Steadstyle Chicago
	June 2008 Theatre Review by Alan Bresloff
	Looking for a Ticket Broker? Check out the hottest broadway tickets from Gotickets.com Lonesome Losers of the Night Critical Evaluation: **** out of **** Jacques Brel was a French composer, adored by all Europe and unknown in the US until the early 70's when his works were translated to English and put together in a show called "Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris", which was highly accepted by the American public.  His works are poetic, ironic and beautiful and as translated by Arnold Johnston and a sheer delight as performed at The No Exit Cafe in Rogers Park.  The 21 songs in this new revue titled "Lonesome Losers of The Night" tell a tale using these marvelous pieces.  Conceived by Mr. Johnston and Fred Anzevino, who also directed this production, the story told is of love, loss of love and loneliness.  There are four characters: the bar keep (Jeremy Trager), Man 1 (Chris Diamond), Man 2 (Eric Martin) and Whore (Jenny Lamb).  Trager once again shows off his great range and uses his face to express many emotions without needing any words at all.  Diamond is a newcomer to Chicago who is a powerful singer and appears to be very comfortable onstage.  I am sure we will see more of him in the future.  Martin's voice blends well with the other members of this cast, and Lamb gives a solid performance as sensuous as the music of Mr. Brel. Under the direction of Mr. Anzevino and the choreography of David Heimann, the little stage works great for this stellar cast.  The piano is handled by the magic fingered Joshua Stephen Kartes, who is also the musical director.  While this is unfamiliar music to most of us, we find ourselves caught up in it through the way Mr. Kartes makes it come alive.  The No Exit Cafe is a very quaint place to see a show, a "Cabaret" (Theo Ubique won several Jeff Citations for their production last year of this show) where the audience sits at tables having a drink or coffee.  There are dinner packages available, and after dinner some wonderful rice pudding.  This is a production worth seeing if if you are not a regular theater person, as here you get a marvelous story told through scrumptious music by a cast of singers that you will be glad you saw. "Lonesome Losers" will run through July 20, 2008.  Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 7 p.m.  Tickets are $20 general admission and $40 with dinner. Dinner reservations are for one hour prior to curtain and you can make these by calling 773-370-0235.  Being a small intimate theater, call right away. You do not want to miss this!   About Alan Bresloff Alan Bresloff, once an actor himself, has been covering the Chicago Theater Scene since 1993, first as the Theater and Arts critic for LaRaza newspaper, then with Salsachicago.com and then onto Extra Newspaper and The EpochTimes.  He also writes for ElImparcial and TeleGuia.  His reviews can also be seen on www.theatreinchicago.com.  Alan does not call himself a "critic" but a "reviewer" as he tries to educate the reader about theater itself, what is a good value, what to look for in a play or musical and more.  "Exposure to theater is a very important part of a young person's life" he says. "Learning about the arts and culture is in fact learning about life" and he tries to explain more in his reviews than just if it is good or bad.  Even some of the poor productions have some value, he often says and he would love your feedback on shows that you have seen.  You can write him here or at albresloff@sbcglobal.net.