From the Ledge

Chris Jones is writing on his blog today about what Chicago theater aficionados have been excitedly buzzing about the past several weeks since the confirmation of the Broadway productions of Keith Huff’s A Steady Rain (first produced at Chicago Dramatists in the fall of 2007 and then transferred to the Royal George Theatre for an extended run during the first half of 2008) and of Tracy Letts’ Superior Donuts (first produced at the Steppenwolf Theatre in the summer of 2008) came out:  Chicago theater is going to be KING OF THE HILL in the New York arts and culture season this fall, when these two amazing new plays open within days of one another.  I loved, loved these two’s original productions.  Written by Chicago-based playwrights, they are so quintessentially Chicago:  from their shared Uptown setting (as I said in my rave for Superior Donuts:  “Uptown, for me, is a great microcosm of a Chicago in flux, in the midst of change and renewal, but yet still stubbornly, and, at times, proudly, holding on to what made, and makes this city great and unique, both the good and the not-so-good.”) to their distinctive Chicago dialogue and accents (particularly in A Steady Rain) to their uncompromisingly uniquely Chicago points of view on life: straight-shooting, salt-of-the-earth, calloused, pragmatic, a city that’s got it’s people’s backs.  Snobbish New York theater patrons will get the wind knocked out of them!  I am very thrilled to hear too that the entire Steppenwolf cast of Superior Donuts will be recreating their roles on Broadway – our wonderful Chicago-based talent, from Jon Michael Hill to James Vincent Meredith to Cliff Chamberlin, all making their Broadway debuts, will prove once and for all that our city is the go-to city for actors who want to be nurtured and cultivated. A Steady Rain, on the other hand, is going the traditional Broadway mega-star route – instead of the brilliant Randy Steinmeyer and Peter deFaria, Chicago storefront theater actors who definitively created the lead roles here, Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman will be taking them on in New York.  Frankly, I’m ambivalent about this:  I’m thrilled for Huff and Chicago Dramatists, because there will definitely be an audience for the work (Chris is reporting that several millions of advance tickets have already been sold for the play), but I’m not really convinced, having seen the original, that Craig and Jackman are the best choices for these roles.  Tell me where to find a Chicago cop who looks like Hugh Jackman, and I’ll show up wearing only gift-wrapping paper and a red ribbon!  Seriously though, regardless of how good actors Craig and Jackman are (and I saw Hugh in his Tony-winning turn in The Boy from Oz where he was terrific), they’re still stars, known commodities with personas shaped by pop culture (James Bond and Wolverine) so I think it’ll be quite the effort, for me at least, to suspend disbelief that they are indeed truthfully inhabiting the lives of these gritty, emotionally raw Chicago cops (and I hope they’re doing research on those South side accents!).  Regardless, it’s going to be a watershed time for Chicago theater this fall and that’s a GREAT thing!  PS- Since I can’t seem to find the Broadway posters for either A Steady Rain or Superior Donuts, I think no one’s going to complain if I put up these photos of Hugh and Dan instead!