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Cynical Weathers
By Douglas Post
Directed by Dennis Zacek
At Victory Gardens Biograph Theater
2433 N. Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, IL
Call 773-871-3000, tickets $20 - $45 matinees: $35
Tuesdays thru Thursdays at 7:30 pm
Fridays at 8 [m
Saturdays 5 & 8:30 pm
Sundays at 3 pm
Wednesday matinees at 2 pm May 2 &9
Running time is 2 hours, 15 minutes with intermission
Through May 13, 2007
TV star Tom Amandes shines as Republican Congressman
Douglas Post, a veteran Chicago playwright, has penned a workable play at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theatre about a Texas Republican congressman, Dixon McDaniels (Tom Amandes, in a rich Texas twang) who vacillates between being a moderate and a conservative as he waffles between his sharp-tongued, cynical liberal atmospheric scientist wife Cat (Bethanny Alexander) and his cute, religious fanatic chief of staff Andrea Brady (Lindsay Gould). Post has a potential intriguing concept going here. The conflict that stirs Dixon’s soul involves his self-image as a statesman sincerely trying to do the right thing for America with an ambitious energy bill in defiance of the oil industry. As he bucks his Republican base, his aids Lee Gelman (Ben Brooks Cohen) and Manny Hernandez (Tony Castillo) try to keep him on message but his wild, hard-drinking foul-mouthed wife hammers him to protect the environment as she tells of her latest measurement s of global warming in the Artic.
The right-winged religious evangelical, Andrea, a believer in the doomsday ‘end times’ prophecy preaches that war, terrorism and global warming are all signs of the approaching end of the world. Dixon starts to believe Andrea and he prays with her just before a hurricane forces the group to vacate their seacoast Texas compound.
We see Tom Amandes terrific work as the congressman with the aid of some excellent work from Bethanny Alexander and Lindsay Gould as the women struggling for Dixon’s soul. Playwright Douglas Post makes Cat so nasty and cynical that it is hard to believe Dixon would ever marry her. He also has contrivances such as a hurricane and an energy bill to neatly give a structure to his fascination with the debate between the religious right and the liberal, atheistic scientist. Cynical Weathers has its moments and essentially outlines the differences in political forces nicely but the actions and resolution of the flimsy plot seem contrived and unsatisfactory. Samuel Ball’s impressive set and Tom Amandes’ performance carry the day. I think Post needs to revisit act two and give more credence to the changes all the characters go through. Only Cat’s actions seem plausible. Still, Cynical Weathers is worth a look
Somewhat Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: April 16, 2007
Jeff Recommended
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