**** Recommended 42 Balloons, the new musical at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre is a terrific summer musical. The story is crazy but true – and straight out of the 80s, so it has some pathos too. The ensemble – an 8-person Greek chorus - is young, attractive and perky. The music is catchy, bright and kind of nonsensical – who sings about 42 balloons and a lawn chair? Loved the 80s choreography. The set and staging rates somewhere between cool and awesome! This was a fun show to watch. 4 Spotlights
You might remember the headlines from the 80s – some guy launched himself into space in a lawn chair. Everyone thought he was crazy, a conclusion reinforced by his appearance on the Letterman Show. He was proud of his achievement and ready to talk about why he did it, but Letterman wasn’t interested, making fun of him instead.
To Larry Walters (Charlie McCullagh), the lawn chair guy, this wasn’t a stunt to get publicity, it was fulfilling his lifelong dream of flying. He grew up wanting to be a pilot but when he applied for flight training in the military he couldn’t pass the vision test. He never quit his dream, calculating, diagramming, tinkering, he finally figured out a way to fly without a plane.
Then he met a girl, Carol Van Deusen (Evelyn Hoskins), and they fell in love. Then she took him home to meet her mother. Margaret Van Deusen (Lucia Spina) was happy for her daughter, but skeptical of this newcomer.
Eventually, Larry told Carol about his plan to fly. She thought he was kidding until he convinced her he was serious. There was just one problem, he didn’t have enough money. Carol had a good job and good credit, so she went to the bank and borrowed $15,000 to pay for 42 weather balloons, Sears best lawn chair, and the other miscellaneous stuff Larry needed for his flight. Finally, he recruited his buddy, Ron Richland (Akron Watson) – the only guy he knew with access to a video camera – and he was ready to fly.
The flight scenes are very cool to watch – an elevator lift under the chair and lots of special effects. Although a couple of things went wrong – a rope broke, he dropped his glasses, but he had a spare pair and he dropped the BB gun he was supposed to use to break the balloons – but Lawn Chair Larry actually managed to reach 16,000 feet, causing lots of alarm among the air traffic controllers at LAX, before he started his descent .
The entire show is done in song. The eight-person ensemble is a kind of Greek chorus, observing, explaining and commenting on Larry and his plans. The ensemble includes Daniel Assetta (Air Traffic Controller), Kailin Brown, Devin Cortez, Cameron Anika Hill, Josh Hoon Lee, Minju Michelle Lee (The Kid), Austin Nelson Jr. (David Letterman) and Morgan Shoenecker.
Jack Godfrey wrote the book, lyrics and music for 42 Balloons which premiered in the UK to critical acclaim. Ellie Coote directs the Chicago Shakespeare production with choreography by Alexzandra Sarmiento, Costumes by Natalie Pryce. Scenic Design by Milla Clarke, Video Design & Animation by Andrzej Goulding, Lighting Design by Bruno Poet.
The Band: Patrick B. Phillips (Keyboard Conductor), Kailey Rockwell (Keyboard), Jonathan Miller (Guitar), Chris Forte (Guitar), Dan Leali (Percussion), Sachio Nang (Bass), Heather Boehm (Musicians Contractor).
42 Balloons runs through June 29th in the Yard at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre on Navy Pier, Chicago. Parking in CST’s designated area in the Navy Pier Garage is available at a 40% discount with validation from CST.
Running time is 2 hours, 20 minutes, including an intermission. Performances are Tuesdays at 7:00 pm; Wednesdays at 1:00 & 7:00 pm; Thursdays & Fridays at 7:00 pm; Saturdays at 2:00 & 7:00 pm; Sundays at 2:00 pm.
Accessible performances:
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Audio-described performance with optional touch tour – Sunday, June 22nd at 2:00 p.m.
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Open captioned performance – Wednesday, June 25 at 1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
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ASL interpreted performance – Friday, June 20th at 7:00 p.m.
Tickets range from $71-$132. FYI (312) 595-5600 or www.chicagoshakes.com