WICKER PARK — On the heart of a stark, white stage (emulating the abyss of a superb artwork museum) lies longtime Chicago performer, actor and comic Alex Grelle, asleep. His five-person supporting ensemble paces across the room, learning him like they’d any inscrutable murals.
Then, for the following 90 minutes, Grelle presents the viewers a peek into his thoughts, fueled by the fantasy movies and ‘80s music video divas of his youth, laying his soul naked whereas additionally remaining unimaginable to pin down.
That’s the vibe of “The Grelley Duvall Present V,” at the moment underway within the basement of the Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division St. Described in a press launch as “a wild mix of obsessive homage and empowering spectacle underscored by deep cuts from the homosexual canon,” the present is definitely that and extra: spirited, swaggering covers of songs from Wham!, Madonna and Björk, mashed up with video segments and comedian skits that emulate every little thing from the ballet documentaries of John Cage and Merce Cunningham to “The Phantom Menace” and Ridley Scott’s “Legend.”
It’s “Pop-Up” video meets sketch comedy meets a little bit of ballroom, anchored by Grelle’s chameleonic, assured efficiency and Bonnie Metzger and Jesse Morgan Younger’s elegant course. From scene to scene, the present defies clarification or explication, grazing in opposition to one reference after one other that sings in case you get it and nonetheless entertains once you don’t.
This fifth iteration is the newest evolution of a present Grelle has been creating for a decade, ever since a College of Chicago residency (curated by Jane Beachy of Salonathon fame) led him to create its first model: “Shelley Duvall’s Girls Beneath the Affect Theatre.” It was simply Grelle and three actresses enjoying male roles, enjoying out scenes from “Brief Cuts,” “Cape Worry” and culminating within the bat scene from Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining.”
“It undoubtedly seems like [it’s been] 10 years,” Grelle informed Block Membership. “It seems like a giant chunk of time. It’s intense.”
As he displays on the previous decade of the present, he mentioned he’s grateful for these early exhibits and all their imperfections and his potential to be taught from them, “so comfortable I’m capable of admire and embrace the errors I make on stage with extra ease.”
These studying experiences gave him an avenue to broaden the present and the Shelley Duvall-inspired character at its heart. “The Grelley Duvall Present” had a longstanding run at The Hideout, the place Grelle and a rotating ensemble of musicians and performers remixed the movies and songs of Grelle’s youth right into a “marathon musical extravaganza,” in Grelle’s phrases.
A few of Grelle’s collaborators embrace comedians and actors who’ve gone on to different high-profile works, like “Hacks”’ Megan Stalter and “Jury Obligation”’s David Brown.
One of many present’s best challenges got here throughout lockdown when COVID shut down Chicago’s reside performing arts scene. Grelle and his associate Paul Scudder collaborated with lots of their mutual performers and artists to create two Grelley Duvall films throughout lockdown, each of which premiered on Grelle’s birthdays in 2020 and 2021.
“I [still] can’t imagine we did these,” Grelle mentioned. “It felt just like the spirit of the present was nonetheless alive and saved the momentum going for me to maintain wanting to do that present.”
Future “SNL” solid member Sarah Sherman seems in a kind of lockdown films, in a sketch that solid her as Chucky (“I actually wished to play the mother in ‘Youngster’s Play,’” mentioned Grelle). The truth that “SNL” rapidly put Sherman in a Chucky sketch felt very gratifying, Grelle mentioned.
The present has been a real check of his creative considerations and resourcefulness, particularly contemplating the problem of maintaining any present alive in Chicago for a decade. However Grelle mentioned it’s additionally a testomony to the variety of unbelievable artists within the metropolis he is aware of and who’re devoted to serving to him pull off every version of the present.
The newest iteration is a large departure from the Hideout-based antics of earlier exhibits. It’s the primary with out his longtime musical director, John Cicora of The Inconvenience; Chicago-based band Aunt Kelly takes his place. And it’s the primary time the “Grelley Duvall Present” has been carried out in a extra conventional theater house.
The superb artwork museum setting of “V” provides Grelle a chance for retrospect on the assorted kinds the present has taken thus far. There are movies and moments from the primary iteration of the present that return, in addition to different editions, which make “V” really feel like a “celebration,” “recap,” and “time capsule” for Grelley Duvall as a inventive being.
Is Grelle constructing a little bit of a universe for “Grelley Duvall”?
“Yeah, and why not?” he mentioned. “The state we’re all in, it helps individuals to really feel like they’re a part of one thing.” And if that one thing is immersed in Grelle’s unconscious, it’s an exhilarating factor to be in.
Trying again on 10 years of the present and the character, Grelle mentioned the challenge is consuming.
“I dream and scheme and write for ‘Grelley Duvall’ just about each minute of my life now,” he mentioned.
However with time and expertise and age, he mentioned he feels extra comfy within the function than ever, particularly with years of fringe and storefront theater underneath his belt.
Even so, Grelle isn’t certain the place or when the following present will come from: “Each time I do it, I wish to make it greater and higher.”
“The Grelley Duvall Present V” has been prolonged via March 16 on the Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division St. Discover tickets and extra info on the theater web site.
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