THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

Don't be fooled by the title. "Love," in this latest Black Ensemble musical production, is a small, multiethnic (though predominantly African-American) Illinois community where life is generally placid and harmonious. The tutelage of the town busybody, however, reveals unease among Love's lovers: Zeland and Rena, married 50 years with libidos undiminished. Cortez and Diedra, married three months and fighting constantly. Venie and Cara, a Moose-and-Squirrel duo troubled, not by their racial disparities, but their body images. Lewis, engaged to Athena, but in love with Jenean. Doug and Dorian, a pair of closeted gay men. Oh, and our guide, twice-divorced Ms. Katie herself, whose current beau waits patiently for her to make up her mind. Will these ambivalent citizens come to terms with the problems that beset them by evening's end?

And in that question lies the difference between this linear-plotted story and the bio/docudrama musical revues for which Black Ensemble is justly famous. Author/director Jackie Taylor's focus this time is, not a single artist or genre, but the issues associated with the topic of love in this modern world—whether marital, illicit, gay, het, platonic or filial: Elderly couples fear the onset of disease and death. Same-sex fraternizations are acknowledged covertly, but never publicly. Sons are devastated by the loss of their sires. Impulsive youths wed in haste to repent at leisure. Emotionally scarred singles hesitate before Cupid's insistent imperative.

This emphasis on text doesn't exclude music, though—and who better to sing about love than Luther Vandross, whose many contributions to the score include the anthemic "Any Love" and the reverent "Dance With My Father" (performed with deep-felt poignancy by the remarkably light-on-his-feet Vasily Deris). Katrina V. Miller makes a charming and sassy Ms. Katie, Lawrence Williams does a nice Al Green impression on the C&W classic, "For the Good Times," and Aeriel Williams' balletic pas seul lends visual interest to the lulling "First Time Ever," but what pulls us in at the top of the first act is an "All The Man I Need," belted forth by Jenny Lamb with a full-bodied intensity hitherto reined in by tiny cabaret rooms. Valentine's Day may be over, but if spring turns your fancy to thoughts of you-kthrough what, this is your show.