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TOP: Magritte's The False Mirror, 1928. ABOVE: Art Institute of Chicago curator Stephanie D'Alessandro. PHOTOGRAPHY BY FRANK OCKENFELS (STING) Shapiro, a cofounder of Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art— were making room on their walls for these rea- son-defying Europeans. "W h ile t here wa s a n interest in Surrealism in New York, it wa s Chicago where it really found a n audience," says D'Alessandro. Today, thanks to such bene- factors as Shapiro and his wife, Jor y; Ma r y a nd Leigh Block; and Lindy and Edwin Bergman, the Art Institute possesses a significant trove of Magritte works. Arguably its finest example, and key to "The Mystery of the Ordinary," is Time Transfixed, from 1938. Featuring a locomotive emerging from a fireplace, the canvas epitomizes the artist's ability to create a disjunctive mash-up t hat nonet heless suggest s a n a lter nat ive log ic, while at t he sa me t ime a llow ing t he v iewer to simply groove on the weirdness. As the artist him- self said, "I do not juxtapose strange elements to shock. I describe my thoughts of mystery, which is the union of everything and anything we know." "When you think about 1926, you think about a painting by Picasso or a painting by Kandinsky or Mat isse," says D'A lessa ndro. "But Mag r itte sits down and devises the kind of painting that is very realistic, that depends on an acknowledg- ment of the traditional language of a painting— perspective and all the rest—and he turns it all on its head. He begins to make paintings that seem easy to read, because they look like what they seem to be. But when you take the time to look at those pictures, the world unravels. That was the revolutionary thing that Magritte did." June 24– October 13, Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan Ave., 312-443-3600; artic.edu MA continued from page 84 A great physique and amazing staying power aside, Sting continues to stretch his artistic muscles, taking a crack at musical theater with The Last Ship, which draws from the musician's memory of life in the seaside town of Wallsend, in northeast England. Directed by Wicked's Joe Mantello and featuring a book by Tony Award winners John Logan (Red) and Brian Yorkey (Next to Normal), the musical runs from June 10 to July 13 at Chicago's Bank of America Theatre before its Broadway debut in October. Recently, Sting sat down with Michigan Avenue to offer insight into the project. When did you leave home—not physically, but in your head, in your heart? Very early on. I lived in the shadow of a shipyard. As a child I'd wondered if that was my destiny. It's not where I wanted to be. It's noisy, dangerous, highly toxic. I did everything in my power to escape. Got a guitar. Had a dream about being a musician. And I think I dreamt it hard enough that it actually happened. Going home is a recurring theme in literature. Why did you take this trip now, and what did you find there? It's ironic that the landscape I did everything in my power to escape from, and the community I aban- doned and exiled myself from, should be the very place where I'd refind my creative juice—my muse, if you like. Following a long writer's block—not writing songs for about eight years—I decided to look back, to tell the story of the community I came from. Sidestepping my ego and giving voice to other people allowed the floodgates to open. The songs just came out of me, almost fully formed. I suspect many people will be surprised that you have chosen to work in the relatively conventional mode of musical theater. Are you a fan? My mother was a piano player, and she would bring Rodgers and Hammerstein albums into the house, which I played to death. So you scratch me and I start singing Carousel. I love it. Songwriting is your craft, but a three-minute song is a different project from a full-out musical. Was this a challenging process for you? Or did you lean on Mr. Logan to fashion the connective tissue? I've never written dialogue before, so I wouldn't trust myself with that. But having a collaborator of that caliber is fantastic. It was a very rangy piece before he honed it down. He has a laserlike intelligence. He'd say, "This has to be lopped off." It's about killing your babies, you know? So songs that I adored, characters I loved were excised. But Logan is experienced and confident enough to tell me that. June 10–July 13, Bank of America Theatre, 18 W. Monroe St., 800-775-2000; broadwayinchicago.com YOU CAN'T GO HOME AGAIN Sting sets sail on the waters of musical theater with his Broadway-bound show, The Last Ship. BY THOMAS CONNORS 86 MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM HOTTEST TICKET 084-086_MA_SC_HT_May/June_14.indd 86 4/14/14 9:43 AM