“The Memory Show”

Highly Recommended ***** For those of you who listen to my Sunday afternoon show on WCPT 820 , who tuned in last week (9/29) we had as our guest Johanna McKenzie Miller to talk about a fundraiser show that she was putting on with two of Chicago’s top actresses, Cindy Gold and Cassie Slater. The show is called “The Memory Show” a 90 minute story with music written by Sara Cooper with music by Zach Redler. While the show had an “off-Broadway” run, it is not one that many had heard of, and is one that truly has a voice that must be heard!

The story is about a mother ( Cindy Gold is THE “ultimate” in Jewish mothers) and her daughter ( Cassie Slater is always superb), attempting to make sense of their new relationship as the daughter moves back home to care for her mother who is now going through the pain and hardships caused by the disease known as Alzheimer’s.

They did a one night fundraiser along with the Alzheimer Association’s Illinois Chapter. https://www.alzorg/illinois. at the beautiful Venus Café adjacent to The Mercury Theatre on Southport Avenue. On a Monday night, many local actors were able to join us and celebrate this stunning show with their friends. It was like a “who’s who of Chicago musical theater” and the show is as powerful as one might think.

Many of us were able to learn far more about this disease than would be expected from a musical production. Here we learn more about the symptoms, the problems, the personal fear of losing what one has, mostly the memories that allow us to recall the days when everything was beautiful in our lives. Or at least that we felt were.

This show is about family and how two family members learn to deal with and perhaps even struggle with what is happening and even more…what is going to follow. The daughter has to give up ka part of her life to be there for her mother’s needs. The mother doesn’t thing that anything is wrong. She just forgets a thing or two.

This was done as a “reader’s theater” type of production with only a piano. On the stage a table with two chairs and three music stands. The ladies carried their scripts, but very seldom looked at them. The concept is one that works, but perhaps in the next round McKenzie-Miller will take the books away allowing for more movement. I was impressed with the way she had the ladies move from stand to stand and sit from time to time. She has a keen eye when it comes to keeping the audience into the subject matter!

With strong music and powerful performances, many of the audience members found themselves with a tear rolling down their cheek or recalling a family member in their own lives going through this major problem. In this story we see the humor and the fear that can destroy a family during a troubled time. But we also see that it might bring two estranged family members closer through their need for each other. It is not an easy watch, but with these sterling performers it was an amazing experience that I am in hopes can be shared by others.

Considering that the story is around the Jewish High Holidays ( and played to a crowd as Rosh Hashanah came to an end) maybe this is something that temples and synagogues can bring to their buildings as a joint venture with the Illinois Alzheimer’s Association. This could be enlightening for the congregation and a fundraiser as well. Guess what, for this disease to come into your family, you don’t have to be Jewish, so this play could play well to other denominations as well. Let’s see if this can happen. I promise I will keep you informed so that you will get the opportunity to be exposed to a problem that hits one person every 65 seconds. Keep an eye out.