THE TRIB CALLS OUR CURTAIN DROP 'ONE OF THE MOST SPECTACULAR THEATRICAL MOMENTS ANYWHERE IN CHICAGO'
THE TRIBUNE'S CHRIS JONES CALLS CFI'S CURTAIN DROP 'ONE OF THE MOST SPECTACULAR THEATRICAL MOMENTS ANYWHERE IN CHICAGO'
SPLASHY NEW MUST 'SEA' Chris Jones, Theater critic for The Chicago Tribune September 26, 2009
At the top of Fantasea, the new show at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium, a sea lion slithers across the new, $50 million Oceanarium and encounters a rope with a sign helpfully labeled "Pull." The sea lion might not read, but he knows who catches his fish, so pull he does. And with that little flourish, one slick pinniped cues one of the most spectacular theatrical moments available anywhere in Chicago.
It's just a curtain falling rapidly. But - indulge me here - this is a 170-feet wide* Roman shade that the Shedd claims is the biggest in the world. It suddenly transforms an environment that Chicagoans have visited for generations. One moment you're marveling at how the Shedd's huge new infinity pool seems to flow into Lake Michigan. The next minute you're inside a dark theater with more than twice the width of the stage of the Chicago Theatre. That shade has become a digital screen, and Shedd has unleashed a very different beast from anything displayed inside a Midwestern cultural institution before.
The Shedd has dropped $14 million on "Fantasea," which lasts all of 22 minutes and, beginning Oct. 16, will be performed several times a day. This multispecies affair might be a replacement for the old dolphin show, but it has little to do with the old tricks-and-trainer routine. This is a full-blown show with productions values to rival almost anything in Orlando. At the old show, you had to squint to see the dolphins against the glass. Thanks to that curtain, sea lions, penguins, hawks, Beluga whales and dolphins can now do their things in pools of shimmering, flattering light. But that's by no means the biggest change - the Shedd has hired actors, added elaborate fantasy costumes, installed a track so actors can sail through the air, and built a catwalk system that allows trainers to descend, Cirque-like, from the roof...
