The Goodman Theater is a wonderful venue, with two great spaces. Its shows present top-notch actors and excellent production values and I can walk there.  But lately almost every time I go there I wish I hadn’t. I know this makes me an outlier, but this is my blog. Get your own.

The theater marketed Ah Wilderness as Eugene O’Neill’s classic family comedy. They got everything right except the part about comedy. I was bored to tears and left at intermission. With nothing else to say about that, I will recap my other recent visits to the Goodman.

In September 2016 I saw Wonderful Town, music by Leonard Bernstein, book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Great credentials. And I remember, as a kid, loving the movie version of the play My Sister Eileen, upon which the musical was based. Rosalind Russell in her prime. But the show is dated. What it made me think of however, was Avenue Q, another show about the quirky residents of a street (Avenue Q versus Christopher Street). Avenue Q may be my favorite play, ever. Sue me (no wait, that was Guys and Dolls – loved that one too).

In December 2016 I saw Second City’s Twist Your Dickens at the Goodman. I had high hopes, but the production was filled with swearing, which was supposed to be funny, and many in the audience apparently found it to be, but I found it distracting and tedious. No talent involved. If I owned a watch I would have kept looking at it.

The one show I did like at the Goodman the last couple years was King of the Yees (April 2017). It wasn’t perfect, but it was current and everything about it was interesting.

Because its plays consistently get good reviews, I’ll probably keep going back to the Goodman for more, but for the new stuff, not for the retreads of shows that are over 60 years old (except maybe Guys and Dolls).