CheekyChicago

Infamous Commonwealth Theatre has impressed me once again; this time with their incredible adaptation of The Grapes of Wrath. I, of course, had waited until the last possible second to see it – not only closing weekend (which was sold out), but Sunday’s final performance. I had my name on the waiting list, and as I rode my newly fixed bike (against the wind, mind you) up to the Raven Theater, I thought, Dear God, they better let me into this show!!!

I arrived five minutes before curtain and ran in all sweaty and windblown, with my new bike helmet (which sadly makes me look like Toad from Mario Brothers) still on my head, and was told that I might get in;might. That didn’t sound too promising. But sure enough, some people didn’t show up and – literally one minute before the show started – I was ushered in…and boy was I in for a treat!

So now let’s get to the good stuff: first, the acting. This show was cast quite well; I enjoyed everyone’s performance, though among all the great talent, two actors really stood out to me: John O’Leksy as Pa Joad and Paul Joseph as Uncle John. I would be watching the show thinking: Wow, all these actors are doing such a great job encompassing these Great Depression characters. But with O’Leksy and Joseph, it was like they were actually from the Great Depression and had somehow time traveled to the Raven Theater. No joke. It was quite mesmerizing.

Other impressive things to mention: the set! Alan Donahue really outdid himself. The large woven cloths as the backdrop were simple and gorgeous and really set the tone of the play. The wagon on stage was also quite the prop. One minute it was a wagon, the next minute it was a house, and then a box car, and then a makeshift tent, and then back to a wagon again. It was so fun watching it transform and such a creative idea that really worked in such a small space. Also impressive was Tom Haigh’s original music, which was such a beautiful addition to the show. Be it instrumental or actors singing barbershop quartet style, it made each scene change so enjoyable (they can be kind of boring, you know).

In fact, every aspect of the show was really quite enjoyable, and afterwards, as I rode home in my Toad helmet, I kept thinking how lucky I was to get to see it. I had thought it was going to feel dated and a bit irrelevant, when in fact it was just the opposite. I think most of us, in some way or another, are feeling the crunch of our poor economy right now, and even though we’re not packing up wagons to go pick fruit in California like the Joad family, it was good to be reminded of the importance of family and how just a little bit of hope can go a long way.

Although The Grapes of Wrath has closed (told you I saw the last performance), check out Infamous Commonwealth’s next production.