Displaying items by tag: Philip Earl Johnson

With spot-on performances across a large cast, William Inge’s 1949 script for “Come Back, Little Sheba” is receiving a definitive production at American Blues Theater’s intimate Studio Theater. Those of us of a certain age had this work buried deep into our cultural formation by the searing film version starring Shirley Booth, who won the 1952 Oscar and a Tony for her earlier Broadway performance as Lola. 

This was my first time to see the stage version, and director Elyse Dolan goes back to Inge’s original script, which fits beautifully into this captivating 90 minute show (no intermission). The set by Shayna Patel closely tracks Inge’s intentions, right down to the telephone at the base of the stairs. Lighting by Brendan Marble and Sound Design by Thomas Dixon couple especially well in high throttle jazz interludes signaling scene changes or turning points in the plot. And those costumes (Lily Walls) were just what the playwright envisioned, right out of the end of the 1940s.

Cisco Lopez as the Milkman with Gwendolyn Whiteside as Lola.

Contemporary audiences may see ‘Come Back, Little Sheba” as a showcase of the reduced role of women in post-WWII society, their lives centered on homemaking and “keeping their man happy.” But it is something more, too - a portrait of two diametrically opposite personalities - Lola (Gwendolyn Whiteside is remarkable) and her husband Doc (Philip Earl Johnson is a portrait of seething restraint) - locked together in an unbalanced relationship. Inge subtly laces in the clues to their unhappiness. Doc’s ambition to complete medical school was cut short when he felt compelled to marry Lola at 18 after getting her pregnant. Her pregnancy didn’t come to term, and he quit his medical studies. Instead of a doctor he became a chiropractor, and took to the bottle.

Lola, who was a high school beauty queen, has given up caring about her looks under the withering abuse she suffered during his drinking days. But he joined AA, and has eleven months sober - but lives with an internalized rigidity while presenting a caring face to the world around him. Underneath it all, he is filled with resentment.

On the couch, Ethan Surpan as Turk and Maya Lou Hlava as Marie.

A shift has entered this couple's fragile homelife with the arrival of the sprightly Marie (Maya Lou Hlava is perfect in the role). This comely coed is boarding with them, studying art at the university. She has a hot jock boyfriend, Turk (Ethan Surpan is a study in self-assured youthful machismo). Marie also has another boyfriend back home, Bruce (Justin Banks), a well-paid young businessman on his way up.

Inge sends the clues through the behavior of Johnson’s Doc that he is crushing on Marie, and quite jealous of Turk. Eventually his sober resolve crumbles under his longstanding unresolved resentment - that he is not an MD, this new jealousy, and that he is stuck with Lola, who smothers him with attention and coaches him somewhat intrusively on his AA practices. It is also an early serious treatment of the AA 12-step recovery program, founded ion the 1930s. Doc's involvement in it is core the the plot and character motivation. 

Lola, for her part, expresses her longing for better days gone by with a fixation on her runaway pup Sheba. Though Sheba went missing quite a while back, Lola still dreams of her return, and periodically calls for her puppy from the porch. An eternal optimist, she is ultimately the likeable center of the action. Marie and Turk love her. To show Lola through others’ eyes, Inge gives us two other characters, Elmo the Postman (William Anthony Sebastian Rose) and Milkman (Cisco Lopez). Whiteside’s Lola is so lonely she tries almost too hard to engage them, but nevertheless, her open heart compels their empathy and she wins them over. Everyone seems to love Lola except the next door neighbor Mrs. Coffman (Joslyn Jones), who derides Lola over her unkempt house.

In the last third of the play, mayhem breaks loose, and you will be stunned, shocked and glued to your seat by the culmination of this stunning drama. As Tolstoy put it, “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” And “Come Back, Little Sheba” shows how true this is. Highly recommended. 

“Come Back, Little Sheba” runs through March 22 at American Blues Theater in Chicago.

This review is proudly shared with our friends at www.TheatreInChicago.com.

"In real life, you're exploited by the moneyed class and then you die." says Petra in Robert Falls' new production of 'An Enemy of the People' at Goodman Theatre. His adaptation of Ibsen's 1882 play, spends two and a half hours exploring the theme of freedom.

"An Enemy of the People" is set in an ambiguous time and place but the highly conceptualized world in which this production exists is familiar. In it, idealistic small-town Doctor Stockmann (Philip Earl Johnson) discovers the water supply is poisoned. Hoping to save the town, he's politically thwarted by his brother the mayor (Scott Jaeck).

Robert Falls adapted the script from a translation by Eleanor Marx-Aveling and it's got some teeth. As Arthur Miller adapted Ibsen's play in 1950 to fit the McCarthy era, Falls aims his at Trumpism. Despite some occasional lapses in subtlety, this version chugs along at an urgent pace. Some liberties are taken with Ibsen's script but, given the current political climate, the topical dialogue fuels the thrilling intensity. Even 130 years later, this play is still a warning.

The square-off between Philip Earl Johnson and Scott Jaeck for the town's soul is all too relevant. Johnson physically exhausts himself trying to scream the truth while a calm and dignified Jaeck lulls the townspeople into submission. They're both so convincing you're almost able to see both sides, which is precisely the danger. Many of the most provocative lines come from Petra played by Rebecca Hurd. Her performance is sincere and brings more depth to the character than just what's in the dialogue.

It's an event when Robert Falls produces a classic at Goodman. 'Enemy of the People' lives up to the hype. As he's done with Chekhov, Falls has a vision for these plays that is far from the faithful productions of yore. It's essential for directors to reinterpret these classics for new eras. It's how a younger generation will connect with Ibsen. This version is well designed and brightly colored. Almost too cheerful for the subject matter. The costumes will leave you unsure of the time period, but that's the point. Whatever the era, the costumes are chic and the sets are memorable. This isn't your average period piece melodrama.

This production is exciting from beginning to end. There's not a moment of dead air. The dialogue is fresh and mirrors the absurd hypocrisy of our times. There's a lot of lightness in this play, and it's not until afterward that the darkness of its themes settle in. That might be one of it's strongest assets, it's so engaging you forget how bleak the conclusion is. If you don't leave this play angry, there's probably something wrong with you.

Through April 15th at Goodman Theatre 170 North Dearborn. 312-443-5151

Never has a play about journalism, the presidency and Cold War with Russia seemed more relevant than now. And The Columnist, performed by The American Blues Theater at Stage 773, is all of that and more. In a story that could have easily been set during today’s heated political environment, The Columnist is a scintillating tale of family, power, betrayal and personal struggle.

Written by the Pulitzer and Tony award-winning author David Auburn and directed by Keira Fromm, The Columnist is based on real-life journalists Joe Alsop (Philip Earl Johnson) and his brother Stewart Alsop (Coburn Goss). Once a power writing duo, the play begins with Joe, now one of America’s most influential columnists - both feared and beloved, caught in a revealing and compromising position in a Moscow hotel.

That affair and its consequences runs like an undercurrent throughout the entire play as we see Joe battle for power, his ideas on what American exceptionalism entails and how the president (both John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson) should achieve it no matter the costs. We also see his struggle to keep his private life separate from the illusion he creates for the public.

Johnson is exquisite and brilliant in the role of Joe Alsop and very capably humanizes such a towering political figure of the time.

Joe is a man who loves his country and family with equal and blinding passion but in the rapidly changing world of the 1960’s, against the backdrop of the Vietnam war, his inability to see beyond his own beliefs pushes away those closest to him. He manages to alienate even some of his most ardent admirers and colleagues.

However, despite the growing distance between Joe and his family – his perfectly cast, dutiful and charming wife Susan (played by the equally charming Kymberly Mellen), his precocious stepdaughter Abigail (Tyler Meredith) and his sincere and loyal brother Stewart, what is conveyed even at some of his lowest points is how much they still love him despite his many flaws.

Stewart and Abigail are perhaps two of Joe’s most pivotal relationships. Several key moments come when they both show not only how much they understand him, as well as what drives him, but also their acceptance of the contradiction of his public figure and private life. This understanding and acceptance comes even though they often disagree with his passionate defense of the war as well as his methods of squashing the dissenting views of fellow journalists. Both Goss and Meredith play their roles with such depth and nuance that it’s easy to feel their characters’ compassion for such a complex man.

The ability of Auburn to delve so deeply into these relationships and to keep the plot moving at the fast pace of an intriguing spy novel is impressive. Also, very impressive and effective is the staging and the way several of the more dramatic moments are highlighted, especially during transitions. After several poignant and emotional scenes, having Joe stand in a single spotlight as the darkened set changes behind him is a powerful effect, and whether intended or not, is a reflection of the often-tumultuous changes happening in his life.

The creative team for The Columnist: Joe Schermoly (scenic design), Christopher J. Neville (costume design), Jared Gooding (lighting design), Christopher Kriz (original music and sound design), Alec Long (props design), Sarah E. Ross (production manager), Eva Breneman (dialect coach), Sara Illiatovitch-Goldman (dramaturg), and Dana M. Nestrick (stage manager), does an amazing job of enhancing an already powerful script and showcasing as Joe says: “human intercourse at its sublimely ridiculous.”

Highly recommended

American Blues Theater’s The Columnist runs through April 1, 2017, at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont. Tickets are available in online at americanbluestheater.com.