Latest from Chicago Critic

Under the fine direction of Paul Stroili, the large Chicago cast of 23 is
terrific — capturing all the nuances of a family gathering, complete with
vulgarities and squabbles. Stroili was a member of the Original Chicago
Company. Vinnie (Brian Noonan) is a very believable restaurateur, hosting
the gathering, touting its virtues as he tries to promote future business,
and emceeing the various entertainers. A good time was had by all.

This play is so unbelievable, under developed and misguided that I’m thinking that it is really a parody of small town murder mysteries? With so many preposterous plot twists and so many wacky characters (more than I have mentioned here.), What else could it be? As a world premiere, Playwright Alex Lubischer needs to refocus what his play is actually about. As presented, my conclusions could be valid? If he wants to leave audiences with another impression than he needs to make that clearer. As it plays now Bobbie Clearly is confusing.

I think this show may have a cult following that will find it to be “out of sight”! Me? Not so much. The show is 1 hour and 45 minutes without an intermission and perhaps if there were less dancing spirits and blood soaked costumes it could be shaved down to 80 minutes. I do not recommend that you bring children to this show unless you want to pay for therapy later in life (there should be a minimum age requirement).

Slowly, with many long speeches by Edna reminiscing about past events particularly those involving Andrew, we get hints as to what is the angst Andrew feels toward Edna and his dead father. Communicating, searching for relevant connections and struggling to make peace as time depletes Edna’s life is the play’s focus. The early scenes quickly become tedious as we hear Edna ramble on and on.

I can only imagine that Open Space thought a production of Bleacher Bums would be a commercial guarantee given its timeliness because, apart from the elaborate bleacher set, very little thought seems to have gone into this show. The most apparent and pervasive misstep in the production is its failure to make the baseball game a visceral reality. With no other crowd sounds other than the actors, the setting felt empty and devoid of energy; and the actors themselves, apart from Erik Burke as the zealously impassioned Cheerleader, brought little conviction to the game’s reality and only intermittent enthusiasm for its progress — and when there was action occurring on the field the actors oftentimes looked in different directions! (Was this supposed to be funny?) Moreover, the Wrigley Field scoreboard was a static projection of a JPEG image, so it never changed score, batter, count — anything. Why? A commentary on the sometimes-interminable feeling of baseball games? A la Beckett’s “Waiting for Santo”?