PicksInSix Review: The Front Page - Northlight Theatre

‘The Front Page’ - A Grand Slam!
PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy

As if ripped from the headline of a major market daily, Northlight Theatre opened their sparkling new Evanston home on Friday night with a fast, fierce and uproariously funny production of “The Front Page” on the very day that the First Amendment is again under siege in Washington.

And even as life imitates art, and that other story is still playing out at our press time, the headline here is that BJ Jones, the Walter C. Greenough Artistic Director and the entire Northlight organization have checked every box for success. A new, state-of-the-art home. A terrific world premiere adaptation of the Ben Hecht|Charles Macarthur Chicago-based classic by Jeffrey Hatcher. A magnificent company of actors that reads like a who’s who of theatre royalty in town, and; a wildly appreciative audience soaking up every memorable moment. Simply put, Northlight’s “The Front Page” is a Grand Slam!

Without missing a beat, Hatcher has winnowed the original script down to two highly entertaining acts with a fast-paced run time of just over 100 minutes. The action flies by with the likes of the exquisite duo of Kate Fry as ace reporter Hildy Johnson and real-life husband Timothy Edward Kane as her dominating editor Walter Burns, and a press room that includes Guy Swearington (Endicott), Kelan M. Smith (Kruger), Joe Dempsey (McCue) and Mark David Kaplan (Bensinger) caught in the middle of an escalating crisis involving Earl Williams (John Drea), an escaped man convicted of murder and destined for the gallows the following day.

The political twist to the story is served up by the hilarious performances of William Dick as Sheriff Hartman, John Lister as The Mayor and Tim Kazurinsky, who all but steals the show as Pincus, the bearer of good news for Williams and bad news for the pending election only a few days away. As Hildy does all she can to follow through with her plans to run away to New York with her fiancé Brad Hefflefinger (Peter Moore), Burns lures her back to cover the story of the century. All the while, Brad, his staunchly suspicious mother, brilliantly played by Cindy Gold, and the sultry Rae Gray as Williams love interest, Mollie Maloy, are comically nibbling around the action.

It all takes place in and around a gritty and artfully detailed set of the Chicago Criminal Courts Building Press Room by Jeffrey D. Kmiec, enhanced by Izumi Inaba’s era-appropriate costumes and the slick, stark lighting of JR Lederle. Andre Pluess’s superb soundscape is key here as the dialogue flies effortlessly to everyone in the new 287-seat space.

It all harkens back to the day when print headlines in the morning edition decisively ruled the news cycle. More than any other profession, the newspapermen—and newspaperwomen—of legacy publications depicted in Northlight’s terrific production of “The Front Page” lived by the phrase: “If your mother says she loves you, check it out!” The lesson learned is that, then as now, there exists a highly competitive atmosphere where dedicated, hardworking reporters are rewarded with a byline, where managing editors must continue to relentlessly push their organizations for all the facts with faith that publishers will stand firm and wield their great power and influence against corruption whenever and wherever it threatens our democracy and quality of life.

PHOTO | Michael Brosilow

Northlight Theatre
presents
World Premiere
The Front Page
1012 Church St,
Evanston, IL

through October 25, 2026

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PicksInSix Review: The First Lady of Television - Northlight Theatre

Sherman’s Marvelous, Articulate Plunge Hits Home!
PicksInSix® Review | Guest Contributor | Ronald Keaton

This is the story of a grand storyteller named Gertrude Berg. She is the subject of James Sherman's marvelous, articulate plunge into show business history, “The First Lady of Television.” It's the latest production from Northlight Theatre currently at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie and now playing through October 12. Given the subject matter within the play—dealing with McCarthyism, the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s and the blacklist known as Red Channels—what unfolds are unsettling, almost frightening precedents of today's politics. Artistic director BJ Jones comfortably guides his ensemble through Mr. Sherman's encompassing wallop of a script, complete with meticulous research and loving dialogue.

Gertrude Berg was a pioneer of classic radio. She was one of the first people to create, write, produce, and star in a long-running hit when she premiered her comedy-drama "The Rise Of The Goldbergs" in 1929, as network radio was in its infancy. NBC ran her series, which eventually settled as "The Goldbergs," for seventeen years. Molly Goldberg was a big-hearted matriarch of a Jewish family in The Bronx. And that family—husband Jake, the always supportive Uncle David, daughter Rosalie and son Sammy—comprised a tight-knit group that went through common issues that all families experience: love and loss, celebrations of all kinds, personal growth and family discussion. It was a 15-minute show on radio. In 1949, Gertrude was able to transfer the show intact to television for a nearly ten-year run on CBS and DuMont.

The episode in question here they are shooting really doesn't matter. Molly is preparing for a July 4th celebration at home. The real drama is from outside the studio, where HUAC is making its presence known on the set. Suddenly the director Walter Hart (Joe Dempsey in a purposeful, strong turn) calls out "Hold, please!" for the umpteenth time in the rehearsal. The actor playing Loeb/"Jake" has learned that he has been listed in the pamphlet called Red Channels, along with 150 other show business types. The show's sponsor, Sanka, began to pressure Ms. Berg and the network to fire Mr. Loeb, however it got done. But such action was delayed. And delayed for well over a year. Finally, Gertrude is placed in the untenable position of deciding, on the set right then and there, whether or not to fire Mr. Loeb.

And that sets off, from the actor's reality in losing his job and fearing he'll never work again, a remarkable monologue from Mr. Sherman's pen. Mr. Loeb (the absolute best work ever from William Dick as Loeb/"Jake") takes us on an emotional, staccato journey about life. Union friendships. Family failure. Stories of literal survival at a time in America when hate filled the walls of Congress and threatened the very life of the country. Sound familiar? And Mr. Dick expertly takes us through all this with a deft combination of dread and confusion and, when it was all said and done, some inner panic for an artist who "just wants to work."

Mark David Kaplan shares such a gentle Eli Mintz/"Uncle David", so accommodating and helpful, as he becomes a kind of staff for Philip. Sarah Coakley Price as Arlene McQuade/"Rosalie" says yes, fire him. She emotionally forces a real wrench into the story with the fear that she doesn't want to lose HER job either; she just wants to move on and become what Gertrude is—star, writer, director of her own show. Ty Fanning (Larry Robinson/"Sammy") plays it all smarter than we know in showing how simply Larry negotiates his own path through the maze.

And at last, there's the great Cindy Gold in the title role. Gertrude/"Molly" is fully committed to this process. She says, in fact, that this cast is her family and she cannot abandon family for any reason. So, she gives everyone a strong boost in looking at their own stead—even Philip, the obvious tool to put away. Yes, Gertrude stays loyal right to the end. And Ms. Gold is simply wonderful in her consistent, charming take on a woman much more accomplished than people knew. It's all done within the guise of family loyalty, in a world turned upside down outside the studio, by a movement of hate ironically prescient to what many experience today. This is an ensemble play built on purpose and earnest leanings, as playwright Sherman shows us all, despite the history we think we know, what was still good in that time and place.

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR | RONALD KEATON received an Equity Jeff Award for the performance of his one-man show CHURCHILL. www.solochicagotheatre.com  Coming soon, his new solo play “Teddy’s Last Ride.”
PHOTO | Michael Brosilow

Northlight Theatre
presents
World Premiere
The First Lady of Television
North Shore Center for the Performing Arts
9501 Skokie Boulevard
through October 12, 2025

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PicksInSix Review: Andy Warhol In Iran - Northlight Theatre

Northlight’s ‘Warhol’ “Brings Home The Bacon!”
PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy

Iran in the 70s – a fight for political, moral and individual rights that led to targeted suppression of protests by a regime that wielded torture and fear as the rule of law. Fast forward nearly fifty years and women’s rights now take center stage in regional protests. Radical change in our time is both momentary and glacial. A single act of violence broadcast on social media ignites instantaneous worldwide condemnation, while the exhaustive search for truth and justice that follows moves at an exhaustingly slow pace.

Throughout the life and times of Andy Warhol from the late 40s until his death in 1987 at 58, every encounter was a rich story worthy of being told. If you experienced the work of the iconic pop creator/activist/artist/filmmaker firsthand, the repetition of Warhol’s single images were unavoidably captivating. Shades of Marilyn Monroe, Richard Nixon, and Campbell’s Soup. Films that captured the personal stories of his subjects, or nothing at all, always inquisitive, searching for the essence that makes each subject unique. In the telling, Warhol built a worldwide following, amassed wealth, influence, access and fame with a single superpower: his ability to observe.

Warhol’s adept skill and fascination with his subject’s uniqueness, that also nearly took his life, is a central theme of Northlight Theatre’s absorbing production of Brent Askari’s “Andy Warhol in Iran,” directed by Northlight’s Artistic Director BJ Jones. The byproduct of this fascinating piece is a broader understanding of who Warhol was as a person, told through monologues highlighted with fast-moving images that frame the fictional confrontation between Warhol, masterfully interpreted in a brilliant performance by Rob Lindley, and a young radical named Farhad, played superbly by Hamid Dehghami.

It is difficult to determine when the razor-sharp dialogue of Askari’s writing ends and the pinpoint pacing of Lindley’s seamless delivery begins. Given the show’s premise of a politically-motivated celebrity kidnapping, one might not imagine that the storyline would be deliciously layered with so many hilarious Warhol-esqe observations. To Lindley’s credit, he both feeds off of and into Dehghami’s frenetic obsession to further his group’s cause by way of Warhol’s fame. The cause of Farhad’s pain at the hands of Iran’s torturous and oppressive regime is very real. Askari’s script exploits Warhol’s astute and inquisitive nature to disarm his potential captor and Lindley skillfully knocks it out of the park. The result is a free-flowing narrative of discovery that, along the way, retells Warhol’s early years in Pittsburgh, tumultuous relationships, a near-death experience that altered his life forever and his personal view on a range of topics from capitalism to life and death. On the former, it’s like he always says: “You gotta bring home the bacon!” To the latter, he muses: “Dying is not hard; it’s the waking up part.”

Dehghami, an accomplished Iranian actor and recent MFA graduate of Northwestern University, evokes a generation of college students caught up in the political turmoil of the era that would lead to their expulsion from academic communities across the United States. That brief, but powerful, intersection with western culture, was the single act for that generation, prompting life-alerting choices of family and freedom for countless Iranians who oppose tyranny.

Set in a suite at the Royal Tehran Hilton smartly designed by Todd Rosenthal, the room serves as an oasis of the decadence of the period where Warhol discovers perhaps for the first time what the world view of his work truly means to those who exploit it for their own means. Mike Tutaj’s riveting historical projections are enhanced by the collaborative sound design of Andre Pluess and Forrest Gregor. But it is Lindley’s crisp, clever and measured approach that pours out and will ignite the inevitable conversation about Warhol’s vast complexity.

PHOTO|Michael Brosilow

NORTHLIGHT THEATRE
presents
ANDY WARHOL IN IRAN
North Shore Center for the Performiing Arts
9501 Skokie Blvd.

through February 19, 2023

WEBSITE

(847) 673-6300

HEALTH & SAFETY

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PICKSINSIX Review: CURVE OF DEPARTURE

“NOT ALL THE WAY CRAZY YET!”

Blurred lines… All of us come to grips with our family relationships every day, some better than others. But what about when the lines are blurred or the familial relationship is all but non-existent? It is can be particularly all-consuming when we must face the passing of someone who we feel should have been closer to us. Or someone who may not have risen to our expectations, hurt us emotionally, or, worst of all, slowly lost their ability to remember anything at all.

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Recent diagnosis… In Northlight Theatre’s Chicago premiere of Rachel Bonds “Curve of Departure” currently playing at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, Rudy (Mike Nussbaum) and his daughter-in-law Linda (Penelope Walker) are passing time late in the evening in a Santa Fe hotel room. Cyrus, his absent son and Linda’s ex-husband who is the father of her equally abandoned son, has died enexpectedly and the family is gathering for his funeral the following day. The son Feliz (Sean Parriss) and his partner Jackson (Danny Martinez) are scheduled to arrive from the west coast and Rudy’s agitated state alternates from excitement to confusion. He has already accepted the recent diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, but, as he states with conviction later on, “I’m not all the way crazy yet!”

Deep connection… Linda shares Rudy’s feelings of abandonment, but has nurtured and cared for her father-in-law and is preparing for the long road ahead with him. There is a deep connection that feels very natural, even as key elements of his stories start to drift out of Rudy’s memory.

Providing comfort… When Felix and Jackson arrive, simmering emotions begin to boil as they each face their collective past and an uncertain future that has piqued Linda’s curiosity. Mothers have a way of placing things in perspective for their children. Daughters and sons have a way of providing comfort to their fathers even as other aspects of their reality slips away. What is left in the middle is often complex, but it’s our family and, ultimately, that is all that matters.

Laugh and cry… Aided by Bonds beautiful dialogue and Northlight Artistic Director BJ Jones keen direction, Nussbaum so wraps himself around Rudy that you will laugh and cry, often in the same breath. Nussbaum’s natural exuberance and the chemistry developed with Walker is heartfelt. Walker’s unique blend of authority and vulnerability — one moment fervently questioning her son’s choices and, in the next, baring her soul to him about the past — highlights her moving performance. Parris and Martinez expertly navigate the difficulties within their relationship which is central to the family storyline.

Extraordinary human being… In the end, the 94 year-old Nussbaum, Equity’s oldest actor, appears to be just getting started. There is no finer way to honor his contributions, and celebrate his art, than to spend some enjoyable time with this extraordinary human being and the superb cast of “Curve of Departure.”

PHOTOS|Michael Brosilow

NORTHLIGHT THEATRE
Presents
Curve of Departure
through October 21st
North Shore Center for the Performing Arts
9501 Skokie Boulevard
Skokie, IL
(847) 673-6300

WEBSITE

For more reviews, visit: Theatre In Chicago

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