The Snowy City

Chicago is beautiful! The snow falling on the old buildings, the holiday lights everywhere, the colorful rose emblem of the Rosemont station and the Rosemont Theatre. It's very old world classy.

We're staying in Rosemont, but tonight a few of us ventured into Chicago for some food, fun and theatre. Joel and I went to an acclaimed vegan restaurant called Karyn's which made my mouth water from the moment we walked in. After a long bus ride starting at 6:30 am, during which I ate mostly yogurt, fruit and cereal, I was ready for an actual meal. So I ate enough for three. I had vegan chili with cornbread, a vegan taco salad (heaven) and a glass of mixed berry organic mead. All wonderful. Not to mention the atmosphere was extremely pleasant with its dim lighting, hip decor and great service.

We then caught the Looking Glass Theatre production of Peter Pan. First off, the Looking Glass Theatre has been performing in the Water Tower building since 2003, and it is basically a castle. We were lucky enough to visit as the snow was falling fresh onto the castle's spires and the view distracted us from the bitter cold. The production itself was very contemporary and chic. The actors all began by taking their place in and around the audience, and then engaged the audience to light the lanterns that were strung overhead. The costumes featured harnesses on the outside which the actors all used to fly from the many ropes hanging visibly in the space. For the epic battle between Captain Hook and Peter Pan, they brought in a wheeled ladder and a multi-tiered platform to create an extremely exciting sword fight. The play is much more the story of Wendy than Peter, and her struggle with the roles of daughter, mother to the boys and finally, mother to her own daughter. The actress played the part with such sincerity and innocence that her realization at the end that she is too old to fly was more heartbreaking than ever. The entire production embodied the darker themes beneath Peter's tenacity to youth, the boys' longing for a mother, their frightening display of mob mentality and Hook's own path of overachieving and need for approval that led to his bitterness and demise. It was a grown-up rendition of a wonderful story that probed deeper without losing its inherent joy. I was overwhelmed by how much I enjoyed the production.

Getting to and from downtown wasn't bad either. Our hotel provides a shuttle to the L station, and we (Joel) adeptly navigated the subway system to get to the Michigan Ave part of town. The subways are pretty clean and not too complicated to get around, although the platforms at stations further from the city (i.e. Rosemont) are outdoors, which seems a poor choice for a city with such harsh winter. However, they do have heaters November through March which is a nifty way of keeping everyone warm (not that the natives seemed to mind, I saw plenty of girls in stockings and skirts in this twenty degree weather).

As for tomorrow, our company has brought in a masseuse to alleviate our tired muscles before our intense three show day on Saturday. Let's hope it helps!