The Little Dog Laughed. Image by Carol Rosegg__________
Stage Door Jonny paid a visit to New York City this month and found Chicago well-represented on Broadway. The Tony Awards may have snubbed our own Gary Griffin, but he's the only director with two Broadway musicals running. The Color Purple continues to pack 'em in while Griffin's revival of The Apple Tree plays at the intimate Roundabout Theatre, starring Kristen Chenoweth and former Chicagoan Brian D'Arcy James.
Jonny also saw the Broadway debut of Johnny Galecki in all his glory—and Jonny DOES mean ( an impressive ) ALL—in out author Douglas Carter Beane's sassy and savvy comedy, The Little Dog Laughed. The gay-themed play concerns a rising Hollywood star who 'suffers from a slight, recurring case of homosexuality,' says his agent. Will he come out? Or will he do a Rock Hudson ( and, some say, Michael Jackson and Tom Cruise ) and marry a woman to preserve his hetero facade?
Galecki is best known as the adolescent son on Roseanne, but he began his career in Chicago theater, which he acknowledges in his program bio. Although well into his 30s, Galecki plays a 24-year-old hustler with a heart of gold in The Little Dog Laughed. Ostensibly straight, the hustler falls for the movie star. As the play ends, he heads off to a new life ( with a $10,000 payoff from the star's agent ) , having acknowledged his true sexuality. His best line is about Boy Scouts having sex on camping trips, which he calls 'the merit badge that dare not speak its name.' The joke proves Beane's sassy way with a one-liner, but also is a bit too smart for the character.
Ultimately, The Little Dog Laughed is more clever than deep. It provides showcase roles for four actors and is always entertaining, but the attraction between star and hustler isn't well-founded. In their first encounter, for example, the hustler steals hundreds of dollars from the star's wallet, yet the star doesn't confront him the next time they meet. Also, the star's manipulative agent twice makes the point that she's lesbian, but it's an empty factoid because her sexuality serves no purpose in the play.
An off-Broadway hit, The Little Dog Laughed ran only three months as a Broadway transfer. ( It closed Feb. 18. ) Its producers expressed surprise that gay audiences didn't support the show. Perhaps they should learn that gay characters or themes alone don't guarantee an uncritical gay following, especially if the central figure is less than heroic. Jonny suspects The Little Dog Laughed will be widely produced for a few years but won't have a long shelf life. Beane himself told Jonny there's already talk of a Chicago staging.
Back in Chicago, the hits just keep on coming. The following shows, all favorably reviewed by Windy City Times theater critics, have announced extensions: The Adding Machine, Next Theatre, through March 4; Oklahoma!, American Theater Company, through March 18; Fat Pig, Profiles Theatre, through April 1; and Hizzoner, Prop Theatre, through May 13. Also, the House Theatre of Chicago hit world premiere The Sparrow is transferring to the Steppenwolf Garage ( Reskin ) Theatre for a March 15-April 21 run. New York producers are trotting to town to see this one, and a Big Apple deal almost certainly will emerge for The House.
The Chicago theater industry's AIDS-related charity, Season of Concern, has announced a long-overdue partnership with The Actors Fund, the national charity that has a huge following for its fundraisers in the form of star-studded concert stagings of musicals. For the first time, the two organizations are combining forces for a Chicago event, a March 5 concert performance of Working at the Harris Theater. Based on the non-fiction book by Studs Terkel, Working has songs by a variety of composers ranging from James Taylor to Craig Carnelia to Stephen Schwartz. The show had its pre-Broadway world premiere at the Goodman Theatre in 1978.
The all-star cast features Liz Callaway, Malcolm Gets, Tom Cox ( Lookingglass Theatre ) , Sean Fortunato ( currently in Execution of Justice ) , Brian Herriott, Heidi Kettenring, Julian Martinez ( of Prison Break ) and Greg Vinkler, among others. They'll sing and dance to an eight-piece band.
The Actors Fund is 125 years old and serves those in film, theater, television, music, opera and dance with programs in social services, health care, housing, emergency financial assistance, employment training and skilled nursing and assisted living. The Fund has offices in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Tickets: 312-334-7777; $50-$500. The $500 ticket includes a post-show cast party at the Fairmont Hotel's Aria restaurant.
Playwright David Henry Hwang, best known for M. Butterfly, will appear in conversation next on Feb. 27 at the Chicago Cultural Center, Claudia Cassidy Theatre, at 6 p.m. Hwang's play Golden Child is being staged March 1-April 22 by the Silk Road Theatre Project. In addition, Hwang is a co-author of the Disney musicals Aida and Tarzan, both of which feature semi-naked men, thank you.
