I went with my wife and daughter to see Lorie Line at the Pickwick Theatre in Park Ridge on Friday night. The Pickwick was build in 1928, and it looked impressive against the night sky. It probably would have looked even more impressive if all the lights were working.
Here’s what it looked like inside just before the concert began.
At best, the place was one-third full. Our seats were in the very first row on the right, smack up against the stage. And I mean right up against. We would have been in danger of getting kicked. But some guy came by and said he had some emergency seats available in row six if we’d prefer them. We said we would, and ended up to the left of the piano but 
still pretty close to the front. It turned out that the guy who had spoken to us was the head usher, the emcee of the concert and Lorie Line’s husband Tim all wrapped into one.
Lorie Line is pianist who plays oasis music. I call it this because when I was a kid traveling with my parents, we’d stop in all-night diners at 5:00 in the morning and this was exactly the sort of music that was always playing. Whenever I hear it, I’m immediately taken back 40 years …
First the good stuff:
- Lorie Line (all during the concert she was referred to by her entire name like it was one word) is an excellent piano player, no doubt about it.
- She and everybody else on the stage seemed to be enjoying themselves and had a lot of enthusiasm.
- I was surprised and impressed by their frequent references to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. I hadn’t know she was a Christian, but it’s obvious from what went on and from the program that she is.
But …
- The concert didn’t really feature Lorie Line. She played during most of the numbers, but was often in the background.
- Several of the numbers featured members of the orchestra who came up front and danced. It was obvious they weren’t dancers. They were about as good as I’ve seen in a well-rehearsed high-school production.
- The concert was supposed to feature music from around the world. Lorie Line and the orchestra kept changing costumes — from Mexican to African to Chinese to German — but with the exception of Feliz Navidad, all the songs were American with a few variations in style to sort of copy the music of whatever country they were dressed in the garb of. The whole thing felt a little bit cheesy.
- Tim dressed up as Martin Luther and explained the Reformation, and as Irving Berlin to give the history of White Christmas. He also had the mic several other times during the concert and messed up his lines frequently.
- During one song, all the kids in the audience went up on stage. They dressed them in North Pole costumes and had them wander about the stage. If there’s one thing I don’t want to see when I pay $50+ to see a concert, it’s OPK. My kid was eligible to go up, but she thinks she’s way too cool. I think she would have made a good reindeer butt.
The concert wasn’t very long, but it was evidently long enough for an intermission. We amused ourselves during the break by taking photos of each other and of the theater (sorry) theatre.
We enjoyed ourselves, but we all felt like we’d bought $50 tickets and seen a $20 concert.