Highly Recommended **** Oh what a night!. Thanks to the wonderful , creative minds over at Oil Lamp Theater in Glenview, Jane and I had a fabulous evening in Glenview. It was sort of a “Ravinia on blacktop” as we were directed to our space in the parking lot of Our Lady Of Perpetual Help in Glenview for Oil Lamp’s “Onstage & Outdoors” series. Previously they had used this parking lot for their Drive-In theater, but tonight was more a concert and with perfect weather and five very talented singers, we were reminded just how much we miss “live entertainment” so I want to thank those at Oil Lamp and in particular their sponsor Rich Margaritondo of Glenview Aston Martin.( If you are seeking an exotic auto, he is the man), for bringing us “back to what we need”!
The show was designed for a BYOC ( bring your own chair) or you could rent one at $3. We parked our car, checked in and the “Saint ” ushered us to our square inn the parking lot. We had no one to our right, our left, in front or behins. Sort of like a chess board to make sure we were socially distance from our neighbors. Those of you who are familiar with this intimate theater know that they hold about 60 patrons. Tonight, there were well over a hundred audeince members. The stage was to the west of the lot with the building’s second floor fire escape serving as the perch for our emcee/performer, the very talented Gabriel Fries. Gabe introduced the other four artists, Jonah D. Winston, Desiree Gonzales, Eustace I. Williams and Shayla Rogers who were sitting on stage. FYI- the performers, when not singing wore masks and were sitting t least 6 feet apart.
The show was 90 minutes in length and featured musical numbers from films and stage:
They started with the ensemble doing “Another Op’nin, Another Show” (Kiss Me Kate), then Gabe did “If I Only Had A Brain” including a little dance on the fire escape. They then did “Stars: from Les Miz ( Jonah knocked it out of the park), the girls doing “Wicked” followed by “Phantom” and “Funny Girl”.
The “Soliloquy” from “Carousel was neatly done by Eustice and then Gabe and Jonah took on the comical “We Can Do It” from “The Producers”.
The program included numbers from well known and little known musicals, like “Little Women” and “On The Town” ( an early Leonard Bernstein musical and then “Ragtime” with a very topical song, “Make The Hear You” as done by Jonah who has a wide range and uses it t perfection. Numbers from “Into The Woods”, “Dear Evan Hansen”, “In The Heights”, “Hamilton”, “Newsies” and the finale from “Next To Normal” made for a delightful evening of music for all. Some arrived early with dinner, tables and chairs and made a Ravinia night out of it. others just brought ( or rented chairs). The performers were outstanding, the musicians and sound were perfect.
The cost for the evening was based on where you sat- from $15 to $40 which included your parking and 1 person per space space. the spaces were 6′ x 9′ (for 2) 12’x 9′ ( 3-4 people and 18′ x 9 ‘ (for 5-6).
For more information about this creative theater, visit https://oillamptheater.org/plays-events/
The theater itself is located at 1723 West Glenview Road- 847-834-0738 contact info@oillamptheater.org
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