The big news about Rounding Third is that it marks Second City alumni George Wendt’s return to the Chicago stage. Wendt, something of a cultural icon for his portrayal of Norm on the long-running sitcom, Cheers, anchors this two-man comedy about two down-on-their luck middle aged men coaching a little league team through one eventful season. Wendt, looking considerably grayer and heavier than his affable, beer-swilling television character, plays Don, a has-been jock who, deep into middle age, finds solace and a kind of shelter from life’s perils coaching a little league team. Don has a failing marriage and a son who–gasp–might be gay, due to his preference for playing in Brigadoon instead of playing on the baseball diamond. Don isn’t all that different from Norm; he’s a big, blustery guy who talks a mean talk (he tells the boys they’re on the team to “have fun” then reminds them that having fun translates to “winning”), but underneath the bravado is a real softie.
Every year, Don gets help in his coaching efforts from an assistant coach. This year, the man filling that role is Michael (although Don, not one for formality, refers to him as Mike or Mikey, much to his chagrin). Michael is Don’s polar opposite. Played sympathetically by Mathew Arkin (son of Alan), Michael is a milquetoast tethered to his boss by a constantly chirping cell phone. Michael, unlike Don, would adopt the credo, “It’s not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game.” Michael has his own problems: his wife has recently died and his son, a member of the team, is an athletic embarrassment. Dresser’s script puts these two disparate souls in comic and sometimes touching conflict, and voila, you have a play. Don and Michael are, essentially, Oscar and Felix from The Odd Couple, set down in an everyman’s little league field. How they reach rapprochement and find commonality make up most of Dresser’s smart and moving script.
Northlight’s production hits all the right notes. From BJ Jones’ understated direction, to Todd Rosenthal’s set, which is the perfect combination of specific details with a universality that could make this field one that could be any place, at almost any time, to Lindsay Jones’ sound design, which, with its organ music and low crowd murmurs, vividly captures the spirit and the sense of little league, to Chris Binder’s lighting, which climaxes with a “Natural” inspired shower of spark from an overhead light … everything works in tandem to create a nearly flawless piece of entertainment.
Rounding Third, although it does touch on subtleties like the loss of dreams by middle-aged men, is more of a solidly crafted crowd pleaser. And it’s a crowd pleaser performed by veteran actors who know how to inhabit their parts without showboating. Rounding Third is, in short, a winner.