The economic crisis has already began making it’s unwelcome and frightening presence felt with arts organizations. There’s been some talk in the Chicago theater blogs lately about grant money getting scarcer by the day and several theater companies sending out year-end donation ask letters that give off a scent of panic and, it kills me to even write this, desperation (I have been deluged with many donation request letters over the past couple of weeks, even from theater companies I don’t regularly go to, but I haven’t received that one letter from that one theater group that Kris’s blog commenters mention. I think I know who it is, and I’m floored that they even contemplated, much less sent, a letter like that to their subscribers and ticketbuyers). My two cents on all of this is that this is the time for winnowing, where theater companies that consistently provide compelling, truthful, and impactful theatrical experiences to its audiences will survive these calamitous times, and be the stronger, more robust, and more mature for it. As I’ve already mentioned in a previous blog post, I’ve seen a lot of self-indulgent, self-aggrandizing, indifferent-to-the-audience theater in this town, and no arts group can afford to act in that way anymore right now; it’s change or die.
I am always surprised by how theater that’s so different from one another can harmoniously co-exist in this city. In one week, I saw Drury Lane Theater’s transfer of its Oak Brook hit Meet Me in St. Louis to its Michigan avenue outpost and Collaboraction’s world premiere of Jon, a striking adaptation of George Saunder’s acclaimed 2003 New Yorker short story. Boy, they’re poles apart from each other. And in contrast to the doom and gloom I’ve mentioned above that seem to be enveloping some part of the Chicago theater scene nowadays, the performances of these shows which I attended were packed. I personally am not a fan of this production of Meet Me in St. Louis (I love the film, but I think having it staged live is pretty pointless unless you have both Judy Garland and the glossy ’40s MGM musical look down pat, none of which is in this pleasing enough, but unmemorable and dinner-theater-like, production). But I see the appeal to its casual, mostly suburban or out-of-towner, Michigan Avenue theater audience: it’s nostalgic and Christmas season-friendly, has a pretty straightforward and sentimental plot, has a lot of hummable, classic songs (even I couldn’t resist softly singing along to “The Boy Next Door” since I’ve sung that forlornly often enough in my long life, oooops), and displays much heart and enthusiasm in it’s large, hard-working cast (Michael Gerhart as the father and Brandon Dahlquist as Warren acquit themselves best). Drury Lane Theater hasn’t geared this production towards a serious theatergoing audience, and that’s fine. It’s packed to the rafters with people who actually want to see it. It’s escapism at its finest, and it’s success shouldn’t be begrudged.
Jon, on the other hand, attracts the kind of audience that Collaboraction painstakingly and smartly cultivates: twentysomething hipsters with ADD, who may or may not be avid theatergoers, but who are smart and well-read, and who appreciate irony and subtext well enough. I may be, ahem, slightly older than the target demographic, but I really, really liked this show. The premise is eyecatching and thought-provoking: in a world where children and teenagers are raised to be 24/7 participants in well-controlled and constantly-monitored advertising focus groups, can the very human, unprogammable, irresistible, profoundly mystifying emotion of love (both paternal/maternal and romantic) exist? Director and adapter Seth Bockley vividly and believably evokes the emotional struggles and clashes that this seeming dichotomy creates in Jon who falls in love and has a baby with another focus group participant, Carolyn. He is tremendously helped by Mike Tutaj’s mood-enhancing and story-complementing video design and a trio of exceptional performances (from Lucas Neff as Jon, the always-excellent Kelly O’Sullivan as Carolyn, and Chicago storefront theater veteran, Guy Massey, as their father figure/handler). Although fast-paced and involving for the most part, I thought it could have been 30 minutes shorter. But that’s a minor quibble for a show that is a compelling night at the theater, and stands as a symbol that, despite this crazy economic times, Chicago theater is determined and strong enough to stay.
Meet Me in St, Louis is at the Drury Lane Theater Water Tower Place, 175 E. Chestnut St. until December 21. You have until December 14 to catch Jon at the Building Stage, a very impressive conversion of old warehouse loft to versatile black box theater, 412 N. Carpenter St.
Tags: Collaboraction, Drury Lane Theater
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