Opening Statement: Horton Foote’s human comedy

By Julian Frazin
Michael Best & Friedrich • Entertainment Critic

May it please the court—

”This is as good as it gets!” That is the thought that raced through my mind as I watched Horton Foote’s ”The Trip to Bountiful” at the main stage of the Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St. And I am certain the author, himself, who was in the audience that night, had a similar feeling. Perhaps it was because his daughter, Hallie Foote, was giving an outstanding portrayal of Jesse Mae, the nagging, self-centered wife, who harped on the faults of her submissive, compliant husband, Ludie, (in an equally impressive performance by Ms. Foote’s real-life husband, Devon Abner), or constantly criticized her aging, infirm mother-in-law, Carrie Watts.

Perhaps it was seeing Lois Smith reprise her brilliant off-Broadway performance as the tired but persistent and feisty Texas widow, bound and determined to return for one last visit to the beloved town of her youth. At age 77, Smith brings six decades of wonderful acting in films and plays to the stage with all the moves of a true champion. She need only cross hurriedly past an open bedroom door or intensely grasp the arms of her old rocking chair as she peers out the living-room window, and one knows in that instant what she and the story are all about.

It could have been because of the excellent casting under the direction of Harris Yulin where even the smallest role of a Houston traveler was treated with equal importance, and attention to other more significant characters as a local sheriff (James DeMars) and Thelma (Meghan Andrews), the young woman Carrie meets in her travels. But, in the last analysis, I believe that this 92-year-old playwright derived his greatest pleasure that night by sitting in the theater and recognizing that after all these years, his human comedy — this ordinary story about ordinary people with ordinary problems, without a whiff of sex or violence — could continue to engage and touch an audience.

”A piece of fluff!”

”Great!”

”Wasn’t that fun?”

Those were typical of the general comments running through the audience at the Cadillac Palace Theater, 151 W. Randolph St., following Broadway in Chicago’s opening of a two-week limited run of the 2006 five-time Tony Award-winning ”The Drowsy Chaperone.”

To which I can only add ”Now, that’s entertainment!” and my personal hope that this wonderful touring company can return soon for a longer engagement, which the rest of the city can enjoy.

Here, the leading character is described only as ”the man in the chair.” He is played sweetly but enthusiastically by Jonathan Crombie as a theater buff who sits in his living room, surrounded by all kinds of theater memorabilia. As he proceeds to describe and play, for the audience, an LP recording of his favorite ’20s musical — ”The Drowsy Chaperone” — a live orchestra begins in the pit, sparkling performers appear on stage, the living room is transformed into colorful sets, and — it’s on with the show!

The title is a fictional one created by the authors, but this is not a spoof of the musicals of the ’20s, but rather a tribute to them. And, I assure you that it is, at a little over an hour and a half of uninterrupted joy and laughter, as silly and as fine as any of the originals.

If, as Crombie tells us, the audience prayer is ”Oh, God, Let it be good and let it be short,” then your prayers will be answered.

One of the more successful ”traditional” musicals is ”A Man of No Importance,” recently at the Bailiwick Repertory Theatre, 1229 W. Belmont. Written by the team of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty who created the award-winning ”Ragtime,” it tells the story of Alfie Byrne (Kevin D. Mayes), a conductor on a Dublin motor coach who recruits and directs the local community theater, consisting mainly of his passengers to whom he quotes passages from Oscar Wilde along the route. He is a 30-plus-year-old Irish bachelor still living at home with his sister.

Alfie turns out — surprise, surprise — to be secretly in love with his motorman, Robbie Fay (Ryan Lanning). The love that dare not speak its name.Alfie’s rag-tag troupe, which rehearses at the local church basement for a performance of ”Salome” are all rather ordinary, middle-aged, plump people, who could have been taken right out of central casting for ”The Music Man.”

This is an excellent show with fine music and lyrics that got short shrift in New York, but hopefully gets back on track. You don’t have to be Irish — but it doesn’t hurt.

I rest my case.

Pleadings:

Jury instructions: 1 gavel — poor; 2 gavels — average; 3 gavels — good; 4 gavels — excellent.

Final Verdict:

”The Trip to Bountiful,” four gavels
”The Drowsy Chaperone,” four gavels
”A Man of No Importance,” three gavels