Playwright: Eric Rosen; music and
additional lyrics by Andre J. Pluess
and Ben Sussman
At: About Face at Steppenwolf Studio, 1650 N. Halsted
Phone: (312) 335-1650; $30-$35
Runs through: July 18
I see visions. I see About Face’s adaptation of Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio not only making a big splash in Chicago, but traveling on (like many of the denizens of Sherwood’s small-town universe) to New York City (maybe Broadway) and making a big splash there, thus making dreams come true.
Dreams coming true is a big theme in Winesburg, Ohio. Anderson’s collection of short stories that revolved around this small town, circa the turn of the twentieth century, was all about its residents trying to find a place in the world (whether it be somewhere outside the boundaries of the tiny town in which it’s set or in returning to the same place, with wings burned and full of grim acceptance), hitching their dreams to a promise of a better world out there. Its narrator and center, for example, the young George Willard (a stand-in for Anderson himself, who grew up in Clyde, Ohio and whose early life mirrors that of George’s) works for the town paper and chronicles the lives of the townspeople, adding an optimistic spin to their often bleak existences. George dreams of moving on and becoming a real writer. Holding him back is an ailing mother, poignantly trapped in a middle-class, pedestrian existence she never wanted … an existence that’s causing her to die slowly, by degrees. It helps George to grow as a writer and a man to put to paper the stories of his fellow townspeople, people like Wing Biddlebaum, a once-promising teacher of young children whose hands never stop moving because they were the catalyst to his great failure. Or people like Kate Swift, a sad and starved young woman who did make it outside the town, only to return, defeated and desperate for love of any sort. Or people like George’s mother, who once wanted to be an actress, a bohemian who lived for art and unstructured love and ended up living in her memories.
Adapter Eric Rosen had a lot to work with in Anderson’s slim volume of prose. Concerning very particular people in a very specific time and place, the book managed to be universal, bringing to life the desire we all share to be something more, to find a path that might deliver happiness and love. Credit Rosen (and the deft directorial efforts of Jessica Thebus) for bringing the town’s stories to stirring and emotional life. Rosen wrote the book and most of the lyrics for this outing and the omnipresent Andre Pluess and Ben Sussman harnessed the music, music which buoys and reflects period and emotion by playing on and rising above the roots of American folk songs.
Winesburg, Ohio is a dark paean to the American dream and Rosen was blessed with a cast that’s astonishing in their range and ability to bring its unique characters to vivid life. Jane Blass, in particular (so good last season in Pulp) creates a heartbreaking portrait in her recreation of George’s mother, haggard and lost to memories, on death’s doorstep, a death that can only be described as a mercy killing. Ryan Gardner’s George is assured and believable; we root for him to rise above the existence the town would provide for him and to find love and to realize his dreams.
Winesburg, Ohio is the summer’s big theatrical event. Unique and inspired, this is a don’t miss production with all the elements to bring joy and pathos to any audience.Theater Listings at windycitytimes.com/theateropenings.html