The standard workweek ends in another Friday the 13th. (Again.) This is the second month in a row. Being a well-adjusted, non-superstitious person, I can’t stress enough that this has no significance to me at all. That being said, I am out of town this particular Friday the 13th. (On the other side of the continent.) I can’t stress enough that this is NOT because I’m superstitious. This particular Friday the 13th, no less than three shows will be opening in the area with another theatre event going on for good measure. Here’s one of the shows I will be missing this Friday . . . but NOT because I am superstitious.
Tonight, the theatre district welcomes the blues to its heart as The Skylight Opera opens its production of Sheldon Epps’ Blues In The Night. The story of three women who date the same sleazy guy is delivered entirely without dialogue through the music of Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington, Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen, Alberta Hunter and more. Songs include “I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues,” “Stompin’ At The Savoy” and “Blues In The Night.” The production stars Liz Baltes, Cynthia Cobb, Maggie McCann and Benjamin Sterling Cannon. Set in a run-down Chicago hotel in 1938, the show must have been a really interesting challenge for scenic designer Kenneth Goldstein to bring to the rather large main stage of the Broadway Theatre Center.
The show closes April 5th.
