Goodman Theater

Printers Row Lit Fest & Chicago Blues Festival- June 8-9, 2019

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In case you were wondering, the Lit in Printers Row Lit Fest refers to literature, not to the new Illinois law permitting recreational marijuana starting January 1, 2020. But maybe next year it will be both.

One of the attractions of the Lit Fest for me in the past has been the Flash Fiction writing contest held by the Mystery Writers of America. Again, in case you were wondering, the Flash in Flash Fiction refers to fiction written quickly, not fiction written about Barry Allen of DC Comics fame.

There was no contest this year. The Mystery Writers didn’t even have a tent. Or perhaps they did and it was flapping so quickly in the breeze that no one could see it.

And this year there was only one program each day that interested me. On Saturday, it was James Geary amusing the audience with a discussion of his book Wit’s End: What Wit Is, How It Works, and Why We Need It.

As part of his presentation, he held a pun contest, with the winner receiving a copy of the book, and the losers presumably being sent to the witless protection program.

On Sunday I heard WTTW critic Hedy Weiss interview music director Jermaine Hill, and stars Monica West (Marian the librarian), and Geoff Packard (Professor Harold Hill) about the Goodman Theater’s upcoming production of The Music Man. I introduced myself to Hedy and spoke with her for about 15 minutes before the program, which I’m sure she also will mention in her next blog.

On the way to the Lit Fest Sunday, I stopped by the Chicago Blues Festival to listen to Erwin Helfer do his wonderful thing on the piano. Heller plays on Tuesday nights at the Hungry Brain, which seems like a good name for a place to go after a Lit Fest.

Santaland Diaries – Goodman Theater – December 18, 2018

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Santaland Diaries, David Sedaris’s 1992 essay about working as an elf at Macy’s during the Christmas season, is supposed to be a comedy. Perhaps it was in 1992, but not anymore. The Goodman Theater would be better off just shutting down for the holidays. Its 2016 production, in concert with Second City, of Twist Your Dickens, was unwatchable. Santaland Diaries isn’t that bad, but it’s boring and out of step with the times. Even its mystifyingly good reviews admit that.

The Chicago Reader review of the 2006 Stage 773 production of the Santaland Diaries said “some of the script’s pop-culture references are beginning to show their age” and gave the show a “somewhat recommended”. Yet, interestingly, twelve years later, the Reader gave the Goodman production a “highly recommended”, even while acknowledging that “a few lines in the script have unintentionally traded their comedic weight for dramatic over the years. One antiquated reference to mentally handicapped people, for instance, landed like the proverbial turd in an otherwise tasty punchbowl; it was 15 minutes before [Matt] Crowle regained the trust of the audience.”

Fifteen minutes, out of a 65-minute performance! How can that be a description of a highly recommended show? I don’t know Macy’s return policy, but perhaps this dinosaur can be relegated to Jurassic World. Jokes about cash registers really don’t register anymore. The best line in the show was Crowle’s put down of an unruly audience member.

None of this is meant as a knock on Crowle, soon to star in Porchlight Music Theater’s production of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder (where he’ll play eight characters), and whom I’ve seen in other productions around town. He does a fine job. Most memorably for me, his Billie Holiday impression, which obviously transcends the written script, was terrific.  Maybe next year the Goodman should do a Holiday show instead of a holiday show.

Support Group for Men – Goodman Theater – July 22, 2018

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In any theater larger than a breadbox, house VIP seats, which you know are the best seats, typically do not start before row five. Yet, when you order tickets for a play online and ask for the best seats, the computer generally starts with the row closest to the stage. This makes me think that the computers are programmed by massage therapists, looking to bring in new customers with stiff necks.

If you buy a ticket close to the date of the show, you might get lucky enough to get a VIP seat that has not been taken. Such was the case for this show, which resulted in me sitting two seats away from chef Rick Bayless, or so I was told, because I wouldn’t have been able to pick him out of a five-man lineup, even with Lenny Briscoe whispering in my ear to pick suspect number two.

Governor Bruce Rauner also was pointed out to me in the audience. This is only worth mentioning in that my seat was better than his.

If you have read previous blogs, you know that I generally shy away from the Goodman Theater, but I took the word of several friends who had seen this show (including one whose high praise was that she didn’t walk out on it) and thus made a last minute decision to go. I was rewarded, not only with the VIP seat, but also with some laughs. Good enough for me.

The play as a whole made me think of Wild Men (though that was a musical), a 1992 play with George Wendt, Pete Burns (with whom I had improv classes), and Rob Riley (from whom I took an acting class) about the so-called men’s movement, which featured men beating drums in the woods, as opposed to men passing around a baseball bat as a talking stick in Support Group. We’ve come a long way, baby.

Ah Wilderness – Goodman Theater – July 6, 2017

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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).