I have to admit I’m a bit of a Scrooge during the holidays (well, a lot of my close friends would probably say it’s not just “a bit”…). I really can do without the materialism and sentimentality, and to be frank, insincerity (I can’t believe I get Christmas cards from people I haven’t heard from since the previous year…if they really wanted to keep in touch, they probably should have sent an Easter card, or better yet picked up the phone instead) that’s prevalent during the Christmas season. I normally can’t wait for December to be over, but this year, I can’t get this month to move fast enough. If I’m going to spend Christmas, I’d do so in January 2009 since that’s the start of the most highly-anticipated theatrical event of the winter season, the Eugene O’Neill festival at the Goodman. It’s an ambitious, unique, highly commendable project to bring the best of world-class theater to Chicago, and I’ve been breathless with excitement and tingling all over since the line-up was announced a couple of months ago. The Goodman is offering a terrific value with it’s O’Neill Explorer pass, which at $124, offers a 20% savings on the total cost of seeing seven of the eight plays being showcased in the Festival. Desire Under the Elms, O’Neill Festival curator and Goodman Theater Artistic Director Robert Falls’ Broadway-bound version is not part of the Explorer Pass. I’m convinced that it’s worth it to buy tickets for Desire Under the Elms (it’s one of the more histrionic O’Neill dramas, which I LOVE), especially after seeing this promotional picture: I can’t wait to see Brian Dennehy’s Owen Wilson-meets-Carol Channing-on-crystal-meth blonde wig! I think January’s highlight though will be the play that kicks-off the Festival in the first week of January- the acclaimed, experimental New York theater company Wooster Group’s Emperor Jones. Regular Wooster Group leading lady Kate Valk plays Brutus Jones, the lead role, played in previous productions by acting titans like Paul Robeson and Ossie Davis. Yes, Kate Valk is female; yes, she is white; and yes, she will be playing the role in blackface, as she did in New York and Philadelphia. It’s a performance whose power and impact the New York Times’ drama queen, I mean drama critic, Charles Isherwood has compared to Sandra Bernhardt’s in La Dame aux Camelias, Laurette Taylor’s in The Glass Menagerie, and Maria Callas in Tosca. Wow, that’s quite a pantheon to live up to. I think this production of Emperor Jones will be provocative, political, and highly contemporary, and I can’t wait! The other January productions will be the three one-act plays that comprise O’Neill’s Sea Plays. The Brazilian theater group, Companhia Triptal, will stage a US premiere under the umbrella title, Homens ao Mar. It seems that these plays will be highly-theatrical, and staged in surprising, boundary-expanding ways. I haven’t heard a lot about Zona di Guerra (In the Zone) and Longa Viagem de Volta pra Casa (The Long Voyage Home), but I’ve seen a video of Cardiff (Bound East for Cardiff) where the audience is right up there on stage with the actors. Delirious!
There are also several interesting free events as part of the Festival: Emperor Jones director, Wooster Group Artistic Director Elizabeth LeCompte, will discuss the group’s work and history on January 10, 3pm, at the Goodman’s Owen Theater; and Companhia Triptal’s Artistic Director Andre Garolli will be in conversation with the Goodman’s Steve Scott at the Art Institute of Chicago’s Fullerton hall on January 29, at 6 pm.
Tags: Goodman Theater
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