Hard to believe it's Independence Day already. Jonny still hasn't quite caught up with the summer season, which is too bad 'cause there's just so dang much going on. For instance, July will see a return to Chicago by performance artist and activist Tim Miller, who will be here the very same week that Milly's Orchid Show celebrates its 21st anniversary. What's a gossip columnist to do? If you were Jonny—of course, you're not Jonny; how could anyone be Jonny?—which would be your lead story?
Well, it's ladies first—especially ladies in hats. Sorry, Tim, you don't wear hats; indeed, sometimes you don't wear anything at all, and is Jonny complaining? But Milly goes first.
Pictured: Strange Fruit. Photo by David Murray. Tim Miller.
It's difficult to fathom that Brigid Murphy has been portraying Milly May Smithy for 21 years. Why, Jonny remembers seeing Milly's Orchid Show when Jonny was only 30. And now, 21 years later, Jonny is only 39! Art is wonderful, isn't it? For this very, very special anniversary show, July 19 at Park West, Milly has lined up an astonishing array of talent: Nora Dunn, Tom Wolfe, Paula Killen, Poi Dog Pondering, Blue Man Group, Consuelo Allen, The Sequins and more. Tickets for this one-time-only cerebral vaudeville are $30 at the door on the day of the show, or in advance online only: www.brigidbags.com .
The very out and very active Mr. Miller has visited Chicago many times before in performances of his self-written one-man shows, often at Bailiwick Repertory. This visit, however, will find Miller at Links Hall, 3435 N. Sheffield ( at Newport ) , for a full week of performances and workshops, July 21-27. Miller will perform US—a satirical blend of politics, contemporary American social history and Broadway musicals—July 25 and 26 ( and for only $15 ) but also will conduct a workshop, July 21-26. In a rare open-admissions policy, Charged Bodies/Borders: A Solo Performance Intensive is open to anyone who believes he/she has solo performing potential and a story to tell. The five-day workshop will culminate in a student performance July 27 at Links Hall. The cost of the intensive is $150 ( deposit required ) and the workshop hours are during the daytime. Details: 773-281-0824.
Here's an early heads-up for all the opera queens who read Stage Door Jonny. You know who you are. A rarely-staged Georges Bizet gem, Djamileh, will be performed Aug. 3, 5 and 7 at the Chicago Cultural Center as the 10th Annual Summer Opera presented by the Department of Cultural Affairs. Best known for Carmen and The Pearl Fishers, Bizet also dashed off this fairytale one-act gem about the beautiful Djamileh and her quest to win the blasé young nobleman Haroun. The fully professional performance is presented in Preston Bradley Hall ( with the magnificent Tiffany stained-glass dome newly restored ) at the Cultural Center by members of the New Millennium Orchestra of Chicago, under the direction of Francesco Milioto. Now, here's the deal: Preston Bradley Hall can seat only a few hundred. The opera performances are free but tickets are required and they are snapped up very quickly. Tickets for Djamileh are available July 9 and must be obtained in person ( limit four per person ) at the Storefront Theater Box Office, 66 E. Randolph, 12-6 p.m., Tues.-Sat. Jonny has warned you, so don't go throwin' no hissy fit around these parts if you can't get a ticket.
Speaking of hissy fits, Jonny hears that Beast Women continues to be the premier showcase for female talent in the Chicagoland area. The rotating weekly variety show offers singers, dancers, reciters, comics, poets, burlesque queens, etc. in an ever-changing but always tasty stew of performance. Beast Women is continuing at Prop Thtr, 3502 N. Elston, every Saturday night, 10:30 p.m.; 773-278-1212; $15. Jillian Erickson is the curator and Michelle Power is the emcee.
Upcoming appearances by Strange Fruit and Compagnie Transe Express are outdoor events just too exotic to miss. Jonny can do little more than offer pale descriptions. Of course, Jonny's readers know that a carillon is a set of tuned bells on a grand scale. Under the title Maudit Sonnants, the Compagnie Transe Express will create a beautiful human carillon and suspend it via crane some 200 feet in the air over Gateway Park at Navy Pier. The aerial event is presented—free—by Chicago Shakespeare Theater, July 11-12. Once aloft, performers on this musical chandelier will ring bells, beat drums and swing on trapezes above the heads of tens of thousands of Pier visitors. The spectacle will begin about 9 p.m. both nights, with fireworks following on Saturday night.
Not to be outdone in the aerial department, Millennium Park brings Melbourne, Australia's Strange Fruit to town July 10-14 for a fusion of dance, circus and theater atop swinging, swaying 14-foot poles. Swoon, as their piece is called, is a quartet for two male and two female daredevils that tells the story of love, loss, joy, and freedom up on high. There will be 14 performances over five days, July 10-14, with shows at 1 p.m., 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. most days ( July 12, 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. ) . And you thought all the 14-foot poles were in Warsaw!
Happy Fourth of July, everyone! The Bush era nearly is over, and the nation has survived—even if it has been sadly diminished and tarnished—so let's celebrate.