"Gloria" and "Straight White Men" represent something new and interesting in the ever-morphing theatrical interchange between Chicago and New York — two productions that originated at off-Broadway theaters and have been given much larger productions in Chicago.
With the original New York artists very much involved.
Both of these recommended shows are strikingly good. So is the long game to get them back to New York?
Well, more on that in a moment. But the situation with "Gloria" at the Goodman and "Straight White Men" at Steppenwolf is intriguing because the more usual traffic on the two-way highway from Middle West to Manhattan has involved shows moving from smaller theaters in Chicago to bigger New York productions (Stephen Karam’s "The Humans," say, or Ayad Akhtar’s "Disgraced"), or shows that premiered in New York subsequently being produced in much more intimate surroundings in Chicago. You can see that right now with "The Scottsboro Boys" (disappointing here, alas) and "The Columnist," the mid-gauge Broadway play by David Auburn that is up next at American Blues Theater.
Then, of course, you have the traditional pre-Broadway tryouts where Chicago merely is an instructive way station on the way to New York. Or, in the case of a couple problematic recent attractions, either not yet to Broadway or not to Broadway at all.
But "Gloria," which ends its run Sunday (there are a few tickets left), was first produced at the Vineyard Theatre in New York, a house with 132 seats. The Goodman imported the entire production — original director, original New York cast and all — and staged the same in its 856-seat proscenium house. It has been a critical and box office success. The theatricality of this piece by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins adapted easily to the bigger stage, amplifying its impact and allowing for the original New York design team, led by set designer Takeshi Kata, to expand its hyper-realistic work. The talents of Jacobs-Jenkins are well known in New York; this staging, though, suggested he also could reach a broader audience.
‘Straight White Men’: Young Jean Lee asks audience, herself to see both sides Chris Jones
Consider, dear reader, this paradoxical truth from the restless mind of the auteur artist Young Jean Lee, currently accessible in Chicago through the Steppenwolf Theatre Company: “There is nothing you can do to erase the problem of your own existence.”
If your first reaction to reading that statement…
Consider, dear reader, this paradoxical truth from the restless mind of the auteur artist Young Jean Lee, currently accessible in Chicago through the Steppenwolf Theatre Company: “There is nothing you can do to erase the problem of your own existence.”
If your first reaction to reading that statement…
(Chris Jones)
"Straight White Men," which runs through March 19 at Steppenwolf, first was produced at the 199-seat Martinson Hall at the Public Theater. In the case of "Gloria," the script was much the same in Chicago. That was a missed opportunity for some work on Act 2, perhaps.
But in the case of "Straight White Men," the auteur artist Young Jean Lee did a lot of additional work on the piece — adding and codifying a structurally and thematically significant new opening and rewriting some of the dialogue. In an interview with the Tribune, Lee described the Steppenwolf production, not the Public Theater production, as the finished version of the work. She said she even delayed the published version of the script so that she could include those changes.
To some extent, what you are seeing here is a result of artistic directors from Chicago trolling off-Broadway for interesting, progressive work for Chicago; there’s nothing new there. But I think you also are seeing two big and prestigious Chicago theaters positioning themselves as a way to enlarge and expand potentially populist off-Broadway shows — rebrand them, if you like, snagging them more attention in a city where they do not have to compete with Broadway for ink — and thus making them more attractive for commercial producers. In order to get something other than a musical to Broadway you really have to show the insider-types how the shows would look there. Producers rarely like to use their imaginations. They tend not to trust what they can’t see.
Review: Rising up from their cubicles in brilliant ‘Gloria’ at the Goodman Theatre Chris Jones
In the lobby of a theater the other day, an acquaintance of mine observed that the only good thing about the rise to power of Donald J. Trump was the post-facto unification of, well, let’s call it the arty left — you know, those fact-dependent types who work for newspapers, magazines, TV stations,…
In the lobby of a theater the other day, an acquaintance of mine observed that the only good thing about the rise to power of Donald J. Trump was the post-facto unification of, well, let’s call it the arty left — you know, those fact-dependent types who work for newspapers, magazines, TV stations,…
(Chris Jones)
And what does this mean for Chicago audiences? Well, all other things being equal, new works of the complexity of this rich pair of attractions usually improve with time and effort. So if America’s tryout town also becomes the expansion town — the middle stop rather than the first stop — then we might all get to see deeper work. That way, New York can start to spit out its own duds.
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.
cjones5@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @ChrisJonesTrib
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