Opus

Jude Law is interviewed on Letterman tonight (HERE).  Letterman asks him, "If you could choose film or theater, what would you choose?."  Law answers, “Theater....the relationship with the audience is irreplaceable.”  

Tonight (before watching Letterman) Jason and I are part of an audience.  In another tiny theater, by the Bryn Mawr stop of the Red Line, a play is performed to a sold-out audience of forty people. There is sweat. People jump in their seats. An actor’s final lines are spoken by Jason’s right ear. I stare at an actor standing next to us and wait for him to break out of character in this small space. He doesn't.

One of the things I love about Chicago is the chance, on any random night, to step into a small storefront theater and watch a story unfold.  There are plenty of huge productions from which to choose, but there are also many small theaters where some amazing acting is taking place.  Some shows are definitely better than others.  But for as little as $10 you can catch a show (see what’s playing for cheap in Chicago at hottix).  Hopefully, the longer we live here the more we'll know where to go and what to see, but for now I am enjoying the adventure of exploring and discovering.  

Tonight’s show is Opus.  With a cast of five it tells the story of a string quartet, the ups and downs of their relationships, and the power of music to bind people together.  The climax of the play centers around the quartet performing Beethoven’s Opus 131.  I know so little about classical music, but this play does what any great story does.  It makes me want to learn more.  It makes me want to listen differently.  Have you ever listened to Opus 131? Until tonight I had not (you may have heard it on HBO's Band of Brothers).  Nor did I really care.  But seeing live people on stage wrestle through the challenges of relationship and respond to music as creatures made in the image of God,  I begin to care. I read tonight that Beethoven, when asked which of his quartets he considered the best answered, "Each in its own way, Art demands of us that we should not stand still.”  What is it you might like to explore?  Where might you begin?