8-3-07
The Next Great American Play?
There’s been a fair bit of hyperbole expended in the theatre community over the world premiere of Tracy Letts’ August: Osage County at Steppenwolf. I have heard it described in all seriousness as the next great American play. So being naturally skeptical of extravagant praise, I was curious to see the production.
Deanna Dunagan expounds to the rest of the family (including Rondi Reed and Frances Guinan) in Steppenwolf's August: Osage County. A friend of mine who works in finance has a theory. He believes that when someone goes to, say, Charlie Trotter’s and pays hundreds of dollars for a meal, that person is inevitably going to report that the meal was amazing. Why? Because they are invested in the meal’s success. If it’s bad, then the diner has spent hundreds of dollars on a bad meal. If it was good, on the other hand, their investment was warranted.
The same effect may be going on at Steppenwolf. Audience members have not only shelled out Steppenwolf ticket prices (topping out at $65), they have invested three and a half hours in this production. It had better be good. Otherwise, why are they sitting there?
I don’t think August: Osage County is the next great American play. Its themes have been done to death by Sam Shepard, Tina Howe and Eugene O’Neill, to name a few. In fact, as has been pointed out numerous times, Letts’ play bears a strong resemblance to Long Day’s Journey Into Night. But it should come as no surprise that dysfunctional parents lead to dysfunctional children. And this story of three sisters who are desperately looking anywhere for a little affection and love doesn’t break any new ground. It does, however, go against the popular trend in playwriting, offering sprawling length rather than compact, television-style structure. This is not a play that will be easily analyzed for a beginning, middle and end.
But on its own terms, there’s a lot to like about August: Osage County, particularly as seen in this production. First, and most importantly, it features a truly excellent cast doing top-notch work. With the exception of high schooler Fawn Johnstin, who plays the youngest member of the Weston clan and is clearly in over her head, there’s not a false note to be found. Letts walks the tightrope between discomfort and humor as well as anyone, and this cast, carefully guided by long-time Letts collaborator Anna D. Shapiro, navigates that path perfectly. Rondi Reed is marvelous as the loose cannon aunt, paired perfectly with Francis Guinan as her mild husband. Dennis Letts (the playwright’s father) does a wonderful job of evoking the man who goes missing early in the play, but remains an unseen center of everyone’s universe. Amy Morton captures the vulnerability and the aggression of the strong daughter, who seems most likely to be pulled down her mother’s path. Deanna Dunagan plays the family matriarch—the focal, if not central, character—with destructive aplomb.
And August: Osage County is funny. Laugh-out-loud funny, which is quite a feat when you consider the dark subjects under discussion. Much of the bated breath about the play stems, I think, from the fact that the humor makes it so accessible. It’s actually a pretty enjoyable three and a half hours, which is tough to manage.
However, as a drama, Letts’ play stumbles into melodrama. There’s nothing earth shattering, at least to me, about the revelations as they emerge. This is probably due in part to the (deliberately I think) lack of clear structure. Things happen when they happen, so important moments sometimes take you by surprise, and not in a good way. More in an oh-did-something-just-happen? way.
So let the expectations go. We won’t know whether this is a play that becomes an iconic part of the American dramatic canon for a few years yet (although given the play’s straightforward character, a Pulitzer might not be out of the question). Instead, enjoy the product of a good playwright writing for an exceptional ensemble that he knows well.
August: Osage County, Steppenwolf
Chris Jones, Tribune—“But with this staggeringly ambitious—and, for my money, staggeringly successful—three-act domestic opus for the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Letts has penned a major, not-to-be-missed new American work that eulogizes the perversely nurturing dysfunction of family life on the Plains as surely as it skewers the arid absurdities of its underpinning. And with the help of director Anna D. Shapiro, Letts has built a vehicle for the great Chicago actress Deanna Dunagan, who plays the caustic Weston family matriarch. Popping pills, telling truths and exploding her kids’ inadequate defenses, Dunagan spits out the kind of brilliantly acidic performance that will be remembered in this town for years to come.”
Hedy Weiss, Sun-Times—“Letts is a keen observer of the way the past oozes into the present and future. And while each of his characters has a vivid identity, each also has a dozen richly contradictory aspects to his or her nature, played in the full richness of their colors by the Steppenwolf actors. The playwright also serves up some blackly comic laughs, too, just to clear the air from time to time. The glories of Dunagan’s performance are too great to enumerate here. Suffice it to say this performance should make her a late-career star. Morton matches her at every turn with an emotionally rabid portrayal. And Guinan, countering Reed’s volcanic rage, sneaks in there at moments with just enough tenderness to give you hope for the human race after all.”
Kerry Reid, Reader—“Heartbreaking, hilarious, gruffly compassionate, and breathtakingly bold in its scope, Tracy Letts’s drama about a monumentally screwed-up clan in rural Oklahoma is one of the best American plays of the last decade. When a retired academic disappears from the home he shares with his pill-popping wife, his three daughters and other family members show up, unleashing a series of recriminations and revelations. Anna D. Shapiro’s staging is beautifully orchestrated, and the cast are superb.”
Christopher Piatt, Time Out—“It’s apropos, then, that urban cowboy Tracy Letts has set his latest play—one that all but flattens the premieres that have appeared on Chicago stages in the last few years—among the lonely, tumbleweed-strewn flatlands of Oklahoma. It’s unclear why this generation of new dramatists eschews denizens of the decaying Middle West in favor of, among other things, trivial savants and comic-book heroes. But keep your eyes peeled in years to come. August: Osage County is the kind of play that inspires imitators.”
Lawrence Bommer, Free Press—“At three and a half hours and featuring a cast of 13, Anna Shapiro’s Steppenwolf world premiere is generous, if you like toxic soap opera. Eventually, it’s overwhelming, as if a tranquilizer dart kicked in and the shock effects of pederasty, illegitimacy and incest no longer registered. But there’s no questioning that however grotesque the confessions and upchucking the revelations, they carry the shock of the familiar and the thrill of the known.”
Mary Shen Barnidge, Windy City—“Speeding up the pace of this Dickensian yarn by a millisecond would have resulted in a cartoon as savage as anything in Joe Orton or Christopher Durang—and as ultimately harmless, permitting us a smug chuckle (from a safe distance, of course) at monsters. But director Anna D. Shapiro and a cast dominated by seasoned Steppenwolf players keep the scope no bigger than life, the psychological manipulations well within the realm of socially-acceptable cruelty. And so the agony, however appalling, never descends to melodrama—nor does it let us off the hook.”
Married Alive!, Marriott Theatre
Chris Jones, Tribune—“This new show’s fundamental ongoing handicap, though, will be that it does not exactly operate in virgin territory… The piece could be much improved if Grennan and his collaborators would go through their show and excise the obvious and the predictable. They’d lose about half of their material, but they’d then be left with some very workable fare… The good stuff is the honest, counter-intuitive stuff, and this show needs to find the courage to showcase it.”
Hedy Weiss, Sun-Times—“Of course tales of that enduring institution known as marriage have a continually renewable audience, so attempts to update and chronicle the state of the art tend to spring eternal. And if terminal cuteness and predictability are the result, so be it. With book and lyrics by Sean Grennan, music by Leah Okimoto and direction by Vicky Bussert, Married Alive leaves no clich? unturned. But its four hardworking, highly polished, easily likable performers and its two onstage pianists (diva-turned-keyboardist Roberta Duchak and Kevin Disch) ease the pain, even if you wish their considerable talents were better served.”
Kim Wilson Buck, Reader—“Though most of Sean Grennan and Leah Okimoto’s musical about marriage is taken from the recycle bin, occasionally it surprises with a zippy line or inventive scene. And the ensemble rises above even the most tired material. Dual-pianist accompaniment contributes to the intimate, comfortable atmosphere, which anyone who’s worn out a DVD of Father of the Bride should find pleasing.”
Scotty Zachar, Gay Chicago—“The irony of Married Alive! is that—although the material is uninspired and at times second-rate—the performers and performances are exemplary. Portraying the younger couple, Kelly Sullivan (Erin) and David Larsen (Paul) offer up two thrillingly energetic performances. Additionally, Gene Weygandt and Kathy Santen, playing the older couple, Ron and Diane, prove to us their talents by creating characters that are larger-than-life yet believable. It needs to be noted that all four of these artists have had accomplished careers both on Broadway and on TV, and Marriott has done a fine job in casting them, as they are able to bring out the best from their uninspired characters.”
Pratfall of Civilization, Second City
Chris Jones, Tribune—“[T]he generally solid The Pratfall of Civilization has its funny moments. The show, directed by Mark Warzecha, also features some strong young women. But overall, this isn’t a great or even an especially distinctive e.t.c. show. Some of the material is just plain tired… For sure, you’ll be better off recommending the far-superior mainstage show to your out-of-town guests. And that’s not always been the case in recent years, when the e.t.c. has been cooking with some seriously progressive comic gas.”
Derel Jevens, Sun-Times—“That comfort level seemed to give them license to cut loose in their last creation, Disposable Nation, a show dotted with moments of supreme silliness. After all that, it’s like the six comics are taking a breather with Pratfall of Civilization, a romp of more modest ambition and more modest achievement. It’s a perfectly good version of the Second City experience that will send away many a satisfied tourist. But frequent visitors to Pipers Alley are accustomed to better. The Pratfall premises are a little too played out, its gags a little too routine.”
Ryan Hubbard, Reader—“Pratfall of Civilization notes some of the city’s defining flaws in its opening song. But the rest of this solid revue addresses the nation’s woes, including a scene about presidential blunders that gives the show its title. Though Pratfall lacks a truly magnetic performer or character, there are some very funny takes on contemporary issues, and ‘Saturday Night Live’ could learn from the production’s polish: the jokes are blazing fast, the comic timing is precise, and blackouts are like blinks.”
Tim Sauers, Gay Chicago—“Given the condition of our country, with political turmoil, global warming and immigration debate, it’s not surprising that Second City e.t.c.’s group of writer-performers takes those subjects to the extreme in its 30th revue. The company of six certainly keeps the material topical with its deft comic delivery and physical shtick, but the material itself lacks originality and pointed intelligence. We’ve seen most of this comedy before under better circumstances, and the performers themselves don’t seem all that fresh and enticing either. Don’t get me wrong. There are definitely laughs to be had but mostly on the light chuckle, crack a grin side of things.”
Stoops, ETA Creative Arts Foundation
Mary Shen Barnidge, Windy City—“Stoops covers 25 years that were critical to African Americans, yet the play never mentions a Kennedy or King; or the Voting Rights Act of 1965; or urban riots—and makes just a passing reference to Vietnam. [Playwright Crystal V.] Rhodes determined to make it a play about people, personalities and friendship rather than issues or history, and she’s succeeded admirably. The historic frame of reference, or absence thereof, may be odd to the objective observer such as me, but it also makes the story universal. It’s not so much about three Black girlfriends as about three girlfriends, and not so much about three girlfriends as about three friend."
Quote of the Fortnight:
“You should always suspect the straight characters in a gay play. Sooner or later, their sexuality will be up for grabs in ways that gay audiences would hate if the roles were reversed. Conversion, it seems, is OK if it goes our way.”—Lawrence Bommer reviewing Bailiwick Repertory’s production of A Bitter Taste in the Free Press.