PicksInSix Review: Holiday - Goodman Theatre

Goodman’s ‘Holiday’: An Unabashed Comic Classic!
PicksInSix® Gold Review | Ed Tracy

The scintillating Robert Falls directed Goodman Theatre world premiere production of the late Richard Greenberg’s stellar final work—a fresh, funny and thoroughly engaging adaptation of Phillip Barry’s 1928 play “Holiday”—may just be the best production of a promising young season of terrific offerings in Chicago. The timeless love story now playing through March 1 on the Albert Theater stage features an exceptional ensemble and a brilliant Walt Spangler scenic design that is a sight to behold.

The action unfolds before, during and after New Year’s 2020. Johnny Case (Luigi Sottile), a lawyer and idealist has fallen for and proposed marriage to Julia (Molly Griggs) before he was aware that she is the daughter of Edward Seton (Jordan Lage), the patriarch of New York’s wealthy Seton dynasty. Upon arrival at the Seton Mansion on Fifth Avenue, Johnny meets Julia’s older sister Linda (Bryce Gangel), a free-spirited individualist and the younger gay brother Ned (Wesley Taylor), a happy-go-lucky aristocrat with a long list of addictions.

The inevitable meeting between the elder Seton and Johnny sets the stage for the story that follows, a confrontation between the ideologies of Seton’s uber wealthy ideals that permeate the family who consider the “only thing better than a lot of money is more money,” and Johnny’s more eclectic course to have enough money to allow life to be fully lived.

The family operates more or less under the will of their father who favors Julia’s burgeoning financial career over Linda’s bohemian lifestyle in Red Hook and Ned’s inept existence at the family home. Favoritism for Julia has driven both Linda and Ned emotionally closer together with each serving as protector for the other. Things start to unravel when Linda offers to plan a quaint New Year’s Eve party to make the couple’s formal announcement only to have Julia invite a guest list in the hundreds. At the party, Linda hides away in the family’s attic playroom with Johnny, Ned, her Brooklyn friends Nikka Washburn (Christiana Clark), and Nikka’s partner, Susan Feld (Jessie Fisher). The imposing cousin, Seton Cram (Erik Hellman) and his wife Laura (Alexandra Esclante) crash the party, the wheels start to come off the wagon, and all plans for the future are up in the air.

The ensemble, which includes Rammel Chan as the estate’s private chef Walter, delivers Greenberg’s witty, razor-sharp dialogue flawlessly, never missing a comic turn-of-the-phrase. That goes double for Taylor who gives the performance of the night. It all plays out on Spangler’s stunning scenic design that transforms from a richly-appointed living room to the expansive attic playroom and back again in the blink of an eye.

With all of the superb technical elements—from Kaye Voyce’s costumes and original music and the sound design by Richard Woodbury to the Amith Chandrashaker’s evocative light design—Goodman’s “Holiday” is an unabashed comic classic!

PHOTO|Todd Rosenberg

Goodman Theatre
presents
World Premiere
HOLIDAY
Albert Theater
170 N Dearborn Street
through March 1, 2026

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PicksInSix Review: Catch Me If You Can - Marriott Theatre

Marriott’s Whopping “Catch” Is A Winner!
PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy

If you are wondering what you get when you put a real-life copper caper in the hands of a master storyteller like the late Terrence McNally and the musical team of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, make a date to see the sensational revival of “Catch Me If You Can” now playing at the Marriott Theatre. Directed with panache by Jessica Fisch featuring the equally stylish choreography by Dierdre Goodwin, the show features an outstanding company led by the effervescent JJ Niemann as Frank Abagnale Jr., the 60s era con artist and international fraudster who amassed $2M before the age of twenty-two. Niemann is a remarkable talent whose power-packed performance and engagingly youthful persona—yeah, he gets that a lot—belies an artful ease and ever-present synergy with the plum role of making a jet-setting swindler the most likable guy in any room.

It all starts at the end where the FBI, led by agent Carl Hanratty (a rock solid Nathaniel Stampley) and his minions Agents Dollar, Cod and Branton (the hilarious team of Justin Allbinder, Alex Goodrich and Karl Hamilton) have cornered Abagnale at gunpoint in a Florida airline terminal. As he begs for one last chance to plead his case, everything transforms into the show within the show, a flashback forward to the early days in a subdivision in New Rochelle, New York with his charismatic, but flawed, father, Frank Sr. (Sean Fortunato) and French mother, Paula played by the captivating Jessie Fisher. Fortunato is brilliant as the suave, sophisticated shyster who mentors Frank Jr. on the ins and outs of his street game. It is in these early scenes— wonderfully crafted by these two fine actor/singer/dancers—that the hook is set for McNally’s father/son experience that runs as the subplot to the main adventure story.

Things don’t work out so well for the couple, however, and Frank Jr. is soon off on his own, quickly advancing his special brand of check fraud and impersonation schemes as a lawyer—yes, he passed the bar—pilot and a pediatrician supervisor in a hospital emergency ward where he falls hard for Brenda Strong (the lovely and talented Mariah Lyttle). Brenda’s love and affection leads him to consider giving it all up, settling down and proposing marriage at dinner with Brenda’s parents Roger and Carol (the delightfully comic pairing of James Earl Jones II and Alexis J. Roston). It looks like things might turn out okay for our high-flying hero, but then Hanratty is as persistent as a dog with a bone and isn’t about to give up.

The nonstop momentum of “Catch Me If You Can” comes courtesy of the talented and versatile ensemble, filled to the brim with newcomers, who cover dozens of supporting roles and a bevy of flight attendants, Playboy bunnies, and attending nurses, all glammed in Sully Ratke’s dazzling array of costumes. Under the music direction of Ryan T. Nelson and the marvelous melodious mayhem of conductor Christopher Sargent and the orchestra, Niemann and company takeoff at full speed with “Live in Living Color” and set the flight path for the fun and frivolity right from the top. The company numbers “Jet Set” and act II’s “Nurses” are crowd favorites, along with Fortunato’s “The Pinstripes Are All That They See.” The buddy numbers “Butter Outta Cream” and “Little Boy, Be a Man” are balanced with Stampley’s introspective theme “The Man Inside the Clues” and Niemann and Lyttle’s lush “Seven Wonders.” The solo performance of the night belongs to Lyttle for the soaring confession of love “Fly, Fly Away.”

The ingenious stage design of Andrew Boyce and Lauren M. Nichols, awash in Jesse Klug’s evocative lighting, incorporates a pair of multi-functional set pieces that glide effortlessly on a circular track that mirrors the video diorama above showcasing Anthony Churchill’s fascinating video/projection design. This is one of the most creative and functional uses of Marriott’s challenging in-the-round configuration ever. A visual stunner!

Abagnale’s bold musical crime spree is sure to be another big hit for the popular regional theater at the Marriott Lincolnshire Resort celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year. Paired with the delicious and affordably-priced pop-up cuisine of the Three Embers Pan Am Grille inspired by First-Class Menus of the Pan Am Clippers, you can show up early, park for free, and stay for the show. It doesn’t get better that this!

PHOTO|Michael Brosilow

Marriott Theatre
presents
Catch Me If You Can
10 Marriott Drive
Lincolnshire
through October 19, 2025

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