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Chicago Tribune
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Review: ‘Golden Leaf Ragtime Blues' at American Blues is a familiar kind of odd-couple story
Charles Smith and Chuck Smith, two venerable artists with a long and auspicious history in Chicago theater, don't just have similar names. They've been friends and collaborators for close to 40 years. Anyone who knows them knows not to call Charles 'Chuck,' or Chuck 'Charles,' on pain of gentle correction. Their latest, and let's surely hope not their final, teaming up is for an American Blues Theater show called 'Golden Leaf Ragtime Blues,' a play that goes back almost four decades, having first been developed at American Blues in 1987. As far as I am aware, though, the first full production of the final version did not take place until 2016, when the show, a piece about a pseudo-paternal friendship between an aging and crusty white vaudevillian and an African American teenager, was first seen in Ohio, where Charles Smith long has taught. The staging at the new space developed by American Blues is the show's Chicago premiere. I've seen most of Charles Smith's typically detailed plays over the years, many of which have been excellent, and his body of work includes a longstanding interest in the history of vaudevillian performance. But in this case, to be frank, this feels a bit more like the kind of odd-couple play that was more in vogue some years ago. We start out by watching the octogenarian Pompey (Dennis Cockrum, of recent 'Shameless' fame) struggling to remember his lines sufficiently well to keep up his wordplay act with Ollie (James Sherman, another distinguished name). Then the show movies a few years later, to the point where Pompey's domestic well-being has become an issue for his daughter Marsha (Dawn Bach), who can see all the empty cans of food strewn around. Marsha has a foster son, Jet (Justin Banks), and most of 'Golden Leaf Ragtime Blues' is about the developing relationship between Pompey and this kid, one that you quickly intuit will be beneficial to them both. This certainly is a structure you've likely seen before, although it's performed with integrity, charm and authenticity here. At times, it feels like you are watching an old-school sitcom with both laugh lines and what they used to call 'treacle cutters,' meaning poignant lines. Ollie doesn't disappear as the 90-minute show progresses; he pops up occasionally, haunting Pompey's memory. At the show I attended, the piece needed a bit more pizzazz and, frankly, speed. Simply put, I think everyone focuses a bit too much on what Pompey cannot do anymore, over what he can, which is needed to drive the dramatic action. Somehow, the show never quite transcends its devices; it's just too familiar a scenario and you see what's coming down the pike before it actually arrives. Smith has penned much better plays. Several of them. Still, the show does indeed deal with salient issues of aging, caregiving, and the importance of both listening to oldsters and passing on your truths to the next generation. And it comes with a baked-in optimism about America, at least in one 1990s living room. Review: 'Golden Leaf Ragtime Blues' (2.5 stars) When: Through June 29 Where: American Blues Theater, 5627 N. Lincoln Ave. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes Tickets: $49.50 at 773-654-3103 and
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
‘People think I have disappeared': Joe Morrell raring to go after 492 days out
'It's been like snakes and ladders,' says the midfielder Joe Morrell, detailing how a hellish 16 months has proved the most difficult duel of his career. An innocuous click in his left knee, a setback in the gym while on holiday in Miami and the onset of arthrofibrosis – a condition where scar tissue builds between joints – and suddenly 492 days have passed since his last appearance, for Portsmouth in a League One match at Oxford. He had just celebrated his 100th game for the club en route to the Championship. 'People are probably quite confused and think I have disappeared. Everyone forgets about you.' Advertisement Related: 'Everything came so quick': Jordon Ibe on Liverpool, trauma and starting afresh An unwanted glimpse into retirement and time on the football scrapheap have led to some dark days during Morrell's rehabilitation, which he has done predominantly at Portsmouth, where his contract expired last summer. He rewinds to this January and crying his eyes out 12 months after the initial injury, swallowed by the sense time was slipping away as another milestone in his recovery drifted from view. September had turned into January and then it dawned he would not return last season. 'I had that feeling of knowing I was going to burst into tears,' he says. 'I had a shower, got in the car, drove around the corner from the training ground and then I had to pull over. It was just a kind of release. I care about football so much … It has been unbelievably tough.' Advertisement He discusses the mixed emotions of watching former teammates, off the high of a win, bounce into training while he struggled to walk up stairs, and pining to experience even the worst elements of being a professional. 'I had quite a bad disciplinary record – that's a stick I've been beaten with – but I've joked to some of the lads this year: 'What I'd give now to be sent off, I'd snap your hand off.' 'Portsmouth lost 6-1 at Stoke and I'm watching it thinking: 'I'd love to be on that pitch now.' It probably shows you how low I've been,' he says, able to raise a smile. He laughs at the suggestion he could return with a Zen frame of mind – 'It would be pointless … I need to play on the edge' – because he aches for pressure, purpose and, in a perverse way, flak. Advertisement 'People tweet you to say you played rubbish; I kind of miss that in a sense. My phone isn't blowing up … two and a half years ago I was playing at the World Cup and I'd come in after a match and have 200 messages.' Morrell remembers the relief of not sustaining an anterior cruciate ligament injury when receiving his scan results after being forced off at Oxford. 'I was almost happy,' he says of a chondral defect diagnosis. 'A bit of cartilage had snapped off and was floating around my knee.' After an operation he was non‑weight‑bearing for a month but expected to return for pre‑season last June. Then he slipped while doing plyometrics in Florida and screws attached to his cartilage came out. 'If you had told me the next time I'll be on a pitch would be July 2025 … yeah, crazy.' Related: This is Football: The Beautiful Game – in pictures Advertisement In a parallel universe, Morrell would probably have been with Wales preparing for the visit on Fridaytomorrow of Liechtenstein to Cardiff in a World Cup qualifier – but his 38th cap is on hold. He bumped into the manager, Craig Bellamy, while doing some of his rehab with Sean Connelly, the head of medical at the Football Association of Wales. 'The best moments of my career have been in a Wales shirt and I'd love to have more of them,' he says. 'I know I have to sort a club first and everything else will take care of itself. I believe the best years are ahead of me.' At 28, Morrell – who will marry his long-term partner, Ellie, at the end of the month – is adamant he has six or seven years left in the game but made the most of his enforced sabbatical. A co-owner of fan‑owned Merthyr Town, who will play in the sixth tier next season, he attended their match at Havant & Waterlooville. 'I've tried to see it as an opportunity even though some days it is tough to get out of bed because you don't have that purpose and you come home, your knee is swollen, and you don't know where the finish line is … It has been incredibly tough, and also for the people around me. You try to be the same person you always have been, to be as insular as possible and keep emotions to yourself, but it is difficult.' He recently completed his Uefa A licence with the FAW, where he studied alongside Nani, Morgan Schneiderlin and Xherdan Shaqiri. Morrell faced Shaqiri in a Euro 2020 opener in Baku but jokes the Swiss did not remember him and thought he was a coach on the course. Coaching Portsmouth's under-14s has given Morrell a raison d'être. 'My Monday and Friday nights at the academy have kind of been my Saturday afternoons because you have to prepare, deliver. There's a lot that appeals about coaching and management; it's impossible for me to be the best player in the world – I'm small, slow, not physically strong and there's a level of God-given talent you have as a player – but as a coach that's not the case.' Advertisement He does a good line in self-deprecation but Morrell is an attractive free agent. He has had interest from the US, Far East and Middle East, as well as closer to home. Being sidelined has not stifled his love for the sport. 'I'm addicted to football,' he says, explaining how he watches Major League Soccer matches on Wyscout. 'It used to frustrate me when I would ask people: 'Did you watch the game?' And they'd say: 'Nah, I was playing Call of Duty.'' Now he recognises the bigger picture. Walking his cavapoo, Fred, has given him time to reflect. 'We get sucked into thinking football is the most important thing in the world because people care about it so much, which is great, but the reality is, it's not. This has hammered that home.' He hopes the end is in sight. 'There were certainly days where I didn't think I'd be able to get in a position to play again, moments where I've had conversations with people around me: 'We might have to go down another route. Is this going to be the end of me playing?' 'People will see I have not played for a long time and, understandably, there will be question marks. The truth is I'm fit and ready to go. I feel like I can be a better player than I was before, as well as a better person. I don't think I'll feel like a footballer again until that whistle goes in the first game of the season in August and it's certainly not something I'll take for granted.'
BBC News
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
🎧 Remember When...Pompey won the FA Cup?
"Never in my years growing up did I think I'd see Pompey in a cup final. Never."Portsmouth fan Jeff Harris joins Rick Edwards for the most recent episode of Remember When as they look back on Pompey's FA Cup trophy-winning run back in side beat Cardiff City 1-0 at Wembley thanks to Nwankwo Kanu's first-half goal to secure their second FA Cup trophy - after a 69-year to the full episode and more of the Football Daily podcast on BBC Sounds.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Pompey keeper Schmid gets Austria call-up
Portsmouth goalkeeper Nicholas Schmid has received his first international call-up for Austria ahead of their World Cup qualifying games. The 28-year-old has made 35 Championship appearances for Pompey since joining from Austrian side BW Linz in August 2024, keeping eight clean sheets. The side will face Romania on 7 June before heading to San Marino the following Tuesday. Right-back Terry Devlin has also been selected for international duty, linking up with Northern Ireland for their upcoming friendlies against Denmark and Iceland.
BBC News
15-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Mousinho expects 'relatively busy' Pompey summer
John Mousinho says he expects a relatively busy summer at Fratton Park, with Pompey eyeing a mix of free-agent signings, purchases and loan Blues boss told BBC Radio Solent this time of year "is probably busier than usual" but said the club are in a "really strong position" having consolidated in the Championship after promotion and are not in any rush to conduct business."Nothing is close at all, we've been tracking players but we're not panicking," he said. "There's definitely a couple of free agents we are interested in but it's likely to be a combination of paying fees for players and bringing loans in."Mousinho added he felt the club's retained list this year "probably wasn't a controversial one".Kusini Yengi scored 13 goals in all competitions in 2023-24 as Pompey won League One, but was not offered a new deal after failing to make a telling impact this term, without a goal in 14 appearances."He was pivotal in us winning the league last season but for a number of reasons it's not quite happened for him this year, including some injuries," Mousinho admitted."It felt like the best way was to not exercise his option and let him explore other options. We're happy where we are in the centre-forward department and didn't see him playing a lot next year."Also departing is left-back Cohen Bramall, who the Blues signed in January on a deal until the end of the season, with Mousinho adding: "It was a good opportunity for him to showcase himself and I think he did well, had a very solid contribution to us managing to stay up and was a very positive influence."The club hope keeper Ben Killip will agree a new deal while they have exercised their option to keep former Arsenal right-back Zak Swanson, with Mousinho saying: "He ended up starting 24 games this year - when he has played I think he's looked every inch a Championship right-back."He added: "There's nothing we are absolutely desperate to do. What we don't want to do is let players go too early and then not necessarily have replacements. It's probably going to be a case of waiting to bring players in before we let players go."It won't be like it has been for the past two summers. It won't be 14 through the door. It won't be one or two. I suspect it'll probably land halfway between them. We're not going to force anything."One of those who remains on the radar is Bristol City defender Rob Atkinson, who enjoyed a successful loan at Pompey to finish the season."Everyone knows we're there and perfectly willing to do a deal for Rob but he's Bristol City's player and we'll see what they do with him first," Mousinho said."If they had gone up it probably would have made things slightly more straightforward but it depends on them."
