PicksInSix Review: Ashland Avenue - Goodman Theatre

"Ashland Avenue" Examines A Passing Era
PicksInSix® Review | Guest Contributor | Ronald Keaton

At work, with relationships, in our very existence, we all are forced to come to grips with the end of something, a traumatic and daunting wall to climb. In playwright/filmmaker Lee Kirk's new play “Ashland Avenue,” now playing at the Goodman Theatre through October 12, everyone involved meets their own kind of 'ending' which then translates—as we all hope it will—into a new beginning in which to invest our energies.

In this story, it's about family dynamic. Pete (Francis Guinan), a widower, is the entrepreneur of what used to be a string of popular shops selling televisions, but now is down to one store, the original on Ashland Avenue. His television commercials from the old days made him a kind of Chicago legend, which inspires a life achievement award on his behalf. So, he has to make a speech. Pete's also quite a talker, as good salespeople should be, and he's had to sell off or close his other stores to survive. He remains stuck in sales methods that, with the advent of the internet, make him a bit of a dinosaur in the business world. Hence, his bad luck at a time in life when he is being urged to rest on his laurels, so to speak.

Now Pete has a daughter, Sam (Jenna Fischer), whose entire youth saw her involved with Dad's business. When not at school, she helped whenever possible in various ways; she kept the store clean, helped with record-keeping and whatever else needed to be done. All this time, Sam is developing her own dreams of being a novelist. Her husband Mike (Chiké Johnson), who helps out in the store, is a frustrated graphic artist and writer with three novels to his credit that just don't seem to help him find career traction. Sam and Mike are preparing for a move to Los Angeles and have struggled to find the words to tell her father.

To complicate things further, Pete has taken in a former employee, Jess (Cordelia Dewdney) and her two children, in an unusual stew of family concern and seeming romantic leanings that do not pan out.  And Jess is moving to Naperville, because her ex-husband Charlie has supposedly cleaned up from his drug habit. Pete doubts it all, of course, and continually tries to talk her into staying at his house, as he says, "for the children."

And this is all Act I. When Act II comes, the fruits of all the labor at last pay off. We see the essence of the give-and-take between Pete and his daughter, Sam and Mike in the welcome career news from LA, and Jess in a kind of "come-to-Jesus" realization about her irresponsible ex-husband. When all is said and done and Pete can sit quietly, reflecting on his last couple of days, he breaks down emotionally. To top it all off, the junkie Charlie (Will Allan) shows up at the store, wanting to sell a cable box for drug money. Pete realizes who he is and calls him on it, prompting a wild breakdown from Charlie and a not-so-surprising reaction of care and concern from Pete. That relationship at the end of the story prompts thoughts of what THAT play might be like.

The story becomes a thought-provoking combination of sitcom and morality tale about change and how such elements affect someone facing retirement, let alone what to do next in life. Mr. Kirk's script is well considered and interesting. Goodman Artistic Director Susan V. Booth offers this story in intimate, loving strokes. The thick, yet simple set design by Kevin Depinet has both nostalgia and the reality of existence in it. Ms. Fischer is a delicate surprise, and her work with the marvelous Mr. Johnson is fun to watch. Ms. Dewdney inhabits an appropriately desperate Jess, while the ex-husband literally explodes on Pete in Charlie's scene at the end. And Mr. Guinan, a real Chicago treasure who offers an actor's master class here, shares with us all a performance of eloquence and substance in all the fodder that Pete has to face. Pete's not Willy Loman, nor should he be. He's quieter and more introspective. But his Waterloo is just as valid and vital.

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 about Ben Franklin, THE FIRST EMBASSY.

PHOTO|Todd Rosenberg

Goodman Theatre
presents
World Premiere
Ashland Avenue
Albert Theatre
170 N Dearborn Street
Extended
through October 12, 2025

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PicksInSix Review: The Cherry Orchard - Goodman Theatre

“All Things Come To An End.”
PicksInSix® Gold Review |Ed Tracy

On my first visit to Chicago, I took a brisk late morning walk from Streeterville down Michigan Avenue across the DuSable Bridge to Wacker then North Dearborn and into the lobby of the Goodman Theatre. I was on a quest, of sorts. I browsed the impressive donor wall and peered in on the staff bustling around next door at Petterino’s.

It was mid-March 2002 and I had visited a hundred theaters or more before but could immediately feel the unique energy emitting from this slumbering giant of a venue. The feeling was palpable and inspiring.

I ventured upstairs and—remarkably by today’s security standards—into the Albert Theatre balcony, settling quietly into the last seat on the aisle, watching stagehands prepare for the next performance of the Robert Falls-directed masterpiece, “Long Day’s Journey into Night.”

It was not apparent to me at the time just how much influence one person could have on an institution, particularly when it is in the business of the performing arts and operates at such an extraordinary professional level as the Goodman Theatre. Falls’ work had been recognized with numerous awards, most notably a Special Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre and for directing “Death of a Salesman.”      

An amazing career for someone who had served as Artistic Director at Goodman since 1986. But Falls was just getting started. Twenty years passed before a new generation of artistic leadership would begin writing the next chapter. The foundational work by Falls and longtime Executive Director/CEO Roche Schulfer is an epic story of partnership and passion for the arts.  One need only look at the last six pages of the program to witness the investment by individuals, corporations and foundations whose support has enabled groundbreaking new work and educational opportunities to flourish on multiple stages.

Countless years of opening nights at Goodman were top of mind as I entered the Albert on Monday for the opening of Falls’ brilliant production of Anton Chekov’s “The Cherry Orchard,” a play choice that speaks to his long range vision and embraces a legacy that will be lasting and permanent. Falls is an artist extraordinaire and an innovator who has operated at the pinnacle of his craft through a defining and challenging era for contemporary theater.

This is a production to see and to savor.

Change is inevitable and “all things come to an end” a resoundingly appropriate quote from the play that sums up our human urge to reconcile with the past even as we keep a hopeful eye to the future. Adapted by Falls from a translation by George Calderon, “The Cherry Orchard” bursts with life, love, anguish and longing, showcasing an aristocracy trapped in its social mores, vulnerable yet oblivious to the generational change that is consuming them. It is theater of the highest caliber, a classic running spritely on all cylinders with production values that are rich, textured and sublime.

It is also a play for our time, when our own creative culture is at a tipping point and theater itself in the middle of a seismic shift. Falls has molded Chekov’s vision of the collapse of mid-19th century servitude society into an assessable production that looks and feels very much like it might have at the Moscow Art Theater during its debut at turn of the 20th century. Now enhanced for a modern audience, it emerges with all the joy and sadness that Chekov might have imagined—delightfully entertaining, absorbing and captivating—elevated to new heights by an extraordinary ensemble led by the blistering performance of Kate Fry (Lubov Ranyevskaya) and inimitable Chicago stage veterans including: Kareem Bandealy (Lopakhin),  Christopher Donahue (Leonid Gayev), Matt DeCaro (Boris Semyonov-Pishchik), Alexandra Escalante (Varya), and Amanda Drinkall (Dunyasha) with two of the most endearing and heartfelt stage turns of this or any season by Francis Guinan (Firs) and Janet Ulrich Brooks (Carlotta). 

Todd Rosenthal’s artful scenic design of the estate of Lyubov Ranevskaya, the stunning costumes by Ana Kuzmanic and evocative lighting by Keith Parham, all coalesce to provide the perfect visual tapestry.

The page has now been turned. We can only dream that the next glorious chapter of Goodman Theatre history will be as exciting, and satisfying, as this one. “The Cherry Orchard” plays through May 7.  

PHOTO|Liz Lauren

GOODMAN THEATRE
presents
THE CHERRY ORCHARD
EXTENDED through May 7
Albert Theatre
170 N. Dearborn St.

(312) 443-3800

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PicksInSix Review: All's Well That Ends Well - Chicago Shakespeare Theater

IN THE END… THERE IS LOVE.
PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy

Shakespeare’s “All’s Well That Ends Well,” rarely staged on the opulent scale of director Shana Cooper’s production that opened Friday at Chicago Shakespeare’s Courtyard Theater on Navy Pier, is deemed a problematic work, fused with a tapestry of uneven plot variations and equally flawed characters. Cooper’s work, highlighted with interpretive dance, rises well above these challenges, thanks to a stellar cast and a fair bit of magic and imagery.

If you are expecting one of Shakespeare’s robust comedies, this is not one of those. It begins cloaked in the grief of the death of nobility in Italy and pivots quickly to the uncertain future of the King of France (Francis Guinan) who is gravely ill. Central to the coming of age story is Helen (Alejandra Escalante), daughter of a physician who confesses to her guardian, the Countess of Rossillion (Ora Jones), of her desires to wed her son Bertram (Dante Jemmott), heir to the throne. When Bertram departs to serve under the charge of the King, Helen secretly follows him to France and into the King’s graces to affect a cure of the disease that is killing him. That medical miracle performed—and it is a doozy—the King allows Helen to choose a suitor from the court of eligible men that includes Bertram. However, shunning the King’s decree, Bertram spurns Helen and flees the kingdom for Italy, which launches Helen on a life, to death, to life quest of her own.

The charming Escalante brings a demure, vulnerability to Helen that modulates from a young, impetus woman in love to the heroine we can pull for in her pursuit of Jemmott’s likeable Bertram. Once away and under a false pretense, Bertram directs his attention to Diana (Emma Ladji) a lady of the court who knows much more about his situation than he does himself. As this love triangle sorts itself out, Bertram struggles with issues of trust that come back to roost in the deeds of Mark Bedard’s multi-layered turn as Parolles– “a good drum, but a naughty orator.” At odds with the always steady William Dicks’ splendid French lord Lafeu, Parolles must face the consequence of his ill-natured trickery to the King—a stately and commanding performance by Guinan—before finding personal redemption.

On the lighter side of “All’s Well” is Elizabeth Ledo’s entertaining romp as Lavatch, the Countess’s court jester and confidant whose exuberant nature and keen delivery might seem out of place in a plot that keeps lopping off options until only the lovers remain. Not so with Ledo, whose bawdy, of-the-moment, presence is the refreshing and engaging performance of the night.

Christina Clark is strong in dual roles as the Duchess of Florence and the Widow Capilet, as are Ladji as Diana, who ties up the plot strings nicely, and Tanya Thai McBride as Mariana. The ensemble plays numerous roles and performs the interpretive dance choreography of Stephanie Martinez, a staple in Cooper’s work, which serves to establish and transition between scenes.

While there is often a darkness that prevails over the play that mirrors our pandemic times, this show will play well to the Navy Pier audience looking for an escape on a grand scale that is at once magically entertaining and modestly paced. The elements of magic in the King’s chambers and elsewhere, are the fine work of Dendy and are particularly noteworthy. Set in a period dubbed “Bohemian-Edwardian” by Cooper and the creative team, “All’s Well” unfolds on the vast thrust Courtyard stage, an Andre Boyce design framed in massive, courtly drapes in Act I and a colossal sagebrush spectacle in Act II punctuated by Adam Monroe’s lighting design. With Raquel Barreto’s colorfully textured costumes evoking a rustic era, “All’s Well That Ends Well” is a splendid visual treat for young and old alike.

PHOTO|Liz Lauren

Chicago Shakespeare Theater
presents
ALL’s WELL THAT ENDS WELL
Courtyard Theater
Navy Pier
through May 29

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