I am not a theater critic but I have been devoted to covering theater since my early 1980s reports on the explosion of Chicago storefront theaters for National Public radio. On The Mara Tapp Show in the 1990s, I was honored to host weekly for conversations about and offer scenes from some of Chicago’s best shows, and delighted when those interviews filled houses for our local theaters.
In 2015, at the request of friends, I started a series of emails with recommendations for shows I thought worthy of patrons. Some years later, actors, directors and publicity people in Chicago’s theater world prevailed on me to share these raves, a request I accepted, especially in light of the increasing tensions in the theater world and need to keep Chicago theaters healthy. Read more…
Find out what the critics think at the Review Round-up on the website of TheatreInChicago.com.
company during its 55th Chicago engagement. Now that’s a revelation worth celebrating!
Raves
Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
Goodman Theatre through May 19
Highly Recommended
How fitting that August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone opened a day after what would have been William Shakespeare’s 460th birthday since I’ve always considered Wilson the Bard of the Black American experience of the 20th century. His “Pittsburgh” or “Century Cycle,” 10 plays based in “The Hill” neighborhood of his native Pittsburgh that cover each decade of the 1900s, is as universal as Shakespeare’s plays about English history or troubles in Italian cities or imagined places. It’s excellent to have an American Bard because, after all, Black history is our history, and these two playwrights give us universal plots and characters with sparkling soliloquys, devastating dialog, heartbreaking humor, charismatic characters and storylines that grab us where it counts.
Joe Turner’s Come and Gone is the second play in Wilson’s series, set in the 1910s at the beginning of the Great Migration as African-Americans from the South headed north in hopes of jobs and better lives. As always, Wilson’s humor travels easily from everyday wisdom and chatter to laugh-out-loud commentary to profound poetry. His ear for the poetics of the mundanities of everyday life is dazzling whether he is capturing true love in the banter of a long-time couple all too aware of each other’s strengths and weaknesses or the advances of a rake who hits on anything in a skirt or a man with estimable spiritual powers or a heartbroken woman.
Goodman Resident Director Chuck Smith makes sure everyone in his stellar cast shines. Dexter Zollicoffer and TayLar as Seth and Bertha Holly, are the ideal mix of love and irritation as the longtime couple in whose boardinghouse the play takes place. Tim Edward Rhoze’s Bynum Walker, a resident with spiritual powers that aggravate Seth, is a wonderful combination of assured patience and power. Nambi E. Kelley captures the fragile and wrecked but still hopeful nuances of Mattie Campbell, a beauty who gets left by the men she loves. Anthony Fleming III brings all the right impetuousness and passion to Jeremy Furlow, the often enraged and rudderless rake who breaks her heart yet again. Gary Houston’s Rutherford Selig seems like a hapless white man who stumbles in and out of Saturdays with the detritus of his wandering sales until his recitation of his ancestors’ occupations that starts with slave ships and reveals the depth of American racism. A.C. Smith, an esteemed veteran of Chicago stages, is perfection as the menacing and broken Herald Loomis. He hovers over the play, reminding us of the ugliest parts of being Black in America, caught by omnipresent chains that merely shift from slave ships to chain gangs to jails and prisons.
Linda Buchanan’s set of the boarding house kitchen, backyard and parlor is period-perfect, and made more ominous by a grey backdrop of the steel mills marking Pittsburgh’s industrialization, and the surrounding frame of the belongings of the residents of The Hill. Evelyn Danner’s costumes capture the styles of the 1910s with appropriate individual touches that offer insights into each character.
I have been fortunate enough to see each of Wilson’s plays, some more than once, and had the honor of telling him at the opening of the Goodman’s King Hedley that he was the winner of the Harold Washington Literary Award, so I have a special place in my heart for his work. This is my second time seeing Joe Turner’s Come and Gone and, as is so often the case with classic art, I found much more to love thanks to this excellent production. I urge you to take in this play for its poetry, humor, veracity and beauty before Joe Turner goes.
Brooklyn Laundry
Northlight Theatre through May 12
Recommended
It’s hard not to be drawn to the quirky odd couple struggling to connect in Brooklyn Laundry. The play captures the awkwardness of meeting someone who is not quite right for you but on whom you decide to take a chance.
Its creator, John Patrick Shanley, is best known for Doubt; A Parable, which won a Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize, and for the script of the movie Moonstruck,which earned him an Academy Award. His latest play, Brooklyn Laundry, is sweet and slighter than either of those but is brought to appealing life by the actors and the sure-handed human connection made by Director BJ Jones, who is also Northlight’s artistic director.
Cassidy Slaughter-Mason is a knockout as the insecure, decision-averse Fran who wanders into a Brooklyn laundry in a state of angst. Her ability to play strong women facing unbearable obstacles without self-pity impressed me in Raven’s The Luckiest,and earned her a Jeff Award for Best Performer in a Principal Role. Here Slaughter-Mason is equally strong as a woman trying to find a bit of joy for herself even as she faces an extraordinarily painful familial situation.
Mark L. Montgomery is Owen, the man who owns the laundry, and has had his own full load of pain and sorrow. It’s not clear what appeals to Owen about the hot mess that is Fran in the first scene but he asks her out on a date. What follows is a series of charming moments and heartbreaking circumstances as these two try to figure out what they want from each other. Montgomery has brought his estimable talent to many Chicago and Broadway stages, including to Northlight’s for Shanley’ Outside Mullingar, but this portrayal feels different. Here he brings Owen to life by animating him with a highly idiosyncratic but appealing physicality comprised of facial expressions, ticks and a gift of gab that comes and goes. The result is that Montgomery gives us an evening with an endearing oddball.
Jeffrey D. Kmiec’s set is nothing short of astonishing with its vertical and horizontal rows of racks of clean laundry. It’s almost as if all the local laundries had an orgy, procreated and moved in together.
But that is just one reason to see this show. Go for the acting, and for the opportunity to see the sorrows and joys of human connections.
Purpose
Steppenwolf through May 12
Highly Recommended
From the moment Jon Michael Hill opens his mouth in Purpose you know you are in for an evening of profound thought from a deeply intelligent and sensitive person with a deliciously ironic sense of humor. It turns out that you will also take a wild ride through the lives of his powerful political family that will keep you laughing even as you are amazed by the cruelty and wisdom of its members.
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins fierce play crackles with electric language, rapid-fire dialog, intense politics, the troubling dynamics of a deeply disturbed family that manages elegance, wisdom and leadership in the ruins it inherited and those it has created. I hope we will see more of his whip-smart work on Chicago stages.
Phylicia Rashad’s vision and her talented corps of actors transports us from the gut-splitting though the heartbreaking moments. There’s not a weak performance here; in fact, all are over the top in the best way possible offering layered interpretations of complex characters.
Meet the Chicago-based, well-connected Jasper family, reminiscent of the Jackson dynasty, as in Jesse. It is led by Solomon “Sonny” Jasper, a Civil Rights icon versed in religion and politics who, while revered, was never quite at the center of the action. Harry Lennix shows us his power, sorrow and cruelty as he moves between being committed to his ideals, worshipped by his followers and disappointed on multiple fronts. Jon Michael Hill plays Nazareth “Naz” Jasper, the runaway and perhaps prodigal son with the right doses of distance, understanding and acceptance. Glenn Davis is perfect as his tortured brother, Solomon “Junior” Jasper, whose return from incarceration for tax fraud has occasioned the celebration dinner at the center of the play. Alana Arenas gives a biting performance as his unhappy wife Morgan, who is all too aware of how being a Jasper is a cross to bear. A different wifely model is offered by Tamara Tunie as Claudine Jasper, who stands by her man while standing up to the world and protecting her male tribe of a famous father and two not-as-successful sons. Tunie’s portrayal of the perfect political wife who is as strong and manipulative as she is loyal hits home. Into this mess of family matters comes Aziza Houston, an idealistic young friend of Naz’s who finds herself with eyes increasingly wide open. Ayanna Bria Bakari captures the range in this pretty idealist who turns out to have some snap as well as sense.
Dede Ayite’s costumes couldn’t be better at expressing the personalities of each character from the bright flowing garments of Claudine to the somber, studied garb of her husband. Todd Rosenthal’s set evokes one of those lovely Bronzeville or Kenwood homes with its warm colors, tasteful furnishings, African art and shrine to Dr. King.
One doesn’t want to give away all the plot twists, turns and outright shocks in this world premiere but suffice it to say that they will keep you at close attention. And they will keep you laughing and sometimes sighing at the wisdom that emerges from hurt and ugliness. Purpose is sure to be a hit and it is a show not to be missed because it reveals so much about families, Black politics, religion and life as we should know it all delivered in a wonderful cascade of jewel-bright language by top-notch actors.
And now for something completely different!
This comes from my brilliant friend Danny (Alias) Duane, who not only edits my Theater Raves but keeps me in stitches. Enjoy!