Ira Sullivan was a guiding light in Chicago's hard-bop scene of the 1960s. Picking out a top local jazzman is easy when he is also one of the greatest of all time. In Popcorn Adler offered a reminder that live theater can offer excitement that television and film can't - without record, play, and rewind. And he often uses film, video, music, and sound to propel the play into the audience's imagination. He never makes theatergoers slaves to the stage. Adler consistently shows a keen awareness of the context of contemporary theater. By pairing Claire Tyler and Paul Tei in the lead roles, he created just the right balance of innocence and evil.
With his trademark emotive directorial style, Adler knows how to get the best out of his actors.
The audience is a participant." Adler combined his numerous years of film and TV experience with his passion and directorial savvy, turning Popcorn into a dark satire about the movie industry, among other things. In an interview with New Times last year, GableStage artistic director Joe Adler said, "Television, and to some extent movies, is about maintaining a level of mediocrity. The State of Feeling Concentration's pastel-hued love songs, such as the lovely "Raspberry Water" and "Sweet Smell Before the Rain," are more than a much-needed respite from South Florida's dance-music/heavy-metal stranglehold: They're nothing less than pure pop perfection. Drummer Matt Crum and bassist Jeronimo Gomez provide the foundation for this collection of some of the most memorable and flawlessly produced music ever to originate from the 'burbs. But you'd be wrong somehow these sweet, melodic songs grew out of a punk-rock appetite. From the chiming guitar of Henry Olmino and heavenly vocals of Jolie Lindholm, you'd think these kids were raised on a strict diet of the Sundays and the Innocence Mission. And they've produced one of the most sublime albums Broward and Palm Beach counties have ever heard.
But that's the hometown of most of the young members of the Rocking Horse Winner. Growing up in a suburban labyrinth of faceless strip malls, endless asphalt, and cookie-cutter subdivisions - instead of Hades, we've named it Davie - wouldn't seem to foster good music.