to you and do grab the chance to watch it if it is.


For all the technical details on the star cast and the very impressive and accolades winning creative team, read on!

SHREK THE MUSICAL tells the story of a swamp-dwelling ogre who goes on a life-changing adventure to reclaim the deed to his land. Joined by a wise-cracking donkey, this unlikely hero fights a fearsome dragon, rescues a feisty princess and learns that real friendship and true love aren't only found in fairy tales.

The role of everyone's favorite swamp-dwelling ogre, Shrek will be played by Lukas Poost.  Liz Shivener will play the feisty Princess Fiona.  Andr‚ Jordan is Shrek's lovably annoying best friend Donkey and Merritt David Janes plays the vertically challenged villain Lord Farquaad.



Rounding out the cast of misfit fairy tale characters, the peoples of Duloc and Far, Far Away are:  Willie Dee, Annie Fitch, Susan Leilani Gearou, Kelly Teal Goyette, Alexa Kerner, Rachel Khutorsky, Schuyler Midgett, Lyonel Reneau, Adam Steiner, Erin Sullivan, Chase Todd, Sarah Tranchina, Nadia Vynnytsky, Ryan Everett Wood, Chris Woods, Luke Yellin, Ian Frazier, Mara Gabrielle, Ryan Rubek and Laura Smith.

SHREK THE MUSICAL features a book and lyrics by Pulitzer Prize(r) winner David Lindsay-Abaire (Rabbit Hole, Good People), music by Olivier Award-winner Jeanine Tesori (Thoroughly Modern Millie,  Caroline, or Change).  SHREK THE MUSICAL is directed by Stephen Sposito who recently served as Associated Director of the current Broadway revival How To Succeed In Business starring Daniel Radcliff.  Sets and costumes are based on the Tony Award(r) winner designs by Tim Hatley (Private Lives, Spamalot)  and Chris Bailey will recreate the original choreography by Josh Prince (The Bridge Project, The Jerry Springer Opera).

 SHREK THE MUSICAL was initiated when Sam Mendes, a big fan of the first Shrek film, suggested the idea of creating a musical to DreamWorks Animation's Jeffrey Katzenberg around the time the second film was in production. The musical is produced by NETworks Presentations, LLC.

NETworks Presentations, LLC (Producer) was founded in 1995 by Kenneth Gentry, Seth Wenig and Scott Jackson. NETworks has produced and managed over 80 national and international touring productions. Previous productions: Little Women starring Maureen McGovern; Cinderella starring Eartha Kitt and Deborah Gibson; Fosse starring Ben Vereen and Ruthie Henshall; The Light in the Piazza; My Fair Lady co-produced with Cameron Mackintosh; Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!; Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake; Annie; Hairspray; The Wizard of Oz, Handel's Messiah Rocks, Spring Awakening, A Chorus Line and many others. Joining returning productions of Disney's Beauty and the Beast; Young Frankenstein; Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific, based on Lincoln Center Theater Production; Blue Man Group National Tour and The New 25th Anniversary Tour of Les Mis‚rables this season are Shrek The Musical, Disney and Cameron Mackintosh's Mary Poppins and Lincoln Center Theater production of War Horse touring the U.S.

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The kid speaketh

I was going through some of the posts I had written much earlier about the interesting, often funny things the kids came up with - phrases, conversations. I had loads of them, especially of Niño. And realized its been a while I did that here. Mostly its because of fb. I usually put a status update of the hilarious things they say and am done, its easy to have a conversation with friends who have had similar experiences with their kids and share a laugh. Its fun and convenient. However its difficult to go through them all at one place which is why I also decided to put them here for laughs for myself later when I need them :)



So Niño had his KG show today and I threatened him to let me set his hair sideways instead of the usual silly way where he likes to have them falling on his forehead and I try to convince him further by getting Chica on my side and ask her "Bhaiya looks nice with his hair on the side, no?" and she goes "Bhaiya looks nice ALWAYS!"
These two are soon going to gang up on me and throw me out of the house, I tell you!!

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We took the kids to a Japanese festival outside a Japanese Supermarket this Saturday. Out of all the things, guess what Niño found to write about in his journal ...

I went to the Japanese market. I saw a toilet seat there. There were buttons for washing the front and back of the bottom and a button for drying it too.

He also wanted to write 'It was really cool' but ran out of space.

Ever since he has been asking us to either get one for him or take him to Japan for a vacation.

For those interested to take a look at the toilet seat reigning supreme in his heart and mind these days, follow the link

http://manolohome.com/2008/11/25/the-super-toilet/

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So these are the kids' current radical thoughts on marriage:

Chica: Mamma, can I marry bhaiya (Niño) when I grow up? I love him so much. That ways I'll be able to stay with him forever.

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Niño: Mom, I want to marry N!
Me: The two of you are enough for me! I can't have another child in the house!
Niño: Lets marry Chica off and she can go stay with her husband and then I can marry N and bring her to stay here.

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So the kids were duly told the story of Ravan taking away Sita and the battle that followed and Niño's reaction is "So Sri Lanka 'bothered' India once upon a time?" Now does anybody else see a politician in the making ?!

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So the little miss garrulous asks me the meaning of 'might' and 'how about' with examples. And then proceeds to give some of her own.
"Mom, I might love you next week!" I make a sad face to give her a chance to rectify things to which she adds, "How about next year?"


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And finally for those of you who understand Hindi, my daily dose of laughs from Niño's वाक्य बनाओ

बारिश - बारिश पढ़ रही है.

पैसे - पैसे जमा मत करवाओ. iPad लेने के लिए अपने पास रखो.

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The Lillstreet Art Center Clay Workshop

 A couple of weeks back I had written about the workshop on making ceramic ornaments to decorate our tree or give as stocking stuffers, we were to attend at the Lillstreet Art Center. We went for the same this past Sunday and it was such a hit with kids and extremely relaxing and fun for me and my husband as well. I'll first walk you through some pictures and then tell you a little more about the place.

 First we pounded the clay and threw it and pounded and threw to make a slab big and thin. This in itself was such a fascinating process for both the kids.

 Then we used several cookie cutters to cut out interesting shapes - stars, leaves, snowmen, hearts, gingerbread man. The kids found it hard to stop at a three dozen cut outs at this step.

 Then we painted the ornaments we had cut out, made some textures with pointed sticks or blocks and made a hole on top to string through later.

These are now ready to be bisque fired and the Lillstreet people will call us back to pick them up when they are ready.








It was a great experience and two hours passed by so fast. Chica, my 4 year old wanted to stay there longer and keep doing more. Fortunately, I was able to whisk her out of the room to show her the other interesting things happening in other parts of the art center. This was the first one we went to - it looked, smelled and felt very different from any other place we have been to. There were so many pots, paints, sculptures, bowls, plates and the likes lying around on many many shelves. All the people there, mostly artists working on different things seemed very relaxed and very friendly stopping by in the room that we were working in, when they came there to pick something they needed, and encouraging the children at the great job they were doing. And all the children in the workshop - 2 of mine and 2 more worked so neatly and with such rapt attention, it was lovely to watch them. The kids on their way out watched in such fascination a lady working on a potter's wheel. My son remarked, "Oh! So that's how a pot gets made!" I love remarks like these when kids realize something they had used regularly but never lent a thought to, now know where it comes from :)

I had linked to the various workshops that the Lillstreet people offer for kids as well as adults. Some of them are scheduled on Saturdays and are just $10 a person. The center is well worth a visit for an experience which is not easily available at home.

We now can't wait to collect them from the Art Center in a couple of weeks!

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The Holiday Lights Tour!

I have said this before many times and I say it yet again that I have been loving Chicago city for a a variety of experiences it has to offer. Who wouldn't love to have something different to do and enjoy the new experiences every few days. So the next experience I am really looking forward to is the Holiday Lights Tour! I love this time of the year in the US when the festivities begin, the streets and stores are all lit up, beautiful and brilliant, people look cheerful enjoying the festivities, walking the streets with shopping bags in hands and am truly excited to watch all this on a special Holiday Lights Tour!

Chicago's version of a caroling sleigh ride will whisk passengers amongst the festive lights and enchanting sights of wintertime in Chicago, including the twinkling lights of the Magnificent Mile, State Street & Macy's Holiday Windows, Daley Plaza's 40-foot tree, the John Hancock Plaza tree, Navy Pier's Winter Wonderfest, Buckingham Fountain, Christkindlmarket and more. Tickets must be purchased in advance and are only available online at www.chicagotrolley.com. Tickets have been on sale since Nov. 1. 

The "Holiday Lights Tour" is a lightly narrated 2-hour tour showcasing the best of Chicago's holiday lights and sights, with stops at two brilliantly illuminated holiday attractions. Passengers will have time to hop off at both the Zoo Lights at Lincoln Park Zoo and the Christkindlmarket, a traditional German American Holiday Market with distinctive crafts, artistic glass ornaments, delicious sweets, holiday food and drinks, along the way. All ages can enjoy this warm, cozy experience, see the highlights of Chicago's holiday cheer and might even be inspired to carol with new friends.

The "Holiday Lights Tour" runs on Fridays and Saturdays, Nov. 25 - Dec. 23, 2011, with four departure times at 5:30 p.m., 6 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. The tour departs from Chicago Water Works Pumping Station located at Michigan Avenue and Pearson Streets across from Water Tower Place. Tours hold 32 passengers each and tickets must be purchased in advance online at www.chicagotrolley.com.

Tickets are $26 for adults and $19 for children (3-11). All ticket holders also receive a coupon featuring free hot chocolate and a York peppermint brownie wedge from The Hershey Store.

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