Will Fink It is definitely a modern play: soliloquies – or rather parts of a lecture, directed at the audience – transition between scenes, this breaking of the fourth wall not offering, as in Shakespeare, a furthering of the plot, but rather is used as metaphor and history lesson. It is a play about Chicago, and yet not; it is a story about those stories that populate the city’s metallic, maternal pastiche.
The story is in many ways a typical Knight of the Swan tale from the Middle Ages: a mysterious stranger (Lohengrin, in this production excellently portrayed by the South African tenor Johan Botha) appears, on a boat pulled by a swan, to save a troubled damsel (Elsa, the soprano Emily Magee); he then leaves, once a promise is broken, often that of not requesting the name and lineage of the hero
At the heart of the play are four indelibly interesting characters: Dan (Ray Kasper) is an obituary columnist and an eventually failed writer who voraciously pursues truth; and yet he is the least true amongst the group. He is a polyandrous romantic who writes passionately but totally derivatively.
As the show starts, they play some 50s commercials on the two side-stage screens, including a commercial where Flintstones characters sell cigarettes; this got a big laugh. I guess I missed how cartoon characters selling cigarettes to children is funny. Anyway, the screen then cuts to an Ed Sullivan impersonator, who introduces the band.
The original songs, composed by Jesse Terrill, are excellent, fitting into the piece as a whole, bringing the absurdity of the play to the fore and enhancing the commentary and characterizations of those who sing them – with a particularly impressive rendition by Andy Hagar, the Bridegroom’s Friend. Another ensemble piece is petrifying, with all the actors in lock step, staring straight forward, playing instruments and singing.
It’s a father-and-son team, Eddie and Sam Sisson, played by the remarkable Francis Guinan and firecracker Patrick Andrews, who eek out a living by doing two-bit scams on whoever happens by. Their various victims are played by Joe Minoso and Karen Janes Woditsch, who are excellent in every character they inhabit, with Woditsch showing particular range
This American drama, like almost any modern American drama, is about a dysfunctional family. The two brothers hate each other. Neither one of them is particularly well-liked by the mother – and, really, who could blame her? One is a dentist who just walked out on his oncogenic wife and 16-year old daughter, Roann (Allison Torem); and the other is a middle-aged, unemployed divorcée. Not exactly a mother’s dream come true.
The first question to ask, I think, with this sort of production is: does it succeed at what it set out to do? Which is to say, is it kid-friendly, is it succinct, is it a good introduction to Shakespeare. And I think the answer is yes. It’s engaging, it’s fast- paced, and it’s fun. The fight-scenes are well-choreographed, well-executed, and something kids (everybody, really) will definitely enjoy.
Puccini is in fine form here, with gorgeous melodies (including one Andrew Lloyd Weber quoted in his Phantom of the Opera) and luscious orchestration, which are most deftly executed by their performers, both in the pit and on stage. There never was, and probably never will be, a sour note in this production.
Probably Ibsen’s most famous play, A Doll’s House is a domestic story – which may seem the norm today, but was the exception when it was written in 1879. One of the earliest realist plays, and some say the first feminist play, Ibsen tells the story of Mrs. Nora Helmer (this time glowingly portrayed by Kate Cares), a woman who finds herself ever-more trapped by the societal norms and laws of the Victorian Era.